Episode 4: Are you making it too difficult to get to know you?

Today, we are talking about tip number three in our series of the four surprising ways to supercharge your sales at any stage of your business. Hopefully, you've listened to the first two episodes, where we covered tips number one and number two, respectively making it easy to pay you and making it easy to shop with you. If you missed it, it's worth going back and checking out those episodes. So let's jump into today's tip. Tip number three: Make it easy for people to know you.

Now this is where things get real. People, your customers. They need to know something about you so that they can connect with you and your business on an emotional level.

Why should I buy from you?

Have you ever heard the expression sell the sizzle, not the steak? You can't hide behind your products or service, because what you sell is an experience with a piece of you, whether you're selling earrings or selling coaching, selling furniture or selling tumblers. If you could buy those things anywhere, why would somebody want to buy it from you?

Listen, I know that this is hard. I know that it is hard to talk about yourself, and even more so when it's completely unprompted. It's hard. If someone doesn't like the cake you sell, you can always tell yourself it's not you, they just don't like that particular flavor. It still stings, but it's easier to accept the rejection of what you sell, not the rejection of you. When you stand out in front of what you sell, you are exposing yourself to the thoughts and opinions of the world and you risk feeling personally rejected. You spent your whole life being in the background, making space for and taking care of others. That is the experience of most Latinas. You're not the kind of person who enjoys being the center of attention, and neither am I. Yet here I am hosting this podcast. I said this is where it gets real.

I struggle, too

I've had the same exact experiences in my journey as an entrepreneur. I was terrified to be the face of this business. When I started La Jefa Status, all I knew was that I had knowledge and access to resources and access to mentors and experts that most Latina entrepreneurs did not have access to. But I was not a coach. I had mentored many people, managed and fired and hired so many I stopped counting. I've managed multi-million dollar budgets, negotiated contracts with the front office of professional sports teams, pitched childcare assistance to the chairman and CEO of my bank, and did it during a life town hall. I have no fear when it comes to handling any situation in my corporate career.

It took 15 years, but I can say that corporate Jen is unshakable. Now entrepreneur Jen, she's still a work in progress. I was not yet a coach. I called myself a consultant instead. The words matter a lot less now because I am whatever my client needs me to be from moment to moment. The words just don't matter anymore.

But at the beginning I was so unsure it was destabilizing, despite everything I had accomplished and the depth of knowledge I knew I had, having worked with entrepreneurs for over 15 years. I started another business and won my first-ever pitch competition and I had amazing traction with my startup and had been testing prototypes. But despite all of that, I was still scared and I was still nervous. For the first time in a long time, I was unsure. I knew that La Jefa Status would require me to show myself, not just my services and if I had to sell myself, then I had to accept the risk of being rejected. I had to accept the risk of being judged, of making people unhappy or pissing people off with what my dad called my militant approach to decolonizing entrepreneurship. I also had to accept the risk that I might be wrong about things, that I might make mistakes in a very public way.

Corporate Jen is perfectly and confidently curated. She knows how to handle pretty much anything that comes her way. Once you experience that level of comfort, it's really hard to jump back into the unknown. Immediately, I hear voices telling me who would want to learn from you. What makes you so special? You're not teaching anything revolutionary. You're going to make yourself a target with your mission and your message. Why can't you just be happy with your day job? Believe me when I say that I understand how scary it is to stand out in front of what you sell. I know how scary it is to stand on the table and say it with your full chest, but I also know that good marketing absolutely requires you to stand out from the crowd. This is literally the whole point of marketing. Why should I buy your cake and not a cake from the grocery store? You have to tell me. Why should I buy jewelry from you? Why should I go to your medspa? Why should I choose you to cut my hair? Why should I care to try your tacos? You have to tell me.

The purple cow…

Marketing, branding and advertising are industries and practices all built around the fundamental truth that it's human nature to want to belong. Seth Godin, a very influential marketer, wrote a book in the early 2000s called the Purple Cow. The premise was that the only way to compete in business is to stand out like a purple cow would stand out in a field of white cows with black spots. He's right, but it's only half the equation. Everybody is trying to be the purple cow, and that evolutionary need to belong won't necessarily be satisfied by just jumping into a group of purple cows. People want to be identified and they want to be affiliated with something that reflects who they are on the inside, or at least how they see themselves or how they want others to see them. Take Subaru, for example. Part of their marketing is values based. You get to choose a nonprofit to have them donate to on your behalf when you buy a new car. Big brands don't just rely on being a purple cow. They try to communicate that they are more than just a big, soulless company, that they also have values too.

I work for a pretty big bank and I purposefully market the people in my company, not just the brand. We communicate our values through our people and the stories of our customers. I hardly ever talk about our prices or our products. I talk about how we make you feel to be a client. I show you how many successful businesses choose us, hoping to stoke that fear of missing out and nudge that part of you that wants to be affiliated with a group of successful people. Now you can spend a lot of time and a lot of money trying to figure out the nuanced aspects of branding and storytelling, because there are so many different ways that you can go about this. There are entire careers in sub-industries dedicated specifically to figuring out how people make decisions, how to trigger somebody emotionally, how to get them to identify with you on an emotional or subconscious level.

I would argue that ethics involved in trying to bypass someone's critical thinking, but the bottom line is that people make buying decisions based on emotion. Yes, price yes, there is some critical thinking involved. Yes, there is some logic and reasoning, but it always comes down to emotion, to what they want to be affiliated with, to how safe they feel to make a purchase decision. If they could spend their money anywhere, why would people want to spend it with you? This means that you have to be willing to be visible, just like I have to do the same thing. People can't buy what they can't see.

Vulnerability is your strength

I find it ironic that vulnerability requires you to stand out in front of what you sell and that that comes from a deep sense of confidence and self-trust. But it's true. As an independent business owner, there's a lot of vulnerability in standing up and confidently sharing your values and all the reasons someone might identify with who you are and what you sell. That's scary, but the good news is that the more you practice, the less scary it will become. It's like anything else. You need practice. There's no other way around it. But you can take tiny steps. You don't have to jump into the deep end, unless that's your style. You can take it slow. You can take tiny little baby steps and use that to build your confidence

What's been helpful for me is having other Jefas around me to affirm me and to remind me of what a chingona I am. Not only did I have to let those people in, I had to let their words in too. I had to allow myself to believe it. If you don't have those people around you, you do. Now you have an abundance of support inside of Brown Girl Business School and that is a guarantee. But until the door is open for enrollment, I have a technique that can help you right now to be more confident in talking about what you do and why anyone should buy from you.

The one-sentence marketing plan

I call it my one-sentence marketing plan and it's pretty legit. I also, with that, have the actual module, a part of the module that I teach in Brown Girl Business School, specifically about the one-sentence marketing plan. That is not available anywhere else. It will be inside of Brown Girl Business School, but to celebrate the launch of this podcast and to give you an idea of the content that will be in the Brown Girl Business School membership, I'm making the lesson for the one-sentence marketing plan available to you now. The link is in the show notes to get access to it. If any of this resonated with you or you found it helpful, hit me up on Instagram and let me know. I'm so excited to have you here with me. Thank you for your time today and I will see you in class.

To get access to one-sentence marketing plan: click here.