Comfortable Marketing

Friday, May 29, 2009

Are You Looking For Your Niche in All The Wrong Places?

I've heard dozens and dozens of life insurance agents, coaches, and other professional solution providers complain that they have not been able to find their ideal niche. Is that a problem for you too? Have you been able to find that certain market where you are well accepted and where your results, profits, are the best and most reliable? Or are you still looking for just the right audience?

If you are still reading this, because you have not found the best possible place for you and your services - maybe it's because you are looking in the wrong places or looking at the problem from the wrong point of view, making it harder than it should ever be.

Finding your niche could not be more straightforward. You just choose who you want to serve and then do it. The actual reason, from my experience, that people can't seem to find their niche - is their inability to describe what makes them and their offerings unique, desirable, and beneficial to their target audience.

The essence of attraction marketing is clearly articulating your benefit to your specific audience so that the right members of that audience, the ones ready to buy, will be attracted to you and seek you out.

Think of it the way the matador thinks of it when he enters the bull ring. He is the target of the bull because the bull has a clearly defined market for what he offers - a ride on his horns.

The matador's cape is how the matador attracts the bull's attention - attraction in action. Because the bull already knows he wants to attack the matador, he just needs someone waving something around to get him focused in the right direction.

So, if you can't seem to find your niche - maybe your cape is not getting the attention of the right people.

First, get a clear picture of what your service offers the exact target of your interest. That's 90% of the challenge. The rest is just figuring out where they are and how to get to them there - or better yet, how to get them to come to you.

Maybe that's why, when you lose business to a clearly inferior (in your mind) competitor or your prospect buys life insurance from a company that does not measure up (based on your assessment) - it's not about them, it's about you. You did not give them the reason they needed, what benefits you have that no one else has!

What is it about your benefit statement that attracts the people you want to attract and sends the rest out looking for folks you can serve, and bringing them to you?

When your benefit statement is so clear and so focused that people who are not your ideal prospects recognize immediately that they know someone who should be talking to you right now, you've got it.

Let's face it, we already know everyone we know - so when we get our message right we can get in front of them. It's the people we do not know and will never come in contact with and who need our services - the big list, that our friends and associates can send us to that will make all the difference.

We must help those who would help us by being 100% clear - who we serve, why and how. It's our way of exciting the molecules - getting them in motion so they can bring us the people they know we can help.

Those of us who must market, sell, and deliver our services often find ourselves - especially in social situations, uneasy about the possible reception of people we meet for the first time. "I already have enough insurance." is a frequent comment instantly delivered upon hearing that the person who has just introduced themselves at a party is an insurance agent.

Let's replay that scenario. You are a business coach who helps Dentists staff their offices with assistants, receptionists, and hygienists who are exceptional at patient support. The result is many more referrals from satisfied patients.

When meeting someone at a party - after telling them the 45 second version of what you do, they might say "My sister is a Dentist and she was just complaining about the number of new patients from referrals in her office. If I get her on the phone will you talk to her?"

A well considered specific benefit statement identifies who needs what you're selling and why, something at least as important to the folks you do not want as clients as it is to those you do.


About the Author

Successful professionals are always on the lookout for ideas and resources to help them. They are also looking for creative ways of marketing their professional services. If you want to be even more successful in the future than you are today, learn more about marketing professional services and share your insights with others, visit us and join in the discussion.

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Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Marketing Tips for Mortgage Brokers of FHA Streamline Refinances

The best way to market FHA streamline refinances is to make a client understand what he stands to gain by taking it as well as what he could lose if he opts for another kind of loan.

What is FHA Streamline Refinancing
The best way to think of FHA streamline refinancing is as a shortcut to taking out a better mortgage overall. People who qualify for a FHA streamline refinance loan can get their current interest rate lowered right away and usually without even having their home subjected to a lengthy appraisal first. With FHA streamline refinancing, clients will also have lesser paperwork to deal with, something that many clients have reason to be thankful of.

In explaining what FHA streamline refinancing is to your client, try retracing the steps for taking out a mortgage. Highlight the tasks that are not just time-consuming but costly as well, tasks that will be immediately removed from the equation if they pass for FHA streamline refinancing.

Who Can Apply for FHA Streamline Refinancing
Unfortunately, not everyone is qualified to obtain FHA streamline refinancing. Firstly, the client's original or first home loan must have been provided by the FHA. In view of this, you should take the initiative of contacting old clients whom you've helped secure a FHA loan on their homes. They might not know they're in need of FHA streamline refinancing or what they stand to gain from it, but thankfully, you're here to enlighten them.

Another requirement is that your FHA loan must be of good standing. Your payment history should only reflective positive behavior from you.

How Can People Benefit from FHA Streamline Refinancing
One thing you should let your clients know is that FHA streamline refinancing doesn't offer them a cash-back option. Simply put, FHA streamline refinancing is only used to help them reduce their monthly interest expenses. From there, clients will be able to receive extra money and put it to better use.

You have to make this clear to your clients as FHA streamline refinancing is truly not ideal for all mortgage takers. If you believe that a client is in greater need of a cash-out refinancing loan rather than streamline refinancing, it is your responsibility to steer your client to the right direction.

Having an original home loan that is an FHA loan with a good status is a must to qualify for a streamlined refinance. Also, the payments of your monthly interest must be lowered by the refinance. Although there is no option to receive cash back, it's good to know that this refinancing option can reduce your monthly expenses. If you are someone with a good financial standing and you don't have any significant debt, this will work well for you as it allows you to get some monthly extra money that you can use on other ventures.

To end on a lighter note, those who do qualify for and will benefit from FHA streamline refinancing can also look forward to include closing costs in the total loan amount of FHA streamline refinance.

The Final Marketing Touches for FHA Streamline Refinancing
FHA streamline refinancing is ideal for people with little need for a huge amount of money but can benefit greatly from lowered monthly expenses. As a mortgage broker, it's your job to make them see what you're seeing. Do that and it's impossible for any of your clients to refuse taking out a FA streamline refinance loan!

About the Author

Scott Tucker tells you more on his free audio CD, free e-book, free faxed report, & free telephone seminar, all available for the asking, at www.MortgageMarketingGenius.com/newsletter

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