Future Work/Life is my newsletter in which I explore the changing relationship between work and our personal lives. Every week, I share something I’ve written, a few things I’ve enjoyed reading, and something great to listen to. If you find it interesting, please share it!
The Writing:
The question 9/10 SME leaders are asking me right now?
How can we increase inbound leads and convert more clients?
The answer I give?
Make it impossible for prospects to miss the value you'll offer them.
After emerging from my writing cave (in case you've missed it, I've just finished the draft of my new book, Work/Life Flywheel), I've spent most of the past month chatting to people about what's going on in their worlds.
It doesn't take long before we get onto the subject of the economy and, more specifically, how it's affecting their business.
The short version: everyone is already feeling the effects of an emerging economic downturn, and sorry to sour your Sunday morning breakfast, but it's going to worsen as the months go on.
When the market slows down, it's tempting to focus on short-term sales and marketing tactics.
Buy a new list
Pay for new leads
Create more content
Send 100s of cold emails
Have more people make more calls.
From over 10 years of running SMEs, I know that those tactics are expensive.
They cost time AND money.
Instead, at times like this, it's more important than ever to tell the world why you're different.
How do you that?
Clarify your point of view (POV) – your unique insight about the future of your category.
Explain how your prospect will transform by adopting this POV – why will life be better?
Make sure your POV is heard by the right people – those making & influencing purchases.
If you haven't done step 1, you can't do step 2.
If you haven't done step 2, you can't do step 3 = No Increase In Sales
Why?
Without a POV you just blend in with everyone else banging on about the same things.
So, what makes a great POV?
You have to be addressing a real problem that your customer FEELS.
Tell the STORY about what life will be like when you help them solve the problem.
Frame it in terms of your CATEGORY, not your product - people care about their lives improving, not what you're selling.
Keep it SIMPLE. Don't overload people with jargon. Use the words that your customers use.
Leave your customers needing to speak to you to discover MORE.
In the short and long term, the best route to increase sales is:
A clear POV...
...framing the prospect's transformation...
...told to the right people in the right places
Tactical shortcuts won't grow your business, so take a breath before spending more.
Go back to the beginning and consider what value you bring, and why it's unique.
Keep returning to the problem your customer is experiencing or the new opportunities you can create for them.
If you'd like to learn more about how to craft a POV and find the audience to tell it to, then get in touch.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend, and have a great week.
Ollie
The Reading:
For more on category design, check out the Category Pirates newsletter. Written by two-time podcast guest, Christopher Lochhead, this week’s guest, Nicolas Cole, and Eddie Yoon, they’re consistently on the money when it comes to practical ideas on how to communicate what makes you and your business different.
Although it’s a paid newsletter, they’ve released a free version this week on How To Make Money In A Recession: 5 Steps To Create Demand For Your Product, Service, Or Platform.
TLDR;
When times get tough, businesses, governments, households, and individuals all do the same thing: they create two lists.
“Must Haves”
“Nice To Haves”
Then they start cutting the “Nice To Haves” to lower costs—as a direct response to their revenue / income / buying power shrinking.
So what can you do about it?
Step 1: Create High-Value Non-Obvious Insights
Step 2: Convert Your Non-Obvious Insights Into Intellectual Capital
Step 3: Convert Your Intellectual Capital Into Digital Products/Services/Businesses
Step 4: Design New Categories For New Digital Products/Services/Businesses
Step 5: Market Your New & Different Category—And Win
You can also hear an audio version of the article, HERE.
Another former podcast guest, Dror Poleg, always has an interesting take on future trends in the world of work. Not least, his idea that “pyramid schemes are not just becoming more common — but also becoming more necessary”.
He wrote more about this in his article, Unavoidable Pyramids, this week, referencing how:
”Musicians and producers will no longer need record labels, but they will need someone (or something) to help them stand out and de-risk their careers. And the erosion of gatekeepers is not unique to music. It will affect all creative and cognitively-demanding professions.”
Last one on the need to think differently about the future of business and work, but this time something from a couple of years’ ago.
In this article by David Sacks, co-founder of PayPal and Yammer, he explains why founders should think of their marketing as building a movement.
While he frames it in terms of start-ups, this is a great lens for any business to look at how they communicate their vision and recruit clients and talent to share in it.
TLDR;
Define a larger cause.
Articulate the problem better than anyone else.
Attack the status quo.
Define a category.
Build the right team.
Use “grassroots” customer testimony.
Release news in lightning strikes, not dribs and drabs.
Organise events to focus attention.
Nurture your community.
Pick noble fights.
Strive for a large tent.
Work with press and influencers in the right way.
Stay grounded.
If you want to read the whole thing, you can find it, HERE.
The Listening:
Excellent chat between another FWL pod guest, Danny Fortson and the founder and CEO of Starling Bank, Anne Boden on Danny in the Valley.
Among other things, they discuss changes to the post-pandemic workplace, starting a bank after the recession, how people reacted to her as a 1st-time, 50-something entrepreneur, and the first ‘yes’ after 400 ‘no’s’.