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How I overcome Imposter Syndrome when Public Speaking

I want to share with you a little personal story about my own Imposter Syndrome and public speaking.

You can keep reading or watch the following video I recorded on it.

So recently, I was invited to travel interstate to speak at a social media conference. Thankfully, for me, I actually I don’t have a fear of public speaking. But that doesn’t mean that I wasn’t caught out by fear. And I wanted to show you that I walked the talk, and how from my experiences, you can learn something that will help you, hopefully, when you’re confronted by fear. So let me go through this. So I was invited to speak. I was travelling on Wednesday speaking on Thursday, travelling home on Friday, comes Tuesday, the day before I was travelling.

And I started to get really anxious.

I couldn’t concentrate on the work that I had to do, I was quite grateful that a lot of clients cancelled their appointments with me, for their own particular reasons, which gave me time probably wasn’t the best thing for me. Because what it meant was that I had time to think, not always the best thing. It got to a point that I started revising and reviewing my slides.

Most of you would probably think that that’s a good thing.

But for me, it’s not you see, I’m speaking about something that I know a lot on. The psychology of social media, and how to tap into the client, your users’ psychology and had leverage that online.

So what happened was, I was reviewing the slides going over them, and the more I went over them, the more nervous I actually got.

Now I could feel that building up inside of myself. And so I realised that I broke the pattern. And I actually took myself off for the rest of the day, I shut up shop, and I went out, I left my desk, I had to do that I had to actually change location. So that’s the first thing that I wanted to get you guys to think about. One, notice how it feels in your body. If, for example, like me, you’re starting to do things over and over again, you’re starting to second guess yourself, and just starting to check and double-check things that normally you wouldn’t do, because you actually know what, then this is a sign that you’re starting to get nervous and fear is starting to take over. And you need to break the pattern and do something else.

That was the first one.

The second one was on Wednesday night.

OMG, They want to talk to me!

Wednesday night, there was a pre-dinner conference. And what I thought was going to be justice speaker dinner turned out to be a speaker and VIP event, which meant that attendees bought tickets and access to the speakers. I was actually incredibly anxious by this. I was okay with going and meeting all of my speaker colleagues. But having VIP access to me maybe a little bit nervous, it kind of blurred the lines of who stood where.

So, I spoke to a trusted colleague and friend who speaks internationally and speaks on social media. And what he said to me was Kara,  it’s not about you, it’s about them look at it as them buying consulting time.

So here’s the next thing I wanted to tell you about. Get off self, it’s not about you as a speaker, or it’s not about you, as a business owner. It’s about your audience. And when your outreach into them, think of it as a service to them, and not as a way of them accessing you and your product, turn it around.

And then came Facebook!

The next thing was, I actually spoke after Facebook, pretty big shoes, I had to feel. So I was sitting there in the audience watching Facebook speak. And the two women that were speaking for Facebook, they were nailing it, they owned the stage, they were brilliant, captivating, and had everyone’s attention.

And sitting there, I started to feel incredibly nervous that I could not make the grades.

 

Once again, the problem was, I was making it about myself. So the third lesson, more of a reminder than anything, get off self. Especially when you’re speaking to somebody if you’re doing video even, it’s not about you. It’s about the audience that you’re serving, they don’t deserve your nerves. They’re not here for your nerves are actually here for your knowledge. So it’s not about you and get off self.

All the eyes!

The fourth instance that I had, where nerves took over, was at the pre-dinner awards ceremony. The fourth time that nerves took over, and this is only in the space of three days, was at the post-conference awards ceremony. So that was a formal dinner. And I walked in, and I’ve got to be honest, I felt that every face in the room was staring at me, I was set on the head table. Because I’m a brand ambassador. I was also an award judge. So I was given a different position to the awards nominees.

So, I was looking around the room, and people were looking back at me. And I felt that I was being judged. Not for what I was wearing or looked like, but as if I actually even belonged there! “Who was I to be there?”

Later in the evening, ironically, I was announced as one of the brand ambassadors and invited up on stage. And later in the evening, when I’m turn around the room, and I saw people looking at me, they seem to be looking at me differently. Now, the storeys that I had in my mind was at the start of the thing that we’re thinking, “Who is that woman? What is she doing here? I don’t know her? And why is she on the head table?”

And then after I was announced, I felt like it was more of a story of all I know who you are. And that’s where your place is. “Well done. Kudos to you.”

The fourth lesson I want you to know about fear is that our brain is incredibly clever. It will fill in the gaps of the facts and the knowledge that we have with the storeys that we tell ourselves. I don’t know that those people looking at me at the start of the evening, we’re actually thinking that they could have been looking past me for all I know, they could have been admiring something about me. But my brain filled in the gaps based on my storey and my self-doubt, and went, Kara, they’re judging you. And then afterwards, the story had flipped to power, they know who you are. And they’re looking at you differently.

Remember, your brain is smart, it will fill in the gaps for you with this story that you play. Sometimes that story’s wrong.

What I wanted you to get from this is that I’m not immune to fear, it still creeps up on me.

Yes, I’ve got these four tools in my tool kit. But the only way that I’m able to get them to work is through one additional tool. And that is being mindful. The only reason why I was able to pick up on these points is that I’m able to see the signs and then act on them.

So what I’m encouraging you to do is like me on Tuesday, tapping into how feeling nervous or feeling fear actually feels in your body. And when you feel that, stop, cut the cycle.

If you’re feeling fearful, and you’re about to go and do something for somebody else, stop realise that this fear is actually you putting the focus on yourself, not on them.

And finally, if you’re feeling fearful, or judged or doubting about your own ability, just remember that what you’re doing is filling in the gaps in the story.

I hope this has helped. Let me know in the comments below which of these tips have helped you the most. And if you’ve ever been in a similar circumstance. If you’re looking to talk to someone about overcoming fear, you can book a FREE 30-minute session, to learn these and other tools, right here: https://www.bookme.karalambert.com/

 

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What Really Drives Business Success?

So how do you really get stuff done in your business? What motivates a business? What are a business’ motivators? How, at its core does a business become a success? You can watch this short video or read on…

Business success comes back to the ability to get people to what the business wants and needs them to do.

Let’s go back to basics and look at some scenarios.  By breaking down what happens when we need someone to do something into 3 parts:

I/the business (Person A) need

Insert person doing the thing I need and in this case it’s the client (Person B)

To do (insert thing X that I need).

It looks kind of like this:

For my business (Person A) to succeed I need more clients (Person B) to opt in to my funnel (thing X).

For my business (Person A) to succeed I need my staff (Person B) to perform a task (thing X).

For my business (Person A) to succeed I need me (Person B) need to provide direction (thing x).

Too often in business we focus on what we as Person A need or the outcome or output we desire, Thing X. We focus on these things because this is what we need to grow our business, for our business to be successful. However we forget one crucial part.

What are we doing wrong with motivation and engagement when it comes to business success?

Here’s the truth, the business is not the one doing the action needed to produce Thing X. It’s not the focus.

Thing X is the outcome or output, until someone takes action and does it – it remains un-done.

Person B is the person taking the action. They’re the person in control here.

So why have I made them paler in the image? Because they are invisible to most businesses.

Businesses forget that it’s up to Person B to decide if Thing X will be done or not. That means that not only they are in control but also that Person A is reliant on Person B being motivated to do Thing X.

Let’s refer to the earlier examples.

Clients (Person B) are the ones who are motivated and decide to opt in to Person A’s funnel (Thing X).

Staff (Person B) are the ones performing the task (Thing X) for the business (Person A).

I (Person B) provide the direction (Thing X) for my business (Person A).

Without Person B taking the action, Thing X never gets done. So how do we get more of Thing X done? How do we improve staff engagement? How do we motivate staff? How do we increase client engagement? What motivates clients? How do we increase our personal engagement? How do we motivate ourselves? How do we improve our business success?

We stop making it about Person A and Thing X and make it all about Person B!

How do we motivate people?

We need to appeal to what drives them to do things. Anything!

Here’s the thing. It’s not money. It’s not bonuses. It’s not as hard as you think.

We humans are simple beings and there are 5 things which drive our behaviour.

Our Fears stop us from taking action.

Our Needs are our core requirements.

Our Beliefs are the stories we’ve been told through our life which become our truth.

Our Values are our guiding (moral/ethical) compass.

Our Goals are the things we seek for ourselves.

These are the things which guide our behavior.

They also stack like that.

If someone is behaving from a place of Fear, you’ll find it difficult to get the to behave from any of the other drivers.

If someone is behaving from a place of Need, appealing to their Values won’t make them do any more.

If someone is behaving from a place of Beliefs, appealing to their Goals won’t sway them.

If someone is behaving from their Values, appealing to their Goals won’t convince them any more.

To drive the action we need and desire in business we need to focus on what drives the person taking the action.

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Two top time management hacks you need for your business

 

Two Top Time Management Hacks

Show Notes

Are you time poor? Running out of time? Feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day? Keep watching because I’m going to share with you the two things that have made the biggest influence on my time management.

Before you start thinking how is she pressed for time, I bet she doesn’t even have kids. I actually started my first business when my kids were toddlers, I was in a high stress corporate position which regularly took me out of state and I was studying for an MBA. No I don’t have a nanny or live in help (other than hubby). Yes we all survived, including my marriage.

But I just don’t have the time! I’m time poor! I need more hours in the day! I wish I had a magic wand and could give you more hours, I don’t, but I do have ways to make it feel like you do have more time.

Time Management Hack #1

Here’s the thing, if you constantly think and feel that you don’t have enough of something; you won’t! It really is a ‘glass half empty’ approach to time management. Consider this, you have a friend who is always negative, they can not see the good in anything; always moping, bad things constantly going wrong. If they can only see the negative, that is all they will find.

So, now think about time. Yes I know we all have the same number of hours in the day, but how do you value and see those hours? Do you believe that they will slip through your fingers, do you think they will whizz by; or do you think you have all the time you need, and that time is on your side? Which would you prefer?

This is the first thing that I did which totally changed how I made the most of my time.

I changed my mindset. Look, I have a couple of playlists on time theory but I want to break it down for you.

If you think you have enough time, you will. If you always worry about not having enough time, you won’t.

I know it sounds stupidly simple, and yes I have days where the old ‘not enough time’ mindset creeps in, but I catch myself.

How do I fix it?

One deep breath and a simple reminder that “I have all the time in the world to do this” and I do!

Now if you’re a bit of a procrastinator and just thought “brilliant! Now I have more time to do nothing in”, well you’re technically right but let’s tackle that procrastination.

The first issue is why you procrastinate and generally that comes from fears. Things like fear of failure, imposter syndrome, perfectionism. Addressing those is a whole other chat. But let’s tackle that never ending to-do list! How did I get around that?

Top Time Management Hack #2

I admit that my to-do list used to stop me in my tracks. It was my biggest source of overwhelm. It never got shorter because I kept adding to the bottom. Until I did this one thing.

I started a bullet journal.

Don’t stress, it ain’t pretty. This thing is a practical time management and also business management tool. In it I have what drives myself, my business, & my clients. I do my quarterly business activity planning. I have a monthly calendar and I have a weekly day-to-a-page. I can hear you asking 2 things. I don’t have time for that and couldn’t you just buy one?

Nope.

I wanted everything in one book, one place. That was part of the overwhelm. My planning and actions were in different spots, on separate pieces of paper. I needed it all tied together with a bow.

It’s been a work in progress, but I’ve now got it to a fine art. The most it takes is about 90 minutes when I am ruling up a new quarter plan, new monthly plan, and a new week-to-a-page. That’s it and that’s only 4 times a year. I spent more time than that looking for those documents, printing, and updating.

The week to the view shows me my business tasks and family commitments in one spot. I also track action items from my quarterly plan, income generated, and what’s coming up next week.

The ‘what’s coming up next week’ is brilliant because I can then move tasks into the current week to make better use of my time.

What this is is a visual of my reverse engineering my week. I start with the non-moveables, add in the tasks due, add in any other tasks carried over, and then I can look at any time left over to decide if I want to take that as time off or schedule in some other work I’ve had on my “to-do” list. (not that I have one any more)

Doing this bullet journal keeps me organized. It reduces the long list and allocates it out. It keeps me on track with the business objectives and it keeps me in line with what drives my business. A perfect Type-A personality working life to be honest. A place for everything and everything in its place!

So take one mindset shift that says, time is mine and add in one killer way to organize said owned time and that overwhelm is a thing of the past.

Have you heard of Einstein time? Do you use it? Leave a comment below. Or leave a comment with your favourite time management hack.

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Testing Interact Quiz Builder

Developing a quiz for my business is something I’ve put on the backburner for a long time. While I enjoy taking quizzes, the idea of building one for my business seemed all too hard and not a priority among all the other promotional or marketing activities I really need to do. I have even had a go at the quiz builder on my website, but it definitely fell into the too hard basket when I realized there really weren’t any templated “here’s one we did earlier” quizzes.

That’s where Interact has come to the fore.

I was invited by Interact to test their quiz builder and that I did. I have to be honest, as a busy solopreneur I need something that works off the bat and does a lot of things intuitively, Interact is good at this from the start.

I do enjoy filling out personality quizzes and I knew that a well designed quiz was a great way to get people into my funnel so that I could build a relationship with them.

I knew I wanted to run a quiz for my business coaching clients that was about how well they knew their clients as it’s one of the pillars I coach on. So I chose one of their “out of the box” templates.

Imagine my surprise when I could even choose the quiz category I needed for my client base! I did browse through coaching first as that’s my business type. So don’t be fooled by the categories you get to choose from, just focus on what your clients are interested in. In my case it’s social media and brand identity.

Having a strong template designed quiz meant that I knew that all of the logic behind the scenes worked and that it had a tried and tested lead generation design too. All very important to the success of quizzes to your funnel strategy.

I have to be honest, it’s been years since I’ve written a questionnaire. In fact, I think the last time I did it was when I was doing my psychology degree. So I class myself as a beginner when it comes to online quiz building, but experienced in logic and online design. Rather that trying to learn how to put it all together, I wanted my first test of the Interact platform to be of the platform (not my skills as a quiz builder). So I took the easy way out, and it was, and I went with a templated quiz all the way.

I was mindful that I didn’t want my templated quiz to look like everyone else’s so I was glad that I was able to customize the quiz in a number of ways.

Images

I purposefully went through and added an image to each page of the quiz, including the cover page. I was happy to see the range of the free stock images I could access to personalize my quiz.

Questions

I was able to change the wording of some of the questions to better suit my audience and I was able to easily add additional answers to my questions.

Word of advice if you’re adding answers in to a templated quiz.

DON’T FORGET THE BACK END.

Interact make it easy to add how your new answer correlates with the personality type it matches. It’s as simple as point and click!

Results

After toying with the idea of sending each personality group to a different resource. Which would have been easy enough as there are spaces for each to be sent to a separate page, I ended up doing a redirect on all three to my free Facebook Group.

Why to my Facebook Group?

Well in the integrations I already send them to an email list, more on that, and so I wanted something simple, familiar and where they can get to know me and what I teach on a deeper and more personalized level. Let’s face it, anyone can send you to a free resource/download, it’s a place where you’re personally welcomed that puts a smile on your dial.

Integration Mapping

I run my lists through Mailchimp and it was nice to see it among the numerous options. Take a look!

From here I added tags to my list and then used these to segment the responses in Mailchimp. Why did I do that?

Well it means that I can send a personalized email sequence to the different personality types. I can customize my offers for the different personalities. I can even shift people through the tags as they move through my value ladder as clients.

I did briefly play with sending specific answers to a specific Mailchimp List or tag. Now this is marketing gold! Imagine being able to niche down on your audience and automate based on their answers to a quiz. Now that takes personalization to a whole other level!

Promotion

Now I chose not to add my quiz to my website as it’s about to go through a major overhaul. The other thing is that most of my audience don’t hang out on my website, sad but true story. So instead I decided to share the love of my new Interact Personality Quiz on my social media channels.

A much nicer place and it’s a place where people are used to answering quizzes. Let’s see a show of hands who has fallen down the rabbit hole of answering a string of Facebook Quizzes or Instagram Quizzes? So that’s where I promoted my new quiz.

I have to admit, I was a little puzzled to see the G+ logo still there. Yes, I did test it. No, it didn’t work.

For those, like me, who are playing on Pinterest – I added it there too. Here’s how.

When I shared to Twitter through the Interact portal, I had the option to Buffer my post. (I love Buffer) So what I did was selected my Pinterest profile, chose the board I wanted to add it to, the image etc and the rest was history. It was really easy. The good thing is that it was scheduled rather than going out at the time I was sharing from Interact – which to be honest wasn’t the optimal time for my audience. (Just because I was playing with a quiz on social media in the middle of the afternoon, doesn’t mean that my ideal client was there waiting to join in the fun!)

I did share to Facebook, the integration was a little clunky but it worked.

Final Thoughts

The platform is a simple way to stop procrastinating and actually add quizzes as part of your lead generation strategy. I liked the way that I could take a template, add some images, change the text and really personalize the experience.

The categories took a little thought, only so far that I needed to think of it from a client point of view (check out the coaching quizzes to get an idea of how I realized this).

The integrations were over and above what I was expecting and a pleasant surprise. They seem to have thought of everything! I liked that I could put a Call to Action or a Redirect on my quiz – it was my choice. I loved that I could add certain question answers to specific list – marketing gold.

I would love to try the various website integrations, especially the bar.

Speaking of bars, keep your eye on the save bar up the top and make sure you save after every step.

I would like to see a Buffer integration as I came across the  Pinterest work around through sharing to Twitter. Oh and a native Pinterest sharing option would be great too.

Even if you’re not in the EU/UK, I liked the GDPR compliance. Here in Australia, I don’t expect it will be that long until we follow suit.

Overall… My advice to other business coaches is if you want something different from your standard downloadable opt in, then these quizzes are a great option for getting leads into your funnel.

Want to learn more about creating your own Quiz Opt in? Read this article: https://www.tryinteract.com/blog/how-to-create-a-quiz-opt-in-on-your-website/

If you’re interested in setting up your own Interact quiz, I have an affiliate link for you to use : https://interact.grsm.io/KaraLambert (Interact pay me a small %)

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Motivate your clients – The one thing you’re missing to drive client behaviour

Watch and learn how to drive your clients to do the behaviours you need for your business to succeed.

 

 

SHOW NOTES

I’m often asked the best way to connect with clients. How to drive the client behaviour you need to succeed. You know, how to build that know, like and trust. How to get them onboard so they’ll buy. How to engage clients. I find business owners make one common error and that they’re missing the one secret I see, from a psychology point of view and as a business coach

What do I mean by what drives clients’ behaviour?

Let’s go back to basics and look at some scenarios.  By breaking the communication with the client down into 3 parts:

I/the business (Person A) need

Insert person doing the thing I need and in this case it’s the client (Person B)

To do (insert thing X that I need).

It looks kind of like this:

For my business (Person A) to succeed I need more clients (Person B) to opt in to my funnel (thing X).

For my business (Person A) to succeed I need my clients (Person B) to buy (thing X).

For my business (Person A) to succeed I need my clients (Person B) need to click on my ad (thing x).

So where do business owners go wrong when they are trying to connect with and drive their client to do the thing that the business needs to succeed. Well, I find business owners focus on two things…

It’s all about them “I, I, I” or
It’s all about the thing they want “sales, leads, sign ups, opt ins…”

So where is driving the results going wrong?

I mean, what is wrong with focusing on what you need, either it being all about your business or all about the thing you need to succeed? Surely that’s what makes a business successful – focus, drive, determination. Right?

What tends to happen is that businesses then fall in to two camps –

they are focused all on themselves/the business and their success – Person A (Kind of like Daffy Duck hoarding stuff in cartoons)

OR

They are focused all on thing X that they want to happen.

And then they feel like a failure, I didn’t make enough sales or conversions or blame and point fingers when they don’t get what they want.

It was the wrong target market, it was the wrong targeting, ads don’t work, video doesn’t work. All may be quite valid points but…

Thing is they’ve skipped over the key element to making thing X actually occur.

Person B

You see, without Person B doing thing X it was never going to succeed.

Without clients opting in, you won’t get them in the funnel.

With out your clients clicking to buy, you don’t make the sale.

Without your clients clicking on the ad, the ad doesn’t work.

It’s the actions of Person B which make x happen. It doesn’t matter that thing x exists or that Person A wants it to occur. Without Person B taking action, X never happens.

So what makes Person B do what the business needs to succeed?

What gets person B to do what you need them to do. You need to understand what drives them.

Let’s get inside their head – but first, I want to bust a business myth.

If you believe that offering discounts, special offers or giving them funky gifts or fantastic entitlements is key to capturing a sale, you’re mistaken and at a hiding to discounting yourself out of business. It’s commonly known and understood by psychologists that these things are really poor drivers of behavior. These external drivers are really poor at getting us to do things, over time they become expected and just aren’t enough and to be honest, any business can buy your clients off of you – for the right price. And that costs your business handsomely. Do you know how much it costs your business to acquire a new customer?

So it’s cheaper to keep them happy and keep them coming back and doing thing x for you.

So how do you do that in business?

We humans are social beings. We like to feel part of something bigger than ourselves. We love to be part of a tribe. We love to feel heard and understood. The thing is that we are generally time poor and if we have fill in the gaps or blanks in your marketing, we will use our memory bank of solutions or options to fill them.

What does that look like between a business and a client?

Regardless of who Person B is– we all have these key drivers which which drive our behavior.

Understanding these will allow you to include them in any communication you have, address any concerns, and grow trust.

So what are these drivers of client behaviour?

I have identified 5 key drivers of our behavior (and yes these apply equally to Person A and Person B). They are:
– Fears
– Needs
-Beliefs
– Values
– Goals

But you can’t cherry pick and start at the top. You have to address Person B’s fears and needs first before appealing to their values, beliefs or goals.

I’m going to link an article that goes into greater depth. (Click Here)

The benefit of using these drivers is that Person B will feel heard, understood, and valued. By telling them you understand their fears and needs, they don’t have to guess how your product or service will address these – they already know! No gaps or guesswork here.

So what you have is a client who is happier because they feel valued, a client who has some questions or concerns answered, and a client who is closer to buying from you.

What did you have to do?

Understand what drives them and tell them that you’ve been listening and that’s how you help.

So how do you work this out?

While you could survey your clients, the quickest and easiest way to work this out is to go to your testimonials and use exactly what they tell you. How you solved their problems, what they were, and how they felt afterwards. Use their words too, they understand those better than any spin doctoring you could do.

Leave a comment below with which one drives your clients more: fears, needs, beliefs, values, or goals

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Proving yourself and the people pleaser

Growing up were you a people pleaser? Did you want people to like you? How do you go now?

I was this child and even this adult. Over the past months I have been working a lot on coming back in to alignment with my motivators. Truly understanding them. Getting rid of thoughts and stories (I’m not calling them beliefs) which no longer serve. But the need to keep people happy stuck around.

Now don’t confuse this with a fear that no one likes me. I know people don’t like me and I’m totally ok with that. I’m not afraid of people not liking me, I don’t want everyone to like me because I’m not everyone’s cup of tea.

Keeping people happy is about not disappointing, it’s about meeting their expectations, it’s about putting their needs above mine.

Perhaps it’s a first-born thing, perhaps it’s a girl thing. I don’t know. I do know it’s a “thing” I have to address.

This all came to a head over the weekend when I realised a situation I had gotten myself into was me needing to prove myself because I need to please. I realised a long time ago that things aren’t black and white, and the joy of being aligned with my values is that I also understand that there are many perspectives to the same scenario.

In this scenario, we had differing perspectives and in spite of me initially saying “I don’t need to prove my point”, the other person convinced me to explain my position under the guise of them wanting to know more and to be educated.

Ok, so some would say I was suckered in to it. I lost track of my core value of not needing to prove myself. What happened was this long held need to keep people happy and to help took over and I obliged.

To cut a long story short, that wasn’t their motive. They just wanted to prove their point and the more I talked the worse it got. Until I realised there was no keeping them happy as they were coming from their perspective and had no intention of looking at my perspective.

The issue with the need to prove ourselves or help is that we put the other person first and their motivators higher than our own. We give them power over us. Consider the following statements often spoken by those with a need to keep people happy:
“I’m sorry, I misunderstood…”
“I didn’t mean it that way…”
They are sentences which take us further away from ourselves and put the other person in an increasingly important position.

So I withdrew from the situation, knowing full well that it would look like they had proven their point. But what they didn’t realise and I had was that I had proven a more important point, to myself.

My need to help people is often manipulated by others to prove a point and that has them bound together. I will always help people, it’s who I am. However I am no longer the person who is prepared to put people ahead of myself. I am as important.

For some of you this will seem obvious, for others you may be wondering how I did it. It’s true that I have become very clear on what motivates me and I have disposed of the old stories I’ve heard or told myself through the years.

In coming back to the core of being me, I have learnt my place and my importance, this has seen me find my strength and I am growing to love my true self. It’s not a new self. I have always been this person, it’s just that through the years I have buried myself in stories and put others before me and my true self just won’t have that any more.

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Christmas marketing

Why your social media marketing shouldn’t be like a Christmas present… Christmas has come and gone, the tree is away, and businesses are getting back into it. But customers are seeing the same old same old marketing. It’s like the businesses they follow are like some elderly Aunt who, with their heart in the right place, gives you the crappiest Christmas present that only they could possibly like.

What is Christmas Marketing?

You know the story. You’ve not since Aunt Mabel since last Christmas and once again you’ve got the same present and it’s precisely what Aunt Mabel would love to receive or would choose for herself. In fact, if you listened to the self-talk it would go something like this:
“If I were little Johnny I’d love to receive a present like this”.

Here’s the thing, most business social media markeitng is written with the same talk:
“If I were little Johnny, I’d love to see/know about this.”

Truth be told, little Johnny or Jenny, actually doesn’t like it because Aunt Mabel actually doesn’t take the time to listen to little Johnny and find out what they like and need. Aunt Mabel is so stuck in Aunt Mabel that she can’t see the needs of others around her.

Sound about right?

 

What’s wrong with Christmas Marketing?

Too often business social media marketing focuses on the message that the business wants to convey rather than what the client wants to hear. They assume that because they think it’s brilliant news that everyone else will think the same too.

But like Johnny & Aunt Mabel, clients and businesses are at different stages in their life and have different pressures, needs, and expectations. Telling them what you want them to hear or what you’d like to know doesn’t help them. (And therefore doesn’t help you)

Some businesses will tell you that so long as you know your avatar you are fine. Sure, but it’s more than knowing their “vital statistics” or demographics. If you actually want them to do something with your posts, to interact, engage, or click through and buy/book (all technically called engagement). Then you need to understand what makes them engage.

How to fix your Christmas Marketing!

A few years ago I wrote this blog and developed this handout on how to engage your audience online. I took some hard core research by psychologists and turned it into plain English steps. What it came down to, other than what businesses currently do of “giving them an incentive” and “telling them to do something”, the big tip for engaging online was to “appeal to their self-image”.

So don’t be an Aunt Mabel and appeal to your own self-image in your marketing. Appeal to what your audience actually tells you what they want for Christmas (or any time of year). You’ll find out how in the download.

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Why social media for business

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Customer satisfaction improvement tips

So the customer satisfaction survey results are in and Management come back with the standard, “Customer Satisfaction is slipping. YOU need to get it up!” How often have you been told that you need to lift the customer satisfaction rating for your area, team, or business? Then shook your head and wondered just how to make it happen. There’s no magic wand or crystal ball for this one. It’s totally out of your control if they’re happy with you because you’re doing everything you can; special offers, follow up, personalised service. You’ve pulled out all the stops for the customer. You’re giving it all you’ve got!

Traditionally, improving customer satisfaction takes on the form of “What else can we give them?” or “What else do they need?”

What if I was to tell you that there were 2 more effective ways of improving customer satisfaction than throwing more money and things at the customer. (metaphorically speaking)

What if instead of concentrating on just improving the product or service we focus on improving the people involved? I know it’s a bit odd, but hear me out.

The customer’s role in improving customer satisfaction

Don’t worry, I’m not asking you to go back and ask them exactly what they want because we all know that if you asked 100 people you would get 100 different answers. So rather than asking them what they, let’s look at what draws a customer to a brand and keeps them there. This is the aim of customer satisfaction – customer retention. We know it’s cheaper to keep a customer than find a new one.

So what draws a customer to a brand and keeps them there, or better still, turns them into a raving fan?

There are 3 parts:

• Appealing to their self image
• Exclusivity
• Incentive

The beauty of these three things is that even exclusivity and incentive require no financial outlay. We often believe that exclusivity and incentive mean giving more or offering discounts.

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines exclusivity as:
1. the quality or state of being exclusive
2. exclusive rights or services

And incentive as:
– something that incites or has a tendency to incite to determination or action

Neither of these definitions imply the need to offer a discount or bonuses. In fact, research shows that the best incentive is to tell people the action you want them to take.

I’ve developed a simple checklist and you can download it here.

Staff’s role in customer satisfaction

Now this one digs deep into psychology, so I’m going to ask for a little patience as I take you on a journey backwards in time. If you think it’s all about the staff making sure that the customer is always right & giving them what they want, I have a surprise! It’s not! Let’s get started!

Research shows that happy staff means happy clients. Seems logical right? So what makes happy staff? I promise you it’s not pay-rises, free food, basketball courts, or beanbags. Sorry staffers!

Happy staff comes down to staff seeing a clear relationship between what motivates them and what motivates the business and what it achieves.

So if it’s not money and perks that motivate staff, what is it? Well I’m sorry to say that it is different for each person. We are all unique! But through time & experience, I’ve brought it back to a set of five key motivators. Understand these for your staff & align them to your business and you will not only have happy staff but you will also improve customer satisfaction.

So what are the five motivators?

– Fears
– Needs
– Beliefs
– Values
– Desires/Goals

Yes we are all driven by these 5 things, yes they differ between people, yes they matter to us. Yes it seems stupidly simple but research is research and when you think about it, it makes sense.

So how do you work these out? Well you do have to have conversations with your staff and you do have to have a very clear idea of the motivators of your business – so it takes work. But here’s another thing to consider…

Happy staff are more productive. Happy staff have less time off. Happy staff become raving fans. Happy staff stay with your company saving your on churn and labour hire costs.

So there’s an added benefit to increasing customer satisfaction. Not only will the want to buy more, and will buy more. (Oh didn’t I mention that research?) Your staff will be happier and you’ll save money & make more money.

If you’d like to know more about these motivators and how I used it to improve staff happiness, productivity, & customer satisfaction; I have a short instructional set available on my website.

If you would like to speak to me more on this and how I can make it work in your business, you can book a FREE consultation here. Additionally, I am available to speak on this topic to your team or at your conference.

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Why Client Avatar work fails and what is missing

Until a bit over 2 years ago I had a real problem with the standard client avatar work available. Many many years ago, in my previous business, I did a beta test of an online coaching program and had my first introduction to writing my ideal client profile. I hated it! I had to name them, detail their demographics, outline their day, it was even suggested that I found a photo of them and print it out. Something felt wrong.

Here’s the thing. With a degree in psychology, I know that we are more than what we do. I understand that diagnoses and labels give us meaning and structure to our lives, it makes things easier. But labels are just that, they stick on top of a number of behaviours and/or symptoms which make up the labels.

So what’s the problem with traditional client avatar work?

Standard client avatar work reduces people to a list of labels. I don’t know about you, but I’m more than the labels society puts on me. Yes I am a mother, daughter, sister, wife, graduate, business owner; but so are many other women I know. Does that mean that we are all the same? Does that mean that all of our behaviours are the same? No!

What about my other demographics? I am a woman in my 40s with two teenage children. I’m married. Does that mean that I behave the same as any/many/most married 40 year old Mum of 2 teens? No!

So why do marketing experts and business owners still believe that these client profiles based on labels work? At best they are generic, but how are they used and what lies behind them?

These avatars are used to help business owners with their marketing and messaging. They exist to help with what words to use, where to focus marketing efforts; but where does this come from? The business owner’s interpretation of the labels. And this interpretation comes from their lived experience and opinions of these labels. This interpretation comes from our biases. What if they’re wrong?!

So what happens when a business does a standard client avatar exercise and finds it doesn’t work, and I have had many business owners in tears because this is the case but they were lead to believe it would work and was crucial. Their marketing efforts are misguided, they don’t make the money they feel they should, they are demotivated, and some even close their businesses believing they were a failure.

All because they relied on labels rather than what sat behind them.

Deeper than the client avatar

So what sits behind the labels?

Behind the labels are the behaviours, the actions. What drives these behaviours and actions? Our motivators. What drives our motivators? Our culture, our education, our lived experience.

The old ‘nature vs nurture’ conundrum has puzzled scientist for decades. Why can identical twins raised in the same home behave so differently? Researchers ponder why two people experience the same event differently, even down to developing trauma as a result of the same event. It’s individual differences.

However, marketing believes that demographics and labels is enough of a definition for a client avatar… even though scientists have grappled with individual differences for decades.

A new type of client avatar

So how do we account for individual differences in our client avatar? Can we individualise and yet be able to speak to a group?

I believe the key is in defining what lies beneath the labels. Looking at the unique behaviours of that particular mother of teens you have in your client avatar. What motivates her? Look deeper into her behaviours than how she fills her day, that’s what she does. Look deeper into why she does it, why does she make a particular choice, where does that come from?

When businesses are able to define and speak to these deeper motivators, they connect to their audience at a deep interpersonal level. You speak to your ideal client in words they understand at their core because you are using words that drive them to take the action they do, make the choices they make. You connect to them as an individual not a set of faceless demographics.

That was what I felt was missing in the client avatar work I did those years ago. Connection. A connection at a deeper interpersonal level. A connection like we were sharing a moment where commonalities were found and friendships were made. A place from which strong connections grew. A place to build a long lasting and expanding connections. A place to communicate from. A point of connection from where I could motivate a client to action because I showed them that they were understood, that they could know me, like me, trust me and then they would work with me.