In my previous article I shared the amazing lessons delivered by the ladies on Bachelor. Forever I thought this show was a complete waste of time, but now I’m convinced there’s a lot to be learned from the people who are tasked with making an impression on someone in seconds and outlasting every other competitor who’s looking for the same result. In fact, that’s how I’d summarize my sales and marketing experience. If you didn’t catch my previous article, you can find it here.
In episode 2, there are 3 strong lessons that directly apply to business leaders looking to grow brand, leads, and sales results. Without further ado…
Create your Ideal Customer Persona!
Peter (the bachelor) holds on to past feelings with Hannah and invites her back to the house to compete with the other girls. Hannah dropped him like a bad habit in the season prior, but now that’s she’s been unsuccessful in her relationships she appears to be coming back often in Peter’s show. Peter knows he and Hannah were unsuccessful in the past but his emotions, and fear of not finding love are getting the best of him. If you remove emotions, his actions would suggest he’s crazy. But emotions are what makes us human!
Related: Private message me to get a customer avatar worksheet.
I’ve found we make the same mistakes in the business world. We as business leaders hold onto bad customers, and spend far too much time marketing to prospects who are not a good fit for our organizations. Drawn out, leaky, slow pipelines directly reflect this fact every day. If you are making sales and marketing decisions without an Ideal Customer Profile/Customer Avatar this challenge is most likely costing you significant sales, leads, market share, visibility and sales confidence.
Get you Confirmation Bias in check!
What is confirmation bias? Confirmation Bias is the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms or strengthens one’s prior personal beliefs or hypotheses. It is a type of cognitive bias. In this episode, Kelsey was described as a “hot mess.” I felt for her a few times in this episode especially when the champagne exploded in her face.. She had a few bad breaks, but in life, who doesn’t? Instead of finding opportunities to fix her situation, she spent all her calories focusing on the negative and convincing herself she was wronged. Her attitude made it hard to be around her. She even passed on an opportunity to get Peter’s attention at the rose ceremony by offering a toast. Until something positive happened for her, she was caught in negative thought tracks.
This bias is very dangerous especially if you aren’t aware of it. Business leaders can convince themselves of just about anything and that can be hazardous when considering customer pain points, factors for purchasing, motivations, and how those details inform your prospecting, marketing, sales, and event efforts. I find sales leaders often times answer foundational questions on customers’ behalf and almost always get it wrong leading to poor marketing and sales results. Instead of answering these details yourself, schedule buyer, sales team, and customer service interviews to stay fresh on what matters most to your customers. When interviewing make sure you’re listening to understand rather than listening to respond. This helps you overcome your confirmation bias.
Get Bold!
Veronica is a beast, and it amazes me how insecure she is. Her last minute heroic model walk put her back on the map with Peter. It wasn’t her modeling experience, techniques, or form that made her competitive. In fact, Hannah was superior in every aspect of that challenge. Hannah should have won that challenge as modeling is her full time job. Instead of spending every second convincing herself she would lose, Veronica went all out by showing a great performance, and completing her walk by bringing in Peter for the real thing! This was baller to say the least! She stepped out of the modeling challenge and focused on who really mattered… Peter.
In today’s economy, large organizations have little advantage over the rest of the market. Startups every year are taking market share with a fraction of the staff, experience, and financial resources larger companies have at their disposal. It’s easier today than ever before to specialize, and get your message in front of your buyers. It’s also easier than ever for customers to ignore you and send their attention to any competitor. For this reason, make sure you understand what matters most to your customer, and get your message in front of them in bold sustaining ways. Find ways to get out of obscurity, break through the digital noise and provide your prospects with valuable information that helps them achieve their 2020 vision.
Related: Private message me if you want to brainstorm how you can break through the digital noise, and set 10%-15% appointments with cold leads by leveraging promotional items.
Next Step?
What market opportunities do you most relate to Veronica? What’s holding you back from breaking the rules and getting someones attention? Are you going to take Veronica’s approach, or the 7 other ladies’ whom we cannot remember their name?