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Why Do We Hate The Idea Of Having To Market Ourselves?
10 May 2006Questions of the day:
Do you love mediating?
Do you enjoy working with people to help them resolve or manage conflict?
Do you enjoy marketing yourself and your services?
I probably had you up to the last question, right?
You probably enjoy what you do and you are probably pretty good at it, right? (ok, you’re probably extraordinary and great at it!)
Why then, do we hate the idea of having to market ourselves?
If you want to effectively develop business for your practice, I believe it’s important that you think about and analyze your own personal reasons (or underlying beliefs) about this topic. If you don’t, these beliefs will continue to drive your behavior and your efforts – for better or more likely for worse.
So here’s my list, see if any of these “reasons” resonate with you and please, let me know if there are any key “reasons” you would like to add to the list:
- We generally dislike (despise, loath, or distrust?) salespeople. Let’s face it, there is a reason why Congress passed the “Do Not Call” laws and we have those [wonderful] lists we can get our numbers on. We don’t want telemarketers calling us during dinner and pressuring us into signing up for something that we don’t want or don’t need. Some salespeople have been historically viewed as pushy and perhaps even sleazy (dishonest?). The reality is that most salespeople are not pushy or sleazy. Our capitalist marketplace would not function without salespeople; they serve an important function in the sale and distribution of goods and services. Nonetheless, because of the abuses of some, the lot has historically received a bad rap.
- If you come from the practice of law and you practiced law for a long time, you are familiar with the historic prohibition against lawyer advertising. The ethical canons and model rules of conduct had prohibitions about advertising. Advertising was viewed as “unprofessional” and that it would somehow degrade the high status and position of the legal profession. Even today, some people still associate lawyer advertising with the “ambulance chasers.” I can remember a few years ago (before it folded) when the law firm Brobeck Phledger and Harrison took out large billboard ads in the San Francisco area (this was one of the first large firms to do this). (After the Supreme Court held lawyers could advertise).
- Prior bad experience with “selling.” Did you try to sell Cutco knives during college like I did? Need I say more?
- Fear of rejection. Who wants it?
- Belief that if I am good at what I do, word will get out and my practice will blossom on its own.
- Who wants to spend the time going to “rubber chicken” networking events having superficial conversations with people you’ll likely never see again?
- I have no idea where to start or what to do…
- It doesn’t work, why should I waste my time and money
Ok, so please add any of your own reasons and let me know in a comment below.
Now, here’s the fun part.
Creating a new belief system about “the idea of marketing” Let me just start out by saying, marketing your professional service is not "selling" and it probably won't involve any advertising. What you believe about marketing and your service and what you have to offer is profoundly important in your business development efforts.
What if…
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You had a clearly defined mission and vision about who you wanted to serve and how you were going to serve them?
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What if you focused not on “what’s in it for me” but focused on “what’s in it for them?” Namely, you focused on how you could best: solve your chosen client’s problems and provide amazing value to them?
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What if you believed at the core of your being that:
- What you have to offer has tremendous value for your chosen clients;
- Your aim is to serve them in the best way you can; and, consequently,
- You have a moral/ethical obligation to provide value to them and to tell them about your services because you truly believe that what you have to offer will profoundly benefit them (and their clients – even change their lives?)
Do you think that approaching business development from this viewpoint would change how you thought about “the idea of marketing yourself?”
In the soon to be released Mediation Business & Marketing Success System you will learn the secret strategies for building a thriving mediation/ADR practice from some of the best mediators in the country. But in order for you to take full advantage of the wealth of information, you need to examine your underlying beliefs about marketing and to rethink:
1) where you are coming from
2) what you focus on
3) what you believe about your service and your marketing efforts
This is so important. I cannot emphasize enough how important your underlying beliefs about “marketing” are and how these beliefs will affect your results.
I hope you find this helpful and take the time to think about your own beliefs about marketing and business development and how you can change them.
I want you to succeed!
NEVER GIVE UP.
Committed to your success, your partner in peace,
Kristina Haymes
p.s. 9 interviews are done! The Success System is coming soon. Have you entered the contest to win a free copy yet? www.mediationmarketingtips.com. Contest ends 5/31 enter to win today!
Posted in Marketing Strategies, The Inner Game of Success, Practice Building Advice
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February 6th, 2007 at 8:20 pm
[…] The good news is that the mediation rainmaking approach is all about education and all about positioning yourself as an expert. You shouldn’t feel uncomfortable or that you are soliciting attorneys, or you will not want to engage in business development activities. See my prior post on “why we hate the idea of having to market ourselves.” […]