Why do people buy?

Hello, good evening. Happy Friday. I'm Katie McManus, business strategist and coach. Tonight I want to be talking about something that is so essential to running a business. And for those of you who are tuning in, good evening. I'm streaming this to both of my Facebooks, LinkedIn and YouTube. And I want to make this quick because it's Friday. We all want to get to our weekend, but I had this brilliant being brave call today. If you haven't come before, you really need to register. It's a free call that I do every Single Friday at 11am Eastern for entrepreneurs and people doing their own thing. And I offer support and guidance and business strategy and some coaching. And it's amazing. And there were so many great questions today, mainly around building personal brand and marketing yourself. Now, one of the questions that came up was how do I market myself without coming across as salesy? And for those of you who think this and are worried about it, worried about coming across as salesy and promotionally, and you get the fuck over this, okay? You are, you are in business for yourself. We are all out here in business for ourselves. Okay? So there are going to be things that you post that some people are going to be like, ick, that seems salesy and too bad, too bad that, too bad, Tanya. You gotta, you know, gotta just like pass by the things that you don't want to see. And if you are posting things that are salesy, there's. There's ways to do it that come across as. As gross and salesy and there are ways to do it that build the value of the service or the. The product that you sell. I'm sorry, I'm just really tired today. My words aren't coming to me super fast anyway. I love it when that happens on camera live and you can't go back and edit. Anyway, so how, how do you promote yourself? How do you build your personal brand and how do you promote your service without feeling gross about it? There are two sayings, one of which I borrowed from my coach and the other one which came out of my mouth today, which I think is brilliant. You tell me if it is or not. The first and first and foremost, what I got from my coach and that is that everyone buys for three reasons, okay? One is to get laid, one is to get paid, and the other one is to live longer. Okay? Now if your service covers one or multiple of these, then you are in business. You are so well off, you can make the case for why your service or product will help someone get laid. Get paid or live longer, and you know how to articulate it and show them how easy it is to apply to their life. I mean, there's no reason why someone wouldn't want to buy for you. Now, the other part of this that came out of my mouth today that I wanted to really talk about is that people do not buy for who they are today, okay? People don't go into Barnes and Noble and go to the magazine section for who they are today. People go to the magazine section in Barnes Noble to buy for who they want to be tomorrow. They buy for the person they want to be in the future, okay? No one goes into Barnes and Noble and buys a magazine. If you're a woodworker and you've really nailed cabinets, like you have cabinets down, you're not buying magazines on cabinets. Unless you're one of those weird perfectionists who wants to get the cabinets perfect. No, you're buying the next round of magazines about how to build a boat, okay? You're buying that next round of magazines on advanced woodworking because you want to push yourself in that way, okay? This is true with gym memberships as well. You know, if people buy gym memberships because they want to become that person, people buy coaching because they want to become a different person. People hire lawyers because they want to get past the situation that they're in, in this moment. They want to be this different person who's no longer worried about things, okay? If you can frame up your service or your product as supporting who they want to be in the future, you have just created marketing magic. And for those of us who are in business for ourselves, who have a personal brand that, like, we're not. We're not a big company, so we don't have, like, a marketing team. We want to balance all this stuff, you know, marketing how our service or our product is going to help people be more attractive or make more money or live longer or frame it up how it's going to support the person they envision themselves being tomorrow. We also want to balance it with, here's who I am. Here's some information on me. Here's a personal share. Not a dishonest share by any means, a personal share. This is who I am. This is how I spend my weekends. This is something really cool I did in the past. This is something I'm kind of embarrassed about, okay? We overthink this. It is so easy to overthink this, okay? So if you're overthinking this in your business, just know that you're not alone. You're not alone. Everyone overthinks this, okay? In the very beginning. I overthought this majorly. When I first started, I got the right help to help me get out of my own head about it. And to this day, like sometimes I overthink it. Yeah, absolutely. It is vulnerable to go onto social media and to post about something that you want. Especially when you're asking the people that are connected to you, who you feel a kinship with, to buy this thing from you. Okay? That is vulnerable. And yeah, sure, someone from high school or your family may see it and be like, who does she or he think they are? Oh my God, what are they thinking? You know, their stuff isn't worth that. Absolutely. You know those things are going to happen. You can't control everything. And they're going to be people who don't like your message at all. The example that I like to use is Louis Vuitton, okay? Louis Vuitton is a luxury bag making company, right? At its core, they are not concerned with getting everyone to like them, okay? They are not doing marketing campaigns trying to convince members of PETA to become their best customers. It's just not happening. At the core element, they produce leather products. PETA is anti animal cruelty, okay? There's no effing way that members of PETA are going to become Die Hards for Louis Vuitton, okay? You have to take on this mentality, okay? You have to take on this mentality that there are going to be people out there who do not agree with what you're selling. It's not their thing. They're not. They're going to judge it, they're going to think it's wrong, blah, blah, blah, blah, okay? And you're just going to go, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. This is what I'm hearing you say, because you're going to know that there are Die Hards out there. There are people who connect with you. They connect with your mission, with what you're selling, the service you provide, whatever it is, they're going to connect with it. They are going to be advocates for it. They're going to promote you. They are going to share your stuff and they're going to be your customers. But they can't buy from you unless you start talking. They can't become fans unless you put yourself out there. So here is your Friday reminder that you cannot be a secret and the success at the same time, okay? And ways to out yourself, ways to not be a secret are a. To lay out the Clear Roadmap how your service or product gets your clients late, paid or living longer. Okay, that is one, two is you want to lay out exactly how it supports the person that they want to be not today, but tomorrow. And hi, Rowan Joseph, welcome. We're doing a little Friday pump up for the weekend so you can get all sorted with your marketing and promoting yourself all next week. And finally, get over yourself. Not to you, Ron Joseph, but just get over yourself. You know you're going to write stuff that is self promotion. That is it. You are selling something. We are on here selling something, okay? I don't care if you are an individual contributor who's an engineer in a company. You are selling yourself to your, your company and potentially to future employers, okay? You're trying to impress people. You're trying to get in people's good graces so that they will eventually want to be your co worker and have you as an employee anyway. But yeah, you know, just remember those two simple things. People do not buy for who they are today. They buy for who they're going to be tomorrow. Okay? And people generally spend their money on those three things. What are they again? Getting laid, getting paid, and living longer. I know it sounds super salesy, but it's so simple. And if you can just boil down anything that you're writing to lay out how that works, it's going to be so clear. One example that I love to use because I used to work in the fitness industry, okay? I used to work for Equinox Fitness. I was a membership salesperson. I'd be the first person or second person after you talk to the front desk that you'd speak to when you came into the club. And we used to be so excited for the marketing campaigns because they were always so sexy and edgy and sometimes a little weird, to be honest. But they would get attention and people would come into Equinox because they had a vision for who they wanted to be, okay? The fitness industry, like no one signs up someone to work out. And let's be honest, I love working out, okay? I find it relieves stress. I love picking up heavy things and putting them back down. But no one signs on to work out because they want to be sweaty and uncomfortable, okay? And that's essentially what working out is if we're being real about it. People sign up because they want the results. They absolutely want the results. They want to feel better in their body. They want to seem sexy and getting late, getting pain, living longer. Exactly. Ron Joseph has got it. I'm Gonna put it there because, like, subtitles, you know, on top of subtitles. Thank you. But people want to feel more confident in their body. They want to seem, you know, seem sexy and confident and attractive and all the things. They may have health concerns. They want to live longer. And some people attach it also to work, okay? So some people go and work out regularly so they can be more productive at work or maybe so they can network with the right people. Hi, Leslie. Welcome. I like the light bulbs. I'm going to put those up. Yes. And it's such a simple concept, but just. And I want you to give yourself a break. If you didn't know this before, give yourself a break. We're not taught this in school, okay? If we were taught this in school, I am convinced that we would be far less influenced by marketing campaigns, okay? Children would be far less influenced by thinking they should be something because that's what all the big marketing firms who are working for all the big brands are playing on. They are playing on these major things. How. How can we convince the buyers, the customers, the clients to believe that our product and service will get them laid, get them paid, and living longer? Here's how we do it, okay? Car ads, clothing ads, perfume ads. I don't care what it is, okay? They are using these concepts, and they are also using the concept of people buy for who they want to be. People don't buy. I'm not going to sit here and go online unless I'm having a really sad day and buy, like, a bunch of clothes that fit, like my really lazy lifestyle today, okay? No, I'm going to go on and I'm going to buy professional clothes. I'm going to buy clothes for the person I want to be. So I want you to remember this, and if you're not doing this in your business already, and if you're having trouble with figuring out how to articulate this, chances are you're probably not perfectly clear on what your niche is. A niche. Niche. I know. Lauren. Lauren Lefkowitz wrote this hilarious post today about, you know, how you pronounce that word? It is niche. But I understand if you want to call it niche, okay? This is one of the things that I work very deeply with my clients on, okay? So if you are struggling with this, just know you're not alone. So many people struggle with this. I struggle with this as well. I'm a business strategist and coach, and I have to have my own business strategist and coach because I can't do it. For myself. Okay. It's really hard to see the forest for the trees when you're in your own business. And sometimes it's really hard to be aware of how you're coming across. And that's why it's so valuable to have outside eyes. And, you know, something funny happened on my being Brave call this morning. Someone asked a great question about how to market to introverts. And I started laying it out because, you know, I'm an extrovert and, you know, you don't want to scare introverts when you're an extrovert, so you learn how to make things friendly for them. But I'm super extroverted. I don't know if you can if, like, you've picked this up in watching me at all. I love talking to people. I'm very comfortable in social, you know, situations, zoom calls, in person, whatever. I'm game. But I laid it out and he made this. He asked the group, everyone, who is there, you know, who else is an introvert here? And all but one person raised their hand. Actually, someone came off off or came on camera because they were previously off camera to raise their hand. And I was fucking shocked. Okay? And this happens to me so often. I have so many friends who I assume are extroverts because they're hanging out with me, but they're really introverts. And what. What he asked is, who is. Who's an introvert here? And what got revealed to me because a lot of them started saying why they show up to the call is because it's called being brave. And the point was made that extroverts don't need to learn how to be brave. It's introverts. And it just. It shocked me. Like there is here is a complete blind spot for my brand. I didn't realize that my branding was set up to attract introverts. And I love introverts. Please. I'm not making it wrong in any way, but this is just a perfect example of sometimes you don't realize the impact your branding or your marketing is having until someone brings it up, until someone shines a light on it. And that's one of the beautiful things of getting outside opinions and getting outside advice from someone who's qualified to give it is because you get all the stuff revealed to you. And there's a way. I mean, it's so much fun to work with my clients because, you know, they come to me, they're not really sure how to articulate who they work with and all stuff and then they have to figure it out. And once we figure it out, it just seems so easy. It's so easy. And if you are still at that stage where you're trying to figure out your niche, I want you to think about one question. What's the conversation that you love having over and over and over and over? Because if you design your life around that, you will never get bored. Okay? If you design your life and your business around talking about a subject that makes you fucking miserable all the time, you are going to be bored senseless. Okay? This is one of the reasons I switched from every single job I've ever had until I became a coach, okay? Because I just got bored with the conversation. So I know I've thrown a couple extra nuggets at you this evening. I wanted to keep this short because it's Friday and honestly, I'm going to go out to dinner by myself. I'm going to sit at the bar, I'm going to make friends at an outdoor restaurant. I'm not going to like being a a crowded like Covid center or anything, but I'm going to go be my extrovert self tonight. But anyway, I hope this is super useful. And if you have any trouble with figuring out how to do your marketing and lay out that get laid, get paid, live longer proposition how to design your offering so it shows up as the thing that's going to support you to be the person you want to be tomorrow or if you're struggling with what your niche is. Guys, this is, this is what I do. This is the conversation I'd love to have and ask my clients. I'm super good at it. So if you want to book a call with me, shoot me a dm. I'll be at the bar having dinner and I will send you a DM back with a link to book. I just got a mosquito bite on my back as I'm saying that. That's really uncomfortable. This is, this is like the downside of Cape Cod. Like I have this beautiful screened in porch that I'm on to do calls from because it's not a million degrees like my attic office. But the screen unfortunately has some holes and mosquitoes have gotten in. Anyway, on that note, I wish you all a very mosquito free, enjoyable, fun and relaxing weekend. I hope this was useful. I hope that it helps you get better at your marketing, get more clients and all those things. And like I said, if you want any support on this, send me a dm. We'll set up a time to talk Anyway, have a great weekend. I'm Katie McManus, business strategist and coach. Talk to you soon.