Modern Marketing Is About Practicing Deep Compassion - ATSuccess Week 4 - Feb 2014

Niche: the Final Frontier. These are the stories of the Facebook ATSuccess, it's life long mission: to explore strange new activities; to seek out niches and new markets; to go boldly where no Alexander Technique teacher has gone before… Click here now and join us all. *** On Modern Marketing Being About Deep Compassion A member of ATSuccess posted this comment from Marie Forleo about marketing: "Modern marketing is about practicing deep compassion, understanding and learning how to meet other peoples needs and desires. Marketing is your creative vehicle to make business art! [It's an] outlet for innovation and heartfelt connection with your audience." That is a mission statement for ATSuccess. On The Difference Between Marketing and Teaching You can say that there is a fundamental difference between marketing (prospecting for clients) and teaching (educating those clients) but my mind does something different. I think of this as a continuum, rather than two distinct, mutually exclusive activities. The relevant question here is "What does my (Jeremy's) marketing contain?" and my answer is "I am beginning the process of their education into AT" so I reject the premise that marketing is not teaching AT. This is how I get to the conclusion that marketing (for me) is an aspect of teaching. On Being Broken, Or Not Often at very bottom things turn around. It's happened so many times to me, it's almost a law! Two nights ago I was weeping in bed at 2am in the morning, wondering why I had the life I did. Next thing I know I am powering off and having a ball up to now. We are broken basically - that's what great about us! Speaking for me. On How To Teach an AT Session To Yoga Teachers First off, teach a yoga class, not an Alexander Technique class. I say that not because you won't teach Alexander's discoveries, but so your mind goes to a different place. Start out with the usual stretch warm up, and inoculate principles by which this can be done. Every new "asana" is preceded by a demonstration, and Q & A with teachers. They may not be thinking about themselves at first, they may be hungry for tips and ideas to make their class better. Give them that. Help them with vocabulary, how they touch students, how they demonstrate poses. This is what will inspire them I am guessing, but you could also gather information before the class to clarify their needs. As I blogged today, marketing continues in your sessions. We are "selling" them a way of thinking about what they do. Teach them what they are hungry for, and they will soon get into the knowledge of our work. Go their way, not your way. On The Morality of Using Scarcity To Enrol Students It's another moral quandary that I have written about previously. It's why "sales letters" have a sleazy reputation - people abuse the knowledge and manipulate people with no integrity. However, when a teacher advises a student: "If you continue this way, you will probably get worse/require surgery" they are tapping into the same scarcity mechanism that we are all born heir too. It's your choice, I state the truth of it. Scarcity is the mechanism behind "Step Away Marketing." It reverses the model - usually it's you chasing the client, in step away marketing, it's the client chasing you. Which would you prefer? On Selling A Workshop Idea Sure. Put together some sales letter - short form is fine - but still hit all the points I have been covering in my blogs. It's good they have some "take-away" item; then make sure you do follow up. A golden rule is ask a minimum of three times before you even consider hearing a no! On Selling To A Friendly CEO Of course you do your homework: impress him by your grasp of his business, and the solutions you're proposing. Friendship won't get you over the gulf of cost, it will just get you in the door and listened to seriously, for about a minute. After that, your pitch will decide the outcome, not your friendship or history. Make sure you have an offer he can't refuse, or don't offer anything. On Selling With Full Authority and A White Coat Be clear in your offer to new students. Decide in yourself what you need to make an effective result - based on their congruent participation which you can conditionally outline as part of your offer - then state that. Even have it in written form. The change you can support in them will be relative to their current condition - so you are guaranteeing an improvement from their starting place, not a specifically similar result in every case. I love the idea of the engineer is sorting out criteria by which you can both judge the success or otherwise of the lessons. That's huge. Get those done - it involves them in the process more, which gives them a greater reason to say yes - then state clearly how many lessons do you need to achieve that with them. If you want flexibility from your side, then use 24 lessons (based on BMJ study) for chronic problems, and work backwards from that. Still only suggest one plan though, promote clarity. What I am picking up - between the lines when I read how you talk to your prospective students - that you are almost appeasing me rather than being clear and in your own authority. When you have that inner authority with me, perversely I feel more freedom to say yes. When you offer me too much freedom and flexibility, I don't feel I have the tools to make a clear decision. I am wanting you to do that for me. Wear a white coat at the first lesson. (I wish you could hear me belly-laughing now!) But actually, it's not such a silly suggestion to "dress" conservatively, with a sniff of hospital about you. Still laughing. Try it out on the next new student and tell us how it goes… Listening To Your New Students Well - be thoughtful. A corporate gal is maybe not in the "confused and needing guidance" category I was referring to. A person who knows what will work for them, and is definite enough to give a 6 month commitment ahead of time - that lady looks ready. But you can come back forcefully with a better proposal (yeah, get under her intention) and sell her on a better option. Be strong in that, and ready to hear why she is making her choices. This is more about two bulls locked horn-to-horn than it is Pollyanna needing Dad's advice, if you get my drift... On What Goes On in ATSuccess Moving dialogue, thank you all - people outside of this group really have no idea what we are doing here! My Personal Facebook Group [NOTE: The second half of to-day's blog contains posts from my ATSuccess Group in Facebook. They contain personal or specific information that is inappropriate for public consumption. You can join the group by becoming a member. Participants of enjoy privacy protection to express opinions openly. It gets interesting. Trusting each other creates a context to take risks. In ATSuccess no-one cares where you trained, they only care you succeed.]

*On How B2B Works I'd second Constance in not under-estimating the work ahead of you to make this a success. Like B2C, B2B utilizes identical marketing principles, but in this case instead of to a niche it is to one person - the HR contact or, in the case of smaller companies (under 100 employees) it will more likely the CEO who gives it the final nod or not. This makes it incredibly volatile. You can spend 8 months sweet-talking someone, only to find one day that they have moved on and the new person has another agenda. For that reason, I would target CEO/Owners of small companies, but that is only a suggestion. The right company is the responsive one. You also have to know what is their biggest problem? Don't go in there selling what you have - hopeless - go with a detailed knowledge of their challenges and how you think you can help. I'd contact Rosa Lusia Rossi or Phillip Cotton (on STAT or SVLAT lists) and ask them if they have any advice for you. They have done this in Switzerland successfully, and still continue to do so I believe. Keep us abreast... On Darkness and Hopelessness Of late, a lot of us seem to be having an experience of falling down in the dark well of hopelessness - it's so valuable for me that you share your moments. Just hearing you acknowledging that, and realising that others are also travelling to that place, helps me understand this is part of my humanity, a consequence of being entrepreneurial, of being in a spiritual mission to make my life worthwhile to me. It's a noble life we all lead - but it was never going to be easy. Waking up is work. I think that's why Alexander called it "The Work." It is! *On How A Tongue Works I'd add to Aniko's great advice knowledge of the whole tongue itself. Get out an anatomy book and spatially map the hyoid bone and the tongue's deep rooted attachment into that area. Be able to visualize your tongue in it's entirety at the very locations it exists. So you are producing a detailed mind-map that imagines it as close to its reality as possible. Even this process is by itself fascinating. NEXT you talk to your tongue and ask it to move out of concavity (when it presses back against the back area of the throat) into a flattened condition - with the tip of the tongue moving towards the teeth as a consequence of this shape changing request. Remember - a critical art of your tongue is it's ability to change it's shape in infinite ways. You are co-opting this ability, not for sound-making, but for creating space down the back of the throat. This is very powerful. Almost every time I do this I have stopped a cold dead in it's tracks. By asking my tongue to move forward and asking my throat to open up - at the very place soreness originates - this condition that (usually) leads to a cold is arrested. Colds usually start with a "sore throat" but they can end right there too if you choose it. I have done this many times. It takes a day of continuous direction - requesting this tongue shape change - but by the end of the day my "sore throat" has disappeared. Hope all this makes sense - it's actually a lot of fun! *On Quoting From Another Blog It's fine Annie. Anything published in a blog is public domain, and you do not need permission to quote from it. In fact, I am not sure why you wrote " fellow Alexander teacher’s blog" rather than quote me by name? I am not exactly a private person! However it is customary to at least link back to the original source - a link under " fellow Alexander teacher’s blog" - to show the reference and be kind to the original content creator. In this case - ME! *On How To Get Traction In Your Niche Look at what is happening with Cecile - and it's happening quickly because she has chosen a powerful niche. Yes, a certain person has taken a shine to her - is that just luck, or is the probability high that she would have met something like that soon? He blog is playing a big role in getting new contacts. Word of mouth kicks in when you have a focused blog, that you consistently keep up and you have a great USP (Off the matt) that resonates in your market. There's only a these three pieces to put together to start to get traction, and once they are in place the answer to your question is YES! Word of mouth, networking, referrals - all this starts kicking in. And you need to keep feeding the process, but it's fun when you are getting feedback and confirmation. Tiredness happens when the world is silent - I understand the frustration of that. Always putting out, nothing coming back. It's a communication of itself. So go back to basics and ask: do I have a clear niche? Is my message to them unique and different and appealing? Am I communicating with them consistently? Get yes to those three, and you will start getting traction, no question. *A Description of Scarcity Wow Dana - that's almost a blog post! You elucidate scarcity. Another name for the scarcity model, which is more palatable, is "Step Away Marketing" which I encourage you to explore. It's simple. If you think you can attract 6 people to an intro every month, put it at a limit of 5 and when the 6th calls, book them in for next month, or upsell them to a 121. Next (very important) make sure you let everyone know it was full. Send an apology email, put up a big red sign on your website 'FULL" and anything else you can do to draw attention to this fact. It reverses the model - usually it's you chasing the client, in step away marketing, it's the client chasing you. Which would you prefer? *On Nailing Your USP Reading your comments Dana - when will you really dug down and find a USP that will work with dancers generically? If you did, I can't remember it...? I think you can succeed in the dance world by pursuing the "celebrity" model - standing for something original, innovative and different. Find the USP that will instantly catch people's attention. Cecile has nailed it - her "off the matt" USP is a great for the market. It stands out as different, but still connects people to Yoga. She is blogging to support that USP, and getting the same kind of connections THAT YOU ARE GETTING. It's already happening for you - that is what is coming across to me. You are on your way. You need to support that strategically. In today's world you need the sound byte that gets repeated again, and again, and again. That sticks in people's minds. For example, Alexander's USP in his early days was "the breathing man" What can you be? Please, PLEASE nail that FIRST. That's your job. That's everyone's job in ATSuccess. I don't say it's easy, but it is incredibly simple. *On How Facebook Ads Work It's slow for me to blog about Facebook again - I know. Blogs on Facebook are coming again, I promise. The "clear plan" you need for this is a story that people will be invited to - which is why I have been spending so much time making sure this is created - through a Sales Letter - by you all effectively. Facebook is a step along a path, a tool you use, and it will be next to useless spending any money on adds if you have not set up a clear sales path for the people you attract. One more post on SL to go, THEN I start digging down into Facebook. On Writing Up Sessions In Your Blog Would you ever write anything that you would not be comfortable for your students to read? Then don't write that, write what has integrity - I am sure you already do! What they think is their business. However, I would say this to them: one way you develop your communication (aka marketing) abilities for teaching (aka marketing) is by writing up lessons in your blog. As Aniko suggested, you explain that this also serves to help other people. Ask if they prefer you leave our their name, or just promise that first up. Ask if they have a concern about this? If they do, go on to promise you would not include any information that could allow them to be identified. However, DO NOT offer them to approve it. That could become a time management nightmare. In this day of the internet, Facebook etc. many people are used to this kind of public sharing of information. Ask for sure. This is a brilliant way to motivate you to blog more, AND PEOPLE LOVE STORIES. Be the "story blog" and you will attract more people. I got teary reading your account just above. I'm sure others will too. *** Anything to add? A new thread? https://www.facebook.com/groups/ATCSProMembers/