Open up your mind and say, ahh...

I just got back from the gym. I’m learning how to do kettlebell cleans and kettlebell presses and other things that are really difficult for me. In doing this, I know that I am getting stronger, but I also know that I am working on precision of movement, and I am also maintaining my commitment to my health. It’s not like I will work out for several months, look down, be appreciative of my body, and then go back to other things. If I want to stay fit, I will continue to practice. I will eat well for the rest of my life, if I want to stay healthy. The practice, as it turns out, is the reward.

The Practice is the Reward

I’m asked quite often, “How do I get more followers on Twitter?” The answer, if people really want to know, is that you be there, be helpful, be more “about” other people than you are yourself. That’s it. That’s the practice. If you practice being there, being helpful, and being all about the other people, you will get more followers. It’s how that happens. The practice is the reward.

How does a company get more loyal buyers instead of simply transactional buyers. Practice being loyal to your existing buyers. Loyalty is a two way street. When it’s not, things fail. How do you get buyers who will choose you over the less expensive brand, because they believe that you are the choice for them? Practice being loyal and driven by their satisfaction. (By the way, companies like Zappos are worth billions because of this. If you think there’s no hard-line bottom line to this kind of thinking, stop reading my blog.)

Practice Doesn’t Merit Bragging

We groan about practice online. I did it today. I put up a picture of me in my car after my 6:30am workout, saying that it’s too early to work out, but at least I’d done the work. That’s silly. Why complain about it? I should be so honored and pleased that I found the time to work out this morning. I should be grateful that I gave my muscles something else to think about. And I shouldn’t brag. You shouldn’t have to hear my groaning or my bragging. Neither are helpful. Neither motivate you to work on your own practice. You know what does? Results.

Results Are External Proof of Practice

I’m practicing how to be a better professional speaker. In so doing, I’m reading a lot of books on how to speak better, and I’m reviewing my own work. When I do this well, I see the results. On stage last week, I was at the top of my game and my audience was right there with me. They felt it. They knew that I was giving them my everything.

But the most important point to distinguish is this: the results are just the external proof that washes off of you from doing the work. The work, the practice, is where your focus must remain. You must keep your focus on doing the work, practicing. It’s how you succeed every time. The moment you bow to the results, the moment you pause for longer than half a breath to feel great about yourself, is the moment you stop practicing, even a little bit, in your heart and head.

What Are You Practicing?

The list of what we can practice is huge. In my personal life, I’m practicing being more healthy. I’m practicing being more grounded mentally and emotionally. In my business life, I’m practicing improving my value to my customers and clients. I’m practicing giving more quality.

What are you practicing? And do you see this? Do you feel it?

I had a kind of funny realization, and this relates to yesterday’s post on selling information: a lot of the time, the people who are complaining that I’m selling something aren’t my buyer.

I’m Not Selling to You

I’m not selling to Geoff Livingston. I’m not selling to Danny Brown. I’m not selling to all the people whose panties are all in a bunch because I’ve chosen to sell information on how to use Google+ for your business. You’re not my buyer.

There are lots of people who are very interested in just learning a system. They will go into Google+ and look around, click some buttons, and figure it out just fine on their own. Lots of them do what I do for a living, in some form or another. Lots of them even do what I do better than me.

But I’m not selling to you.

My Buyer For a Product Like This

My buyer for a product like Learn Google+ For Business and Networking is someone who only recently felt comfortable getting on Twitter or Facebook, and who feels a bit frustrated that yet another social network came along. My buyer is a business professional who smells that there’s something cool going on with Google Plus and they want to participate, but they’d like a little hand-holding. My buyer is someone who feels comfortable with the platform, maybe, but who wants a few tips and tricks that maybe they’ve yet to figure out themselves. (I had someone on Twitter ask a very reasonable question about privacy settings and how Google indexes or doesn’t index certain posts).

The Arguments Are All Interesting

I’ve seen dozens of comments and posts and blogs saying “How someone can claim to be an expert after 250 hours is laughable.” What’s laughable is that I’m not saying I’m an expert. I’m saying that I’ve used the service a lot and I’ve got some ideas that I think are worth your time and some money.

By the way, most of the people making this angry comment are the people who sell their consulting, presumably for money. They’re just mad that I’m selling Google+ information because it’s too new, so I can’t possibly know anything.

It’s Okay. You Don’t Have to Buy

The funny part is that people spend time and calories complaining about this. They complain about every new educational thing that comes along and helps people better understand something they already know how to do. See where this is funny? It’s okay if you know how to do it, people complaining. I’m not selling to you. You don’t owe me a single cent. (Also funny is that you all subscribe to my blog and read it fairly consistently, if only to make yourself feel better about how much more noble you are, or some such.)

I’m not selling to you.

You, However

You, however, are welcome to check out Google+ for Business and Networking. I think it’s going to be a blast.

What we tend to do wrong when we market is we think we’re selling to ourselves. We think our buyer thinks like us. We believe that our buyer is us. Now, sometimes, that’s true to an extent. When Josh makes superhero tee shirts, he’s making shirts that he (and I) think are cool and that we like. But even then, does that mean we’ll know what a buyer who isn’t us will like? Does it mean we’ll understand why he or she won’t buy a certain shirt, or what assurances he or she needs? No.

You Can Always Ask

One way to know your buyer is to ask. At Kitchen Table Companies, Joe Sorge and I have started asking people who they are and what they want from us as often as possible. We’re relentless, because in so doing, we will have the chance to better serve those buyers. But remember that sometimes your buyers and your customers don’t really understand why they buy what they buy. Sometimes, what they say out of their mouth is the justification versus the underlying emotion. So even that can’t always work.

You Can Measure

Have you ever used Crazy Egg? It does a great job of showing you what people linger on with regards to your website. I know this doesn’t help you understand how people act in the real world with your things, but it at least tells you how they spend time on your site.

Are you really spending enough time poring over your Google Analytics? You’re not using them? Well, how will you know what people are clicking or not clicking? How do you know what catches their attention?

Measuring is another way to better understand how you are not your buyer.

You Can Experiment

We don’t do a lot of A/B split testing in the blogging and new media world, do we? And yet, that’s how marketers have tried and improved their efforts for the longest times. You don’t have to do a LOT of it to understand what works and doesn’t, but you can always explore. Switching between whether or not you should do a partial RSS feed (I prefer full feeds) is one way to test. Switching your ads from the bottom to the top of your site. Using an email capture lightbox when people first land on your site. There are all kinds of things you can experiment with and see what that’s going to do for you.

You’re Not The Buyer

We’re not always who we sell to, and even then, there are some differences when we’re the ones creating the thing we’re selling. We might be “of” that culture, but we’re still just one component of it, and as someone vending a product or service into the culture, we’re still a bit “apart” from those who are participating differently. Does that make sense?

How do you combat that?

In life, we tend towards wanting recipes. When I’m asked about social media, people want to know things like “How much time should I do it?” and “What’s the right number of times to tweet in a day?” People ask whether Facebook or Twitter, and in which proportions. It’s natural. We look for recipes.

We Seek Out Recipes

I do it, too. I want to know the best way to work out with bodyweight only, or the best way to think about portion control. I am also looking for measures and techniques, a kind of “do this, then this.” It’s how most of us think about such.

So when, then, do we offer people the open refrigerator when it comes to offering our services?

Offer Your Buyers a Recipe

Whenever your offering says “You can do this, or that, or whatever you’d like,” your buyer runs the risk of not doing anything. They think, “Oh. I just wanted someone to do it for me, or at least give me the step by step.” It’s a stopping point.

What if you gave your buyers a step-by-step, even if it’s a “serving suggestion?” Maybe it’s not the right fit, but what they’ll do with a recipe is they’ll have a starting point from which to hack the recipe to fit their needs.

Recipes Are a Starting Point

Think about how we do that with food. If you head up to the window at McDonalds, you might want a Quarter Pounder, but with no cheese and no onions. If they had just shown you the various ingredients you could have, it would take you longer to make that decision. Plus, you’d have to ask about the various things that should be assumed, like bread.

Think Up Some Recipes

For whatever it is you’re selling, what recipes will you offer? Then, how will you present them? You’re probably thinking bulleted list. It’s the easiest way to think because that’s what we’ve seen in countless recipe books. But this is the new media world. You could do that, plus also have a video talking one through the serving suggestions. Think about how a bulleted list with a brief video above it might give your buyer the recipe but also give her the nuances of what she could possibly change.

Now, what kinds of recipes would you want to offer? What do you want to offer your buyer? Do you offer recipes or just ingredients today?