How do you get your leads? Do you really have to get it? Or can you attract it. You can definitely get those leads to come to you. How? By doing engagement marketing. Let me teach you how you can start attracting your leads by serving, not just selling.
A great way to attract clients and customers is to serve and not just sell. Are you tired of chasing after clients and customers? It can be so tiring and exhausting; I totally know. When you got into your profession, no one ever taught you how to market. After all that training, you're actually amazing at your profession. But how do you actually start to get clients and customers who actually want to work with you?
I understand; I've been there too. I've gone to workshops where they just tell you, “Krista, just sell yourself to get business,” which makes me actually cringe. Doesn't it make you? Well, I'm going to ask you to stop. Just stop doing it, because it does not work.
What Are Best Practices?
I want to show you one of the strategies I've used to go from zero people actually knowing me on a national level, to actually generating over $7.4 million in just 25 short months, doing what I'm going to talk to you about right now. I did it by serving, not just by selling. Though I wish I invented this concept, I didn't. The “serve, don't sell” philosophy is used by many big giants, the ones you know of, like Whole Foods, Apple and Ikea. Business gurus call it relationship marketing or content marketing, but I call it engagement marketing, because the focus is on engaging your community. You don't have to take my word for it; do your own research.
This type of marketing is the new, new norm of best practice. Down the road, of course, someone is going to undoubtedly come up with another best practice. My goal is always to be the first in my area to actually adopt these best practices and to apply them into my business, and it's actually your job, too; you want to do the same. To establish true connections and relationships, and to actually engage people in your community, you need to go deeper, to get more creative, and also to offer more value than that.
In the good old days, professionals used to hit the golf course and schmooze, and build relationships that way. I've seen financial planners and business consultants actually trolling network parties and events, and having the specific purpose of actually giving out tons of business cards to anyone they could actually corner. I've seen chiropractors give wellness seminars that really just turned out to be sales pitches for their own services.
What Is Engagement Marketing?
The practice of engagement marketing is nothing like that. As a community market leader, you're going to engage people and build relationships by offering your knowledge and outstanding service. You're going to actually do it in a way that reaches thousands of people in your community, yet still has a very personal touch. I know this works because I've done it, and I've taught so many people to do it, as well.
When I show up to an appointment, people act as if they've already known me for years, even if they've never met me. They treat me as their good old trustworthy friend, just because I've offered tons of information and service through social media and other marketing avenues like what you're watching right now.
Wouldn't you prefer to have a client show up in the first appointment with you, totally trusting you and actually committed to working with you? When they already know the value you give, that's what actually happens. You can be the nicest person in the entire world, but the person your community will flock to is the one who has the expertise, and who they see as the authority figure in your field.
Think about it; we all do that. We want to work with the people we like, but when it comes down to it, we pick a dentist, a surgeon, even a manicurist, based upon their expertise, not just their personality.
Become The Expert
You have to become an expert and an authority where you share your valuable knowledge with your clients and your community. Engagement marketing is a part of developing trust from your community, having them get to know you, and to want to work with you because they like you and feel like they know you and trust you even before they meet you. You've given them a lot without asking for anything in return.
Hopefully you've found this helpful, I'd love for you to share this with any of your friends or colleagues who might find it useful as well. As always, I'm here to serve.
