075 3 Backstories Your Client Tells Herself When You Offer A Free Consultation (And How To Respond To Them)
Release Date: 10/10/2022
089 Confusing your clients with too many interests? Wrap them up into one story.
Strategic Storytelling
As an entrepreneur, you've probably heard the saying, "A Confused Mind Doesn't Buy." So when you're thinking of expanding your business to encompass your new interests, you may wonder: Do I have to hold back on something I really care about? I often see this with clients who have been in business a while. As you grow, your interests expand. For instance, on this podcast, I talk about a business coach who used to be "strictly business." She'd talk about sales, marketing, and accounting. Mention "mindset" and she'd insist, "My clients don't tolerate that woo-woo stuff." After several years of...
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088 How to begin marketing your new offer before it's ready to sell
Strategic Storytelling
Entrepreneurs and small business owners often believe the sequence "Idea --> Create Offer --> Start Marketing." It sounds logical, doesn't it? Truth is, if you wait till you've got a finished product, you've waited too long. You need to get some signs of success before committing to production and creation. There's a good section in a book published several years ago, with the memorable title of A Year Without Pants. That was pre-pandemic, before the days of widespread telecommuting. The author worked for the company that made Wordpress.com. They created marketing materials...
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087 3 Things To Take With You To The New Year 2023
Strategic Storytelling
When I moved to Philly almost 12 years ago, I had to decide what to keep and what to toss. I was tempted to follow the maxim, "When in doubt, throw it out." But over time, I've learned that sometimes taking something along will actually save time and space in the future. Moving to a New Year also encourages the question, "What do we take along? What do we leave behind? And what do we add to our new life?" My recommendations may seem counter-intuitive, but they're based on my experience working with busy, successful solopreneurs and independent professionals. What I've found is that...
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086 3 Storytelling Lessons From The Harry & Meghan Saga
Strategic Storytelling
Just after I recorded this podcast, a marketing coach popped up in my inbox with advice to share your story of personal trauma. Yep, another Cringe of the Day. You can't miss the Harry & Meghan story, which is one big cringe for many of us. But if you pay attention, you'll see many successful business owners who are doing the same thing: baring their souls because they think it's a wise move. And where do they get their insights? From coaches like the one who just popped up. They tell you to share your personal stories...and sometimes it's hard to say no. Harry & Meghan have publicists,...
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085 The Role of Storytelling When You Want To Increase Prices
Strategic Storytelling
As a small business owner, you're unabashedly in business because you want to earn revenue. Often that means increasing prices in order to reach your realistic profit goals. So how do you announce a price increase? Reviewing what's out there, I found two strategies. One is to share your "why." The other is to associate your price increase with an increase in value. Each of these strategies assumes a story about you - and a backstory about your clients. But...is that backstory accurate? Is there a better story to tell? Or do you need a story at all? In this episode you'll...
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084 How to avoid 3 content creation mistakes that give new meaning to the term "cringeworthy"
Strategic Storytelling
Go through your inbox and you’ll find yourself responding to messages with, “I bet whoever wrote this is blushing beet red by now. The word ‘cringeworthy’ was designed for this.” We’ve all made at least one cringe-creating mistake and I bet you’ve seen plenty of examples, too. In my experience, these mistakes don’t happen because business owners don’t know any better. The problem is, we get busy and we take good advice out of context. We apply a piece of advice that’s great for someone else’s …but dangerous to ours. We’re encouraged to knock out a...
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083 The Key to Profitable Content Creation: Find Their Last-Straw Moment
Strategic Storytelling
If your services relate to problem-solving, I’m willing to bet that few people will call you for an appointment until they’ve experienced a sharp defining moment. Psychologists call these experiences “crystallizing moments” as things come together clearly. We often think of “last-straw moments” as pretty extreme, such as the person who wakes up in jail with no memory of how he got there. But game-changing moments feel huge to the client, not necessarily to anyone else. These last-straw moments are also called "crystallizing moments." A lot of things come together and your client...
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082 How To Respond When Someone Projects Their Story Into Your Narrative
Strategic Storytelling
When you tell stories, you influence your audience. In business and in life, you're encouraged to share stories that reflect your audience's reality. But all too often, you're faced with someone who projects their reality onto your story. In this episode, I'm joined by , a life coach who's also a licensed therapist, with special expertise in trauma. She will explain how foisting a story on your listener can create a great deal of harm. It can even be considered a micro-trauma. I was inspired to create this podcast when I read comments in a Facebook group, Community of Single People:...
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081 How to Use Stories To Make Networking Connections That Work For Your Business (and Avoid the Most Common Pitfall)
Strategic Storytelling
Whether you’re looking for a content creator, a designer, or an accountant, most likely you won't start with a search engine. You'll ask around before you get serious. The WSJ recently wrote about a corporate trend: avoiding the usual job posts in favor of queries to a well-connected thought leader. Alas, all too many business owners think of networking in terms of The Coffee Date. If you’ve been in business awhile, you’ve probably got enough Coffee Date Stories to fill a comedy set at a business-oriented comedy show. On this podcast, I share a few stories of networking gone wrong. Some...
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080 How A Formerly Sedate Copywriter Followed Her Own Advice To Get Edgy And Wrote A Book With Trigger Warnings
Strategic Storytelling
"Your copywriting needs to be edgy!" is the advice I've given for years. I could have added, "And your books need to be even more edgy!" For a good part of summer and fall of 2022, I worked on a book with a message. The book grew out of my standup comedy sets, where I used humor to send messages that fight stereotypes about being single and growing older. Audiences remember stories - especially light-hearted stories. I got distracted from some parts of my business, but I also learned many lessons that apply to business writing as well. This episode tells the story of...
info_outlineWhen I started my copywriting business on the Internet, lots of my competitors were writing on the back of their business cards: “Free 30-minute consultation.”
It was an effective strategy that led to many long-term, profitable client relationshps.
Today we’re seeing a backlash.
“I offer a free report on my business card,” says one business coach. “If I offer a free session, people think I’m selling.”
He’s probably right. We hear the word “free call” and our sales radar starts to ping.
We also see a backlash on low-end programs — the first step in some funnels — and offers that include free consultations.
To many people, a “free call” means a sales pitch. And they’re scared.
Prospects consider your consultation — free or paid — in the context of their backstory.
In this episode we review 3 common backstories your client tells herself when she hears the words, "Free Session."
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