Are They Looking at Me? It’s All About What Your Prospects Want
Camping is a lot of fun. Well, we're sure that not all of you agree with that statement, but we definitely have a blast when we're out there “getting away from it all”.
On one such weekend, we had decided to head out to Jasper, Alberta, Canada to enjoy the mountains, and the amazing fresh air. So we packed up our tent and all the other camping essentials and took off.
The weekend was perfect… the weather was great, we found a sweet campsite, and our time there was laid-back and relaxed.
And then it happened… early on Saturday afternoon, when Pat was returning from filling our water container, he noticed that almost everyone in the campground was looking at him. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't understand why. Although I sure knew what they were looking at, and it wasn't Pat…
On the same path, following close behind him, was a black bear.
Once Pat headed up the path towards our campsite, he noticed the bear behind him. He decided to take it easy and keep moving at a slow and steady pace… he figured if the bear had wanted to chase him down, he would've already done it.
So when it appeared that all the campers were looking at Pat… they really had their focus elsewhere.
The same thing applies online. We may think people are looking for what we have to offer… in fact, we may be positive we have something that everyone wants. But do they? Are they really looking at you, or has someone else grabbed their attention?
One way to find out if you have your prospects' attention is to ask them what they want, or what it is they are looking for help with. Only then can you truly know if what you are offering is in line with what they are looking for.
We need to see the wants and needs of our prospects from their point of view, not from what we “think” they are.
As Marcel Proust said…
True discovery consists not in finding new landscapes, but in seeing the same landscape with new eyes.
We need to take a look at what we are offering through our prospects' eyes… not from our own bias and perspective.
One way to find out what others are looking for is to conduct a survey or poll.
You can do that within your blog, like this…
[poll id=”3″]
Hey, if you haven't yet participated in our little poll above, we would greatly appreciate your feedback. And by all means, feel free to elaborate on your answer in the comments section below.
Another place to ask your prospects what they want and where their challenges lie, is to conduct a survey using an online survey service… just like the one we created HERE on Survey Monkey.
Remember, it's great that you would buy your own product or service, but do other people see it as having the same value to them in their lives? Ask them and find out… are they really looking at you?
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2010-07-04 @ 4:33 pm
Valuable post. Just today I received some statistics about the 3 most read articles, out of over 100 I have had published on Ezinearticles.com since September 2008. I write about healing, relationships, sexuality, love, success and other topics. But to my big surprise, the number one article that got the most attention was “Healing Your Relationship After Cheating is Discovered.” Without the statistics to back it up, I would never have realized how important this one topic is to many people, 1684 people to be precise. Thanks for this reminder to tailor my work toward what people are seeking.
Erica
2010-07-05 @ 4:30 pm
Erica,
It can be quite surprising when we find out what people really find important, and what they like most about what we do. Even our little poll that we put in our blog post is revealing some interesting results.
Thanks,
~ Pat and Lorna
2010-07-04 @ 6:08 pm
Memorable post Pat and Lorna! I’m sure we all have times when we think we are the focus, when it is something else. I have done some surveys and found them very informative. This reminds me to look at the last survey I did and make sure I’m incorporating the results.
2010-07-05 @ 4:34 pm
Jacqueline,
That is the other part of the equation, isn’t it? It is great to create surveys for people to give us feedback, but then we need to make sure we actually use the information we gain from the results. Thanks for the reminder!
~ Pat and Lorna
2010-07-05 @ 8:53 am
WOW Pat and Lorna, That must have been very scary having a black bear following you. I love how your blog ties into that lesson. Though I am not really marketing anything as of yet, I love learning all these great ideas and lesson from everyone. Thank you.
2010-07-05 @ 4:37 pm
Julie,
I probably would have ran like crazy when I saw the bear, but Pat’s a pretty cool cucumber and maintained his composure.
It’s great that you are learning so much… when you get to the point of marketing your products or services online, you’ll have a huge amount of knowledge to draw from.
~ Pat and Lorna
2010-07-06 @ 6:13 am
What an interesting tie-in into your point. I guess you can use any story to create the visuals and you did it well.
My daughter is out your way tree planting this summer. Bears have been a big concern. From what I understood the black bears won’t hunt you down but the Grizzlies will.
I watched you video with Kimmel…that is hysterical. I hope you still have the edge. The Coolest couple! LOL
2010-07-08 @ 10:54 am
Rebecca,
Thank you. And you are right… black bears aren’t as aggressive as the Grizzly bears. In Pat’s case this is a good thing… although a Grizzly bear in the campground would not have been a good thing for anyone.
Looks like we’re falling behind Jimmy on Twitter followers… but we feel we have a way better relationship with ours than he does with his… quite often quality is better than quantity.
Thanks,
~ Pat and Lorna
2010-07-08 @ 12:32 pm
No kidding baout the Grizzly…you are supposed to play dead…let it beat you around and then empty itself on you….
Of courseitis about the interaction..for Kimmel it was justa competition probably for his EGO but maybe he would be open to some suggestions from you now that he konws who you are..
2010-07-06 @ 6:35 am
Sorry about being stupid and not finding the comment link. Aside from the Bare A$$ comparison of Pat to the bear, what else do they have in common. Great post from some really cool people.
2010-07-09 @ 9:47 am
Nelson,
Good to see you here! What else do the bear and Pat have in common?… the amazing bear hugs!
Thanks so much,
~ Pat and Lorna
2010-07-06 @ 4:00 pm
Hey Guy’s,
another great post pack with top top tips.
Is the vote thingy you used a WP Plugin and if so what’s the name of it please?
I think I’m going to start a survey to ask the question to my list!
Thank you so much for sharing this with us all.
Keep smiling
Chris 🙂
2010-07-09 @ 9:50 am
Hey Chris,
The plugin is called “Polls”. It is a great way to get your readers involved.
Thanks,
~ Pat and Lorna
2010-07-07 @ 1:12 pm
Hmmm,
Food for thought here. We don’t know who is looking or what they’re looking for or at unless we ask. Very good point to bring into our sites.
The attention span of people searching online is so very short, we only have a few seconds to peak their interest. Then the challenge is return visits.
Thanks for bringing this point up,
Val 😉
2010-07-09 @ 9:58 am
Val,
Yes, you’re right, we don’t have much time to catch their attention and get them to notice us and want to come back for a repeat visit. It’s a good thing to know up front what they are looking for so you can get that to them right off the bat… and putting up a poll to get them involved and find out what they want is a great way to start.
Thanks,
~ Pat and Lorna
2010-07-07 @ 2:53 pm
Hi Pat and Lorna,
Really wonderful read and great tie in! We do need to know what our prospects want if we want to be successful.
Surveys are such a great tool and I found yours particularly interesting. Considering that the highest percentage of participants found video the most challenging, I wonder if they’ve tried it. It’s much easier than most people think… or are they not interested in trying video and so they chose that one. Interpreting responses is difficult sometimes… and almost always surprising. I’ll bet most are interested since it’s such a big thing these days.
It will be interesting to see how you follow up with the information you collect… that would also be an interesting post… how to interpret the survey and how to apply what you learn from it.
Looking forward to reading more!
2010-07-09 @ 10:06 am
Deb,
Interesting idea on the follow-up blog post. Thanks for the idea… and you’re right, once you get the information you need to understand why they’ve said what they did and actually use it in your blog and in your business.
Thanks,
~ Pat and Lorna
2010-07-08 @ 8:11 pm
P&L,
first, i’m SO glad the bear wasn’t that hungry! second, great way to make lemonade out of the situation. it’s so very true that we don’t always know what going on in our potential client’s minds and hearts. we can only be as empathic as we can be and do our best to put ourselves in their shoes. and of course, as i learned in tss, the market knows best what they want, so why not ask them, hence the “ask campaign” such as my free, monthly “ask adam” teleseminars.
thanks for another great post,
adam
2010-07-09 @ 10:08 am
Adam,
Thanks for the thoughts… and the reminder of how important it is to put ourselves in our prospects’ shoes and to ask them what they want.
~ Pat and Lorna
2010-07-09 @ 1:14 am
Hi P&L!
I just love your nature analogies:) I was also very surprised when I went back and reviewed some ad-tracking stats, at which ads were getting the best response. I almost deleted some ads that I personally didn’t think were all that great, but after looking at the stats from ad response, found that one of them was a top-puller. Your post is a great reminder to find out what your prospects are looking for instead of trying to give them what you think they want.
–Lori
2010-07-09 @ 10:21 am
Lori,
Sometimes it’s quite a surprise to us as to what people find important and which posts, articles, or offers people respond to the most. That’s why it is so critical to actually track where people are going, what they are reading, and looking at the responses to our polls and surveys. Seems that you’ve done a great job in finding that out.
Thanks,
~ Pat and Lorna
2010-07-10 @ 3:34 am
Hi pat & Lorna, great post. Next time I’m going down the path, I’ll se who may be watching and try to figure out what they are really looking at or for. Thanks
2010-07-13 @ 9:07 pm
Bill,
No matter what path we go down, it’s always good to know who’s looking at us. 🙂
~ Pat and Lorna
2010-07-13 @ 2:09 pm
Right on the mark, as always – thanks so much for these tips!
By the way – what happened to the bear?
2010-07-20 @ 12:51 am
I love the Poll to get interaction from people. That is probably one of the hardest things for me is to get comments. It seems that I have a decent amount of readers, but few actually comment. What I have found is when I have something that people can find very little information elsewhere online that I do get a decent amount of comments.
Sometimes all it takes is to ask. Are they really looking at you; I would add and for you.
Thanks for bringing it home.
2010-09-09 @ 3:39 am
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