I was presenting at my business intensive the other week when out of nowhere, one of my mentees was sprawled all over the floor looking like a contortionist.
When he got up smiling, we soon realized that in fact, it was the chair that was worse for wear… it was now missing a leg.
And just like that, the base of support was ruined and this chair was getting tossed in the bin.
But you might be wondering why I’m telling you this.
Well, it’s because many of us — unknowingly and definitely unintentionally — treat our prospects the same way…
We expect them to sit on a chair with one leg missing.
Which of course, is no fun for anyone, and it’s why it should come as no surprise when most of the addressable market doesn’t ‘take a seat’ and become a customer.
Let me explain.
At its core, marketing can be broken down into 4 ‘legs’, and if your prospect is going to bond with you, all four legs need to have a stable footing.
Want to know what they are? Chances are, you probably already know at least three of them.
1. Your offer needs to be underpinned by a big idea; a compelling and visceral motivation for your product/service to be in the market that serves a real market need and addresses a real market problem.
2. It needs to be laced with dimensionalized benefits — providing the prospect with physical, emotional, and psychosocial upside that outweighs the cost.
3. It needs to be obvious how it differentiates — because if it doesn’t stand out, it’s getting drowned out.
But the fourth?
Well, this is the missing piece for most.
The fourth leg of marketing…
Is appeal.
Appeal answers the following questions in your prospect’s mind:
Can you be trusted?
Can you be liked?
Do you deserve my attention?
And it’s these three questions that so regularly go unanswered in your prospect’s minds and it’s almost certainly why they don’t act.
Without appeal and affinity toward you, the game is already over.
So what to do about this conundrum?
Well, let’s pull out the ol’ Likert scale and assess yourself on the following 4 questions, rating yourself out of 5 (5 being you’re nailing it).
1. How relatable am I?
2. How do I establish trust?
3. How do I foster dialogue?
4. How do I demonstrate empathy?
Get over 16?
In that case, you probably are reading this knowing you are rocking your marketing.
Less than that?
You have an opportunity to put your chair back together.
See, before prospects BUY, prospects BOND.
Case in point:
I was on a call yesterday with a new mentee who casually said:
“I listen to every podcast, read everything you write, and watch everything you say. I kinda felt like you were my mentor already.”
That’s what bonding is. It’s relatability, familiarity, and trust BEFORE money ever exchanges hands. And for most, it’s THE missing ingredient in your marketing message.
Which is why I’m going to dive deep into it this month in the Alley-Oop.
And for those of you who subscribe, you are going to have strategies that harness the power of gravitational pull, so prospects feel connected with you — like they know you like a friend — well before you ever start working with them.
Wouldn’t that be a nice change from the norm, huh?
For the 100+ subscribers who are already on the list…strap in for a treat because this is going to be a goodie.
For everyone else, ask yourself this:
How many people could be working with me right now, if I made myself more relatable, trustworthy, and accessible because I knew what to say, how to say it, and how to act for the prospects who aren’t already in my ecosystem?
If the answer is more than 1 person then you’ve already covered the cost of subscribing by a significant margin… so it’s really just a choice as to whether you want to serve your prospects more meaningfully before they ever pay you, or if you’d prefer to wait until money changes hands to demonstrate you care.
Up to you.
Here’s the link if your mind already knows the former is the winning strategy:
– Karl Goodman
