“Gosh, that sounds harsh Craig.”

It sure does and today you’ll understand why it’s actually true.

If you get this, make it part of your foundational principles; I promise it will serve you well. It will also guarantee you avoid years of getting beat up in the market place.

Today’s core lesson is about what people really care about when they engage with you to possibly use your coaching service or buy a product from you.

This share is powerful and took years to work out and apply.

I hire coaches often. If you want to compress years into months or months into weeks hiring a coach is the way to go.

One day I found a high-end coach that looked very promising for what I wanted to do so I contacted him to setup an appointment. Money was not an issue; just wanted to get to work.

Setting up the appointment turned into such a song and dance. Back and forth with the assistant and it was by no means smooth.

Finally when I get on the phone with the coach (video chat), he goes right into “Let me walk you around my office.” He has a very expensive office in a high-end part of town.

He had no idea where my office is, who I am, what kind of people I work with, nothing. Maybe he was trying to take control by getting me to follow him but what he was doing was not cool. I’ll explain.

I was able to get him out of trying to impress me and get into what I wanted to work on, how I was going to pay a nice chunk of money up front and set a date for our first session.

That was painful but I gave him a chance and he turned out to be an awesome coach. I went on to help him with his marketing and we became good friends.

I wanted to give the guy a chance because I really love people. I knew what was going on and also knew I could direct the situation. I’m glad I did.

Here’s something interesting to think about, if this was someone else in my shoes, they may have not noticed what was going on. Instead they may have had an uneasy feeling and pushed it down. That feeling will stay with them until enrollment time. When the coach tries to move to enrollment, that feeling will come up and they’ll feel uncomfortable about moving forward. I’m guessing obviously but it’s a good guess based on having a 98% enrollment ratio.

I’m going to tell you what people really want (another educated guess):
First: They do not want what you have to offer. What they really want has nothing to do with you. Your offerings are just a vehicle to get what they really want which is a result. If it were up to them, they’d skip the vehicle and grab the result. Too bad life was not setup that way.

Second: They want to know you care. Caring means you understand them, their wants and needs.

Third: They want to know if what you have is the fastest and most efficient way to get to what they want.

That’s it!

Stick to that and you’ll do real well.

One of my secret wishes is to build a business under the ghost name “Mr. X” to insure the value that I deliver has nothing to do with me. I’m reminded of this domain name, “coachingwithcraig.com” It goes against what I believe in. I messed up. You will too. And we will do better next time.

Note to self: The more I can stay out of it, the better I will be able to serve.

Why would someone go on and on about their fancy office or famous clients like the coach in the above story?

Well there are many reasons and I’ll touch on a couple in hopes that you’ll avoid them.

First: Valuing significance too much. Unfortunately, when you are serving people in business, significance is not the best choice of needs to satisfy. Going with contribution every time will be your best bet. If you’ve studied Tony Robbins and his six human needs, you’ll get this right away.

Second: They do not feel confident enough in what they do so they try demonstrating value but it’s not effective.

Here’s something interesting that will serve you well. Let people discover you in the process of you serving them.

You would not believe some of the people I’ve worked with that wrote a book without a market, without researching who they wanted to serve, without caring if anyone will buy it. I get on the phone with them and they go on and on about this book then ask me, “Now what?” It’s too late is usually what I say. Then I gently explain this whole project has only been about one person, you. So it looks like you have your first and last customer because we can’t count family members or friends today. This usually gets a good laugh.

Now it’s time to tell you why I know this subject so well. I know it so well because it was a 70k cash lesson for me in my own life over a book I wrote. After that disaster I decided never to do that again.

Been on both sides of the fence and can tell you hands down without a doubt, no one cares about your service or product and they don’t even care about you until they know you care. Once they know that, solve their problems better and faster than your competition with your offerings. Nice and simple framework to follow.

Last note today, I have a friend here in Japan that taught me a great business lesson. Many years ago I asked him, why is it that Japanese business people call their customers GOD. He said many things but something he said had the biggest impact on me, “I do not just want to sell you lunch today. I want to sell your great grandchildren lunch too.”

Please leave your comments below.

-Marketing and Sales-

If just reading the words above gives you a negative charge, you are not alone and today, you’re in for a treat.

It’s a huge block for most of my private clients and it holds them back from really making a substantial contribution online… the kind of contribution that makes people rich and we’re not just talking about money.

If you have no negativity around marketing and sales, and you’re real good at it, you can skip today’s core lesson.

When I talk with wellness professionals or coaches looking to market and sell online I get all kinds of interesting but extremely limiting responses.

Some of them are:

- All I want to do is just help people!
- Why do I have to even bother with marketing or sales?
- I wish someone else could just handle this part of the puzzle.

I know the feeling all too well and my heart goes out to you if you’re struggling in this area.

Here are some of my responses (limiting beliefs) years ago:
- Marketers are the scum of the earth and I am not one of them.
- Selling means I have to be pushy.
- Why can’t someone other than me just handle this?!
- I’m not a sleazy car sales man.

Marketing and sales is frustrating and at times seems like an extra step we have to take on our journey to serve and facilitate change but it has to be done and by no means is it bad, negative or evil.

Without marketing and sales, no actions get taken online.

Without marketing and sales, you’ll not be able to get through to people and serve them on the level they want and need.

If you have a negative response to marketing and sales, it’s only because what you think it is triggered your response. I can tell you without a doubt, marketing and sales have nothing to do with tricking, cheating, conning, or getting an upper hand in the market place.

Now I’ll tell you what it can be for you and after I’m done, I’d like to ask you to consider making it your truth too so you’ll get good at it, help more people and earn more money or whatever it is you get out of serving people online.

Marketing is what you put out in the world or on the internet that leads people to your offerings.

That’s it!

Here’s a simple example of what sales and marketing is on the internet…

Barbara is a family therapist. She’s created a DVD home study course that helps families bond and become more intimate.

Barbara decides to create a marketing campaign where she will upload videos of tips for families to experience greater intimacy more often. At the end of the video there is a line that says “For More Information on Creating Family Intimacy Go Now To www.xxxxxxx.com
The above is her marketing.

The sales part comes when people go to her website and buy or don’t buy based on her offer.

Isn’t that simple?

People buy her DVDs all the time.

Why does her marketing and sales work?

Is it because she is a charlatan, a smooth talker, a slick sales person? I don’t think so, because she is driven by contribution not greed.

It works because what she does is good marketing and sales… her videos are cool, fun and inviting. They leave you wanting more. That feeling drives you to seek her out. Once you find her site you may buy or sign up for more content.

Did you notice something in the above example? It’s totally transparent. That’s key in today’s market place. The days of trying to be “slick” like some of these out of date marketing gurus you’ve seen around are over.

Now I’ll share with you some core beliefs that support healthy marketing and sales that will not only make you feel good about today’s subject but also make you strong and empower you as you move forward and create wonderful marketing and sales.

1. I do not need your money.
This is a big one. Sure, we all need money, that’s not what I’m saying.
What I’m saying is, when you put marketing out there in the world and when you have offers in front of people, a mindset of “I don’t need your money” is key because it frees you from operating from a place of need. If people sense that you are needy, they repel your marketing. That’s what you don’t want.

2. I am here to serve
In the first core lesson I shared with you (Big Heart Big Pockets), I quoted Dr. Steven Covey – “how may I serve?” When this is your foundation, your mission, people will feel it. They will resonate with it and naturally want to give you a chance to serve them.

I call it “Big Hearts Big Pockets”. (You may already be doing this.)

It’s a big insight/lesson.

If you get this, life will take on a whole new meaning for you in your marketplace.

You will not be afraid of marketing. You will not be gun shy about asking for business.

You will stand for something and that “something” will serve others and yourself well.

Before we get started I’d like to give you a little background on how “Big Hearts Big Pockets” came about.

When I first started coaching people online I was getting a lot of clients coming to me with a big question, How can I get money now!?  Think about that question for a moment. What does that say about the person asking?

What does that say about their intentions for their marketplace, their customers, and their clients?

In business online and off, that question locks people into a state of mind that says, “I do not have enough. I need more. I have to get it. Me, me, me.”  Would you buy something from someone like that? Intuitively you say no right? Same here.

So let’s get into “Big Hearts Big Pockets”

Having a big heart is about showing up in the marketplace, coming from a place of contribution and giving.

Yes, you can have products and services for sale but that needs to be projected second. First and foremost is service.

Dr. Steven Covey, the author of “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” said it best when he said “Make the dominating question that you ask in your mind ‘how may I serve?’”

The above mindset will put you miles ahead of people asking “how can I get money now” in the marketplace.  And trust me on this, there are a whole lot of people showing up to the table of business online looking to make a buck first.

Zig Ziglar, a world famous sales trainer, motivational speaker and author said it best, “You will get all you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want.”

I believe Zig, as long as you have excellent marketing plans in place to capitalize and monetize on the wave of good will that will come from helping others. (I was real bad at this part and will talk about it when we get into marketing.)

I strongly believe the bigger your heart is, the bigger your pockets will grow.

I also believe when you are in the marketplace giving, helping and contributing, you’ll sell more and be fearless in all your marketing endeavors.

It’ll free you and liberate you because what you have to offer is far greater than any price you may be asking for your products or services.

I’d love to go on with this subject but I believe you get it. It’s real simple and profound when applied.

Until next share, move forward with your head high and make a huge positive impact in your market and have faith it’ll pay off.