Don't Promise The Stars and The Moon. Promise Grounded Results.

It's amazing to me how many people really think they need to promise the world in order to get clients to buy from them.  Did you know that promising the sun, moon, and stars can actually knock your trust factor down quickly?

It's true!  Think about it.  What goes on in your head when I say "You can have everything you dreamed of and more!"? What's the first thing that comes to mind?  Well, okay, maybe not YOU (you know it's possible to have that), but think about what goes through your potential clients minds?   If they haven't worked with you yet, do they know anything is possible? If they haven't worked with you yet, do they know that it's possible to haveeverything they dreamed of, let alone more?!  Probably not.  So, promising them that is very "out there" for your potential client.  They aren't ready for that yet.  In fact, in my mind, that sounds like a used car salesman gimmick.   They need something grounded.  Something that makes sense to them.  Something that they KNOW is possible.  So please quit promising the sun, moon and stars.  Okay?

Promise grounded results. What does that mean?  Take a look at what you offer your clients.  Of all the results your clients have experienced from working with you, which ones would they have believed were possible when they started?  Which ones were believable, but they wouldn't think it was actually possible for them, personally, to achieve?  Which results would they have thought no one could achieve?  Which results do they know they want, not just think would be interesting?

Ask your current and/or past clients if you don't know the answers. They'll be able to tell you.  Once you have a list of all the results, then you can use the ones that are believable and they know they want.  Then sprinkle in a few they, personally, aren't sure they can achieve.  Put these results in your marketing.  If people believe it's possible to achieve, then they will be willing to buy into it.  If it's impossible, they will run the other direction for fear that they'd be wasting their money.  Would you buy into something that you believed wasn't possible? So, give grounded results that make sense to your clients instead of promising they can have the stars and the moon (they can, they just don't know it yet!).

If you know anything about me, you know I'm a musical theater singer and this reminds me of a song that Audra McDonald sings called "The Stars and The Moon".  It's a great song and it shows how she doesn't want the stars and the moon and would rather have a yacht.  It takes several men promising things before she learns what she really wants.  Potential clients do the same thing.  They don't know what they REALLY want right off the bat.  They just know they want the yacht.  If you want to see Audra perform the song (which is awesome, by the way!) you can watch it on You Tube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27f6lR6dY7E.  The lyrics in the first verse really exemplify what I see a lot of coaches saying in their marketing.  Her reaction, is what most clients do.  The lyrics can be found at http://www.kovideo.net/stars-and-the-moon-lyrics-jason-robert-brown-423450.html.  Read through them and see if your marketing makes people say…no, I'd rather have a yacht…which, for many, is grounded.  It's real.  It's achievable.

So, are you promising the Stars and the Moon or are you going with the grounded approach?  Or are you going to change your approach now?

Kristen Beireis, Trust Marketing Expert

Kristen Beireis is the Trust Marketing Expert for Group Coaching Mastery. She helps coaches and other personal transformation professionals establish trust through marketing.  First, she establishes a foundation that's rooted in your authentic differentiation. Then she follows up with solutions that bring consistency to everything that has your name on it — from your newsletter to your business card to your social media pages. And while she's happy to teach you how to do all this yourself, many of her clients love the way her team reduces their workload and overwhelm.

Greater trust means a shorter sales cycle, more of the right clients, and the confidence that comes from knowing your sales and marketing are in integrity with who you are as a person.