Talk Their Talk

One of my friends and colleagues, Jasbindar Singh, the CEO of SQ Consulting in Auckland, New Zealand, has just released her new book "Get Your Groove Back". Here she is at the book launch:

It's an excellent book, but in this article I'd like to focus only on the title.

You see, Jasbindar is a Thought Leader who talks about SQ, or "spiritual intelligence".

Huh? Spiritual intelligence? What's that? (I hear you cry!) And that's the problem. If she had called her book "Spiritual Intelligence" or "SQ in the Workplace" or something like that, most people wouldn't have given it a second glance.

But she was smart enough to choose a title that resonated with her readers. Nobody goes around thinking that they should get more spiritual intelligence; but many do think that they've "lost their groove". So the title Get Your Groove Back is perfect for them.

Here's the point ...

Talk their talk. Many experts make the mistake of describing what they do in terms that they understand themselves. But that doesn't have anything to do with what their clients are thinking. If instead you enter the conversation in their mind, you engage them instantly, create rapport, and open the door to further conversation.

I call this Gravity Marketing.

In high-school physics, we were taught that the gravitational attraction between two objects depends on three things:

  1. The size of the first object;
  2. The size of the second object; and
  3. How close they are to each other.

Apply this same principle to your business. The attraction between you and your clients depends on:

  1. Your expertise;
  2. Their problems and desires; and
  3. How well you connect your expertise with their desires.

If you don't do the crucial third step, you'll never fall within the gravitational field of your clients.

I'll give you more examples ...

My Web design company First Step builds Web sites for speakers. Easy to understand, right? I could have said "First Step creates online strategies for infopreneurs". But that's not anywhere near as clear as "We build Web sites for speakers".

One of my friends is a mortgage broker. In technical terms, his job is equity financing for consumers. But does he say that to his clients??? No, he finds them the best home loan.

Do you say that you're a Personal Peak Performance Catalyst? No, you're not - you're a life coach!

Get the point?

OK, I know that this simplified version probably doesn't do you justice. First Step does more than just "Web design"; Damian does more than "finding a home loan"; and spiritual intelligence is about more than just "finding your groove".

You know that, but your prospective clients don't. If you don't engage them first, they will never get the chance to find out.

How do you enter the conversation in their mind?

  1. Listen to their language. What are the common words and phrases they use? Use the same words and phrases in your marketing, even if they don't fully describe what you do.
  2. Use inventory.overture.com, a no-cost tool to discover what words people use when searching on the Internet.
  3. Survey your e-mail newsletter readers, asking them to tell you their biggest challenges and problems. Look at the words they use in their responses.
  4. If you'd like to do this really well, learn how to buy Google advertising so you can display two ads with different wording to find out which one is more popular.
Whatever you do - whether it's one of these methods or something else - it's crucial that you learn to talk their talk. Only then will you start the conversation that leads you to deeper engagement and on-going success.

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Gihan Perera is an Internet coach who helps business professionals with e-marketing and e-learning. He's the author of "Web Sites for Speakers, Trainers, Coaches and Consultants" and "Fast, Flat and Free: How the Internet Has Changed Your Business". Visit http://GihanPerera.com and get your complimentary special reports.

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