Talk abut a duh moment!
I recently gave a workshop for women entrepreneurs at New York’s In Good Company Workplaces. The topic was “Talking About Your Business,” and I thought it went quite well.
Almost 30 women got up in front of the room and talked briefly about their businesses. They got feedback from me and the group, and left, I believe, feeling clearer and more confident about how to promote themselves.
The only business that didn’t get talked about was… (wait for it)… mine.
We All Need Feedback!
I didn’t even realize this delicious irony until today, when I was back at IGC doing a series of short consulting sessions and Robin Cole, of Robin Cole Recruiting, pointed out that, at the workshop (which she attended), I’d neglected to:
- Explain the speaker coaching services I offer
- Describe the reasons why people should work with me
- Offer them an incentive to sign up for coaching right away, and
- Give them a reminder of how to get in touch
If one of my clients had neglected to promote themselves at a workshop, I’d probably have read them the riot act. But here I was, making the exact same mistake.
What I’ll Do Differently Next Time
Because it’s all too easy to fall into the “my work speaks for itself, I don’t have to promote it” trap, I’m going to take these steps the next time I lead a workshop or make a speech on communications:
- Build time to discuss my services into the agenda
- Be sure that people understand the specific benefits I bring (I’ll probably need to script this out and practice it, just as I would script out and practice any difficult part of a speech)
- Make a special, time-sensitive offer to the attendees—and encourage them to take advantage of it.
While I’ve worked hard over the years to improve my marketing skills, self-promotion is still not a natural stance for me, as it’s not for many of you who read this blog. Fortunately this incident (thank you, Robin!) reminded me that there’s always some small thing that we can do better.
What I hope and believe is that those small things eventually add up to big success.
What do you think?