“Total, absolute rubbish“…but that’s the topic of a separate discussion.

Q: Can you operate in ways that make you and your offline marketing and consulting solutions more attractive and desirable to certain demographics e.g. CPAs, Tax professionals etc?

A: You bet you can.

Q: Could the situation ever exist whereby many of these businesses are waiting to get ‘face time’ with you?

A: Sure, I do it every week (my action-oriented plan is weekly based) — Reality is that you have to plan and create these situations. They don’t just happen and neither do they happen as a result of trying to be everything to everyone. Missing this point is why people find marketing and selling their great offline services so darn hard. How do I know? Been there and done that when I started in this lucrative line of business and it is the biggest challenge the majority of my new offline coaching students face.

Seeking to eliminate barriers to marketing and selling starts with differentiating yourself through ‘nichefying‘ all you do.

You know, it doesn’t matter how much a specialist in SEO knows or charges, I believe they could be working less and charging more if they became known within a niche or certain niches.

Stay focused and I look forward to sharing your success story with the world someday!

Bayo

Thanks Bayo!

That’s a great approach, sadly, not too many people will ever use this type of positioning tactic for a whole bunch of reasons apart from fear.

To do this does take first and foremost having a niche and understanding it, because if you don’t have a niche you’ll end up saying things that are very general in nature … which puts you in the ‘commodity seller‘ group. Most folks don’t understand the importance of operating in a niche or a select few. Having a niche means your marketing efforts are more focused based on an organizing set of principles driven by what the niche responds to.

Narrowing your marketing down becomes easier when you service related industries or professions in a niche — That’s the key.

They are usually blown away with the insights I share throughout video. These don’t take long to put together and have a higher perceived value as it is very personal to client. This helps to build more trust without “selling” as I am offering solutions.

This is my way of working around the selling. I still find it hard to narrow my marketing down as I specialize in several key areas.

There are people currently offering niche business marketing and consulting services in the UK. Being from the UK myself I know this to be true and also have niche marketing consulting clients in London, Bedfordshire, Birmingham and Sheffield, North America, Canada, Australia etc. Personally I didn’t find it harder in any country.

Yes, there were and still are ‘differences’ in perception and approach but not necessarily harder.

Here in the US, I get asked questions because they know I’m not from around ‘here’ originally — With UK clients they ask me certain questions because they believe that what I’m talking about may work in the US where they believe everything is driven by ‘hard-core’ marketing. but may not necessarily work 100% in the UK.

Fair observations indeed, but not necessarily true. Overcoming these issues is one of my initial tasks every time I market (so it is an issue that isn’t going away anytime soon for me)

But what matters is HOW you get through to them. If you take the full on IM approach you’re bound to struggle because you’ll be ‘perceived’ as one of those ‘internet people‘ — We are not internet marketers when we are working with businesses (my opinion and people can feel free to differ) and if they believe in big companies as being the only option for internet marketing, then you’re sunk.

Analogy

If a GP (General Practitioner = ‘Doctor’ for those who don’t know who a GP is) says “Take this medicine because it’s going to work for the illness you’ve got” would you take it or not? You bet you would and here are some reasons why…

1. YOU recognized you had an illness or discomfort (you weren’t just ‘aware’)

2. YOU felt enough discomfort to go and see a GP

3. YOU believe that what she offers will help you

4. YOU believe in the GP (Expert)

5. You were never pressured, cajoled or persuaded to see the GP

6. YOU know that if you don’t do something you’re going to be one sick person experiencing even more pain

I teach that people should borrow a leaf from GPs in their marketing and selling of offline services. I also believe that people should learn from the ‘types’ of GP that exist.

1. A GP (General Medicine) is paid much less than a specialist

2. When you go to see a specialist, you expect to do what you’re told to do

3. When you deal with a specialist, you’re prepared to pay good money for that expertise

In a nutshell, although it is unlikely that you will close 100% of your business all the time, I’m not convinced that the UK is any different to any other developed country. Neither do I believe that if you niche and work with a demographic that knows they have marketing and business development problems and are actively seeking solutions, that they wouldn’t be open to exploring working with you.

You’re generally forced into the low price issue when what you offer is a ‘commodity’ and is not perceived as being any different from what others offer. The perception is from the perspective of the business (business owner) because marketing is seeing your offerings through the eyes of your offline customer or client.

Marketing and consulting, when done properly is actually hard to offer as a commodity. ‘Niche Marketing and Consulting’ is even harder to offer as a commodity and so someone with enough focus, skill and knowledge of how to operate as a niche marketing and consulting specialist will always outsell, outperform and outdo someone offering commodity services.

Determining your price points are easy when you don’t have to ‘re not competing on price.

Here is a real world example…

When I pulled this issue up (it’s been on my mind to create something to solve the problem for a long time because of the number of emails I get about it) I already knew that people in my target audience, i.e. Offline Marketers and people who offer products and services to businesses, are as you say “being hit …” all the time with different messages and so they tune out.

2 choices … do what everyone does or find a different way to get attention.

At the time of this reply, people who are motivated to solve the issue of selling have taken time out to respond to a business challenge they have of selling and marketing. How did I get them to respond? nothing ‘tricky’ or unethical. Its simply by offering a reason for them to respond that matters to them and is worth their time to stop by and write about the problem they have with marketing or selling. That’s motivation at work in the purest form.

“Being hit by internet marketers ….”

We are not dealing with internet marketing and we are NOT internet marketers. Clear those 2 facts up and you’ll see immediate changes in how you operate and how you’re perceived, I guarantee it.

They are getting hit by internet marketers all the time, so they say, and just seem to be tuning out everything but “word of mouth”