Influence Reboot – increasing your influence to win trust and work
As the agency industry develops and improves, it becomes increasingly difficult to stand out from the crowd and make an impact on clients. People are too busy dealing with numbers, projects and inside jobs to take the time to take a step back and look at what needs improving in their agency.
At a Drum Network chapter event held last week, John Scarrott, trainer and coach, stimulated a discussion about what agencies hope to improve within the areas of speaking, selling and networking. Participants were encouraged to send in suggestions and concerns beforehand and three particular themes highlighted issues for competing agencies:
How do we sell without appearing ‘salesy’?
How do we differentiate ourselves in an ever-growing market?
How do we increase awareness of our offering and elevate our profile in a crowded market?
Following the presentation and discussion, John has put together a step-by-step guide to achieving these results and how agencies can differentiate themselves from the rest:
How do we sell without appearing ‘salesy’?
What is salesy behaviour? If you know what salesy sounds, looks and feels like to you, then you can start to create your idea of the opposite, and behave according to that. So, what might someone be doing, thinking or feeling that could be interpreted as ‘salesy’? Here are some things to get you started:
“Foot in the door, begging, manipulative, fake, turns into a commodity, ego driven, extrovert, talkers, persistent, talking ‘at’, getting a meeting, showing a portfolio, ‘us’.”
And what about the opposite? Here are some ideas:
“Support discovery, facilitate thinking, about the client, rapport and trust, collaborative, curious, listeners, open, flexible, passion for client, talking with, insight and discovery for your client.”
In order to stop falling into a particular category, you need to understand it. Make your list of salesy ideas, actions and behaviours, the things you do that you believe to be salesy. Write down the opposite, and then work on developing your behaviour so that it matches that second list.
How do we differentiate ourselves in an ever growing market?
When it comes to the agency landscape, does it ever seem to you that everyone says broadly the same thing and therefore everyone looks the same? If so, why is this the case? Are they really the same? Of course not, that’s not possible. So what is the problem?
The problem could be that everyone is talking about what they do.
What’s the alternative? – You could start with why.
Developed by Simon Sinek, this is the idea that you should start with why you do what you do rather than what you do; it’s when you get to understand why you do what you do and what’s important about that, that you discover your purpose. When you articulate that, it will be easier to step away from the crowd and stand out. You will also step towards your perfect client; They will step towards you. You will find each other on purpose.
How do we increase awareness of our offering and elevate our profile in crowded markets?
One way to increase awareness of your offer is to is to do things that the ‘crowd’ doesn’t do.
Have real conversations with your clients (start with your current clients). Have them, off project, away from a pitch. Make them just about what’s now and what’s the future. Then, begin writing. Use what you learn from your conversations and turn that into insight that you can share with your clients and get published. There are online journals crying out for great content.
When you know your stuff, start speaking and presenting. Find the events that your clients go to, find out who organises them and send them your idea for a talk and why their delegates would pay to hear it. Associations are a big starting point for these opportunities.
Why does this work?
At every stage of the above, there are fewer and fewer people doing it. Not because it is impossible, but because it takes effort, discipline and hard work. A lot of people don’t want to put that into achieving their goals, so they simply adjust their goals downwards accordingly or find explanations as to why they can’t do it. You could be the one who really takes the initiative and builds a healthy relationship, putting your clients' needs first.
So what about you, what will you do next?
John Scarrott is a trainer and coach specialising in influential communication for the marketing, design and creative agency community.