Do you know if your marketing efforts are backfiring on you? Look
through the list to ensure that your well meaning work is actually
causing you professional harm:
Talk LOUDER.
If someone isn’t paying attention to you, you might be tempted to raise
your voice. The first time you do it, it seems to work. But eventually
people learn to tune you out, since you’re not saying anything new –
just LOUDER. This is true not only for face-to-face conversations, but
also in print (bigger font size, flashier graphics, etc.). Make sure
your communications are worth listening to.
Talk Non-Stop. If you’re monologue-ing your
conversation, you’re not listening to your prospect. First, ask
questions to qualify them. Find out what types of problems they have and
then craft a message that shows you listened.
Talk Repetitively. Don’t find 10 ways to say the
same thing. While repetition is important to ensure that your key points
aren’t missed, respect your audience’s intelligence. If the first way
you say something isn’t interesting, neither will the tenth repetition.
Talk More Often. If you email someone once a month,
then emailing them once a week is unlikely to endear yourself to them.
If you have something new to say, say it. If you don’t, respect your
prospect’s time.
Talk Nonsense. We get caught up in the latest
buzzwords and keywords. Pretty soon no one can quickly make sense of
what you’re saying. The goal is to talk simply to be understood. Once
you’re sure your prospect likes to use buzzwords, by all means shower
them with words. Until then, speak naturally in all your communication.