They won’t do the work to understand you

Marketers talk about what they do. What their company does. How they solve problems. 

Nobody is listening, because to listen means to do the work to understand why they care.  

Often marketing consists of talking about the intricacies of things that we are interested in, the solutions we have, the process we follow, features, benefits and the obituaries of jobs past. 

We blast this information out to people and expect them to say, “Oh yeah, that’s great, I want that.” We hope they are interested in what we do.  

They won’t be.  They don’t care.  

Because, assuming your prospects are human, they are listening for themselves. 

They want to know how to apply everything that you are talking about to their life.  What does it mean for them that you transform? What does it mean for them that you have this great strategy experience?  What does it mean that you’re a fantastic coach?  Why would I ever care that your wind turbine has titanium ball bearings? 

When you talk about yourself, they have to figure it this out.  

They won’t do the work.  

They are bombarded with marketers trumpeting their capabilities.  There is so much noise out there about so many people doing so much stuff, everybody rattles on about themselves, taking pictures of their meals while they do it, that nobody can sort through it all. 

The world is awash with information about what people do. Paying attention is impossible. 

If you want your prospects or your market to pay attention, you have to lead with what your solution means for them. 

Here is a practical example that I use in our workshop:

I asked a guy what problem he solves.  He sent me 12 case studies. Each was three to five pages long. He said to me, “Read these case studies, and you will understand the problem I solve.”

I’m busy. What is the likelihood that I’m going to spend the next half a day reading all of these case studies, this small font, and try to decipher from that what it is he does? 

It’s just not going to happen. 

Even worse, he blew past a sale. He had the opportunity to say, “Ah, the problem I solve is X,” and if I had that problem, we’d be in a conversation.

I would have gone from overworked and uninterested to attentive and listening.  

Instead, he made me work for the sale.  I don’t have the time, the interest or the mental energy to do that work.  I don’t want to sell myself. 

Nobody does.  Our brains have evolved specifically to toss out and ignore this type of work.  

That’s this whole idea of the reptile brain versus the neocortex; if you are leading with this neocortex dreck, you make people think, and you require them to work against the biological structure of their brain.  

You want them to do the work to make the sale.  

That isn’t going to happen. 

They’re not going to be interested.

So don’t make people think. 

Be very clear about the problem you solve.  Put that right up front and don’t make people work for it.  Lead with the problem you solve.  Lead with the information that matters to the listener.  

I’d love to hear your thoughts, your comments and some of the problems that you solve, just put them in the comments below.  What problem do you solve?

If you don’t know, think about it. Meditate on it.  Stop writing case studies and career obituaries and figure out what problem you solve.  

You might attract new prospects.