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Because hereís the reality, I want you to think about this: being really, really good
at what you do just gives you permission to do business in the marketplace. Your competency
is not a competitive advantage; itís the entry fee. It is not a differentiator to talk
about how good you really are, and ìwe really care.î
I work with business owners, and speakers and others all the time, and theyíll say
ìour reputation speaks for itself.î Really? Thatís lazy. YOU need to speak for yourself.
Are we being persuasive enough, are we giving them enough information to get them to do
what we want them to do. Itís not about writing a press release, itís not about just sending
a brochure. We have to be persuasive.
The four most dangerous words in business are: all things being equal. All things being
equal, everybody can do it. Weíre going to shop...when everythingís equal, when everythingís
the same weíre going to shop based on what? Price! Who in this room aspires to be the
low-price leader in your category? Huh, nobody? Provided we are priced competitively, give
me something. Give me some reason to choose you over everyone else who is also as good
at what you do.
The marketplace celebrates specialists, and quickly forgets generalists. Now itís not
to say you canít say ìwe provide a broad array of services.î I think itís important,
clients are looking for that. But I would submit to you, my friends, you have to be
known for one thing.
Most companies, whether it was you or somebody else who started your business, spent years,
if not decades, building their business, building their infrastructure, building their pipeline.
They spent millions, if not tens of millions of dollars building their reputation, building
their internal processes, but most in business spent minutes - mere minutes - crafting the
words they use to describe what they do.
You see this line in financial services: honesty, integrity, and trust. At First National, we
believe that bluh bluh bluh. Youíre touting youíre not going to cheat me and that youíre
going to be honest? Should this not be a given? All right, so you and I, weíre on a first
date, and itís like within the first five minutes I just want you to know Iím very
honest, Iím a very honest person, I have great integrity, Iím not a cheater and Iím
not going to cheat. Because Iíve been with people who have cheated and Iím not going
to cheat, because Iím not a cheater and Iím very very honest. So youíre not going to
get a cheater here, so, weíre going to start us with lots of honesty. Is this a little
creepy? Why are we talking about this? Itís not a competitive advantage, this should be
a given. Itís only funny because you see it all the time, donít ya? Anybody whoís
in foodservice, or if you see restaurants or things like this, or grocery stores, this
is the one we get: ìwe use only the freshest ingredients.î Youíre serving me food! ìWe
use nearly expired ingredients but we pass the savings on to you.î
The good news is, thereís many many ways to do this right and weíre going to talk
about some of those today. Hereís the bad news: the bad news is, everybodyís good.
Everybodyís really, really good at what they do. Occasionally there will be somebody who
isnít; theyíll fall by the wayside, theyíll be out of the market. But whether your competitors,
or direct competitors, whether they do exactly what you do, or they just profess to solve
the same problem in a different way...everybodyís good! And Iím going to play the part of your
prospect, your prospective customer or client today. Iím hearing the same thing from everyone.
And weíre going to explore over the next hour is ways for you to really decipher and
ferret out within your organizations what makes you different and better and faster
and more aromatic or tastier or more convenient or something to not allow things to be equal
because things can never ever ever ever ever ever ever be allowed to be equal.
How do you influence how people think of you, how people know you because your brand today,
how much money do you make, how well-known are you, how well have you done, how many
times have you screwed up? It is a reflection today of everything youíve done to this point.
Create the top-ten list, narrow it down to five of the best. Hereís the exercise and
itís a great exercise if you choose to do it. Five great verbal assertions that are
persuasive and meaningful. You type it up, you shrink it down and you laminate it, and
you stick it to every phone in your company. And the rule is nobody gets off the phone
until youíve said three of those five things in conversation. We begin to educate the marketplace.
Because thereís been a big shift - I want you to think about this - the shift is from
selling to buying. When you go to the grocery store nobody sells you anything, now do they?
You go there and you buy things. Because that sale already happened in your mind. When you
go on the internet at two oíclock in the morning and you shop and you buy things, nobodyís
selling anything. We have to be better at being very visible and upfront, so that when
theyíre ready to buy, weíre the ones that come to mind.
Social media is an ìandî itís not an ìor.î Itís not in lieu of the traditional marketing.
Thereís a wonderful and new opportunity with social media but weíre not quite sure how
best to use it. I ask audiences all the time, how many people are using social media to
build their business, most of the hands go up. I say, all right how many people are successfully
using social media? Very few hands, we donít know. But weíve learned very quickly how
to use it poorly, and itís both ends of the spectrum, right? Itís from the mundane to
the offensive.
Social media is a great way for people to feel they know you better so they can like
you better. Itís a chance for you to reveal more of yourself. The real opportunities are
YouTube. I saw a statistic that said 75 percent, three-quarters of all online content within
three years, will be video. Can you give them a taste of your business, can you take a small
camera, a small flip video camera, and give them a tour of your facility? Can you do a
one-minute marketing message? Show your expertise? Hereís my little flip video camera, OK, here,
weíre gonna do it here. ìIím David Avrin, the Visibility Coach, here I am live on stage
in Buenos Aires, Argentina.î This is gonna end up on my blog here pretty quick. ìTalking
about marketing, growing our businesses... Uh, I need to get back to my show.î All right.
You post that stuff, itís searchable. Pop it in, boom, itís right up on the internet.
If itís not easy for you find some teenager, whoís gonna help you do it...
I spoke to an organization a couple of years ago called ISPA. ANd ISPA is the international
spa association, not like hot tub spas, but like day spas and salons and things that sells
rubs and scrubs and creams and things make you soft and suppulent. Is that a word? ìSuppulentî?
It is now. Uh, so speaking of...I will tell you, bar none, the most stunningly gorgeous
audience Iíve ever spoken for in my life. I mean, distractingly so. Like 800 women in
little black dresses who demonstrate tanning stuff. And my wife came with me the last time,
Iíve spoken with them a couple of times, she comes with an empty suitcase. Ladies,
you understand why, right? Just walk around the trade show getting free samples. But sheís
sitting in the back and she doesnít get to hear me speak very much so she came to support
me and it was literally like 800 women in little black dresses and Iím like, ok, this
is a distractingly gorgeous audience, and so soft and...everybody feel your left hand,
how soft and supple you are. And they laughed and my wife is sitting in the back thinking
to herself: he is not nearly as charming as he thinks he is.
Itís like, ladies you understand here, when you go to the Clinique counter in the shopping
center, at the mall. What are the women all wearing? White lab coats. In their vast medical
experience? Did they go to the Pondís Institute? Itís an accessory that lends credibility.
This is my daughter Sydney. Isnít she cute? She is my little angel...devil. Sheís my
middle. Itís a few years ago but I still think this picture is kind of cute. Now Sydney
went to pre-school at the big church near our house, just south of Denver in Highlands
Ranch, Colorado. And because I work out of my house I get to have breakfast with my kids
and so Iím taking her to school one day, she went in the afternoon session. So five
days a week she went from noon to three in the afternoon. And Iím driving her to school
one day, we pull into this church parking lot at one of the big megachurches, and unexpectedly,
the parking lot is jam-packed with cars. I mean nowhere to park, weíre driving up and
down aisles on a Tuesday. Big limousines in a circle driving, people milling about in
dark suits. And Sydney unbuckles from the back seat and she says, daddy, are they having
church today? And I said, no sweetheart, I think itís a funeral today. And Sydney says,
whatís a funeral? And Iím like, oh, um, sweetheart, a funeral is for when somebody
dies. And all the people that know them and love them, they gather together at their church
or their synagogue, and they take turns going up on stage. And they kind of talk to everybody,
and they talk about how much they love them, and how much theyíre going to miss them,
and what a really really special person that they were in their heart. Now Sydney looks
very very confused and she looks at me and sheís like, and then they kill them? And
Iím like, no, no no no no no, um...honey, this is for people who have already died.
Ohhh! Looks very relieved, not a human sacrifice, no. Kisses me on the cheek and she scampers
off to class. How many people with kids, letís see the hands? All right, is it not the cutest
thing in the world? As they discover their world for the first time, I mean, of course
she doesnít know what a funeral is. How does she know what a funeral is, until she knows
what a funeral is? And I would ask that about your business. How do they know, not just
that youíre talented and youíre qualified and that youíre a good choice; but how do
they know what truly makes you remarkable. How do they know that youíre a better choice,
until you take the time to do the deep dive? Till we really take the time to craft those
words, and those claims and those assertions, and remind people on a very regular basis.
Make sense? So my time is up. I cannot tell you what a great honor it is for me, a great
privilege it is for me to travel from the United States to come and visit you in your
beautiful country and in a language that you donít speak. You were very patient with me
and I greatly appreciate your time, have a wonderful day, thank you very much.