If I would have to pinpoint when I became a “marketing addict”, I would say 2015 at the absolute latest.
And 2008 at the earliest, because I have memories of taking a course and finding a business coach when I was living in a house I left January 2009.
So I know it was that early.

And I remember vividly, the feeling of having been introduced to a circle of knowledgeable entrepreneurs…
Who knew something that was unheard of in the Netherlands, or at least almost never practiced.

But above all;
I felt it was something I needed, to make my yoga business a success.

I was wrong about one thing;
It was not a secret to making my yoga business a success.

But right about something else;
It was something local businesses could profit from tremendously!

The “something” I found, is known as marketing for small businesses.
And I was right in suspecting as early as 2008 that it was not applied by independent professionals and small businesses in The Netherlands.
Which holds true to this day.

In fact it is shocking in how many industries – where industry stands for a branche of professionals who all sell a specific type of work – still have a taboo on actually actively selling.
You can share what you’re doing, you can network with professionals from other industries telling what your work is, and you can join trade unions and do anything from taking extra courses to working according to protocols to earn extra credentials;
But woe betide, should you actually show up to sell your work!

The audacity.

In fact, before I continue, I can already make it really simple that IF you are in an industry where it is spoken about in hushed tones if you actually show up and sell;
You already know that you are in an industry where something is at play that marketing alone, including marketing for small businesses, is not going to fix.

So let me just name a few independents who might have experienced being frowned upon asking for the sale, and in particular when asking premium prices:
– historians
– artists
– independent healthcare workers
and of course:
– yoga teachers

If you too experience resistance to:
– freely determine what service you offer
and
– how you want to price them
Then you too are in one of these industries, that needs a closer look, before you can benefit from marketing.

To understand where this resistance to you stepping into your bigger professional boots comes from, we should look at industries everyone understands what they entail;
AND they are commercially funded.
So although they may be essential workers, they are not publicly funded.

Examples of independent professionals, working in the commercial sector, where everybody understands what their work entails are:
-mechanics
and
-lawyers

We all
-know when we need a mechanic or a lawyer
and
-we all know it is going to cost us.
These are not services which are government funded.

So!
If you experience resistance selling your services, and/or have experienced resistance from your audience or peers thinking you selling is inappropriate?
Then either:
-it is unclear what your service is, compared to the clarity a lawyer or mechanic can offer
Or
-people are not used to paying for it, usually because it is part of the public service industry or because the market is rigged and the service is being delivered cheaper elsewhere using underpaid labor and/or resources from unregulated countries. 

This means that your industry, is either:
– immature (it is not clear what your offer)
Or
– not on a free market
In this second case (your industry not being on the free market) it is actually the case that, the free market of your industry, is immature.
So people are used to seeing the service, but only in a publicly funded context.
The free-market portion of your industry, is hardly developed (immature).

In both cases we’re dealing with immature industries, which are always recognized by ONE characteristic:
1.All pricing is similar
This is actually a result of the broader taboo on selling.
But your industry is immature if there is no diversification in offers.
If there are no VIP offers, premium pricing, or professionals who only operate at this higher price point, then your industry is immature.

If your industry is not a public one, so you’re not an independent working in health care industry or education, then there is a second characteristic your industry is not mature:

2. There are no fulltime jobs doing your work
You can be a lawyer or a mechanic on a salary, but you can hardly be a writer doing a 40 hour job, nor a yoga teacher or an artist.

So to loop this whole thing back to the beginning of this story:
Where small business marketing absolutely has the potential to work like a charm, if you are in an immature industry?
It is definitely more difficult than it should let’s say “logically” be, at first glance.
Because you “also” or “first” have to overcome the price-dampening characteristics of your industry.

Overcoming this price dampening effect can be done in TWO ways;

1.You increase the clarity of what it is you do.

So you “coin” your industry, until people understand it the way they understand what a lawyer or a mechanic does.

For example, you SELL your paintings in an easy, fun, pret-a-porter manner, “as if” you are running a Go-to House Decoration account  on Instagram.

“As if” between quotation marks because you will soon actually become, the Go-to House Decoration account on Instagram.

You have now successfully turned
my car broke -> mechanic needed
Into:
I need to decorate my house -> artist needed

In this first scenario, WHAT you sell stays the same. 

Or, you can overcome the flat-priced industry by:

2.Diversifying your offering!

Just because all the others in your industry do not have monthly subscriptions, premium pricing, temporary offers, exhilarating launches, Inner Circles, private client work, group courses that have “Doors Open!” and “Doors closing!” dates?
Does not mean you can’t!

A healthy, mature industry, is one where everyone immediately understands what’s on offer, and when it is needed.

Ideally, every industry should provide clarity around this, so that any professional can open shop, and make a living with zero marketing.
Every industry, ideally, should be as clear cut as the work of mechanics or lawyers.

But if that is not your industry, you can still make a living:

-making your work just as clear as that of a lawyer or a mechanic
But you will need to keep communicating this, because your industry has failed to provide it for you.

And/or
-you can diversify your work by, quoted from above
“monthly subscriptions, premium pricing, temporary offers, exhilarating launches, Inner Circles, private client work, group courses that have  “Doors Open!” and “Doors closing!” dates” 

As a yoga teacher back in 2008 or 2015, this meant I had the choice between:
-offering my yoga classes in a very clear way
For example I could have called it: 

Yoga
exercise for health

Have a website, some flyers and otherwise zero marketing.

-making my yoga services exciting
By offering 6 week – beginner courses, a monthly study group, private yoga packages, 1-on-1 yoga membership, and an annual group program that started in September and ran through June the following year.

And that, would have been the only thing I needed to know about marketing.
It would have last me, a lifetime.

.
~Suzanne
become the Rock Star you were born to be

 

Specify. Sell. Repeat.
{ March 2024 exclusive}

 

A SESSION JUST FOR YOU

A one-on-one workshop for you, artist, professional, creative or entrepreneur.
You are already deeply in love with what you do, but the financial result?
Not so much.
Yet!

In one 2 hour session, we’re going to extract the service or product you would love to sell, and under the conditions that suite your agenda.

It is called:
Specify. Sell. Repeat.

The price of “Specify. Sell. Repeat.” is € 297, the same as in 2023, when I also ran this workshop.

It demonstrates what it looks like to make your offers specific;
Specify a what (a 2 hour session), when (in March 2024), and the price.

For your business we’re going to look for something that’s:
🎯 in your zone of genius
📏 can be made specific (what, when, how)
💎delivers clear value to your client
🌊And is powerful yet effortless

In “Specify. Sell. Repeat.” we’re taking what it is you love doing, and design it into a service or product.
A true gem, that you would love to sell daily;
Creating happy customers, and a happy you!

Let’s create your ready-to-sell offer, and email me at
s_beenackers@hotmail.com
Include a link to your current company website, or website as an independent; or a social platform you actively use for business.

Your application always remains confidential and if I can help you, we start right away.
All applications are treated with respect and dignity.

I look forward to seeing you.

You got this!

~Suzanne
https://catacombenijmegen.com/terms-conditions/

you need to know this! to thrive in any industry
| Specify. Sell. Repeat. { March offer }
was posted on the Catacombe Rock Star blog

Subscribe to this blog to receive them in your Inbox

Catacombe offers international Rock Star mentoring & business coaching:
https://catacombenijmegen.com/current-offer/