The Humane Marketing Show. A podcast for a generation of marketers who care.

This is a Muse Episode, no guest today. 

I talked about our latest Humane Marketing Circle last week. 

If you'd like to join us next month in the circle, it will open its doors (and we'll open our arms) to welcome new members in Feb. If you get on the waiting list now at humane.marketing/circle you get my Authentic & Fair Pricing mini-course as a welcome gift. That's a value of 97 USD. So if you think a community of Humane and Heart-Centered business owners would help you finding out what works for you and holding you accountable, then check it out at humane.marketing/circle

Sarah's Resources

(FREE) Sarah's One Page Marketing Plan

(FREE) Sarah Suggests Newsletter

(FREE) The Humane Business Manifesto

(FREE) Gentle Confidence Mini-Course

Marketing Like We're Human - Sarah's book

The Humane Marketing Circle

Authentic & Fair Pricing Mini-Course

Podcast Show Notes

Email Sarah at [email protected]

Thanks for listening!

 

After you listen, check out Humane Business Manifesto, an invitation to belong to a movement of people who do business the humane and gentle way and disrupt the current marketing paradigm. You can download it for free at this page. There's no opt-in. Just an instant download.

Are you enjoying the podcast?  The Humane Marketing show is listener-supported—I'd love for you to become an active supporter of the show and join the Humane Marketing Circle. You will be invited to a private monthly Q&A call with me and fellow Humane Marketers -  a safe zone to hang out with like-minded conscious entrepreneurs and help each other build our business and grow our impact.  — I'd love for you to join us! Learn more at humane.marketing/circle

Don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes or on Android to get notified for all my future shows and why not sign up for my weekly(ish) "Sarah Suggests Saturdays", a round-up of best practices, tools I use, books I read, podcasts, and other resources.

Raise your hand and join the Humane Business Revolution.

Warmly,

Sarah

A lot of things changed last year. On the outside, it might look like a bigger change because of the rebranding. But underneath it all, I'm still the same and have the same values. So I wanted to make the first episode of the year a re-introduction of who I am, what I am passionate about and my plans for the Humane Marketing movement for 2022.

If you have been a listener for a long time, this might be a refresher of what you know about me. If you're new, then, hi! I'm Sarah, and I'm a Humane Marketer.

In this episode, you'll learn hear about me and Humane Marketing and...

• What things changes in 2021
• The Humane Marketing creed
• My offerings for 2022
• The plans for the podcast for 2022
• and much more…

 

Sarah's Resources

 

(FREE) Sarah's One Page Marketing Plan

(FREE) Sarah Suggests Newsletter

(FREE) The Humane Business Manifesto

(FREE) Gentle Confidence Mini-Course

Marketing Like We're Human - Sarah's book

The Humane Marketing Circle

Authentic & Fair Pricing Mini-Course

Podcast Show Notes

Email Sarah at [email protected]

Thanks for listening!

 

After you listen, check out Humane Business Manifesto, an invitation to belong to a movement of people who do business the humane and gentle way and disrupt the current marketing paradigm. You can download it for free at this page. There's no opt-in. Just an instant download.

Are you enjoying the podcast?  The Humane Marketing show is listener-supported—I'd love for you to become an active supporter of the show and join the Humane Marketing Circle. You will be invited to a private monthly Q&A call with me and fellow Humane Marketers -  a safe zone to hang out with like-minded conscious entrepreneurs and help each other build our business and grow our impact.  — I'd love for you to join us! Learn more at humane.marketing/circle

Don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes or on Android to get notified for all my future shows and why not sign up for my weekly(ish) "Sarah Suggests Saturdays", a round-up of best practices, tools I use, books I read, podcasts, and other resources.

Raise your hand and join the Humane Business Revolution.

Warmly,

Sarah

Imperfect Transcript of the show

[00:00:00] Today's conversation fits under the P of passion. If you're a regular here, you know that I'm organizing the conversations around the seven PS of the humane marketing Mandalah and it's you're new here, and they'll know what I'm talking about. You can download your one page marketing plan with the humane marketing version of the seven piece of [email protected] forward slash one page.

[00:02:50] That's the number. And then page and it comes with seven email prompts to really help you reflect on these different piece for your business. So, as I said, today's conversation fits under the P of passion, which is the first P and sometimes also I use the P for purpose. So passion purpose, kind of similar things to me and this, since this is the beginning of a new year and also a new podcasts.

[00:03:20] I thought I'd record a solo episode and talk about my passion passions today. A lot has happened this past year and from the outside, looking in. It might seem that my direction has changed because there's a lot of new things in the humane marketing avenue, brand quotation marks a new name. So a gentle marketing is now humane marketing.

[00:03:47] I also have a brand new website at humane that marketing Sarah Santa croce.com is still open and up to date. More of a generic website, if you want. In my LinkedIn stuff is still there. So everything that's related to humane marketing is now under humane.marketing. I've also two books now marketing like we're human, which was kind of published.

[00:04:17] Yeah, it was published in 2021, but I've written it in 2020 and then selling like where. That was just released this past November, 2021. So I've written it in 2021. So yeah, a lot of new things, but in fact, for me a lot has remained the same as well. I'm still the same old Sarah. I have grown. Yes, but. You know, my values are the same.

[00:04:48] And I also think in terms of the gentle marketing kind of concept and my mission and passion, nothing has changed. It's still about bringing more empathy and kindness to the business world, whether that is called gentle marketing or a humane marketing, doesn't really matter. And so, yeah, I wanted to take this episode kind of this new year episode as an opportunity to introduce myself.

[00:05:16] Maybe if you're new here, it's the first introduction. And if you've been listening to the. For a while, while it's a re-introduction and maybe just kind of a, yeah. A reminder of yes. Who I am, but also who we are as humane marketers and what this podcast is all about and how. I can serve you with this podcast and I'll be talking about some of my other offerings, just kind of as a, yeah.

[00:05:46] As a way for me to say, Hey, yes, a lot of things have changed, but I'm still me. And there's still a lot of things that are the same. And it's just maybe a an opportunity to say that out loud. We don't often take that opportunity for ourselves. And so. Yeah, here it goes. So I'm Sarah, I'm a humane marketer and host of this podcast and I call myself the mama bear of the humane marketing service.

[00:06:15] So when people ask me what I'm up to, sometimes I get asked that on podcasts, I tend to respond that I'm creating a revolution, a revolution for people who care, marketers who care, businesses who care and they care about themselves. Yes, we do care about ourselves. We do care about making a profit, paying our bills, making money We also care about our clients and we care about the planet.

[00:06:47] So that's exactly the three wins I care about as well. And I written about the three wins and in both of the books all of these wins come after my family. Of course. I think that's one of the things we realized over these past two years prioritizing yes, the humane marketing revolution. Really important to me.

[00:07:07] But it always comes after, you know, all the other things that count first and, and. Yeah, it just, it's funny because one of my beta readers, Mamata layman, if you're listening to this, you reminded me of this because you said, you know, it's strange that you, you know, you got to mention your family and your mission and in kind of in your world, you and everything.

[00:07:34] And I'm like, yeah, you're right in everything that I do Kind of, if you want to use kind of old language in the career it always comes after. What I really care about is the people who matter most to me. And those are my, is my immediate family. And then, you know, everybody, I love around that, which is extended family, but then also my friends.

[00:07:57] So, yeah. I want to talk to you about the humane marketing creed. Because in that creed, I wrote down some of the other things a humane marketer cares about. So let me read some of these statements to you. We run their business to make a positive difference and to support ourselves financially, similar to B corporations.

[00:08:21] We balance purpose and profit. We are here to serve, but we are not martyrs. We are in business. We embraced gentleness throughout our business. We treat clients, potential clients, employees with kindness and empathy. We believe in integrity and authenticity. We just want to be ourselves in order to do our best work.

[00:08:43] We don't use authenticity as a buzzword. It just means that we show up as who we are in integrity. We cultivate community. We care deeply about creating win-win win situations, win for the world, win for our clients and win for ourselves. We ensure fairness in order to build a sustainable business. We invest in creating community, not just systems.

[00:09:11] We make the world a better place. Everything we do aims to make this world. We live in a better place, our products and services, our relationships or communications. We align who we are, what we do. We don't change who we are in order to do what we do, where the real deal we aim to bring back to human connection to marketing.

[00:09:34] As much as we love technology, we always prioritize the human connection. In our marketing activities. We see marketing as a creative process. We are in our flow. When we turn on our right brains and take marketing from arduous to joyful, we approach marketing from a place of abundance. We know that there is an abundance of clients waiting for us.

[00:10:01] We are gentle Visioneers. We are part visionaries, part pioneers. We are a new species of gentle souls who reinvent marketing and business. So that's the humane marketing creed. If you liked it so much that you want to get your own beautiful visual presentation of it and maybe even share it on social media you can download it for free.

[00:10:26] No, opt-in at humane.marketing forward slash creed. So yes, that's how I see does gentle and humane revolution. And in order to get there, we need to unite get together with soulmates to create change. And the podcast is one of the ways we can do that. And I commit to bringing you inspiring conversations with guests, who I see as fellow humane marketers, and change-makers my books marketing, like we're human and selling.

[00:10:57] Like we're human are also part of that revolution and part of the way. Get there. And then finally the humane marketing circle is another option. So that's our community. It's where we create real human relationships and focus on marketing and building our business in a way that works and works for us and call myself the mama bear of the circle because in different personality type assessments, I have.

[00:11:25] Qualities of the nurture. I'm good at bringing people together and rising together and I'm gentle, but I'm also from, and can be fierce if needed. So the circle is a community. I called a mature individuals who take ownership and don't expect to be spoonfed information templates and could cookie cutter steps.

[00:11:50] So that's my fierce kind of side. I'm like, no, I'm done with spoonfeeding information and treating fellow entrepreneurs, like, you know, kinda like children that need to be spoonfed. So. That's not what we do in the community. I truly believe in the power of each individual member to make the change. I also follow the principle of a leader in each chair.

[00:12:17] So. I'm not the guru of this community who preaches how marketing is supposed to be done. Humane marketing is really about finding out what works for you. And you find that out by discussing with other like-minded entrepreneurs, what works for them so that you can figure out what works for you. The circle is a way to connect with those people in a safe and intimate.

[00:12:43] Way in small breakout rooms. And the value of the circle really is not limited to our monthly calls because I encourage collaboration between members, beyond our calls. That's why this year we're introducing buddy coaching. So really. Using that responsibility and accountability with each other and saying, yeah, I'm going to step up and I'm going to reach out and find an accountability partner to help me.

[00:13:15] You know, implement what we discussed. So that's what the circle is all about. I've been running this in different versions for over two years now, at certain moments during the first lockdown, there were only two other people on the call sometimes, but yeah, it was hard. I. Really lost face sometimes that this was never going to work or what am I doing?

[00:13:41] People are not ready. That for that, I probably got this all wrong because I need to create a community like all the others that I saw where there's tons of content and people only pay you for content. But that's not what I thought we needed. I really thought we needed the connection and we needed to, you know, talk to other people who are in the same situation to find out what works for them so that we can find out what works for us.

[00:14:09] So I kept going and kept going because. What I'm passionate about and that's, I think what I'm here to do because community is really in my DNA. I many of you know, that I grew up in a hippie commune where co-living co-learning conflict resolving were on the agenda every day. So yeah, it took me a while, but I finally come full circle and realize.

[00:14:37] This is exactly what we need today. A community that unites to change the world of business. So we need each other to get the. Right now the circle is closed until we open again in a few weeks, but if you'd like to get on the waiting list and get my authentic and fair pricing mini course for free as a thank you for your trust, you can sign up to that now at humane.

[00:15:04] Marketing forward slash circle. So yeah, the circle is one of my passions. That's why I'm talking about this. It's not just, you know, kind of a, an extended plug. Hey, joined the circle. It's really what I'm passionate about and it's going to be one of my main priorities. And I really just realized that over the last, probably three to four months realizing how important this community is to me.

[00:15:32] And that that's going to be my main thing going forward. In fact, I believe in the power of community so much that I'm working on a second circle for marketing impact pioneers. So that's those of you who work in marketing functions in companies and organizations, and this will be an invite only circle.

[00:15:59] It will allow sometimes this sometime to spring. So if you're interested in that in year, someone. Working in an organization in a marketing function or kind of in a founder function that also has to do marketing and communication. And you're interested in community and talking to other people and figuring out what works, what doesn't, what needs to be changed in order to yeah.

[00:16:25] Go towards more of the humane marketing approach. Please do send me an email at [email protected]. This is also going to be my way of getting into the door of organizations who are interested in humane marketing and working with a consultant who offers a different perspective on marketing one that's more holistic and not just profit driven.

[00:16:48] I envisioned organizations of small to medium sizes. Already in this movement of creating change. So human change, leadership change, climate change systems change, everything needs to change. That's what gets me excited. And it excites me to think that they will be applying the seven P's of humane marketing to connect with their ideal clients and use them as a lever for good.

[00:17:17] So yeah, those two community circles that. Definitely part of my passions beyond the two circles and the work with organizations, I have two other offers. One of them is the one-on-one humane business coaching with me. And then my marketing, like when human program either. Or live once or twice per year.

[00:17:41] So in my one-on-one coaching, I share my heart and brain with you and all my experience from my 15 years running an online business, writing two books, creating and selling online courses, et cetera. So beyond the typical business advice, confidence building and my humane marketing approach, I helped. Also work less and be more, I'm a huge fan of workflows, systematizing, automating, and delegating so that you can truly create a business that gives you joy.

[00:18:14] I only work with three clients at a time because I want to give them my full attention. And also because I'm an HSP, highly sensitive person and can easily overstimulate. So I learned to put in boundaries and really. Do you quality work with three clients at a time and not. And then finally, there's my flagship program, the marketing like we're human program, which is available in its online version throughout the year.

[00:18:47] So that's an online program, video format and live once a year. In fact, the live version is coming up on January 27th. I think I mentioned this many times here. I did a full episode also on this at the end of December. I'm not going to go through all the details again, but suffice to say that is a deep dive into the seven PS of humane marketing.

[00:19:12] And I think it's really the glue that so many entrepreneurs are missing. It's the glue that makes all the different pieces stick together and make sense and give clarity. There are so many options in marketing, but a lot of them are just different and separate pieces like social media. Podcasting blogging ads, et cetera, et cetera.

[00:19:33] If you don't have the glue that makes sure that all of these pieces stick together, you will never find the clarity and success you're looking for. So that's what I think the marketing like where human program is, it's kind of this going back to basics so that you can figure out how all these pieces fit together.

[00:19:55] So I'll let you look for that episode on the program at the end of December, 2021. If you're interested to learn more and maybe join us for the life program that starts on January 27th. And of course you can always find out more about the program directly at humane.marketing/program. Again, it's about.

[00:20:15] All year in it's online version. Now, I also want to tell you about the podcast and my plans for it for 2022. So let's start with saying that. Yeah. Also super passionate about this show. The podcast is another thing that I love doing in my business. I love recording the episodes going deep with the guests and yeah, I don't love the editing so much, but luckily I have a micro, tiny team who helps me with that.

[00:20:46] But even though I love everything and I still want to slow things down. Take a less is more approach and focus more on the human relationships. I was inspired to take that direction after a conversation on, on someone else's podcast. It was PECI actually. So PECI, if you're listening, thank you for that.

[00:21:11] Where she said, yeah, I need to slow things down and, and, and, and I agree with that. It's kind of, as a podcast host, it can sometimes feel like it's this factory approach, like, you know, one guest after the other, and sometimes you have like six or seven episodes. Programmed out. And you're just kind of in the doing mode one after the other.

[00:21:34] And I'm like thinking about this and I'm like, well, that's the opposite of what I'm talking about and humane approach in a humane approach to business, you know, slow marketing and, and it's also not really helpful when you want to build human relationships. And so that's why I will be slowing down to only two guests per months.

[00:21:59] For this year, I'm going to try this out. You know, they, they it's obviously another should in podcasting. The should is you should at least do one episode per week, probably more, even if you can. Right. So I'm going to throw that shit in the toilet or waste bin or whatever. And. Just say, well, I don't want to do that anymore.

[00:22:22] I want to focus on the human, on the human connection, on the relationship building and I will, you know, try it out and see how it feels for me. Yes. But then also very pragmatically look at the numbers and see. Well, okay. Now, since I'm only doing this many episodes, you know, my numbers have gone way down.

[00:22:45] What does that mean? Is this still okay for me? Or do I need to ramp it up again? So I, yeah, going forward, there will be less guest episodes. And in the week that when there's no new episodes, Sometimes record a muse episode, kind of reflecting on some things from the previous show, what I've got going on right now or other musings, but I want to keep that flexible.

[00:23:13] So I'm not making any promises here as well. And I, I would also love to hear from you actually, if you have any topics you'd like me to cover, just send me a voicemail at humane.marketing/ask where you can record a short voicemail and just tell me all, Sarah, I'd love you to talk about that.

[00:23:33] So yeah, overall I'm really excited for 2022. Yeah, sure. It will come with its challenges, probably a lot of them, but in terms of humane marketing, I feel that we're finally heading in the right direction and there's more awareness of what no longer works and what we need to focus on instead. So I'm excited for our journey together.

[00:23:57] Thank you so much for listening and being part of a generation of marketers who cares for yourself, your clients, and the planet. And if you are looking for others who think like you, then why not join us in the humane marketing circle can find out more at humane.marketing/circle. We are Changemakers before we are marketers.

[00:24:21] Now go be the change you want to see in the. Speak soon.

Find out more about the program at humane.marketing/program 

 

Welcome to the last episode of 2021 on the Humane Marketing Podcast.

If you're a regular here, you know that I'm organizing the conversations around the 7Ps of the Humane Marketing Mandala.
(If you're new here and don't know what I'm talking about you can download your 1page marketing plan with the Humane Marketing version of the 7 Ps of Marketing at humane.marketing/1page. It comes with 7 email prompts to really help you reflect on these different Ps).

This episode is a bit different from other episodes, and if this is your first time here, you may be better served by listening to some previous episodes.

Because I'm dedicating this episode to the upcoming Marketing Like We're human program, my flagship program for quietly rebellious entrepreneurs.

After a 2 year hibernation I will run this live with a small group of changemakers and I'll be honest now that I have a small group that already said yes, I'm starting to get super excited to run this again.

Yes, I've run this program before, in 3 beta rounds with three different groups.

We've co-created it so to speak.

But then the world stopped. And my world stopped too. First because I took time off to write the MLWH book, and then because of the trademark mess, and then because I wrote SLWH.

But now I'm back.

And the program has again my full attention.

And it will be the best edition yet. Because of what we've gone through collectively and we're more ready then ever for a Humane Marketing Revolution. And also because of what I've gone through, what I've created in the two years, and who I've become.

By chatting with the people who were interested in joining (and all four I've chatted to have joined) we've realized together that this is a program for deep thinkers. It's a program for mature human beings.
And by mature I don't mean having a business of a certain revenue, like some others require. That doesn't matter here. Whether you're just starting out or have 20 years experience, it doesn't matter.

By mature I mean having the maturity to
- go deep, look at who you are and show up as who you are
- question all your assumptions regarding marketing, business and success
- think of your business as a lever for good, not just a way to pay your bills
- invest in yourself
- realize that it's the intangible stuff, like confidence, finding yourself, clarity that will help you find serenity in your entrepreneurial journey
- believe in abundance, not scarcity

The Marketing Like We're Human program is truly a dance between the BEING and the DOING.

We start with the BEING. The Ps of Passion and Personal Power are all about us, who we are, how we want to show up in the world and how we're perceived by others. This is the rumbling part of the MLWH book

Only then we look at our people. Very different from every other marketing program which always starts with the avatar. Because we want to really find resonance, attract our ideal clients because they are interested in who we are and what we stand for.

I know you might have worked on your 'ideal client' before. But this is different. This is deeper. A past participant said that this is THE most extensive work on her ideal client she's ever done. That's what gives you clarity. And don't confuse that with niching. I don't believe in niching so much. You can have different clients in different niches. But what unites them is your worldview.

After People we also look at Product (or Service) and Pricing. While money is not usually a Humane Marketer's main motivator, money makes all of it easier:

making money gives you the confidence to trust yourself
making money allows you to feel safe and grounded so that you can do the work you want to do
making money helps you making a bigger impact, beyond paying your own bills
In short, money gives you choices!

Working ON your business and on your marketing is an investment that leads to being able to make more money.

People want to pay money for things that are valuable to them.

So it's key that you're able to communicate that value in your marketing.

In order to do that, you first need to realize your worth (and trust that you can actually charge what you're worth).

Worthiness, value, confidence, pricing, money... We don't shy away from discussing all of these topics in the 'Marketing Like We're Human' program.
And here we'll also bring the Humane Selling into the conversation.

We'll end with Promotion where we find and commit to one vehicle or platform for our marketing and then Partnership, which helps us see that we're not alone and that marketing is so much more fun with others.

This round in January is a hybrid program, meaning that besides the video tutorials (which I'm re-recording as we go, so in a way we're also co-creating again) and the beautiful and intense workbooks, we also meet once per week in a 75-minute Zoom call to go deeper into these topics. And by deep, I mean deep. Because if you want to bring more of you into your marketing, you need to show up as the whole you. I will lead the way with showing up with vulnerability and therefore creating a safe zone for everyone else.

If you're looking for clarity, groundedness, less doing and more being, ways to promote your services that feel good, more money but joyful money, than this program will help.

I'm not just looking for butts in seats. I'm wanting to have a human conversation with everyone to make sure this is a good fit for you at this time. And, I'm wanting to create some magic in the group. For this magic to happen I'd love a handful more participants who bring that special energy and who are ready to be uplifted and supported by our group of fellow Humane Marketers.

If that's you, let's chat.

If you haven't already, please check out the invitation at humane.marketing/program page which includes a 19-minute behind the scenes video from me. And if it resonates, click on the button to schedule a 15-min chat with me. If possible before the holidays so I can give you the 100$ off early bird discount which expires at the end of the year. If you schedule our chat now, even if that's in the new year, I'll still apply the early bird.

Why now?
Because it's time.
Because the world needs you.
And in order for the world to know about your offering, you need to market your business.
I don't know if I'll run the live program again this year. And I'm not just saying that to create fake urgency. It's not in my calendar right now. If I feel like there's a real need and people are asking me for it, then I might. But I just don't know right now.

So if you've seen my emails about this, or other communications, let's get on a Zoom call and have a Human Conversation about it, even about the money piece. Really.
I hope we get to chat soon
Book a slot with me by clicking on one of the buttons on the invitation page at humane.marketing/program

Thanks so much for listening to the podcast and being part of a generation of marketers who cares - for yourself, your clients and the planet!!!

Happy New Year!
I'll be back next year with a new season of episodes.

Speak soon

 

Hello friends,
this week I'm reflecting back on my business and my life like probably many of you. Celebrating wins, releasing stuff and forgiving so I don't start 2022 with emotional baggage.

Death, rebirth and growth. Those are the three words that come up for me when I think about 2021. Sounds a bit dramatic when I hear myself saying it out loud. But I did really go through a dark night of the soul and came out wiser on the other side.

On LinkedIn I prompted people to share about the 3 things they are most proud of this year: for me it was writing the 2nd book, Selling Like we're human', going through a major set back and rebouncing from it and the new brand and how it fits all together.
I encourage you to also sit down and think about your 3 wins. And don't stop there. Also think about your personal wins. BEING and DOING. Who we become is just as important as our professional achievements.

The podcast is one of the things in my business that I really enjoy. It gives me great joy to have these conversations and go deep into certain topics that all have to do to a certain extent with the 7Ps of Humane Marketing.

So I will continue to have them in 2022. I might tweak the format a bit, still working on that, but yes, it continues to be part of my offering in 2022.

As you know, I'm not having any sponsors, so the only sponsor is myself - and the members of the Humane Marketing Circle, because the membership fees help me cover the costs for the podcast.

The Circle is closed right now, but we'll open again in February 2022 to welcome new members with open arms. If you'd like to be informed when we open again you can sign up to the waiting list (I need to find a better term for that) at humane.marketing/circle

But if you feel that you have benefitted from listening to the Humane Marketing podcast, learned new information, gained new insights and perspectives, were introduced to new people whom you're now following, I invite you to consider supporting this podcast with a financial contribution.

There are different ways you can do this:
- You can buy one of my books, Marketing Like We're Human or Selling Like We're Human
- You can make a gentle donation via the link sarahsantacroce.com/donation
- or if you're in Switzerland you can send me a Twint to 076 489 99 73

Everything will go right back into the podcast. For the podcasters among you, you know how much work it is. And yes, I have a tiny team who helps me, whom I pay every month to edit the episode and help me share it on Social.

Your support really means a lot to me. I'll get back to each one of you. And if you buy the book, just send me a quick email to [email protected] or leave me a voicemail at humane.marketing/ask so I know that you're supporting my work this way.

Thanks so much for listening to the podcast and being part of a generation of marketers who cares - for yourself, your clients and the planet!!!

I wish you a peaceful festive season.
I'll be back next week with a final episode about the Marketing Like We're Human program that starts in January.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

Speak soon

Today's conversation fits under the P of Partnership, the last P of the 7Ps of Humane Marketing. Sometimes Partnership applies to other humans, in today's case it's a partnership with you and the truth. For this conversation about The Future of Truth, I invited Kayleigh O'Keefe.

Kayleigh O'Keefe is the USA Today Bestselling author of The Younger Self Letters and the founder of Soul Excellence Publishing, the publishing house for soulful, successful business leaders. She helps leaders share their stories of personal growth and transformation in multi-author, individual, and team books. The company has published two international bestsellers in 2021 - Leading Through the Pandemic: Unconventional Wisdom from Heartfelt Leaders and Significant Women: Leaders Reveal What Matters Most.

Prior to founding the company, Kayleigh spent over a decade as an advisor to Fortune 500 executives with CEB (now Gartner) and as a commercial leader at Snapdocs, a real estate technology company. She also hosts The Kayleigh O'Keefe Show podcast where she shares unconventional personal growth advice for ambitious, conscious leaders.

In this episode, you'll learn about building effective websites that combine tech and humane business practices and...

 

• The opposite of truth
• How we got to a place where so many people are looking for the truth and only a few really share it ?
• How the truth matters in business and marketing
• What does it mean to be authentic?
• and so much more.

Kayleigh's Resources

 

Kayleigh's Website

Soul Excellence Publishing

The Kayleigh O'Keefe Show

Connect with Kaileigh on:

LinkedIn

Instagram

Facebook

 

Sarah's Resources

Watch this episode on Youtube

(FREE) Sarah's One Page Marketing Plan

(FREE) Sarah Suggests Newsletter

(FREE) The Humane Business Manifesto

(FREE) Gentle Confidence Mini-Course

Marketing Like We're Human - Sarah's book

The Humane Marketing Circle

Authentic & Fair Pricing Mini-Course

Podcast Show Notes

Email Sarah at [email protected]

Thanks for listening!

 

After you listen, check out Humane Business Manifesto, an invitation to belong to a movement of people who do business the humane and gentle way and disrupt the current marketing paradigm. You can download it for free at this page. There's no opt-in. Just an instant download.

Are you enjoying the podcast?  The Humane Marketing show is listener-supported—I'd love for you to become an active supporter of the show and join the Humane Marketing Circle. You will be invited to a private monthly Q&A call with me and fellow Humane Marketers -  a safe zone to hang out with like-minded conscious entrepreneurs and help each other build our business and grow our impact.  — I'd love for you to join us! Learn more at humane.marketing/circle

Don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes or on Android to get notified for all my future shows and why not sign up for my weekly(ish) "Sarah Suggests Saturdays", a round-up of best practices, tools I use, books I read, podcasts, and other resources.

Raise your hand and join the Humane Business Revolution.

Warmly,

Sarah

This episode is part of a 12 days of Christmas read-along of the Selling Like We're Human book, recorded in 2021.

The book follows a similar concept to what you're already used to here on the Humane Marketing show with the 7Ps of Humane Marketing and the Marketing Like We're Human book: we start with the being and then go into the doing.

The 3 parts of the Selling Like We're Human book are : Being, Knowing and Doing (compared to Rumble, Rise and Resonate of the Marketing Like We're Human book)

Today I'm reading a small section of Part 5 called Together we can reinvent Selling

 

 

Excerpt from Selling Like We're Human, Part 5 called Together we can reinvent Selling

 

The Potential for the Future

"To sell is human," said Daniel H. Pink, and I agree. By adding an e to the
end of "human," we also make it humane, gentle, and kind! That's the way it
was always supposed to be, and we're slowly finding our way back to it.
We are being asked to reinvent the way we do business, the way we market,
and the way we sell.
Besides that human interaction, there's a new societal and environmental
factor to be considered. It's our responsibility as Humane Sellers to consider
the triple wins at every sale.

Here is the potential for the future:
• A world where selling is ethical, transparent, and sustainable.
• A world where money is not the only way we measure impact.
• A world where selling doesn't rely on manipulation and shady
persuasion techniques.
• A world where salespeople do the right thing because they also want
to sleep well at night.
• A world where entrepreneurs who use ethical selling are the ones
that not only make the biggest impact; they also make the most
money. And they use that money to make the world a better place.
Humane Selling will contribute to making it a reality.

The Humane Creed

>> Download a beautiful pdf of this Creed to share on Social Media

We run our business to make a positive difference and to support ourselves
financially.
Similar to B Corporations, we balance purpose and profit. We are here to
serve, but we are not martyrs. We are in business.
We embrace gentleness throughout our business.
We treat clients, potential clients, and employees with kindness and empathy.
Being gentle doesn't mean that we're pushovers.
We believe in integrity and authenticity.
We just want to be ourselves in order to do our best work. We don't use
authenticity as a buzzword. It just means that we show up as who we are, in
integrity.
We cultivate community.
In order to build a sustainable business, we invest in creating community, not
just systems.
We ensure fairness.
We care deeply about creating win-win-win situations. Win for the world,
win for our clients, and win for ourselves.
We make the world a better place.
Everything we do aims to make this world we live in a better place: our
products and services, our relationships, our communications.
We align who we are with what we do.
We don't change who we are in order to do what we do. We're the real deal.
We aim to bring back the human connection marketing and selling.
As much as we love technology, we always prioritize the human connection
in our marketing and selling activities.
We approach marketing and selling from a place of abundance.
We know that there is an abundance of clients waiting for us.
We are gentle visioneers.
We are part visionaries, part pioneers. We are a new species of gentle souls
who reinvent marketing and selling.

>> Download a beautiful pdf of this Creed to share on Social Media

This excerpt is from Part 5 called Together we can reinvent Selling

If what you heard today resonates with you and made you curious about the book, I invite you to get your copy of the new Selling Like You're Human book at humane.marketing/book2. You can also download the whole 1st chapter for free to see if it resonates.

And I'm also planting a seed about my 'Marketing Like We're Human' program that I'll run in its live edition starting at the end of January 2022. This is where we take all these concepts from the two books as well as the 7Ps of Humane Marketing to a much much deeper level in an intimate group learning experience. Find out more at www.humane.marketing/program

Get your copy of the 'Selling Like We're Human' book !

Get the new Selling Like We're Human book HERE!

Sarah's Resources

(FREE) Sarah's One Page Marketing Plan

(FREE) Sarah Suggests Newsletter

(FREE) The Humane Business Manifesto

(FREE) Gentle Confidence Mini-Course

Marketing Like We're Human - Sarah's first book

Selling Like We're Human - Sarah's second book

The Humane Marketing Circle

Authentic & Fair Pricing Mini-Course

Podcast Show Notes

Email Sarah at [email protected]

Thanks for listening!

 

After you listen, check out Humane Business Manifesto, an invitation to belong to a movement of people who do business the humane and gentle way and disrupt the current marketing paradigm. You can download it for free at this page. There's no opt-in. Just an instant download.

Are you enjoying the podcast?  The Humane Marketing show is listener-supported—I'd love for you to become an active supporter of the show and join the Humane Marketing Circle. You will be invited to a private monthly Q&A call with me and fellow Humane Marketers -  a safe zone to hang out with like-minded conscious entrepreneurs and help each other build our business and grow our impact.  — I'd love for you to join us! Learn more at humane.marketing/circle

Don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes or on Android to get notified for all my future shows and why not sign up for my weekly(ish) "Sarah Suggests Saturdays", a round-up of best practices, tools I use, books I read, podcasts, and other resources.

Raise your hand and join the Humane Business Revolution.

Warmly,

Sarah

This episode is part of a 12 days of Christmas read-along of the Selling Like We're Human book, recorded in 2021.

The book follows a similar concept to what you're already used to here on the Humane Marketing show with the 7Ps of Humane Marketing and the Marketing Like We're Human book: we start with the being and then go into the doing.

The 3 parts of the Selling Like We're Human book are : Being, Knowing and Doing (compared to Rumble, Rise and Resonate of the Marketing Like We're Human book)

Today I'm reading a small section of Part 4 called Beyond Business and Selling

 

 

Excerpt from Selling Like We're Human, Part 4 called Beyond Business and Selling

As entrepreneurs, we know that business is never just about business.
Adopting Humane Selling will not only impact how you feel about making
offers and having gentle sales conversations, it will change the way you relate
to other human beings and it will probably also change your priorities.
Because once you know who you really are and you are okay with that, when
you feel grounded in your worth and know the value of what you offer, then
you are ready to show up as your true self—no masks—and have a beautiful
conversation with other human beings. Whether that is in a sales
conversation, at a yoga retreat, in the line at the grocery store, or with your
partner, it doesn't matter.
But here's a little word of warning: the work won't be done by just reading
this book. Inner work is an ongoing thing. You'll have good days and then
you'll have setbacks where you will have to go back to remind yourself of your
truth, your values, your worth. Just going through the #anchors of the book
will help on those days when self-doubt takes over.

#vulnerabilityalert

In the spring of 2020, after having run The Gentle Marketing
Revolution Program (now called the 'Marketing Like We're Human'
program) with three live beta groups in 2019, I wanted to host it again.
After a free five-day Gentle Marketing Intensive, I planned to gently
lead people into the sales conversations. There was plenty of interest in
the free intensive, and almost 200 people signed up. But guess what?
Not even one person signed up for the paid program!

Of course you could blame Covid. But not really. In fact, May 2020
would have been a great time to attend an online program. So no,
it wasn't that. It was some other timing factor: people just weren't
ready for that message in 2020.
Did it hurt? Of course it did! Luckily, I had my tools and rituals to
go back to that reminded me of my worth, even without a single
sale!

Considerations, Tools, and Rituals to Help You Integrate

#woowooalert

Some of these practices may be too woo-woo for you. :-) Just pick those that
you're comfortable with.
Box Breathing
If you're nervous before getting on a sales conversation, try box breathing. It's
an easy breathing technique that immediately calms down your nervous
system and helps you relax and re-center.
Here's how it works:
Step 1: Find a comfortable position (seated or lying down).
Step 2: Inhale for four seconds. Belly expands.
Step 3: Hold the air in your lungs for four seconds.
Step 4: Exhale for four seconds, emptying all of the air in your lungs. Belly
contracts.
Step 5: Hold your lungs empty for four seconds.
Step 6: Repeat for five minutes, or as long as necessary to feel refocused and
relaxed.
I like to visualize the four sides of a square (2D box?) to help me remember
where I'm at with my inhales and exhales.

Visualization
Talking about visualization … If that's your thing, you could also visualize
your Serene Garden and the beautiful conversation you're about to have with
your client. Visualize it as if it already is so. If you're like me and appreciate
some help with the visualization process, look for the guided meditation called
"The Secret Garden" on the free Insight Timer meditation app.

This excerpt is from Part 4 called Beyond Business and Selling

If what you heard today resonates with you and made you curious about the book, I invite you to get your copy of the new Selling Like You're Human book at humane.marketing/book2. You can also download the whole 1st chapter for free to see if it resonates.

And I'm also planting a seed about my 'Marketing Like We're Human' program that I'll run in its live edition starting at the end of January 2022. This is where we take all these concepts from the two books as well as the 7Ps of Humane Marketing to a much much deeper level in an intimate group learning experience. Find out more at www.humane.marketing/program

Get your copy of the 'Selling Like We're Human' book !

Get the new Selling Like We're Human book HERE!

Sarah's Resources

(FREE) Sarah's One Page Marketing Plan

(FREE) Sarah Suggests Newsletter

(FREE) The Humane Business Manifesto

(FREE) Gentle Confidence Mini-Course

Marketing Like We're Human - Sarah's first book

Selling Like We're Human - Sarah's second book

The Humane Marketing Circle

Authentic & Fair Pricing Mini-Course

Podcast Show Notes

Email Sarah at [email protected]

Thanks for listening!

 

After you listen, check out Humane Business Manifesto, an invitation to belong to a movement of people who do business the humane and gentle way and disrupt the current marketing paradigm. You can download it for free at this page. There's no opt-in. Just an instant download.

Are you enjoying the podcast?  The Humane Marketing show is listener-supported—I'd love for you to become an active supporter of the show and join the Humane Marketing Circle. You will be invited to a private monthly Q&A call with me and fellow Humane Marketers -  a safe zone to hang out with like-minded conscious entrepreneurs and help each other build our business and grow our impact.  — I'd love for you to join us! Learn more at humane.marketing/circle

Don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes or on Android to get notified for all my future shows and why not sign up for my weekly(ish) "Sarah Suggests Saturdays", a round-up of best practices, tools I use, books I read, podcasts, and other resources.

Raise your hand and join the Humane Business Revolution.

Warmly,

Sarah

This episode is part of a 12 days of Christmas read-along of the Selling Like We're Human book, recorded in 2021.

The book follows a similar concept to what you're already used to here on the Humane Marketing show with the 7Ps of Humane Marketing and the Marketing Like We're Human book: we start with the being and then go into the doing.

The 3 parts of the Selling Like We're Human book are : Being, Knowing and Doing (compared to Rumble, Rise and Resonate of the Marketing Like We're Human book)

Today I'm reading a small section of Part 3 on DOING, Chapter 10 called 'After the Sale: Onboarding & Offboarding'

 

 

Excerpt from Selling Like We're Human, Part 3: DOING, Chapter 10: After the Sale: Onboarding & Offboarding

Onboarding
If you reached the end of the book, or almost, and think to yourself, "Yes, I
adhere to the ideas outlined here and having beautiful sales conversations in
my Serene Garden sounds lovely, but actually I'd still rather avoid them all
together and have clients just call me and say 'I'd like to work with you. So
and so spoke very highly of you and recommended your services,'" then pay
extra attention to this part of the book. While it's important to focus on the
gentle sales path, it's equally important to not just take things for granted
once you get the sale. Like John Jantsch says in his excellent book The Referral
Engine: "The sale is not complete until the customer is so happy that he or
she confidently makes referrals." That's our goal in this chapter.

The Mistake of Seeing Small Items as "Leads"
While a sale might look like the final destination of your gentle sales path, it's
often only the midpoint of your client's journey with you. Especially in the
online world, people often like to "try out" what it feels like to be in our
world, so they make a small snack-sized purchase like an e-book, a summit,
or any other small item. But this is where the nurturing begins!
One might think that it's not worth spending too much time and effort on
the onboarding journey of such a small dollar amount, but quite the opposite
is true.
When I was writing the first book and knew nothing about self-publishing, I
came across all kinds of marketing and publishing schemes. Quite a few of
them were "self-publishing gurus" who sold the idea of publishing a book as
a lead magnet. The idea per se is not bad; it all depends on the intention of
the author. If the intention is "I've written this beautiful book and I want to
share this knowledge with as many people as possible so they can apply it in
their business," then I see nothing wrong with sharing your book for free, or
almost free. If, however, the intention is "Let me write a quick (crappy) book
and use it to get thousands of new leads so I can then sell them my two
thousand dollar program," then I'm ready to bet that this author doesn't care
whether her content works for me or not. She cares about selling those
programs and only uses her book as a lead magnet.
Small items matter. Someone reading your book, attending your summit, or
participating in a free webinar is entering your sales path, and every step of
the way counts!
Adam Kawalec, business mindset coach, did this really well with his Authentic
Business Building and Marketing Summit. He told me that as long as he
could keep up, he created a personal welcome video message for everyone who
signed up. Yes, a custom-made video for each participant. Talk about feeling
heard and seen! By doing that, Adam showed that each person counts to him
and that it wasn't about the numbers, but about each individual who showed
up.
Remember Adam's "move the pay line" concept? In the service business, we
call the phase after the monetary transaction "onboarding." We're bringing a
new client on board. Yes, money has been exchanged, but maybe your client
is still a bit nervous about your collaboration or about the purchase they've
made. It's your job to put them at ease, welcome them, and show them how
you roll. The more personalized your onboarding, the better.
When I signed up for coaching with Jenny Blake, I received the most gorgeous
bouquet of white lilies I had ever seen. It was such a beautiful surprise.
And after signing up to work on the HumaneGen Marketing Design with
Nela, I was impressed by her onboarding process as well. Not only was it
efficient, it was beautiful as well. She used a custom-designed Trello board to
layout the whole design process for me and explain each step. The board also
served as an efficient way for us to communicate and have all the history of
our exchanges in one place. Nela didn't copy that process from a pre-existing
framework she downloaded from some well-meaning site. She designed it for
her customers.
Think about your onboarding process. Is it clear and efficient? Is it beautiful?
Maybe even whimsical? How does it make your client feel?
No matter how big or small the sale, really focus on the details and how this
experience of doing business with you will make people feel. It may be just
ten dollars for a book at the beginning, but this reader just might turn into
your most loyal heartfelt promoter. Pay attention to the little things!
Customer Service
Another important phase after the sale is the customer service.
As a reader of this book you get access to a whole collection of free resources
(www.humane.marketing/book2). This is a way for you to deepen the
learning, reflect on what you've read, and integrate it into your work.
To me, that falls into the phase of customer service. If I have your best interest
at heart, I want you to really use the knowledge of this book and not just read
it and move on. Yes, I do have a full program available as well, and I'm hoping
to work one-on-one with some of you, but you can totally do everything on
your own with the resources I give you.

#vulnerabilityalert

When I created my first online course, The LinkedIn Profile Quick
Fix, I hadn't considered that I'd need to offer customer service for
participants of the program. Given the duct tape system I used,
there was no way for members to ask questions in an easy format
like a forum for example. So I quickly found myself answering
customer e-mails at all hours of the day. Not fun! Not fun for them,
and not fun for me either!
Think about your customer service. Is it efficient? Is it personal? How does it
make your client feel?
As service providers, we don't have to deal with repairs. But we do have to
address customer questions.

Also listen to my conversation with Stacy Sherman about the customer experience in episode 109

This excerpt is from Part 3: DOING, Chapter 10: After the Sale: Onboarding & Offboarding

If what you heard today resonates with you and made you curious about the book, I invite you to get your copy of the new Selling Like You're Human book at humane.marketing/book2. You can also download the whole 1st chapter for free to see if it resonates.

And I'm also planting a seed about my 'Marketing Like We're Human' program that I'll run in its live edition starting at the end of January 2022. This is where we take all these concepts from the two books as well as the 7Ps of Humane Marketing to a much much deeper level in an intimate group learning experience. Find out more at www.humane.marketing/program

Get your copy of the 'Selling Like We're Human' book !

Get the new Selling Like We're Human book HERE!

Sarah's Resources

(FREE) Sarah's One Page Marketing Plan

(FREE) Sarah Suggests Newsletter

(FREE) The Humane Business Manifesto

(FREE) Gentle Confidence Mini-Course

Marketing Like We're Human - Sarah's first book

Selling Like We're Human - Sarah's second book

The Humane Marketing Circle

Authentic & Fair Pricing Mini-Course

Podcast Show Notes

Email Sarah at [email protected]

Thanks for listening!

 

After you listen, check out Humane Business Manifesto, an invitation to belong to a movement of people who do business the humane and gentle way and disrupt the current marketing paradigm. You can download it for free at this page. There's no opt-in. Just an instant download.

Are you enjoying the podcast?  The Humane Marketing show is listener-supported—I'd love for you to become an active supporter of the show and join the Humane Marketing Circle. You will be invited to a private monthly Q&A call with me and fellow Humane Marketers -  a safe zone to hang out with like-minded conscious entrepreneurs and help each other build our business and grow our impact.  — I'd love for you to join us! Learn more at humane.marketing/circle

Don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes or on Android to get notified for all my future shows and why not sign up for my weekly(ish) "Sarah Suggests Saturdays", a round-up of best practices, tools I use, books I read, podcasts, and other resources.

Raise your hand and join the Humane Business Revolution.

Warmly,

Sarah

This episode is part of a 12 days of Christmas read-along of the Selling Like We're Human book, recorded in 2021.

The book follows a similar concept to what you're already used to here on the Humane Marketing show with the 7Ps of Humane Marketing and the Marketing Like We're Human book: we start with the being and then go into the doing.

The 3 parts of the Selling Like We're Human book are : Being, Knowing and Doing (compared to Rumble, Rise and Resonate of the Marketing Like We're Human book)

Today I'm reading a small section of Part 3 on DOING, Chapter 9 called 'A Beautiful Sales Conversation'

 

 

Excerpt from Selling Like We're Human, Part 3: DOING, Chapter 9: A Beautiful Sales Conversation

 

Focus on How You Make Them Feel
And so we find ourselves at the end of your sales path, in the middle of your
Serene Garden, under the big old oak tree. The weather is warm, and there's
a slight breeze. Bees are buzzing, birds are chirping, and a small swarm of blue
butterflies is sailing through the air.
You've made some chilled herbal tea and are getting ready to sit down with
your ideal client to have a beautiful conversation, a sales conversation.
On the following pages you'll find some suggestions on how to hold the space
for this encounter. Take what feels good, skip what doesn't.

But most importantly, remember the following:
1. You are having a conversation with smart, conscious clients. They
have done their research, gone through your path, rested at several
signposts, and decided that they want to talk to you and find out
how you can collaborate.
2. Treat them with humility. Hear and see them. They come to you as
whole human beings, potentially in a vulnerable place because they
are asking for your help.
3. And most of all, focus on how you make them feel. This is not
about you and your sales pitch, your checklist, or the money in
your bank account. Forget about you; shift the focus to them.
When I asked my clients, they often put speaking on stage at the same anxiety
level as a sales call. It's scary because you make yourself vulnerable and risk
being rejected. I've heard all kinds of public speaking advice, but it was only
when l met Victoria Lioznyansky that something clicked. Instead of going on
and on how public speaking is all about your message and that you shouldn't
think about yourself but instead focus on your message, she said the following:
"If you're not thinking about your audience and how you're trying to make them
feel, your message is not going to resonate quite as much." – Victoria Lioznyansky
That's when the penny dropped. The same advice applies to your beautiful
sales conversations: focus on how you make them feel!

Ditch the Sales Script
I know it can feel scary to think about going into your sales conversation
without a script. But trust me on this!
Take that seven-step sales script you downloaded off some well-meaning site
and get rid of it. It doesn't help you in your Serene Garden.
Prepare for Your Call
That doesn't mean you'll just wing it and go into your call completely
unprepared. Quite on the contrary: we'll come overprepared so that once
we're in the garden, we can just relax and listen.
Actually, that's worth an anchor.

#anchor

Just because we're not following a step-by-step sales script doesn't
mean that we just wing it. Instead we come overprepared so that
once we're in our Serene Garden, we can lean back, listen, and hold
the space for our client.

Here's how I suggest you prepare for the call:
1. Reread your client's answers from the intake form; write down
some notes.
2. If you have an "icebreaker" question in your intake form, maybe
start the call with a reference to it.
3. Look at your client's website, especially at what they're offering or
what they contacted you for.
4. Bonus: subscribe to your client's newsletter or free download to get
a feel for the way they communicate.
5. Spend some time thinking about which offer will most likely be a
good fit for this client. Have the details of this offer ready if you
need them.

Design your Gentle Sales Conversation
At the end of this chapter, you'll find a mandala with bubbles in it. I refer to
it as the Creativity Mandala. If you've read the first book, you might already
be familiar with it. I'd like you to use this as a tool to design YOUR unique,
nonlinear, and beautiful sales conversation.
But before you do that, we need to address two more things about your
conversation: better questions and respecting objections.
Robots Ask Robotic Questions
Aaaah!!!! That's me screaming upon hearing the typical "On a scale of one to
ten, how likely are you to want to solve this problem now?" question for the
hundredth time.
That's the problem with scripts and templates. Eventually, everyone sounds
like a robot reading the same questions off a document.

If you instead flip the script around, or, like in our case, completely ditch the
script, you are:
1. Forced to truly listen to your potential client
2. Come up with better questions
The gap-selling method and related seven-step frameworks will have you
uncover the pain, or the gap, so that you can then sell the magic solution.
This leads to a doer attitude: find out what's wrong and fix it. And it also
often leads to taking the power away from the client because all he sees is the
problems and he then feels cornered into having to buy if he wants to solve
his problems.
With Humane Selling, we want to give the client the power back. And we
want to make her see the opportunity, not just the problem. Instead of
making it a conversation about negatives, we change it to a positive exchange
focused on the client's possibilities, goals, and aspirations. So instead of using
the same old template questions, we need to ask better questions that lead us
into a deeper conversation so we can fully understand our client's situation.

This excerpt is from Part 3: DOING, Chapter 9: A Beautiful Sales Conversation

If what you heard today resonates with you and made you curious about the book, I invite you to get your copy of the new Selling Like You're Human book at humane.marketing/book2. You can also download the whole 1st chapter for free to see if it resonates.

And I'm also planting a seed about my 'Marketing Like We're Human' program that I'll run in its live edition starting at the end of January 2022. This is where we take all these concepts from the two books as well as the 7Ps of Humane Marketing to a much much deeper level in an intimate group learning experience. Find out more at www.humane.marketing/program

Get your copy of the 'Selling Like We're Human' book !

Get the new Selling Like We're Human book HERE!

Sarah's Resources

(FREE) Sarah's One Page Marketing Plan

(FREE) Sarah Suggests Newsletter

(FREE) The Humane Business Manifesto

(FREE) Gentle Confidence Mini-Course

Marketing Like We're Human - Sarah's first book

Selling Like We're Human - Sarah's second book

The Humane Marketing Circle

Authentic & Fair Pricing Mini-Course

Podcast Show Notes

Email Sarah at [email protected]

Thanks for listening!

 

After you listen, check out Humane Business Manifesto, an invitation to belong to a movement of people who do business the humane and gentle way and disrupt the current marketing paradigm. You can download it for free at this page. There's no opt-in. Just an instant download.

Are you enjoying the podcast?  The Humane Marketing show is listener-supported—I'd love for you to become an active supporter of the show and join the Humane Marketing Circle. You will be invited to a private monthly Q&A call with me and fellow Humane Marketers -  a safe zone to hang out with like-minded conscious entrepreneurs and help each other build our business and grow our impact.  — I'd love for you to join us! Learn more at humane.marketing/circle

Don't forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes or on Android to get notified for all my future shows and why not sign up for my weekly(ish) "Sarah Suggests Saturdays", a round-up of best practices, tools I use, books I read, podcasts, and other resources.

Raise your hand and join the Humane Business Revolution.

Warmly,

Sarah

This episode is part of a 12 days of Christmas read-along of the Selling Like We're Human book, recorded in 2021.

The book follows a similar concept to what you're already used to here on the Humane Marketing show with the 7Ps of Humane Marketing and the Marketing Like We're Human book: we start with the being and then go into the doing.

The 3 parts of the Selling Like We're Human book are : Being, Knowing and Doing (compared to Rumble, Rise and Resonate of the Marketing Like We're Human book)

Today I'm reading a small section of Part 3 on DOING, Chapter 8 called 'From Sales Funnel to Gentle Sales Path'

 

 

Excerpt from Selling Like We're Human, Part 3: DOING, Chapter 8: From Sales Funnel to Gentle Sales Path

 

The Sales Funnel Revisited
We all know the spiel by now. I give you my e-mail in exchange for something I
want and need. It could be a checklist, it could be a one-page marketing plan, it
could be a video series . . . Once I enter my name and e-mail, I'm smart enough
to know that you'll send me more than just that thing you promised me for free.
Nothing is free. Instead, I'm being lured into your funnel.
The more sophisticated the funnel, the bigger the chance I will end up buying
something—or eventually, the whole store. Because, quite frankly, some of
these funnels have an addictive quality embedded. And there are plenty of
gurus who will teach you the "art of the funnel."
To be clear, getting someone's e-mail is a good marketing strategy. The old
saying "the money is in the list" is a valid statement if, and only if, you preface
it with "the relationships get developed through the list."
So getting your ideal clients' e-mails so that you can communicate with them
is key.
What I'd like us to revisit is the sales funnel. You know, the typical thing:
Step 1: Start with a freebie and get their e-mail address.
Step 2: Send them a few valuable e-mails.
Step 3: Get them to buy an offer under $50.
Step 4: Upsell them to your higher offer.
Etc.
What if we change the term "funnel" to "path" and think of it as a get-toknow-
you path?

I used the above image previously in the Marketing Like We're Human book,
but I'd like to expand on this idea here, given that this is a book about selling.
There are a few major differences between the funnel and the path.
Our intention: Whereas in the funnel our main goal is to get that first sale
from everyone, our objective in the path is to introduce our new visitor to our
world. We can do that by sharing our story, our values, our worldview, and
why we do the thing we do. Of course we still want our visitor to buy from
us, but we have no specific agenda on how or when that happens.
The client's experience: When we lived in California from 2006 till 2010,
I had the "pleasure" of attending a gazillion birthday parties as our boys
were at the prime age for those events. The first few times, I was shocked
at the proceedings of these get-togethers. I truly felt like a sheep in a
funnel.

"Deposit your gifts on that table please. Then take off your shoes and proceed
to the trampoline area (or whatever the activity of the day was). Have fun!"
After some jumping, a few minor injuries, and a melt down or two, it was
pizza time.
"Go wash your hands. Here's your pizza slice and a few carrot sticks. Okay,
everyone had enough? Let's do the cake!!" After the happy birthday song, it
was already time to say goodbye as the next group was waiting at the door!
"Thanks for coming, everyone! Trevor had a great time!"
Poor Trevor didn't even get to open his gifts. No time for that . . .
I'm exaggerating, of course, but that's how I sometimes feel when I'm being
rushed through one of these funnels. "Hurry please, I don't have all day. Buy
something and make room for the next person."
Instead of rushing our clients and pushing all of them through the same
funnel, we want to invest in them, empower them to make their own choices,
and give them options and different paths they can take in our world.
I consider myself a smart and conscious human being (street smart, that is ;-
)). And I want to work with people who are equally smart and conscious. I
want them to understand that's how I think of them. I want them to feel that
I truly care and that they can trust me.
The length: Building that trust takes time. And if we're rushing someone, we
can immediately lose their trust. They see right through it and walk away. If
we think of it as a path instead of a funnel, we adapt a more long-term
perspective which allows us to build value, trust, and ultimately a relationship
with our visitor.
The language: By changing the term "funnel" to "path," we're setting the
example that words matter; language matters.
Brené Brown talked about the impact of dehumanizing language in politics
on one of her podcast episodes (Brené on Words, Actions, Dehumanization
and Accountability).
"Dehumanization is the most significant driver of insurrection and it always starts
with language. We are all responsible for recognizing it, stopping it, and holding
people accountable for dehumanizing language and actions."
Shaming and lack of empathy are at the center of dehumanization. Sure, it's
quite extreme to compare dehumanization on a political level with marketing
and selling, but hear me out.
When we use techniques and language that lack integrity and empathy and
instead focus on shaming and making people feel less than, aren't we
dehumanizing our clients? Aren't we treating them as numbers, or as sheep
that we want to push through a funnel?
In our gentle sales paths, we use language that shows that we understand, that
we care, and that we're here to help whenever they are ready.
Income Follows Impact
My friend Adam Kawalec, a Swedish business mindset coach, came up with
this great concept he calls "moving the pay line." He makes the point that
when people first enter your sales path, they aren't really sure what value you
can provide. So it's really up to you to highlight your value through impact.
Because, as Adam says (and I agree with him), income follows impact.
"Seth Godin says that 'marketing is the tax you pay for not being
remarkable.' If you want to be remarkable, you need to make an
impact, a difference big enough that people are willing to either pay
for it or talk about it. So the way I see it, income follows impact.
In business, it doesn't always look like that though. I sometimes see
entrepreneurs holding back until they get paid. This makes it hard for
a prospect to know if they want or should work with you—because
they have not yet seen or experienced what it is that you really do for
your clients. I am suggesting that you 'move the pay line.'
Picture yourself at the beach. Pick up the stick that's lying next to
your feet. Now draw a vertical line in the sand. That line represents
the moment you get paid. On the left of that line is the before and
on the right of the line is the after they pay you.
We spend hours thinking about and listing all the things we do and
what happens once our clients pay us and we start working
together. All the extra features, benefits, and amazing results they
will either have, do, or be as a result of working together.
I am inviting you to move some of the things from the 'after they
pay me' side over to the 'before they pay me' side so that you can
make an impact before they pay you, giving them an experience of
what you do rather than explaining the concept of what you do."
Can you see how this creates impact and influences the 'know, like,
and trust' factor right away?
In my experience, following my 'income follows impact' motto, I
spend less time (if any) trying to 'convince' someone to work with
me, and it has allowed me to become remarkable, talked about, and
referred to."

The Path that Leads to the Serene Garden
Let's go back to our garden analogy and imagine that our product sale or sales
conversation is a lovely, Serene Garden somewhere at the end of these paths.
Sreela shared this in the Gentle Sales Lab:
"The journey [to the Serene Garden] will look different for each
client, because someone will climb some stone steps and take a birdseye
view before coming down to it, others will go straight ahead along
a tarmac road, preferring the short route, and another still will take a
paved path, leading down to another section of the gardens, from
which your particular secluded garden may be in clearer view for him
to decide. Maybe the latter person only makes decisions once they
have seen the wider context in which the offer sits."
And while the paths may look different for each client, the destination is the
same: your Serene Garden.
And . . . even if the journey is different for everyone, every client will want to
take some rest, sit down, consider their options, and decide about where to
go next. That's where the signposts come in—and the Marketing Rule of
Seven(ty). Another Cliffhanger...

This excerpt is from Part 3: DOING, Chapter 8: From Sales Funnel to Gentle Sales Path

If what you heard today resonates with you and made you curious about the book, I invite you to get your copy of the new Selling Like You're Human book at humane.marketing/book2. You can also download the whole 1st chapter for free to see if it resonates.

And I'm also planting a seed about my 'Marketing Like We're Human' program that I'll run in its live edition starting at the end of January 2022. This is where we take all these concepts from the two books as well as the 7Ps of Humane Marketing to a much much deeper level in an intimate group learning experience. Find out more at www.humane.marketing/program

Get your copy of the 'Selling Like We're Human' book !

Get the new Selling Like We're Human book HERE!

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Marketing Like We're Human - Sarah's first book

Selling Like We're Human - Sarah's second book

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Thanks for listening!

 

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Warmly,

Sarah