If you were a washing powder, which one would you be and why?

by Karen Skidmore | 10,16 | Marketing Articles

If you were a washing powder, which one would you be and why?

No, this is not an audition for Blind Date (been there, done that!) but actually a great question to ask yourself to help you market your products or services.

I am re-reading Michael Gerber’s “E-Myth Revisited” again – something I recommend everyone who runs their own business to do at least once every 18 months – and I have just read the chapter where he introduces the Entrepreneurial Model.

He writes: “The Entrepreneurial Model looks at a business as if it were a product, sitting on a shelf and competing for the customer’s attention against a whole shelf of competing products (or businesses).”

What he means by this is that it isn’t your actual product or service that is critical to your business success, but the way that you offer it to your market. If we go back to my question “If you were a washing powder, which would you be and why?”, you soon realise that the only difference between all the washing powders out there are the way that they are marketed.

They all wash clothes, but to compete on a shelf at Tesco or Waitrose, a washing powder has to stand out from all the rest. Tough, when you think about the brand loyalties that most consumers have, often passed on from their parents.

So stop focusing on your product’s/service’s features and start thinking in terms of the benefit you offer and how you get this message across to your customers.

Regular monthly pay checks: How can you create one?

by Karen Skidmore | 10,16 | Marketing Articles

Regular monthly pay checks: How can you create one?

Getting away from corporate life was great, wasn’t it? You are your own boss now and you have the freedom to do whatever you want! But what about the monthly pay check? Do you miss that guaranteed money each and every month? One of the biggest reasons that small businesses fail is cash flow. If you haven’t got enough new clients coming through the door every month and paying your invoices, it’s easy to end up with just an expensive hobby. And how many of you honestly feel as if you are stuck with an expensive hobby? It comes down to the age old feast or famine trap. You spend hours at networking events and following up on leads. You rummage through your LinkedIn connections to try and get some meetings. You get some clients – yeah!! But then as you get busy with your new clients, your marketing starts to slip and slide. You don’t mean to … but you just don’t have the time or energy to get out networking, make follow up phone calls and spend time connecting on LinkedIn. Your pipeline dries up and there goes your cash flow again. It’s tough. It’s soul destroying. And I know because I remember those months all too well. I remember my supportive husband (and he was being genuinely supportive – just honest!) asking me if I was ever going to make any money now that I had decided to start up my own business. Expensive hobby! This business model of going out to get new clients, servicing these new clients and then going back out again to find more is, well frankly, not going to work. If you want to avoid failing because of cash flow – because if you are stuck in this feast or famine trap, it’s going to happen to you eventually! – you have to start thinking about how you can create a regular, steady income each and every month.

Ideas on how to create a regular pay check for your business

Subscription based newsletter: This may sound daft in this day and age of free information, but if what you specialise in can give enough value, then there will be people who will gladly pay a monthly or annual subscription for the privilege of receiving it. Yes, there was no doubt that major newspapers, such as The Times, struggled initially to get their subscription going but with development of apps and paywalls, digital subscriptions are certainly a key revenue stream for a lot of major media companies. Your selling point is more likely to be from being a specialist, rather than a mass market, so focused on a small niche and this could be a great product that shares your inner most secrets or latest industry developments that are only shared with those who subscribe. Sockscriptions: Wine clubs have been going for decades now. But the concept of paying a monthly or quarterly direct debit to receive the “wines of the month” works really well for some customers. And in fact, there is a great example how this concept has been applied to a sock retailer. Yes, really! BlackSocks.com claim to have more than 50,000 customers in 75 countries that pay an annual subscription to receive 3 pairs of socks, 3 times a year. How could you apply this to your business? Taster Clubs: These work really well for foodie businesses – restaurants and wine traders. An annual or quarterly subscription gets you invited to wine and food tasting events throughout the year. A top idea of rewarding the top customers as well as encouraging them to come back for more. I remember a fabulous present from my brother one year to a 6 month cheese club subscription, where I was delivered a cheese selection once a month. If you aren’t in the food industry, there are plenty of other industries using this taster model, from Birch Box which delivers beauty tasters and Taste Trunk for monthly gourmet gifts. How could you create Taster Events on a regular and subscribed basis? Gym Memberships: I’m sure most of you have been sucked into one of these at some point in your lives … and probably find that you never use the darn thing after the first few months!! But this concept can work really well for those who offer marketing, coaching or consulting services, for example. Offer fixed number of hours of your time each month in exchange for a monthly direct debit … it can really be that simple. I already have a number of these set up for my own purchases, where the cost of regular bought products is spread across the year and I love the convenience of paying by direct debit. My dog’s annual inoculations, flea and worming tablets are done this way and my local vet includes a free annual check up to sweeten the deal. Membership Sites: The concept of a Members Only website that contains useful and valuable information is nothing new. However, so few businesses consider this to be a viable option. Not only does a Members Only website give you the potential to create a regular and ongoing pay check, it also allows you to spend less time helping more people. I ran a membership site for almost four years (The Web Tech Club) before closing it in 2012 and once set up, it was incredibly simple to run. The tech that goes on behind the scenes of a membership site has improved massively over recent years and, although it can feel overwhelming to start with, it doesn’t have to cost you thousands of pounds to set up and create. There are plenty of off-the-shelf packages to use and there is no need to build something from scratch. Has that got your creative juices flowing? There really are so many opportunities for you to take your business into a regular pay check model. Yes, it may take some thinking – especially in making sure the product that you create is something that your clients will desire (not what you think they need … never give your clients what they need – give them what they want. Some basic market research is essential here.) And if you want some further reading on this topic, then I’d recommend John Warrillow’s book “The Automatic Customer”. But do something different and stand out from the crowd and create a regular income in the process.

How’s this article triggered ideas for you? Do you have a monthly income flow right now? Or is it something you’re working on but stuck on which direction to go? Leave a comment below. I’d love to know your thoughts.

Small Business Mistake: Attracting anyone and everyone to your business

by Karen Skidmore | 10,16 | Marketing Articles

Small Business Mistake: Attracting anyone and everyone to your business

A popular mistake small business owners make, is the dreaded “must work with anyone and everyone” attitude.

And coaches are particularly notorious for this!

When you are in the early stages of starting up your own business and your diary is empty, it is easy to fall in to this trap. I know I did when I first started up as a Life Coach back in 2004. There I was, a newly accredited life coach believing the world was my oyster and thinking that my coaching skills could work on anyone.

And I wasn’t wrong with this assumption. Anyone who has been coached or is involved with coaching will be sure to agree. But when it comes to business and marketing, this approach is the kiss of death.

Believing that you are there to help anyone and everyone who could do with your services is just like standing on the street corner of your local high street. Every person from every walk of life could pass you by and you merrily hand out your business cards and beautifully designed leaflets to them all.

But how many people will stop and read what you have shoved in to their hands? How many will glance down and plan to read it later [but never do]? And how many will just drop in to the next litter bin that they pass on by?

If you were to do this to a thousand people, the chances are that maybe – just maybe – one person may be interested in what you have to offer. And to spend the time and money attracting that one person is frankly hard work. I know I would rather run the London Marathon wearing a ridiculous charity costume [and probably cross the finish line quicker!]

So if you are making this mistake of trying to attract anyone and everyone, save yourself months of hard work and hundreds of pounds of printing and make a decision on who exactly you want to work with. I promise you that your marketing will be far more effective and you will be attracting far more client enquires by only reaching out to a fraction of the global marketplace.

When all you want to do is to stick 2 fingers up at your marketing

by Karen Skidmore | 09,16 | Marketing Articles

When all you want to do is to stick 2 fingers up at your marketing

OK. I get it. There are some days (maybe even some weeks) when you get so totally peeved off with your marketing, all you want to do is scream, “Sod it, I’m just want to be honest with my customers.” I’ve been there. Got that Tshirt. I remember I went “off the rails” and threw away my webinar scripts a couple of years ago; but more of this later. You’ve been working hard, slaving away on a sales page or an autoresponder sequence. Perhaps you’ve got a webinar coming up, or you’re in the middle of a promotional campaign. No matter how brilliant a marketer you are, there are ALWAYS going to be days where you just get the results that you were hoping for. You probably guess I love marketing. But the reasons I love marketing is that I see it as a puzzle to solve. Because you are ultimately selling to human beings (and we know how unpredictable human beings are, yes?!), you have no control over the exact results. Sometimes you think you’ve found your sweet spot, run the campaign or promotion again and it falls flat. Whaat? It worked the first time, why did it not work the next? And then there’s all the perceived manipulation around marketing. Trying to “trick” your customers into buying at a special offer price. If you hate being sold too, then there’s every chance you don’t want your customers to feel the same. So yes, I get it. There are days that all you want to do is stick two fingers up at everything you think you know or have been trying to learn about marketing, and you just want to have honesty between you and your customers. Now, before I continue, I must state for the record that I believe all marketing should be honest. Something doesn’t sit right with us when we see a scarcity campaign for a digital product with the headline “Limited availability” or you get on to a webinar to be over-pitched at and, if you do buy, get something that’s under-delivered. Yes, there are plenty of unscrupulous marketers out there whose only goal is to make a stack load of cash. Marketing in it’s simplest form is communication; it’s building and creating Know, Like and Trust with potential customers. And, let’s be honest here … without marketing doing its job (AKA selling your product or service), you’ve not got much of business. But I get that, sometimes, you lose faith in tried and tested marketing tactics and strategies, and you just want to keep it simple. I was prompted to write about this when I got a letter from the fabulous Riverford Organic. I’ve been an on/off customer with them over the past 5 or 6 years. And I’ve always been impressed with their marketing. They’ve always come across as a hard working business who want to serve their customers, rather than just build a global empire and avoid tax. At times, I have had door knockers; usually, I don’t open the door and can’t abide being interrupted at home in this way but the couple of times they’ve done it, they did it well. And I think I remember I signed back up again once in this way. Other times, their letters and emails have always been entertaining and enjoyable to read. But this weekend, I got a letter through the post from their found, Guy Watson. Photo below.

When I first read it, I loved it. It was so honest, and I even posted it a photo of it on my Facebook page as a great example of marketing. However, a few days later, I still haven’t taken action. The letter is now buried under my kitchen “admin files” and what initially made me laugh and connected with me, it hasn’t created a desire to take action. Now, it wouldn’t be fair of me to criticise this letter without knowing exactly what results Riverfood have had. It may have just been me who didn’t take action and their phones have been ringing off the hooks since the weekend. But I’m not sure. Here are a few thoughts: 1. “Marketing is expensive; I would much rather spend the money on growing better vegetables, so I’d like to get you back, for free.” Here’s my problem with this opening line of my letter. Marketing is only expensive if it doesn’t generate results. If you knew you’d get £1,000 back from £500 spent on marketing, you’d probably do it each and every day (OK, crude example … I know you’ve got to consider operational costs, raw materials, etc, etc … but you get my point, yes?) Secondly, this is all about Riverford and nothing about me. Why should I care if their marketing is expensive? All I really care about is that my organic veg is good quality, grown ethically and I have a good selection each week (and not a tonne of root vegetables week in, week out). 2. “The normal approach would be for us to lead with an offer … but we don’t want to discount because we believe in fair pricing … other customers will bay for in one way or another” Hmmmmmm … you’re telling me that you don’t believe it costs you to attract new customers or bring old customers back? Making a lead offer … a discounted trial or % off your first order … is critical in today’s marketplace. When we, as consumers, are given so much choice from the high street and a click of a mouse, I believe this “fair price” tactic is incredibly risky. Without new customers coming in or re-engaging with past customers, your current customers are going to suffer long term because you’ll lack the cash flow for growth. 3. “Our website is vastly improved … said goodbye to a load of overpaid, underperforming consultants and have our own team; it’s not difficult after all.” Bravo. A wonderfully brave decision. However, the pressure this puts on recruiting high enough skill level to keep that website working effectively is going to be tough. The founder has obviously got stung from his poor outsourcing. I hope he has a long-term strategy to keeping his PAYE team up to speed with the latest online developments and changes to platforms, as well as being able to hire new members as old members move on, that an external consultancy often has the advantage of. 4. “If any of that does it for you, please give us a ring”. And here lies the big problem I have with this letter. Even with no lead offer to take up, there is no urgency or need for me to take action. This letter, as funny and refreshing as I found it when I first opened it up, is now buried under my kitchen admin. At least, they could have carried on with the honesty approach and asked me to call by a certain date just so they know whether this letter has worked … that would have been an interesting time specific call to action to take. I’m sure there is so much more that could be stripped apart in this letter. And, as I mentioned already, we can’t because for all I know, this letter may have “worked” (and of course, worked means that the revenue got from x number of customers exceeds the cost of the letter printing and sending out, etc). But the big message that I got from this letter is that the founder was probably having one of those “Two Fingers” moments when he decided to do this. I’m guessing from his tone, he’s had a re-think about what marketing he’s doing and he decided he would throw all marketing principles out the window and just have an honest conversation. As mentioned above, when I decided to do this in my webinar marketing, it failed dismally. I threw my webinar scripts out the window, decided my slides would go and ran an interactive Q&A session which had great feedback and engagement … but as a marketing campaign, it failed. So I know how easy it is to want to stick two fingers up at your marketing … but before you do, take a breath and connect back to what’s going on for you. Because honest marketing where you simply write to someone with a “please come back” maybe worth a shot … but don’t be surprised if you don’t see any results.

Have you got something juicy to add? I’d love to know your thoughts. Leave a comment below.

Is the Time For Money Trap real?

by Karen Skidmore | 09,16 | Marketing Articles

Is the Time For Money Trap real?

Have you ever been worried about getting stuck in the time for money trap? Are you chasing the dream of creating a product based business out of your expertise so you don’t have to sell your time by the hour?

I first heard the phrase when I launched myself into the world as a life coach back in 2004. Once I got my life coach qualification and found myself graduating from practice clients to securing my first paying clients, I was keen to learn more about the business of being in business. Unlike many of my coaching colleagues at the time who seemed more concerned with developing their coaching skills and clocking up their coaching hours for professional membership and accreditations, I was more interested in the business of coaching. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to become a better coach, but my curiosity was drawn more to creating multiple streams of revenue and the latest developments happening on the web.

And so the pandora box of building a successful coaching practice sprung open for me.

Andrea J Lee was my first teacher of marketing. I studied her book “Multiple Streams of Coaching Income” alongside CJ Hayden’s “Get Clients Now!” to the nth degree and went about creating a coaching business that didn’t rely on me selling myself by the hour. As I dove into other programmes and courses, the phrase Time For Money Trap came up again and again. I was being indoctrinated into believing that if I sold myself by the hour, then that was bad. And packaging up my expertise and time into helping my clients via online products, group programmes and workshops was good.

Fast forward to today and the message hasn’t changed much for business owners selling coaching, therapeutic, professional or consultative services. Yes, technology platforms have imploded and given you the opportunity to run a global empire from your beach deckchair but the clear message that selling your time for money is a still trap continues.

So why is this the case?

What are the reasons why the gurus and experts tell you to productise and package up your expertise?

First of all, let’s state the bloody obvious. If your only offer to clients is an hourly rate, then you and your business are going to be capped financially. For example, you charge £50 an hour, and you work 40 hours a week, then the absolute maximum you can ever earn is £2,000 a week. Now that may sound like a good figure to you. If you work 48 weeks of the year, that’s £96,000. Almost a six-figure business; not bad! But the reality is that 40 hours a week, 48 weeks a year is exhausting and probably physically impossible because of health and wellbeing reasons. Remember, it’s not the same as working PAYE when lunch breaks, loo stops and water cooler chit-chat is included in a 40 hour week. Plus, to be able to generate enough work for 40 hours a week, you’d need another 40 hours a week for admin, invoicing, marketing, prospecting, enquires and professional development.

So let’s say you decide to double your hourly rate to £100 and work half the hours so the other 20 hours can be used for the admin, invoicing, marketing, prospecting, enquires and professional development. Yes, it’s that almost-a-six-figure-business once again but the momentum needed to keep going, even at these levels for more than a few months, are again probably physically impossible because of health and wellbeing reasons.

Hence why it’s a time for money trap

The only way to grow your business is to increase your hourly rate and work more hours. Your business will become a conveyor belt of stress and worries as you work half your month filling the other half of the month of work you can invoice. Finish that scenario with the fact that you invoice at the end of each month for the hours you’ve worked, which may mean you don’t get paid for up to 30 days after, you’re always a month or two behind on your cash flow.

If I’d really want to make you feel a little sick with panic, I’d also draw your attention to the serious possibility of one or two of your invoices never being paid. That’s when the cash flow crap can hit the proverbial fan.

But here’s the thing. After explaining all of this, I don’t believe Time For Money is as big a trap as a lot of gurus and experts want you to believe.

Karen Skidmore Business Coach Marketing Coach

Let me explain.

One of the common stories I hear is from recently qualified coaches and business owners looking to revamp their business growth is that they want to start with creating online products and programmes and avoid any way of working with clients on an individual basis. “I don’t want to get stuck in the time for money trap, do I?” they often ask me. There’s no doubt there are some people who destined for digital success; they put in the hard work of creating a product or two, have an astute understanding of their marketplace and end up with a profitable growing business that never sells anyone’s time.

But for most people, this is not a reality. For whatever reason, they don’t know their target audience well enough or have picked the wrong market or just aren’t equipped with the right resources, knowledge, aptitude, attitude or experience to create a product based business out of their expertise. So believing in the Time For Money Trap, they do anything but sell their services to individuals. They see selling their time as a bad thing and thus must never do it.

I believe selling your time for money can be a good thing, for some people some of the time. And for a lot of service based businesses, selling time is critical to their long-term growth and success. These are my reasons why:

Selling your time gives you fast and insightful feedback

1) Working privately with someone on a 1-2-1 basis gives you the invaluable intel on your approach and process.

You can get fast and insightful feedback while being able to try out different approaches with a real life client. I’ve seen so many people fail at selling products and online courses because no matter how fabulous their marketing, the offer itself was not right. They often assumed they knew what the solution was and other times, were trying to fix a problem that didn’t need fixing. Not having proof that your process, approach or system works before you start filming videos, creating content and building e-learning platforms can often end up in wasted months and tears of frustration. So my advice is always, especially to newbies and recently qualified coaches, therapists and consultants, is to start working with people on an individual basis first and then grow from there.

So my advice is always, especially to newbies and recently qualified coaches, therapists and consultants, is to start working with people on an individual basis first and then grow from there.

Selling your time doesn’t mean sticking to an hourly rate

2) Selling your time doesn’t mean you stick to charging an hourly rate.

There are plenty of professionals around the world who work only with a handful of clients each year because they’ve priced how they work with someone based on how much they want to earn, rather than how much is the norm in the industry or local marketplace they work in. They’ve valued their time, set high enough benchmarks to attract a select few and know that they don’t need to “be out there” because their business comes from referrals and recommendations. Selling their time for money in this way doesn’t become a trap for them.

You may not want to go as VIP as this, of course. But working backwards from your annual financial target and the hours that you want to work each month, and then dividing those figures by the number of clients you would want to work with each and every month, can give you a far more profitable pricing strategy and solid business model to work within.

Selling time can be a darn sight simpler and easier

3) Selling your time for money can be a darn sight simpler and easier business to run than an online empire.

Don’t get me wrong, once you’ve started to automate and systemise your business, marketing, administrative and customer service functions, an online empire does not need to be complicated; hence why laptop lifestyle images of sitting on a golden beach often tempt cash-poor business owners. But the work, effort, blood, sweat and tears needed to get to this point just isn’t shared enough by the gurus and the experts who promote this kind of business lifestyle.

I’ve seen dozens of people, often good business buddies, slowly fizzle out and lose their mojo, drive and determination trying to create the digital systems to support a product based business. When all you have to sell is your time, the most complex of digital systems you need is a basic website. There’s no need for any e-commerce set up, or hair pulling over setting up card payments and merchant accounts or syncing your email marketing systems with your e-learning platforms. I know plenty of people who would consider a product based business a trap because of the technology vortex you get sucked into.

Selling time is quick, efficient and good for cashflow

4) You can sell your time quickly and efficiently, which is incredibly important if you need to get cash flow quickly.

Creating sales for 1-2-1 coaching, therapy or consultancy services can be as simple as having a phone call or two with the right person at the right time. And I’ve proved to my clients time and time again the power of the conversation, which is a skill sadly becoming forgotten in this modern world of marketing.

When focusing your time on productising your expertise, it could be months before you see a decent return on your investment; in some cases a year or two. And when a lack of cash flow often means you have to bootstrap, the whole process can take you far longer than needed and you can end up with an inferior product to sell. Working with clients and charging them for your time while developing your products and programmes can not only keep your finger on the pulse with what’s working but generates critical cash flow for you to not only live on but also use to invest in your project. Investment in resources such as outsourcing technical support, web design and video production can mean you end up with a more professional product done in half the time of trying to DIY it.

Selling the time that you have may be just enough for you

4) How much money do you really want to earn?

The simplistic example I used at the beginning gave you £96,000. But what if all you want to earn is £50,000? Or even just £30,000? Perhaps just £2,000 a month is all that you need to live or make a difference to your life. And if you don’t want to be working away on your business for 60+ hours a week (the reality of creating a product based business and turning your expertise into online courses and programmes), then selling your time for money may just be the simplest, easiest and most stress-free of achieving your financial goals.

Yes, I’m sure money isn’t the only reason you are doing what you are doing, but before you slog through another two or three months of blood, sweat and tears, without any financial rewards, take a moment to breathe. Reflect on what’s going to work best for you and what you’re trying to achieve. There are ways of pricing and packaging your services so that you are still selling your time for money, but it’s not the stressful hourly rate conveyor belt.

So is selling your time for money a trap?

Only you can decide if this is the case. A trap is a trap only if you let it. I know from personal experience how much of a trap setting up multiple streams of income and digital products can be. But I also know that charging £50 an hour, working 40 hours a week is not going to get you far over the long term; not if you value your health, wellbeing and sanity that is.

But I hope from you reading this; you can take a step back from so many of the courses and programmes that look to sell the dangers of the Time For Money Trap. These messages that pull at your heart strings and create a compelling, emotional arguments against selling your time for money, especially when you’ve not quite found your calling in life or feel frustrated that you haven’t found the success you’d hoped for by now.

Digital courses, online programmes and productising your expertise can create hugely profitable businesses but can they help you create your True Profit? Can they help you find your way, your process and help you show up as your best self?

Don’t be afraid of bucking of the trend and selling your time for money if that’s your way. Because it may just be the right way for you.

I’d love to know what you think about selling your time for money. Is it a trap for you? And if so, how are you trying to avoid getting caught? Or is selling your time the best path for you? Leave a comment below. I’d love to read your thoughts.

Business Conversations: nature or nurture?

by Karen Skidmore | 08,16 | Marketing Articles

Business Conversations: nature or nurture?

Business conversations: nature or nurture? I don’t know how you feel about having in-person conversations but, just from the very fact I have to use the phrase “in-person” in front of the word conversation, I know too many of our business conversations happen digitally now. Our fast paced digital world is making it easier and easier to fire off mass communications, set-and-forget social media updates and reduce hour long meetings to a three-word text. Nothing wrong with saving time, being more efficient and putting a stop to time-sucking meetings, but it concerns me that we are losing our skill of conversing in real time; whether in a face to face meeting, speaking on the phone or using Skype on video. Having two teenagers in the house just demonstrates this is only going to get worse when they tell me they’ve been chatting with their friends … when they mean, they’ve been sending selfies, plastered with emojis, to each other. Am I right?!

Losing your skill of business conversation

Losing your skill of conversing in real time means that you are missing out on valuable feedback and potential sales for your business. Asking your customers to fill in a survey or ask for comments on a Facebook post or setting up a robust online campaign that drives traffic to a sales page … all good. But nothing beats having a 20-minute conversation with someone where you can pick up nuances, body language, specific phrases, raised eyebrows and not forgetting the silences that often tell a bigger story. You can dive into a different line of questioning based on one answer and ask the other person to expand on thoughts, feelings and emotions. Feedback like this can give you all sorts of buying (and non-buying!) signals that often lead you to make a sale, even if that wasn’t the original objective of the conversation. And, now that I’ve brought up that phrase “making a sale”, this is where I feel the real reason why so many people are shying away from in-person interactions; you’ve started to become fearful of selling.

Fearful of selling?

If you were to tell me what you thought of when you read the word “selling”, what would you say? Second car salesman? Powerpoint presentations? Show pony pitch fest? I’ve been mentoring small business owners for 12 years and the fear of selling and coming across as salesy comes up time and time and time again. I see it because it was the same for me, too. Going back to when I first started in 2004, I embraced all things digital because, yes online marketing was essential to building a business, but I’ll be the first to admit that I felt working behind a screen also meant that I didn’t have to speak to someone to make a sale. It took almost six years to kick that habit and although I still do a lot of selling by clicks, selling by conversation has become far more lucrative, profitable and, dare I admit it, fun! Yes, having conversations with human beings are fun … even for an introvert like myself who rather stick a fork in her eye than try and make small talk at a party. Let’s be clear here that when I refer to conversations in business, I’m NOT referring to sales pitches, overcoming objections or squeezing a yes out of your customers. I’m talking about conversations that give value; that are 10% questioning, 80% listening and just 10% talking about you and what you do. So, coming back to my original question.

Business conversations: are they nature or are they nurture?

Are you born with the genetic makeup that means you enjoy speaking with people, and conversational flow is natural? Or do you have to work at conversations; develop the skill and art of being able to have a two-way interaction? There’s no doubt some people appear to born with the ease of conversation. You probably can think of a friend or perhaps feel it in yourself. But on the whole, most people have to work at conversational skills, and this is a good thing, believe me. As a skill, having a conversation is something that can be studied, practised and tried out. And before we had businesses that could be run 100% digitally, conversation in business was critical. All we had was a phone, royal mail and a good pair of leather shoes so arranging face to face meetings was the only way to make sales. Fortunately, we don’t have to be door-to-door salesmen anymore (although there are some businesses that still rely on this marketing strategy – Riverford Organics and the Mormon church being just two that spring to mind!). But with digital marketing comes the ability to hide behind your screens and pretend to yourself that creating websites, marketing funnels and setting up sales pages is the only way to build a business. And the more you spend hiding behind your screens, the fewer opportunities you get to have in-person conversations, the less likely you are to put yourself out there to have them. The vicious circle spirals out of control and before you know, you’re stuck at home, feeling lonely and frustrated because the only conversations you are having is with your Facebook feed and email list.

OK … time to hear from you.

I’d love to know your thoughts on picking up the phone or arranging a coffee meet with potential customers. Do you use your digital marketing as an excuse to avoid in-person interactions at all times? Or do you really, truly feel that not speaking or meeting people works better for you and your business? Leave a comment below and tell me your thoughts on the matter. And if this article has touched a nerve and made you realise that you are missing out on conversations in your business, but you just don’t know how to get yourself out of the digital rut, then check out my 10 Day Conversation Challenge starting on Monday 5th September. I promise you it’s going to be a lot of fun, a fabulous way to practice the art and skill of creating conversations and a perfect post-holiday kick into the Autumn. Go to www.karenskidmore.com/10days for more info and to sign up. It’s FREE!