by Ever felt so FRUSTRATED at not being able to get your point across…
So damn helpless…
That you could only clench and unclench your fists like a maniac?
Ever tried so hard to find the right words but were still left with blank, confused faces looking back at you…
You desperately want to communicate something so simple yet so important to you, but you can’t find the words…
So you just sit there feeling foolish and annoyed and powerless…
Your mouth opening and closing silently, your arms alternately shrugging theatrically then grasping at your hair…
…then doing that disbelieving “how can you not understand me?” gesture Italian football players use when the referee denies them a free-kick.
If you’ve ever learned a new language you’ll know how tough it can be to begin with.
See, I moved to Berlin a few months ago and right now I’m learning German in evening classes… from scratch.
I’ve never studied German before, bar a few daily Duolingo sessions learning bits & bobs of vocab in the weeks leading up to my trip.
So I’m pretty Grün as far as the old Deutsch goes.
Now, it’s not like I’m expecting to be able to discuss the finer points of Brexit or the German economy in the local lingo after 6 weeks of evening classes…
…I just want to be able to understand if someone in the street is telling me they love me or hate me, basically.
But here’s what I’ve found:
Learning a new language when you’re thirty-ni-*mumble-cough* years old isn’t the same as when you were at school.
Your adult brain absorbs new languages differently to when you’re a sprightly young kid, especially after a full day’s work.
(My class runs from 6-9pm, four nights a week for six weeks, which is pretty mentally exhausting, lemmetellya.)
And although I’m picking up the important points ok and I know my Äpfel from my Orangen, I’ve actually found some days unbelievably frustrating.
Why?
Because as a messaging consultant, much of my working day is spent helping people to communicate as clearly as possible…
Whether it’s helping an entrepreneur choose the best angle to go with in their messaging strategy…
Or finding the exact right words to create compelling sales copy, I help people avoid the kind of communication breakdowns I’m experiencing in my evening class.
Ironic, I know.
My goal is to get the value of my clients’ messages clearly and memorably into the minds of the people they want to reach.
To entertain, to persuade but most of all, to help their customers understand something about them.
Clarity is key to this.
Without clarity, your sales message is nothing
It doesn’t matter how compelling your close is, who your celebrity spokesperson is or how much evidence you have that your widget works…
If your prospect is confused about your product or service…
If they (mistakenly) think you’re something you’re not…
They’re keeping their wallet closed until things are clear.
(And that might be NEVER.
Which means you lose the sale.)
So it’s really your top priority to communicate clearly and precisely: exactly why your offer is right for them, right now.
Yet it can be surprisingly hard to get this clarity, especially if you have a complex solution or service.
After a few years of training and practice, this is something I’m able to help my clients with.
And yet…
I spend all day doing that, enjoying being good at it and feeling all pleased with myself (yes, this happens sometimes) that I can translate complex ideas into simple concepts that sell…
But then, come 6pm in German class, I’m like the village idiot trying to remember which word means “cooking” (Kochen)…
…which means “cake” (Kuchen)…
…and which means “kitchen” (Küche – I mean, come on! Sometimes I think the Germans do this deliberately.)
Plus our class is taught entirely in German, so if you need something translating, you either figure it out or…
…well, or you don’t.
(And that’s before I even step out onto the streets of Berlin or hit the supermarket, where suddenly Mr Fancypants Consultant finds himself with the communication skills of a 4-year-old.)
So as someone who values clarity of communication more than most, the past few weeks have been a real challenge.
And I’ve found myself doing those Italian footballer gestures more than a few times…
But the sheer frustration of not being able to make myself understood in my limited ‘Denglish’ inspired me to write this reminder of the importance of bridge-building in your marketing.
Your sales message is like a bridge:
You’re on one side, your prospect is on the other.
If that bridge is shaky, they’re not getting on it in the first place.
Or if that bridge has holes in it, they may not make it over to your side.
And sometimes you might clutter that bridge up with so much extra unnecessary information – or the wrong information – that it’s impossible for the right people to make it across.
Often, communicating one single important concept is the most important part of a messaging project…
I’ve recently worked with a number of fantastic clients who needed help with this.
Like my ecommerce client who designs and sells luxury blankets whose main selling point in-person is their incredible softness to the touch…
How to communicate that online when a prospect can’t hold a blanket in their hands?
Or my educational client whose video courses help trainee project managers prepare for important certification exams…
They needed to draw a more direct line between what they offer and what the ultimate outcome would be for their students…
Or two recent Saas clients who both wanted to better understand exactly what consequences their prospects were worried about…
What fears did these people have that my clients could address by demonstrating that their products prevented those consequences?
These were all complex problems solved by focusing one key issue:
Clarity.
In each case my work involved uncovering and implementing one key change that could be communicated better with more clarity, so that each client was able to build a stronger bridge to their best prospects.
It may even be the same with YOUR marketing…
Before worrying about drawing up a list of benefits or objections that need conquering, perhaps you need to shift your audience’s expectations with your messaging…
Or you may need to build a stronger bridge between what your service offers, and what your prospect wants to hear in order to convert them.
Are you even sure you’re both speaking the same language – or is there a risk of your being mistaken for something you’re not?
Remember:
The clearer your offer is, the less ‘selling’ you have to do to get someone over your bridge.
Worth thinking about next time you put a sales message together.
