Are you hiding?

Are you hiding from your market?

Do you, deep down, really not want to have much to do with them? You just want them to magically find you, think you’re a huge pile of awesome, and throw piles of money at you, right?

You write… and they listen. Because you’re awesome. And dammit, they should just realize it and get with the program.

😎

OK, I might be being a wee bit dramatic there. However, in essence, this is what I see a lot of people saying. Not with their words, but with their actions.

Too many people are trying to grow a business without ever really having a conversation or much interaction with the people they want to reach.

It usually shows up like so:

• Just creating content based on what you think people want (but never actually asking)
• Dreaming up an online course to sell people, but never actually asking them what they want.
• Always talking TO your reader (whether real or imagined), but never WITH them. In other words, you lecture them.

All too often, this ends up at a dead end.

You’re sitting there creating stuff you think should work, but barely anybody notices. You hope Google will bless you with some holy traffic water, but it never comes in any volume that would move the needle.

But, in the end, people are kind of… hiding.

They don’t talk to anybody, actually.

You’re nervous to get out of your comfort zone and interact with real humans, so you create a little kingdom of one on your own domain, talking to people who really aren’t there.

And putting yourself out there by sparking a Zoom call with somebody in your target market, or making videos, and basically being more of a human being instead of playing “guru”… that all makes you nervous. It isn’t uncomfortable.

Not YOU, specifically. 😇 I’m speaking generally here.

I’ve said many times before…

This is a people business.

A human to human business.

And none of us are so gifted that we can just create something so awesome that the internet will beat down our doors in anticipation.

Just doesn’t work.

There’s no substitute for rubbing elbows with people.

Talking to them.

And I have no earthly idea how anybody could expect to build and grow a successful blog-based business without ever talking to anybody in the audience.

If you’re trying to figure out what your market really wants to buy, there is no better way than getting some of them on the phone and TALKING to them. And doing a lot of listening.

If you’re trying to raise your conversion rate on an existing offer, what better way than to reach out to the people who didn’t buy and simply ask them “Why not?”

If people are unsubscribing from your list in numbers that concern you, why not reach out and ask them what’s up? Remember, just because they unsubscribed doesn’t mean you can’t contact them. You can’t send them mass email anymore, but just copy/paste that email address into your own personal email and send them a personal, individual email. Make contact… see where things went weird.

Want to spin up a new business but nobody knows about you yet? Get out there and rub elbows with them. Start conversations on social media. Participate in forums. Find local groups, meetups or conferences where they might and and go hang with them in person.

The answer is ALWAYS going to be found out there talking to the actual people you intend to serve.

Never forget that they’re human beings. They’re not an email address. They’re not a blip on a graph.

You can’t sit in your ivory tower and start an online business from above.

Reach out to subscribers directly to see how things are going and how you can help. Put live chat on your site. Invite people into Zoom calls.

You know, many times your best way to make a sale is not to put an “Add to Cart” button on there, but instead to get them into a quick conversation where you can answer their questions immediately and route them into what’s best for them.

Human to human.

The internet is just the medium to facilitate H2H (human to human) interaction and conversation. Don’t get so hung up on the “internet” part of this that you rely on it completely.

Want some further reading on this? Check this out:
RE-Humanizing Your Online Business: Scaling Your Business By Doing More Of What’s NOT Scalable