Inverting the credibility equation

February 04, 2016 12:23 PM

Every business has a handful of dream clients. Ideal
candidates they’d love to do work for. People they’d give their left arm to
collaborate with. Sometimes sales departments will even write a persona or tape
a hot list the wall or compile a vision board or even write a full blown
strategy for ultimately securing their so called whales.

But more often than
not, most businesses just sit back with the fingers crossed and wait for the
phone to ring. They don’t consider their own credibility as vendors.

I once read
a fascinating article in a business journal that interviewed
local cutting edge advertising agencies and asked them to reveal which account
they’d most love to land. Their answers ranged from a billion dollar corporate
behemoths to charitable organizations to national sports teams.

But what’s
interesting is, none of the account managers addressed the crucial issue of
their own brand. They waxed poetic about the benefits of working with their
dream client and how valuable it would be to add them to their company’s
roster, but none of them made a strong case for why their dream clients would
feel it’s impressive to be partnering with them.

It’s like the nerdy kid
explaining to the beautiful cheerleader why taking her to prom would improve his
reputation at school.

When the reality is, the cheerleader can have any guy she
wants. There has to be something in it for her.

And so, in business, there’s
nothing wrong with imagining your dream client. But a more valuable exercise
would be figuring out what you have to become to invert the credibility
equation.

Positioning your brand in a way that companies are honored and
excited to earn their way onto your
list.

Doing work that encourages clients to brag to their friends about working
with you.

LET ME ASK YA THIS…

Are you target marketing or making the market target you?

LET ME SUGGEST THIS…

For a copy of the list called, “50 Questions Every Entrepreneur Should Ask,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!

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Scott Ginsberg

That Guy with the Nametag

Author. Speaker. Strategist. Inventor. Filmmaker. Publisher. Songwriter.

[email protected]

www.nametagscott.com