The name of the game is collaboration

CC BY-NC by Ari Herzog

If you work in a large organisation collaboration is part of the working environment; whether it’s working with colleagues in your department or as part of a multi-functional team.  When you’re in a smaller company it’s less in evidence – if there are fewer than 20 staff you could be the only person in your ‘department’.

So does this mean that collaboration is only for big organisations?  Certainly not, there are plenty of small companies that collaborate on a project – the web developer works with a graphic designer and a copywriter to create a website for a client – and, possibly a videographer and an online marketing system builder too.  That’s collaboration between a number of suppliers to deliver a single project.
But what about when that’s not possible for you or if it doesn’t happen very often?  Does that mean that collaboration can’t be part of your business strategy?

On the contrary – there’s plenty of opportunities to collaborate – often disguised as ‘networking’!

Online people get to help each other through platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.  Ask for help and it will almost certainly be given.

Offline people attend networking breakfasts, coffee sessions, lunches, dinners and more.  Some people think that this is how you get business – but if that’s all you’re looking for you’ll quickly find it’s not working very well.  Collaboration is the name of the game – who can you help, connect, support, advise?  If you start to do this you’ll soon find that good things come to you as a result.

Here’s an example:

Susan sat next to someone she hadn’t met before at a networking lunch.  They started to chat and it turned out that her area of expertise was one that his professional body was looking for to present at a forthcoming conference.  The original speaker had let them down.

Although this was not her target market Susan decided to help out and made a very successful presentation.  What she didn’t know was that someone in the audience was from an influential consultancy – and contacted her to work on a contract for a multi-national organisation.  She would not have made it past the reception desk any other way and this turned into an ongoing lucrative contract.

Networking is asking for people who are willing to collaborate on a specific task – whether that task is finding you a good supplier of widgets or introducing you to someone you want to talk to about potential business.

Of course, the other side of the coin is being willing to do your bit for others too – and I must admit I always get a buzz from ‘plugging people in’.  If someone says “Does anyone know a cartoonist who does film?” my mind immediately starts scanning my network for likely connections.  Being able to put the two people together is very satisfying.

So how have you got collaboration integrated into your business strategy?

It's not about YOU!

The toughest lesson many of my clients have to learn is that their marketing is not supposed to be all about them.  “But it’s our marketing, it has to be about us,” they argue – but let’s look at it from a different angle – the customer’s.  When you visit my website are you trying to find out what I do – or what you get?

Ah, I thought so.  Most of us are trying to resource a product or service so we want to know ‘if I buy your product or service how will that benefit me?’.  You too? Of course!

Let’s think about this from a psychological perspective.  If you ask someone “What do you do?” there’s a high probability that they’ll respond with something like:

“I’m an accountant.”

“I’m in shipping.”

“I provide corporate gifts.”

“I sell cars.”

At this point you probably think ‘OK, I know what that is,’ and half tune them out.  They’re talking about themselves, it doesn’t sound particularly exciting, you’ve heard it before, blah, blah, blah.

How would you respond if, instead, they responded with:

“You know how infuriating HMRC can be – always grabbing your money at every opportunity?  Well, think of us as your personal warrior to help you to protect your hard-earned cash.  You know a bit of planning can make your business much more profitable, don’t you?”

“If your products are being manufactured in another country, you can leave the whole process to us.  Just tell us where the raw materials are and they’ll be collected (from anywhere in the world), delivered to your manufacturer to meet your production slot – quality checked before shipping and then delivered to your warehouse just in time to hit the retail outlets.  You don’t have to chase and your warehouse isn’t full up with stock waiting for distribution.”

“If you want your brand to make an impact – and keep on making one – you’ll be surprised at the opportunities you could be missing.  We’ve got a cycle shop that give away waterproof saddle covers with their brand on, a business consultant who delivers coasters that make up a jigsaw and even a financial advisor that has their logo gold-leafed onto the inside of a leather wallet.  Have you ever thought of what you might do to get your brand under people’s noses?”

“You know how some people get someone to go shopping with them who can advise them on colours, styles and so on – a personal shopper?  Well, think of me as a personal shopper for cars.  You decide what you want, colour, model, age, mileage – and I’ll find it for you!  What’s more I can sell your current car too so you don’t have the hassle of that either.  It’s one less hassle taken care of for you.”

OK – the replies are much longer, but also much more interesting – and more likely to generate a conversation.

What’s the difference?  It’s not just length or detail; it’s more positioning and using the word ‘you’.

When someone says ‘we’, at best, you have a polite interest.  The same applies to ‘they’ (some of my clients argue that they aren’t talking about themselves, they’re talking about other clients – usually in case studies).  However, when you say ‘you’ people respond differently.  They start running that little video in their head of themselves experiencing what you’re talking about.

They’re engaged with your message at a much stronger level.

Remember this when you’re creating your next marketing material – whether that’s on your website, an email campaign, a newsletter, a blog like this or even on social media.  You’ll get much better results.

Get your network to give you leads

In 2016 the most effective way to get business is by referral.  People who rate you refer others to you so what do you do to make that referral process easy?

Most business owners network – online and offline.  They’re on LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and/or have a page on Facebook.  They go to breakfast meetings, networking events and association meetings.  In all these places there’s usually an opportunity to talk about your business, even if it’s just for a few seconds.

Here are my top tips to make it easy for your networking contacts to bring you leads.

1.  Know exactly who you are trying to attract.  The more detailed your description of an ideal client, the easier it is for your networking contacts to recognise them when they meet them.  “Anyone who wants what I do,” is not a description that anyone can relate to!

2.  Plan your opening statement.  When you stand up (or sit down) to do a 60 second ‘pitch’ open with something memorable.  “Most of you know what I do,” is guaranteed for half the people present to tune you out.  It doesn’t matter if people already know what you do, it’s an opportunity to educate them about why it’s important for them to connect you to their contacts so open with a statement that will get their attention.  This might be a challenging question or an outrageous statement or using a prop that will focus attention (and maybe get a laugh!)

3.  Think in terms of outcomes.  People don’t want to know what you do – they want to know what they get – the answer to ‘What’s in it for me?’  The more examples of measurable outcomes your clients have got as a result of using your service or product are much more powerful than a list of the services/products you sell.

This can be quite hard to get your head around, but, for example not “I write commercial copy to help people with their marketing”, but “I persuade your clients to take action and purchase ... ” or better still “The copy we create results in 15% more sales than most of our clients previously experienced.” 

4.  Be visible.  The very least you need today is a website – and that website needs to be focused on the customer (not what the company does).  However, you also need to be active on social media and post content in a variety of places, from your blog to emailing useful information to your list.

People have short memories and quickly forget you exist if you’re not popping up in their eye-line regularly.

5.  Deliver value.  Don’t just sell at people – they’ll disengage and that means that you lose a potential client and/or a potential referrer.  Share your knowledge, curate useful material – blogs or articles, connect your network to each other when you think they could help each other.

If you have a system for people to sign up to your list – don’t offer them a newsletter – most of us won’t volunteer to get yet another email to deal with.  Instead, offer them an item of value in exchange for their contact details – a checklist, a ‘How to ...’ document, a ‘3 things to avoid when ...’ document or your top ten tips on ... whatever your area of expertise is.  Make sure it looks professional, is in pdf format and carries not only your brand at the front, but your contact details and a short biography or company profile at the back.

If you do just these five things consistently you’ll see a significant difference in the quality and frequency of your network sending you potential clients.

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If you want an online marketing system that will help you to tick some of these boxes with the minimum of effort – give me a call on +44 (0) 1245 473296 or watch this free one hour video tutorial.