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Marketing & Selling to Solo Professionals, Entrepreneurs and Practitioners: Why and How To, Part 3

In part 2 of this series, we introduced the concept of the target group, the answer to the question: “who” will be my buyers, where do they live, how do I reach them, is there enough of them to make it worthwhile, do they have the money to buy and are they willing to buy what I want to sell? Defining the target group is of great importance. You have to set your sights on a much focused, defined target of opportunity. You might call this market opportunity a special “niche”. This market niche is your best opportunity. It’s a small, but potentially lucrative sliver, usually of a much larger market segment, occupied by a very select group of people who have the money and the inclination to buy what you can offer. You’re no longer marketing to a large or what we call mass market, competing with every Tom, Dick and Sally. You are not trying to be all things to all people. You only want to be all things to this select group of people. Niches are easier to defend, and the big boys don’t often pay much attention, because niches are considered too small to warrant the effort and potential payback required by the large publicly-traded corporations. If you play it right, the game is yours.

Once you have identified your target audience, and the niche in which they reside, work or play, then you must figure out the best way to reach, inform and motivate them to take a good look at you and what you offer. The way to do this is with the Unique Selling Proposition (for a more detailed explanation of the U.S.P. and its pivotal role in marketing, see my previous article “Flying Blind without the 2 Secrets of the U.S.P.”) Simply put, the USP is the way you differentiate yourself from your competitors...preemptively. By preemptively, I mean by doing it incisively; by being first into the market, by making it very difficult to be copied by competitors, unless they want to risk being mocked as a me-too or copy-cats.

If you wish to be positioned in the mind of your prospects as a straight-shooter, right-down-the-line, conservative type, then there are obvious things you can do to attract attention to yourself; but at the same time, do things that demonstrate that you are the one for the job. If, as another example, you want to be positioned possibly as a bit of a maverick, or outlaw, not prone to be the same as others, and often taking a path others fear to tread, then there are ways you can dress, act, speak, write, deliver speeches and others, that will give people the idea that you are not like the rest of the consultants, professionals, practitioners or service providers.

The preemptive part is the hardest to pull off. But you must. This is the essence of what most often sets you apart, positively. It is the part that will stick in the mind of the beholding prospective client. Even two decades later, I still get asked: “aren’t you the guy who used to give speeches, doing that “shirt” thing?” They may have forgotten my name, but not my distinctive bit that set me apart from the other speakers and consultants. This helped me be preemptive in the “giving speeches game”. Keep in mind that giving speeches and being thought of being the consummate expert in your field, is the best way to be invited to pitch your services to a prospective client. Once you get your big fat foot in the door, the “selling” is up to you, one-on-one.

Which brings me to the specific tactics you can now employ, depending on the U.S.P. you have adopted. Let’s just discuss a few that might come in handy for you. Naturally, you can write informative, helpful, relevant articles/columns that are not self-serving “puff pieces”. Write for industry journals and for the general media, but write to help the people you hope to work with. If you can’t write, learn quickly, or get someone like me to write these articles for you. Then join industry and local community groups that might be a source of good leads and opportunities. Start offering to give speeches at the Social, Service, Scientific, Medical, Military, Educational, Entertainment, Religious, Recreational, and Fraternal organizations, sororities, fraternities or associations in your town. Use the word: ‘SMERF’ to remember the classifications of each group. If you need help, consult the Thomson-Gale Directory of Associations available free in most good libraries.

When you give speeches, consider you are making sales calls on dozens of prospects at the same time. Make it count. Do you homework. Be sure to include some references to your audience and something they will immediately recognize that perhaps only an “insider” might know or care about. This heightens your credibility. Make sure they are aware and hear what you say. Most importan is: that they remember you. Give them a “memory-hook” to remember you by. Say it loud and well. Differentiate yourself and do it preemptively. Immediately after you deliver speeches, you will receive telephone calls or emails to discuss matters privately. This is your chance. Now you have that big fat foot in the door.

© Copyright, Roy W. MacNaughton, 2006

Roy MacNaughton is a niche marketing coach and business writer. He’s a seasoned marketer, with more than 30 years of international marketing experience, including nine years online. His new e-book, (Marketing Yours), teaches solo practitioners, entrepreneurs and professionals how to market their most important product. Learn more at his blog: http://www.UmarketingU.com

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