Stop spinning your wheels wondering why customers are not buying. Customers today don't care what you know, they want to know that you care. Figure out what they want and do that. You must talk to them and see them to accomplish that.
The best consultation I give to the small and mid-sized businesses is to free up the desktime you spend in exchange for facetime with clients. No client is going to be dazzled by all the high-tech you can muster to streamline your operations if they don't get to see you or at least hear from you. They won't be impressed by all the community activities you sponsor, only the ones at which they see you.
Rather than a product- or service-oriented marketing approach, creating a human-centered marketing approach puts your client or prospect first. That's precisely how you win customers today. And how you keep them. And how you earn referrals from them.
What does it take to execute on a truly human-centered marketing approach? Here's an infographic, used with permission, from author, Mark Schaefer. He says, "The manifesto list fluctuated and I was constantly messing it with it right up to the end. I’m pretty happy with the result and I’m offering this as a free infographic, created by Paris Woodhull. "
The takeaway from this is that #10 on the 'manifesto' is #1. We can work together to streamline your business to maximize efficiency, but if you're not taking that efficiency as an opportunity to be visible and relevant to your customer base, it's a missed opportunity.
There's a bit in Schaefer's list that mentions 'relentless honesty.' I think this is so critical for today's entrepreneuer. People don't trust people they don't see. It's in the eyes, actually. Mammals are hard-wired to instinctively evaluate trustworthiness (and whether or not we're comfortable giving our business to someone) by that person's eyes. According to research reported on in Psychology Today, “liars maintain more deliberate eye contact than do truthful people.” Also, those who are honest will maintain a consistent rhythm of blinking when they speak according to the Daily Mail, and will blink more slowly when they aren't truthful. You could be as honest as Abe, but your clients need to see you to judge that for themselves.
