The Brand ED Podcast

4 Wins, Issue 272
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[00:00:00]

Robby Fowler: You catch yourself walking a prospect through your process and you watch their eyes glaze over the moment you start sounding like an art critic. I'm Robby Fowler, and welcome to issue two seventy-two of the 4 Wins, where each week you get something to try, apply, ponder, and relate to.

Let's jump into this week's issue.

Win #1: Something to try
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Robby Fowler: Put your phone down. Are you with me? You're familiar with this addiction or maybe problem. It's you, it's your team, you're all together, but it's you guys and your attention versus the voodoo-backed algorithms of all of those social media giants. That's not really a fair fight. So here's a phone, I mean, fun, well, actually phone solution.

It's called Nomo, as in no more missing out. It's a screen time app that takes a different angle.

NOMO app
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Robby Fowler: Most screen time apps try to address the problem by blocking social media with that shame-on-you wag of the finger.

Nomo uses a reward system approach. Earnable perks dangle merch or NFL or NBA tickets and even board [00:01:00] games as motivation carrots.

Another great feature is that your team could actually make it a game. You could compete together with leaderboards and bragging rights

It's a great way to get your whole team more productive.

My favorite is the Nomo fist bump. You bump phones with someone in real life to lock social media for 30 or 60 minutes. It's perfect for focus, a working session, or just being present with one another in a meeting.

Noma has some other options for parents or for educators, so if that fits your context, I recommend you go check it out. And also just visiting their website is worth it. It's a really well-designed site. Think you would like it.

Win #2: Something a client recently asked
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Robby Fowler: Win number two, something a client recently asked. We're in part three of our series called Why Nobody's Buying What You're Best At. Here's the challenge clients share with me. I'm really good at what I do. I've got clients. I've got proof. So why is nobody buying it?

This week, shut up about the art. Last week, we looked at how we tend to try to [00:02:00] make things in our marketing prettier, or we make them longer, or we even try to make the thing that we offer better when our marketing isn't working, and that still leaves buyers comparing you on price. This week, we're going to look at how to be a mind reader.

Believe it or not, founders of expert-led service businesses, medical specialists, and even established consultants are the same in this way. Like the talented artist, they're masters at their craft.

Here's the thing about talented artist. When a normal person like yourself shops for art, and I'm talking about real art, you're probably intimidated. You're smart enough to know that the artsy folks get for real serious about good art, and most of that sounds like Latin to you.

So when you try to engage with the artist, your eyes begin to wash over. Your palms may start sweating as they start heading into color theory. Now, here's the crux of the [00:03:00] learning for how you can be a mind reader. Your buyer doesn't need color theory. They need what the art does for their office or their life.

One sentence, not a lecture. In other words, here's what goes through your prospect's mind when they're in buying mode. In their mind, they're thinking, "What does this get me?" Let me give you two client examples to help you see how you can begin to read your client's mind. Client A is a health coach, and this client would say, "I sell ABC Comprehensive Health Program, which includes your nervous system, your blood sugar stability, and daily accountability." Here's what's going on in that prospect's mind.

" I want to understand why absolutely nothing has worked to get this weight off because I've tried everything."

Here's a second example. Client B, they're a founder of a video production company, and in their marketing they say this, " We're passionate about sharing your most incredible stories through [00:04:00] video."

But their prospects are thinking this in their mind, " I need to close deals faster." So what I'm saying is this, experts like you, you need an interpreter usually for your marketing. That's someone who can take your deep expertise and connect that to your prospect using their words and the outcomes they're after.

That's what I mean about shut up about the art. That's how you do it. You take the focus off of your deliverable, the thing that you're amazing at, the thing you spent all of your time, effort, and energy becoming an expert around. Take your focus off that deliverable and instead you put it squarely on your prospect's outcomes.

Now, to be fair, finding that sentence is a major part of the client work I do, and next time why you're the last person who can usually write that sentence

Win #3: Something to think about
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Robby Fowler: Win number three, something to think about. Here's something I often ask clients, even if it's not in these exact words. When it comes to your marketing, are you paying [00:05:00] rent or do you own it? Most of us, and I can even get caught up in this, we're frantically scurrying about carrying out or hiring out all sorts of marketing activities, but no one actually owns the master plan and the outcomes associated with that.

In other words, we're actually renters. We're not owners. Busyness in your marketing is not the same thing as ownership.

Win #4: Something personal
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Robby Fowler: Win number four, something personal. In issue 268 that I internally called the proximity paradox, I invited you to a short four-question survey. Now, several of you completed that survey and I read every reply twice. And today I wanna report back to you on what stood out from your responses.

Let's start with your single biggest challenge. Most of you are not beginners. More than half of the respondents were solo consultants, coaches, or advisors, and the other third run service businesses, and [00:06:00] all of you are trying to grow steadily. All of you have proof that what you do works. You have the activity, and yet something still does not add up.

And what struck me the deepest were the responses to this question. The question was: What is the single biggest business growth challenge you're wrestling with right now? One reply said, "Regular testimonials, yet almost no referrals."

And another respondent shared, "Businesses desperately need what I offer. They just don't know it." Now, two things I wanna notice about that. First, I recognize that frustration and the pain behind the fingers that type those words into a survey. And if we were in a room together, I'd want to actually pause and hold space for the real raw emotion that goes with feeling unnoticed, hidden, or overlooked in your business and all of this hard work and expertise that you have.

And in my opinion, [00:07:00] what I have noticed, we too often run, and I do mean run, to an expert or maybe now even to AI in a scramble for a solution to that problem. And that's way... our way of avoiding the very real discomfort and the pain that we don't know what to do with when business isn't going the way we want it to go because we're deeply connected to our business and the work that we do.

So we just try to kinda tamper that down with activity and just try to run to a solution. The second thing I wanna point out is those responses tell me this is not really about laziness. It's actually baffling, bafflement at the facts. You're doing real work, proven work, and yet the market is not repeating what you do well enough for the right people to find you The next thing that stood out is your most pressing goal.

When I asked what you want in the next 90 days, nearly half of you wanted a practical strategy that you can run without constant rework. No more constant [00:08:00] reworking the marketing strategy. Now, a close second to that was your desire for more qualified leads. The next thing is where you want help. When I ask what to cover in a first live session training to follow this up, you split almost evenly across the core message packaging your offer together, lead quality, and AI.

But here's the through line. The through line is not more activity, it's clarity underneath all of it. Now, the survey stays open one more week. There will be a link to that in the show notes, and if you've already responded, thank you. If not, I would love to hear from you. Everyone who completes that survey this week gets first notice for a short live session on clarifying your core message so that prospects understand your value fast.

There's no pitch. It would just be the live session.

I'm Robby Fowler. Thanks for joining me for this issue, and keep building a life-giving brand.

Work with Robby
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Robby Fowler: I help owners of [00:09:00] service businesses, specialty medical practices, and established consultants build the strategic foundation their marketing has been running without, so that every tactic, every hire, every dollar finally pulls in the same direction. If you think we might be a good fit, there's a link in the show notes on how we might work together.

I would invite you to go explore that page, and then let's have a conversation.

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