Not Far from the Tree

A Monthly Guide to Using Personality To Build Your Business Online

May 2, 2008

Issue # 1

Welcome!

My eNewsletter title (which my best-half, Teresa, came up with) is a reference to the truism that children are very often like their parents.

The same self-evident truth applies to small business owners and solo-professionals. Your business does not fall far from your personality and passions. In fact, successful businesses are built on customer relationships that are founded on our personality and passions. These relationships go way beyond the facts and figures of our business.

Unfortunately we often forget this truth, when we market online. We get on the internet and we feel we need to be boring, dry, and "professional". "Not Far from the Tree" will help you get connected to your personality as you build your online presence.

Warning: Your Clients Might Not Be Hearing You

“It takes two to speak the truth: One to speak, and another to hear.”

Henry David Thoreau

I have a nine-year-old son. If you are ever in need of an object lesson in effective communication, a nine-year-old boy is a great resource.

I should mention, from the day our son was born, the daylight savings time change has been a traumatic event for him (and, by extension, the entire family). The recent spring-forward time change was no exception.

During this wonderful semi-annual rite of horror, my son (emphasis on my) got into a fight at school. It wasn’t really that big of deal, just one of those kid things. Except this event came hard on the heels of the “Throwing Food in the Lunchroom” incident and the “Great Being in the Forbidden Spot at Recess” debacle, coupled with the “Tipping Over the Desk Because I’m Overtired” drama.

So after the fight, my son was grounded to our house (which is, of course, a greater punishment for my wife and me than for him!). We told him he wasn’t allowed to play with his friends. Out of compassion, kindness and, honestly, in the cause of continued sanity, we decided to let him play in the backyard.

A few minutes later, our very rule-conscious six-year-old daughter told us that our son was talking to his friend over the fence. When confronted by us, he claimed that he was not playing—he was just talking. Somewhere there was a communications problem.

You can face the same problem in your business. Because your busy customers have more in common with nine-year-old boys than you might think. They are far less invested in hearing what you have to say than you are in saying it.

Sometimes it’s easy to get caught up in our facts and figures, our experience and our expertise. But in the end, it’s better to make sure that you’re communicating in a way that makes sense to your customers. Because the goal of business communications is ultimately to connect with your customers so they will trust you and use your services.

To facilitate that connection, ask yourself:

  • Who am I trying to reach? Who is your target audience, people you know or people you don’t know or both? Are they familiar with your what you do or is this for a total novice? (If you are talking to a nine-year old boy, you need to make sure you are very specific.)


  • Have I used a voice that will resonate with the people I’m trying to reach? I like to use a personable voice. Perhaps you should have a similar voice. Or maybe the best voice for your business is very professional. You must decide what voice works best for your business.  Then you must consistently use that voice in all your communications.


  • What am I trying to say? Make sure that you have a distinctive purpose for your communication. Is it to tell an important fact? Is it to answer a common question?  What and why are you communicating with your clients?


  • Have I made my point of view clear? Unless you have and communicate a distinctive point of view, you won’t have any success making an impression on your clients. You need to be the expert that answers your client’s questions.  You must have a point of view.

Bottom line, if your client’s can’t hear what you are saying, it’s impossible to make a connection with them. Invest the time and resources to insure that your voice cuts through the clutter and is heard loud and clear. If you don’t, when you check in on them, they might be listening to your competitors.