Category Archives: Creative Business Ideas

So, What Do You Do For A Living?

Creative Business Ideas, Starting Out

The first time you meet someone, what’s one of the first things that they ask (“What do you do for a living”)? Underneath the question they are really asking: Can you help me? Can I help you? Can we help each other? Are you someone I should look up to?

Most of us answer the question with a label (“I’m a realtor”). The conversation is most likely over; the other person’s life experience has assumed they know what you do and how you do it. After all, how different are realtors?

Your could describe what you do (“I represent buyers in real estate transactions”). You are more specific, but still the listener is waiting to get the answer to the question, “Can you help me?”. You haven’t engaged them at all.

You could answer the question with a description of what makes you unique (“I help new buyers find a home of their dreams”). The uniqueness helps set you apart, but again you haven’t engaged the listener.

Instead tell the listener what problem you solve (“I work with people who are looking for the house of their dreams and are afraid of the whole house-buying process and are afraid paying too much.”) The focus is now not on you or your process but what you can do to help them. People can relate to the problem you’re describing. And you’ve opened the door for the next question, “How do you do that?”

Marketing your business takes time. You want people to get to know you. To trust you. To be interested in seeing how you can help them. To buy something from you. We dream of the instant sale. The reality is that it takes work to build a customer relationship. Remember every time you talk to someone is a marketing opportunity.

Top 10 Rules: Corresponding With Clients

Creative Business Ideas, eMarketing, Starting Out,

Here are my rules for corresponding with clients (these rules work for either email or postal letters). If I choose to read a letter (from a company) I’ve made a decision how to spend my time. If I find that the letter wasn’t valuable, then I’ll gradually learn to ignore (or worse, distrust) other letters from that company. Once someone ignores (or distrusts) you it’s very hard to regain their trust. Think before you write!

  1. Make it obvious who it’s from – Do you read all your mail in your mailbox or do you automatically eliminate the junk mail? Let people know the letter is from you.
  2. Keep the letter to one page – When I see a multiple page letter, my first thought is how much time do I have to read it. If I’m busy, I might lose it in my “to-read” pile.
  3. Say the important thing in the first paragraph – When I’m busy, I’m not willing to invest a lot of time to find out what this letter is about.
  4. Make the letter personal – In all your correspondence, you need to build people’s trust in you. Tell a (true) anecdote to illustrate the point if possible. People remember stories.
  5. Make it sharp – Keep it easy to read, even without glasses on! Lots of white space helps. Check your spelling and grammar. Minimize words.
  6. Clarify what you are asking – My rule: one letter = one request.
  7. Specify the time frame – Those “you must respond by midnight to receive your free gift” letters work. If there’s no urgency, why should I read this letter now (if at all)?
  8. Motivate the reader – How does (what you’re writing about) affect them? Does it save them money? Save them time? If you’re unclear about it, so will they. If you don’t know what the reader needs, ask them!
  9. Gain their trust in you – Every communication from you builds on previous messages from you. It takes a while to build trust and a very short time to violate it.
  10. Respect the reader’s intelligence – Don’t repeat the same message many times. Start your letter with your message, give details, and wrap up highlighting the message.