Little Audio Dynamite Darrel Griffin

If you’re in business you've probably been asked:

"What's your USP?"

(What's your Unique Selling Point?)

Many of us find this question a challenge.

We grapple internally for an answer.

Outstanding service, years of experience, passion…?

All important, don’t get me wrong.

But perhaps your USP is more obvious.

Perhaps your USP is YOU.

Your integrity, generosity, empathy, selflessness...

They're all values which can set us apart.

Particularly if our competitors don't value them as much.

Becoming the most selfless real estate agent will set you apart.

Becoming the most empathetic financial advisor will set you apart.

It's not all about the hard skills, friends.

Often it's the soft skills - or the essential skills, as Seth Godin calls them - which set us apart.

And they’re often the skills that draw others to us.

The skills that make us more likeable.

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Are you undervaluing - or underplaying - your soft skills?

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😬 LINKEDIN FRUSTRATING YOU?

Then here’s what to do about it…

Don’t make lead generation your primary focus

Make becoming a valuable resource your primary focus

Why?

Because LinkedIn is a social medium, not a sales medium

If you don’t respect the social dynamic of the platform, don’t be surprised if it doesn’t work for you effectively

My advice?

Don’t put the cart before the horse

Make it all about them - all about the potential customer

Here’s what works practically:

👊 Populate your profile for them - their pains, their dreams - and only then offer your solution

👊 Package your services well - make them easy to understand and easy to buy

👊 Create content that showcases your expertise - identify problems your potential customers face and address them empathetically

👊 Engage with others’ content - ask questions, converse, build rapport, conceive relationships. Become ‘liked’ in the digital landscape

👊 Find potential customers with LinkedIn Search and follow them - engage with their content in order to begin the rapport-building process

👊 Do this consistently and well - and watch what happens…

😎 Fancy logo? Check.
😎 Schmick website? Check.
😎 Polished personal brand? Check.
😎 Posting on social media? Check.
😢 Zero enquiries? Check.

I've seen it enough times over the years.

Serious money spent, but very little to show for it...

“What’s worse than finding a worm in your apple?”

“I don’t know - what’s worse than finding a worm in your apple?”

“Finding half a worm in your apple.”

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I hope that joke made you laugh this morning.

However, if you know me you’ll know I’m going to make a serious point...!

Let’s imagine the shiny, delicious-looking apple is our marketing.

The potential customer bites…

Only to find the apple isn’t all it’s portrayed to be.

We can be so concerned about the outward appearance of our business that we neglect the business itself.

In our rush to implement the latest marketing tactic, we can forget this:

The packaging ain’t the product.

Steve Martin, the famous comedian, says something similar.

“I was talking to some acting students and they were saying things like, ‘How do I get an agent?’ and ‘Where do I get my headshots?’

“And I just thought, shouldn’t the first thing you’re thinking about be, ‘How do I be good?’”

Yes, marketing matters.

But not nearly as much as what we’re selling if the marketing works.

Let’s not put the cart before the horse, hey?

🙂 I'm an Englishman
👶 Born in Bournemouth in 1966
💪 Working-class roots
🥶 No central heating
📺 Black and white television set...

WATCH INSTEAD

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I’ve been entrepreneurial for as long as I can remember.

(Not always successfully. I was bankrupt from a business failure at 25.)

I’ve been an all-or-nothing personality type for as long as I can remember, too.

And therein lies a potential time bomb for those like me...

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