Earlier this week, on a call with a client, I said verbatim (with a few identifying details removed):
We want to create something “that can be reinforced in every message, instead of the feeling that a lot of organizations have, which is that every message is kind of doing its own thing.
And many of them are not working together, and you’re never quite sure which one was the good one, or which one was the one we need to adjust.
So, if we can start from a place of having as much focus as we can from the beginning, that allows us to adjust one variable at a time, and test and experiment, versus the sensation of trying everything new every time, and never knowing.”
I had to pause because, on the other end of the Zoom, we could see the client laughing out loud.
In fact, she said: “This is, you know, I– I’m just laughing, because that is what we’re doing. We’re literally throwing everything and anything at the wall to see what sticks. And then we don’t know which ones are the things that are sticking.”
But how did we know that this was the challenge they’d been having?
Because we reassured her that, “That’s kind of the default state for most organizations. So our job is to kind of shake things up a little bit, but not in a sense of changing for the sake of change, but changing for the sake of focus. And focus for the sake of measurement. And measurement for the sake of improving.”
Ultimately, when you know what you’re doing you rarely encounter truly novel situations. When you do, you can rise to it because you have so much experience to fall back on.
But, most of the time, you’ve seen the same or similar challenges before, just in different shapes, costumes, or contexts.
That doesn’t mean you’re not paying attention, it means you’re paying special attention to patterns.
So here’s what I want you to do:
Write down the challenges you keep seeing. By identifying the challenge your ideal client is having before you’ve even met them, you can demonstrate your expertise at a distance.
I know this type of “see what I just did there” thing can be a little tiresome, so I usually try to avoid it, but see what I just did there?
By showing you that I was able to predict the problem a client was having before I knew they had it, I’m able to demonstrate that I’ve done this before.
That’s what your content can do, too.
By pointing out the common challenges you’ve seen, you provide your prospect with both relief and a signal of credibility.
You start helping before the work even begins, because you show them that progress is possible, because you’ve helped others make similar progress before.
All you have to do is notice the patterns and point them out.
Kelford Inc. are content marketers for expert advisors. If you’re struggling with what to say and where to say it to attract your ideal clients, we’ll show you the way.