Are you meeting your prospects where they're at? EP #183 - Shorty

Howdy, guys. It's Dan here. It's Tuesday here in Australia. Time for this week's Shorty.

And this is episode number 183.

So we've just finished our weekly coaching call for our video business accelerator members and had some really good chats today about.

Following up with prospect inquiries, inquiries, and developing a way to do that that's semi on autopilot. And the reason for that is because, you know, all too often you end up seeing the same things over and over again.

To new inquiries. And so we were discussing ways in which you can.

Fundamentally automate or create a system and a process around responding to those inquiries so that you don't end up just having long conversations that repeat the same things over and over again. And so I want to ask you, you know, in your own business.

Are you someone who is sharing the right information with your market.

Or is your market having to kind of search through to find answers? So let me explain. When a prospect approaches you, they will have a series of questions in their mind, some of which they'll ask you, some of which they won't because they'll be too shy to sound stupid. And none of us want to sound stupid when asking a question or we don't understand something. And so oftentimes what happens is people, when they don't understand something, they just don't. They don't say anything. And so that. Not saying anything often, what means is that if they don't get the answers, they'll keep looking and they'll move on. And so what we're talking about today is the. The idea that you can create a series of emails, short emails that have a kind of template to them which answer the most common questions and that really answer the objections of your market. And it's a great way to use your website to direct people through to, you know, pages like on your site that have, you know, testimonials or case studies or a description of how you go about making projects. And one of the things that I often see as a missed opportunity is the ability for you as a filmmaker to make cool films about your business and your process. And I think where people miss the opportunities. There's two things that happen when you do that. The first thing is that you get to actually answer the questions that someone has in their minds about the process they're looking to engage you with. And the second thing is you get to show off your filmmaking skills because, you know, it's an opportunity to demonstrate in the medium that you're trying to sell. What it is that you are doing.

So you get to kind of have to kind of kill two birds with one stone, as the expression goes. So what you're doing is you're fundamentally saying, hey, we understand your problems, we understand the market you're in, and we understand that you're looking for a solution. So what we've done is we've made this really easy for you by creating a series of videos that can help you, you to achieve the outcome you're looking to achieve. And by doing that, you get to show off your skills as a filmmaker, but also answer the most common and pressing questions that someone has when they're approaching a project. So we're having a chat with one of our clients, Sam, who runs a streaming company this morning, and we came up with a whole bunch of questions that, that someone might have when live streaming. And one of the areas that we often get caught up in as creators is that we feel like we, we have the curse of knowledge. We know what's going on and we automatically assume that everyone else is going to understand what we understand. And it's actually not the case. In fact, the markets understanding of what you do is often far less advanced than you might think. And so what you have to do is explain it in a way that makes total sense to them. And so by that, I mean breaking down the simple steps. What I asked Sammy this morning was, you know, what are some of the most common questions you get when you're live streaming from an inquiry? And it's usually, you know, where will it play? And so he broke that down into a kind of like, well, where are the different places you can play it out? And he said, well, you know, you can, you can push it out onto a dedicated webpage. But then I had a question about, you know, what about, what about Facebook? What about YouTube? What other things can you do? And he had, he had reasons for why that wouldn't work. And so what we did was he broke down that process and said, okay, well, the main question is, where can I stream this information? But within that, there are three or four other questions, like, why can't I stream on Facebook? Why can't I stream on LinkedIn? Or why can't I stream on YouTube? And the truth is for all for a wedding client, which was one of the things that he does. He, he said, well, because as soon as you publish any kind of copyrighted music, it'll get flagged and be taken down by the platform. So that was a really interesting example of some information that I didn't know on a live stream that you couldn't do. And so if you're talking to a bride or a groom, then that makes perfect sense. And that's one of the things that they might just assume, because everything you can, you can livestream on Facebook, on your phone, everyone would assume you could live stream a wedding. Now, weddings are just one small part of Sam's business. He's been doing a lot of this throughout the COVID Pandemic funerals, but he also does a lot of live events for schools and other businesses. But the point being is that you want to be understanding what your market thinks of your product or service. What do they really think? And I can guarantee you they're nowhere near as advanced as you think they might be. And so what you have to do is talk to them on a level and meet them where they're at. And, you know, there's that expression, sell them what they want, give them what they need. You have to be able to understand what the common questions and objections are in your market. And from there you answer those objections. And once you've got the client on board, then you give them what they need, which might be something else. And one of the other benefits you can do with this process is you can.

Create some value upfront for a client by answering the most common questions. But within that video, you can also show them what else is possible, and that will whet their appetite for further exploration of other services you might be able to sell them. So, for example, in Sam's case, he could be creating a live stream, but I could come to him and say, wanna live stream wedding? Because I really want my friend who lives in another country to see it. But her objection might be, it might be really technical. I don't really want blokes showing up with ripped jeans and Megadeth T shirts, so maybe I won't do it. Whereas if you could create a video that showed your team looking smart, turning up on location, being very discreet, and talking about the sharing of the memory, in your marketing, they're more likely to convert someone and then they'll worry about the technical side once they've opted in and they become a client. So I just want you to think about, in your own business, are you communicating with your market and meeting them where they're at, or are you talking to them at too high a level? Because if you talk to your clients at too high a level, a lot of times it'll wash over their head. And if they don't understand something they may not necessarily respond and tell you. They might just click away and go and find another solution. So I want you to think about that guys and I will see you on Thursday. You've been listening to the how to Scale a Video Business podcast with me, your host Dan Lenny. If you're a video business owner, it's hit a ceiling and we benefit from mentorship, support and coaching. Then check out how you can work with me over at Denlenny Do. Don't forget to subscribe and rate the show over on itunes and we'd really appreciate you taking a few minutes to leave a review. And don't forget to share if you feel you've gotten value from this episode and you think it would be useful for other filmmakers you know, then please do me a massive favor and share it on social media and in groups that you might be in. So thanks for listening. See you in the next episode.