Discipline makes Daring possible.

Musings from The Disappearing Boss on People, Process and Responsible Autonomy for small-business employers.

Staying in tune
November 11, 2019

Staying in tune

Keeping your promise is hard.    Because your Promise is always much larger than the product or service you deliver.

Remember, what people are really buying is a means of achieving at least some of what they really want – agency, mastery, autonomy, purpose, community, status.   That’s what you promised them, and that’s what they’ll be looking for on your journey together.

So you need to keep delivery in tune with that promise.

If you’ve promised to make life easier for them, don’t ask them to go through a complicated sign-up process just to get started.   Make everything around delivery as easy as possible for them.   Above all, don’t make them jump through endless hoops if something goes wrong.

If you’ve promised to be approachable, don’t hide customer support details in some dark corner of your website.   Make your business approachable.   That might mean a 24-hour chatline on your website, or giving your mobile number to every client, or even allowing them to contact you in whatever way works for them.  It could also mean empowering everyone in your business to deal with any enquiry.

If you’ve promised to be no-frills, basic, direct, make sure your all your communications match that – including how you handle problems.

Anything that jars with your promise undermines it.   Everything in tune with it enhances it.

Why make a promise you can’t keep?

Selling
November 8, 2019

Selling

Many of us hate the idea of selling.   Our stereotype of a salesperson is someone who is pushy, manipulative, only interested in us for the duration of the transaction, and only motivated by their commission.   Naturally, we shy away from the idea of being like that.

The answer is to forget selling, and focus on the person who you wish to serve.

The final step in sharing your Promise is to enroll your prospect on the journey they want to take with you.   Unlike a sale, enrollment offers the possibility of duration, of being the start of a relationship, of learning from each other, of creating a bond that lasts longer than the work you do together.

Your job in this step is to make absolutely sure that you understand what your prospect wants and needs, to show how traveling with you will get them there; how you mitigate the risk for them, and how that is worth the investment you’re asking them to make.  And if you’ve been able to do that, to make the sign-up process as smooth as possible.

Then the hard part starts.   Keeping your Promise.

Experience
November 7, 2019

Experience

The first time a client buys from you is for both of you, a journey into the unknown.

They hesitate between desire and fear.   Between the desire to get to where they want to be and the fear that you might not get them there.   Or that you might.

You hesitate between the desire for the chance to prove what you can do for them, and the fear that you will actually have to do it.

A good way to overcome the hesitation is to take a test drive together.   Show how you will look after them on the journey, demonstrate the value you will deliver, let them see what it feels like to be travelling with you beside them.  Help them to experience your promise first hand.

If you can take them a little nearer to their goal, there’s a good chance they’ll ask you to complete the journey with them.  If not, at least you’ll know now that you aren’t the right travelling companion for them.

Evaluation
November 6, 2019

Evaluation

Showing up in the right places makes it more likely that the people you want to serve will find you when they need you.   But it isn’t enough to simply find you.

They need to be sure that you are right for them; that what you do will give them what they want, that you will keep the promise you are making.  So they will want to evaluate before they take things further.

For you, that means providing the kind of information and evidence they need, and crucially, that they can research themselves – your website, podcasts, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, third-party ratings, official records.

Of course it has to be true.   It has to be consistent with your Promise and who you are,  and it has to be consistent across all channels.

The good news (for me at least) is that the first stage of qualification is simply ‘Do I like you?‘.   And that means you can share much more of your own personality, values, and beliefs that you might think – more than you might initially feel comfortable with.

Because you don’t just want to attract the people who will like working with you, you want to attract people who will love working with you.  And you want to put off  the ones who won’t.

The easier you make it for the right people to work out that you are for them, the easier it will be for the wrong people to work out that you are not.

That makes everyone’s life easier.   Especially yours.

 

Showing up
November 5, 2019

Showing up

You can’t help the people you serve unless they know you exist.   So the first step of sharing you Promise of Value is to show up where they are.

That does not mean bombarding them with adverts, or selling at all.

It just means being there, alongside them, with the others who are like them, demonstrating in every action and interaction that you understand and empathise with people like them.

This sort of showing up is much easier and cheaper than it used to be.

You can write a blog, or create a podcast or videos.   You can attend the exhibitions they go to, join the networking groups they join, or even better set up your own, just for them.   Or, since you’re absolutely clear on the psychographic, and have narrowed down on the demographic – the pool you’re fishing in – you can approach people directly.   Call, email, send a letter.  Visit.

Showing up is not selling.  It’s the groundwork for helping people to know that you are there, ready, willing and able to help if and when they need it.

Think of it as the start of a long conversation.   Like all conversations worth having, this one requires your effort, attention and empathy.

Desire
November 4, 2019

Desire

What sends people out to buy?

Desire.   For something that will enhance one or more of the things we all want from life:

  • Autonomy
  • Agency
  • Mastery
  • Purpose
  • Community and a sense of our place in that community.

And once we’ve formulated our desire, we want the process of satisfying it to contribute too.   So that unless we’re buying to satisfy an urgent and basic need, we want to be in control of our buying process.   We want to research possibilities, weigh up alternatives and make a considered selection.  Indeed sometimes, it’s the process itself we desire, rather than the thing we actually purchase.

If this is how people buy, then in order to sell effectively you need a process that matches and mirrors it.

That means that sharing your Promise is not selling.  It’s helping the people you serve to find everything they’re looking for.

Packaging empathy
November 1, 2019

Packaging empathy

Packaging demonstrates the effort and attention you’ve put into empathising with the people you serve.   Into understanding not only who they want to become, but also what will be the best way to help them get there, starting from where they are now.

That package may be a blog post or a video; or it may be a year-long project or a piece of software, or a continuous service.

Whatever it is, large or small, if it is well put-together, it will say “This is for you, for where you are right now”  and it will be received with recognition and delight.

And you’ll never need to ‘sell’ again.

Billable hours
October 31, 2019

Billable hours

Your clients don’t want your time.  They want who you’ll help them to become.

That’s the Promise you’re making them.

And it’s worth far more to them than the time it takes you to achieve.

Packaging
October 30, 2019

Packaging

Your Promise of Value is unlikely to change much over time.  That is the point of it after all – to encapsulate the thing your business is here to do for the people you serve.   By the time you can get clear on that, it isn’t going to change.

How you deliver on that Promise will vary however, not only over time, but also within any one time.

Packaging allows you to offer your Promise in a format that will suit a particular kind of customer with a more specific need from you – a litre of whisky is for drinking at home or with friends; 35ml of whisky in a golf-ball shaped bottle is for giving, or collecting as part of a set.

Packaging lets people try you out before they take a bigger risk with you – a free sample, a test-drive or a trial period lets me check whether you’ll deliver on the promise you’re making.

It’s also how you evolve as a business in step with the people you serve – someone who has just bought a puppy is not ready for a dog-walking service, but they will appreciate puppy visits; one copy of a book is for my own reading, several copies are for giving away.

Packaging helps people to recognise themselves, their situation and their need instantly.  Embrace it.  It’s not about you.

It’s about your customer, and making it easy for them to buy from you.  Or not.

An hour as a package makes no sense.

Yesterday
October 29, 2019

Yesterday

Starting is a powerful thing.

Once we start something, we feel compelled to finish it.

So the best way to achieve that thing you’ve been meaning to do, but aren’t sure you’ll be able to, is to just start.

Regardless of how ‘ready’ you feel.

It’s been a year since I started writing these posts.  It’s been one of the best things I’ve done.

And I wish I’d started earlier.

Thank you for reading them.