Why you should show, not tell
Hey, I hope you’ve had a great week?! Every single time I sit down to write this newsletter, I am simply baffled by how this year has flown. Obviously we all know why, but Covid hit us mid-March! It’s now mid-August guys! Quick props to Emma Beard, an absolute legend who has given me some really actionable advice on how to improve these emails. Buckle in, because we are about to level things up!
One thought: It’s far more impressive to do the work 📝
On Monday I’m dropping a very personal post on LinkedIn, but I wanted to give you the exclusive low-down first.
I’m starting out on my own now after losing my full-time job a month ago.
I used to do content marketing as a side hustle outside of my full-time job, and now I’m looking to scale this into what will hopefully become a business. I’m super excited and I’ll share every fear, worry, failure and mistake with you. I’ll also be documenting the journey on YouTube with some vlog-style videos (once I learn how).
The reason I mention this is because over the past 4-5 months I’ve been building out my current list of clients. I’ve made many mistakes, but one thing I have definitely learnt to be so important, is that it’s way better to show someone what you can do, instead of just telling them about it.
Show, don’t tell
Regardless of what industry you are in, it is better to do the work instead of asking permission to do it. By and large, let’s boil this down to two scenarios:
1) You want a promotion
2) You want somebody as a client
If you want a promotion, the common approach is to wait until you are given more responsibility. You treat your job description as a checklist and count yourself as doing a good job if every box is ticked.
This is the wrong approach. You will get a promotion when you have proven that you can take more responsibility.
If you seek more responsibility and take an ‘owners mentality’ that the businesses’ overall performance is something you care about, and want to influence, you will find yourself impressing the right people and you will increase your chances of a promotion.
Take up more responsibility and perform above your pay grade to get more pay.
If you only take what you are given, how could you expect to suddenly be paid more for it?
My experience with clients
Sometimes things have to be tangible. If you are sending a cold email to a prospect, you are over-valuing: A) That they care about your proposition, and B) That they can visualise what you are offering them.
Yes, it takes upfront time, but I’ve been essentially creating content for potential prospects and then sending them an email saying: “Hey, loved your podcast with X, noticed you don’t promote it so I’ve made you 5 teaser clips (attached). The clips are yours to post, I look forward to seeing them on your socials.”
Yes, this may take hours out of your day for no foreseeable reward, but this is a client you are hoping to get right? Tilt the probability of a ‘yes’ by doing the work in advance. Sending a cold email that took you 5 minutes - that never gets opened - is making your life harder than it needs to be.
Consider this: You get a present on your birthday vs. a present on any other day of the year. Which one gets the WOW response? Usually the surprise right?
Start new client relationships on the right foot by showing and not telling.
Once a prospect has something tangible, they now have something to go on. You are firmly placed in their mind, and if we take a phrase from the book Influence - The Psychology of Persuasion the reciprocity principle is now active. You’ve done something for this person and now they feel they need to give back, which may mean they say yes to a phone call or they will be more open to listening about your services.
Thank you for reading this week’s email! I welcome all feedback as I try and make this newsletter valuable for you 😁
Talk soon,
Joe
Content tip of the week 🚀
Double up your video calls by making content from it! I have to mention that you do need to ask people for their permission to hit record, but I’ve been having some great chats this week and I’m so glad I recorded them. Spend 10 minutes to make your background look half-decent (usually moving ornaments, family photos, etc) and you can chop up the videos into short clips or just pull the audio to post it for audiograms (I did this here and used Headliner’s free plan).
Book of the week ✍️
Influence, The Psychology of Persuasion - Robert B. Cialdini
If you are interested in psychology then this a great book! I’m getting through books quite recently now from finding PDF versions and using Speechify to turn them into an audiobook. There are some eye-opening studies about how our default processes for efficiently processing information can be flawed, and how this can be manipulated by businesses every single day. Just like going to the supermarket and seeing the price of a chocolate bar displayed in a large, red box. You’d think it was on sale, no?
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I’m Joe, a content marketer passionate about personal development and psychology. Every Sunday, I write an email newsletter with 1 thought, 1 content tip and 1 article I’d recommend. Usually, I go over-board and provide a little more 😁
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