David White and Lucy Whittington at GKIC London October 2014
The October meeting of the GKIC London Chapter was held on Tuesday , 21 September at “The Anthologist”.
The aftermath of Hurricane Gonzalo was the cause of the late arrival of our main speaker so there was an unexpected bonus presentation from Moe Nawaz, trusted mentor and strategic advisor to top companies around the world.
Moe kicked off the meeting with an insightful case study featuring a third-world taxi driver to illustrate the value of delivering a memorable (for all the right reasons!) experience to your customers.
After a challenging journey from the south coast, guest speaker Lucy Whittington arrived only slightly late and like a true professional stepped up and launched into her presentation…
…”Find Your THING And Get Famous For It!”.
People like Dan Kennedy make the point that one of the biggest sins in marketing is being…BORING!
Well, Lucy is most certainly not boring and indeed part of her mission is to help you make your marketing INTERESTING by being a “Business Celebrity”.
As the presentation title suggests, there are 2 primary components to the “Whittington Way”…
1. First find your “Thing”…that is the specific area where you can help people and that excites you and where you are an expert
2. Get (widely) known as the expert in your “Thing” and attract a ton of business as a result.
Now at this point you may be thinking that this is simply the concept of building authority in your field by becoming known as an expert. And to some extent you would be correct.
However, there are different ways to achieve a particular result and one approach may suit you better than another. Lucy certainly has her own unique style and her approach places a little more emphasis on “celebrity” rather than simply being known as an “expert”…which in our celebrity-obsessed culture my come across as a little stuffy and…well, boring!
Lucy set out 5 key steps…
1. Find your THING (hints…it needs to be something you find EASY that others don’t and perhaps something that ANNOYS you when it’s not happening)
2. Create a personal headline that quickly explains what you do and how you help people
3. Refine your PSP (“Personal Selling Point”)
4. Act with authenticity by BEING a Business Celebrity
5. Get out there and stand in your spotlight!
More about how to do all this and find your own “THING” at Lucy’s website…BeingABusinessCelebrity.com
There are some great FREE resources…
…PLUS coming up is “Nail It November”…so keep an eye out for for that if you want to become THE business celebrity in your market and area of expertise.
After a short break came…
…the always excellent Mr David White with the “official” GKIC training for the month…
…”Stupid Spending: People Have Money For What They Want”.
Ever seen something that seems (to you) outrageously priced, over-the-top and (frankly) a little bizarre? For example, the $1,000 hamburger (with gold flake), the diamond encrusted i-Phone case, the $100 ice cream (the “Kitchen Sink” from Bubby’s in New York)…or the Barbie table football machine (apparently available for around $25,000).
Perhaps even more amazingly…people buy these items! These are all examples of how…
1. People have money for what they WANT
2. People spend vast amounts of money on things that fascinate them even when they are tight-fisted about spending money on anything else.
There are lessons here for EVERY business.
Firstly, remember that in the majority of cases people buy because they WANT the emotional result or payoff that your product or service delivers, not simply because they happen to need it.
So, no matter what you do or sell. there is somebody for whom it can be made their number one concern or desire for the day.
Secondly, think about how you might be able to create a version of your product or service that might seem outrageous but that could very well appeal to a certain type of individual. After all, if there is all this “stupid spending” going on, how can you attract a slice.
The key to all this is creating (or tapping into) a profound passionate interest. The primary way to do this is create something that’s unique and scarce and 4 ways you could do this…
1. Limited buying opportunity
2. Controlled days or times when something is available
3. Have some items so unique only one (or a small number) is available
4. Create “outrageous” items to attract attention to present other items people may actually buy in significant numbers
Remember, these ideas and strategies can be applied in ANY business. The smart (and successful) marketer will find the right way to make this work in their specific situation.
The meeting wrapped up with drinks and finger-food and the opportunity to discuss the ideas presented at the meeting. As always, the meeting was thought-provoking and a great opportunity to catch up with like-minded business folk.
The next main meeting of the GKIC London chapter will be on WEDNESDAY 19 November (a different day of the week than usual). Details at the GKIC London page.
Before that, David is hosting a number of GKIC Business Bootcamps for people new to GKIC-style marketing. Next one is on Thursday 30 October.