Avoid "Should-ing" All Over Yourself While
Transforming From Lighthouse To Laser In Business Development
Greetings *|FNAME|*,
Chocolate! Greek yogurt! I love sweet things, and dairy. But both increase my cholesterol, which isn't a good move after the past year fighting Cancer. I think: shouldn't I just be able eat this stuff, like everyone else? Unfortunately, the answer is no. Because for whatever reason, my body doesn't do well with certain foods like these, and I really have no ability to change that. I've tried. I've struggled. But it is what it is, despite what I think it should be, or what I'd like it to be.
Here's some more food for thought. As an instructional designer, I understand my learners, their motivations, their capabilities (or lack of capabilities), their relevant experiences… and anything needed to ensure an effective learning intervention. I'm empathetic and comfortable slipping into other people's shoes to see where they are coming from. And I've built a lot of institutional knowledge over 15 years, which has helped me build my business on instructional design and change management client success. You'd think that most of these strengths should also translate over easily to being a marketer also, right?
Unfortunately, most graduate degree programs don't include marketing or sales as part of the curriculum. Business owners in our field kind of figure it out as we go, making some mistakes along the way. Sometimes we even get outside help along the way, or find inspiration through reading. Early on in my business development journey, I read Attracting Perfect Customers, a very helpful book for small business owners who are scaling up. The author contrasted different marketing approaches using a lighthouse analogy. The gist was that a lighthouse has a specific purpose and performs in a consistent way: It's a stationary beacon that illuminates a fixed danger. It doesn't move from its position, or fix its beam on any one boat. It shines at all equally.
My initial approach to business development was not like being a lighthouse. I did stand firm against storms, but chased one-off opportunities and tried to be all things to all clients. I've learned how important it is to just continuously shine the light of wisdom on problems that we are best at solving. Even around a lighthouse, not everyone who happens to be close to shore needs to worry about hitting rocks. Instead of wasting a lot of "light" output, I've refined my efforts to a more laser-like approach by defining our value proposition, identifying the ideal client, then focusing in on exactly what they need, rather than what we have to offer. It's not a focus on what they should want. It's what they say they actually need. The ideal clients will hear what they need to hear to gain their interest. They don't need to be "sold" to.
This year's key marketing priorities for Change by Design included:
- Local Membership for meaningful engagement with our immediate community. Change by Design developed and donated a high-level training supporting networking capability (demo here) to the Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce, and has promoted related solutions to the diverse member businesses throughout the year.
- State Sponsorship for targeted exposure to similar organizations. Change by Design co-sponsored the Florida Society of Association Executives (FSAE) annual conference VIP reception and sent associates to the event to start developing name recognition among Florida association decision-makers.
- National Tradeshow Expo booth for broader market engagement. Change by Design reserved a 10' x 10' space at the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) annual conference for 5000 association decision-makers from across the United States. The exhibition experience (floorplan here) is built around a new Choose Your Own Adventure -style demo of past Change by Design project solutions that would be relevant to associations.
The ideal potential businesses or non-profit clients among these three areas:
- Seek new, custom learning solutions that solve their specific problem(s), instead of generic, economy solutions whose basis may have been repurposed from past projects (or clients)
- Pay the higher price needed for evidence-based interventions, because quality and strategic effectiveness are more important than short-term cost-savings
- Want things done right the first time by a business partner with bonafide capability and credentials, who has cross-industry perspective for creative, original solutions
I've worked closely with our marketing team to activate tactics that address and engage contacts within these target audiences. For example, back in May we sponsored the Board of Directors meeting of the Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce. Our campaign had a local, multi-layered, multi-faceted focus on increasing Change by Design brand awareness where we:
- Tangibly aligned our brand to quality and customization integration concepts by gifting each board member a 20-oz Yeti tumbler engraved with their first name on one side and our logo on the other.
- Created a first-hand, memorable experience by opening the meeting with a competitive micro-learning activity, presented as an interactive, 2-minute poll (answer sheet here) where participants rated change management aspects of their organizations and evaluated their level of understanding.
- Leaned on the familiar by providing the winner of the exercise with a half-gallon cold brew coffee from a fellow board member business to enjoy in their tumbler.
- Demonstrated direct relevancy by including a recommended services flier branded and tailored specifically to each company or organization on the board within each Yeti tumbler.
- Provided free added value by inserting a QR-coded business card linked to the Change by Design white paper I wrote on how to align people, business processes, and resources with the desired outcome, in each Yeti tumbler.
- Demonstrated competency and incentivized participation by handing each attendee a cookie whose packaging linked to the Leads Group training that we donated to the Chamber, so they could experience our competency first-hand.
This may be preaching to the choir, but marketing isn't selling. Selling is communicating to the right people what we offer, describing how it solves their challenges, and asking for the business. Alternatively, marketing is about positioning your brand, message, and value proposition in proximity to those correct people, so that when your salespeople come calling, their audience already has familiarity about who you are, and a positive impression. But none of this just comes naturally by being good at Instructional Design, or whatever you do for a living. No matter how easy we think it should be, it isn't.
Go ahead and get rid of your shoulds. Be real and honest about what you want and your capabilities, then give yourself a break on the new stuff you are doing. Don't resist trying new things out and failing. Remember that improving your business development approach takes time and it definitely doesn't happen automatically for everyone. If it will lighten the burden, consider getting a mentor. Or even hiring some outside expertise who can bridge the capacity gap and help you out.
Assuredly yours,
Sue
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