It’s a grey winter’s morning a little over 10 years ago and I’m off to run the second part of a marketing workshop for creative entrepreneurs and I’m bricking myself. I remember the workshop clearly. This was one of the first groups of creative entrepreneurs I had delivered marketing workshops to, and today was part two – how many of the 20 would show up? How well received was part one? How would I keep them all engaged today? My brain was whirring and my legs were shaking …..
I get into the room, set up my laptop and slides. And much to my relief everyone shows up. A good sign. Phew! I’ve definitely overprepared and have a big deck I want to deliver. So, I take a deep breath and start the workshop.
“GOOD MORNING EVERYONE,” I SAY, “HOW ARE YOU ALL DOING TODAY? I’D LOVE TO GO ROUND THE ROOM AND HEAR YOUR REFLECTIONS FROM YESTERDAY AND ANY QUESTIONS.”
So, I start going round the room, and begin to hear about each person’s business and where they are at with their marketing. The first couple of people I hear from answer briefly. I ask a question back, they reply, and I move on. Somewhere along this process each conversation gets more involved and longer. More questions are asked. The other participants join in with their observations. It’s a great discussion.
But there is a gremlin on my shoulder saying, look at the clock, time is ticking away. You have three hours for this workshop and you are just chatting to people. That’s not what you are here for. Start your slides give them the proper information that you planned and are being paid for.
But I carry on with the discussion. I’ve promised the room I will speak to everyone in turn, so I know I need to honour that. And with each person the conversation builds and as a room we are overcoming marketing obstacle after marketing obstacle without a slide in sight.
One conversation in particular is stuck in my memory. Two women whose vision for their business is to run video making workshops in schools. They’d already had many meetings with schools but hadn’t yet made a sale – they kept hearing the same message, that schools liked their offer, but didn’t have a budget for it. They were incredibly frustrated.
I PROBED THEIR FRUSTRATION WITH A SIMPLE QUESTION “WHY DO YOU THINK SCHOOLS WOULD BENEFIT FROM VIDEO MAKING WORKSHOPS FOR THEIR STUDENTS?” AND THEY LOOKED AT ME LIKE IT WAS THE MOST OBVIOUS QUESTION IN THE WORLD AND EXPLAINED WITH GREAT PASSION HOW MAKING VIDEOS ENHANCED LITERACY FOR STUDENTS THROUGH RESEARCH, SCRIPT WRITING AND PRESENTING AS WELL AS TEAMWORK AND CONFIDENCE. IT WAS THAT WORD LITERACY THAT STUCK WITH ME. THEY SAID IT SO MANY TIMES.
I followed up by asking, “so, what business are you in? Video making workshops or literacy enhancement?” And that was when the light bulbs started flashing. The business they were in was literacy enhancement. They achieved this for their customers by delivering their video making workshops.
Now, they could easily see how they could pitch to schools and where they had a budget. “Dear School, are you looking to enhance literacy? We can solve your problem through our video making workshops….”
I COULD SEE THE LIGHT BULBS COMING ON AROUND THE ROOM. THE PARTICIPANTS WERE DISCUSSING AMONGST THEMSELVES “WHAT BUSINESS AM I IN?” AND STARTING TO LOOK AT IT FROM THEIR CUSTOMERS’ PERSPECTIVE.
I include myself in this light bulb moment. I realised in that moment that the reason I was there was only partly because I could draw up a nice marketing deck and talk to it. My client booked me because I can join up the dots for their participants.
