Worried about bothering people with your marketing? This one is for you.

Today’s topic feels pretty up close and personal with my recent commitment to show up Live on Facebook every day. I start to wonder if I’m showing up too much.

So, let’s talk about overcoming the idea of “bothering people” while marketing. Video below, scroll for the text version. Highlights:

• What it takes to build know, like and trust
• Are you really bothering people?
• 3 mindset shifts to get over the fears of bothering people

One of the foundations of the marketing stuff I teach is the concept of Know, Like and Trust. The idea originated from a Bob Burg quote:

“All things being equal, people will do business with, and refer business to, those people they know, like, and trust.”

~ Bob Burg

Creating know, like and trust is critical if you sell professional services.

This becomes obvious when you consider the opposite: who wants to do business with people they don’t know, don’t like and don’t trust?

How do you build know, like and trust?

By showing up. By being seen. By staying in touch.

Which inevitably brings up this objection from clients who don’t want to execute their well-thought-out marketing plan.

But, Patty….I don’t want to bother people.

If you’re worried about bothering people, if you’re asking the question – you probably don’t have anything to worry about!

If anything, a better question might be: “am I bothering them enough?” 🙂

The truly bothersome people are out there bugging people all day long without a second thought!

Are you actually bothering them?

If they ASKED to hear from you, you’re not bothering them. If they didn’t…you are.

Cold calls are bothering. Unsolicited emails (aka SPAM) are bothering. Direct mail is bothering. Pop ups are bothering. Advertisements are bothering.

These all can all be good strategies for some businesses. When you do them, you are actively choosing to bother people. There’s no question about it, and how to handle that is a subject for another day.

Today, I want to focus on the much more common situation: hesitating to reach out to people who have said they WANT to hear from you.

They follow you on social media, they signed up for your email list or they handed you a card (or filled out your contact form) and said “call me.”

You know you need to do it – but you’re hesitating because you don’t want to bother them.

Here are 3 thoughts to help make it easier for you.

1. If you have consent, assume they want to hear from you

You do have it, right?

If you DO have consent, assume they want to hear from you. That’s why they signed up for your list, it’s why they followed you on social media, it’s why they gave you their card.

If you got their “consent” through nefarious means like adding someone to your email list without permission or hiding the fact that your “free lead magnet” includes a subscription to your email newsletter list,  then you have cause to be concerned. Because you don’t really have consent, do you?

Fix that first.

Ask permission. Be upfront about what they’re signing up for.

I’ve always been clear that opting in for my free offer included a subscription to my weekly email – but the whole GDPR thing had me re-think what I was doing. I decided to “unbundle” the consent.

I’ll put all the “free stuff” on my blog and only collect emails from people who want to receive EMAILS from me.

I don’t want to email people who grudgingly handed over their address to get the free carrot I was offering. I may get fewer signups now, but the ones I do get are clearly indicating that they want to hear from me.

This frees me to joyfully click that send button, knowing that not only do I have permission – I’m actually fulfilling a promise I made. They asked for emails, I’m sending them.

2. Remember that it “takes 2 to tango”

They signed up. They followed you. They answered the phone when you called.

They have options if they decide they don’t want to hear from you. They can unsubscribe, they can unfollow, they can let your call go to voicemail.

The follow-up call is my personal bugaboo…because yeah, you can call at an inopportune time. Some people will answer their phone even when they’re not able to engage in conversation.

Fortunately, there’s an easy fix for this. Check in.

This is what I say: “Hey, it’s Patty K. You asked me to give you a call. Is now a good time to talk?”

Easy peasy. And BTW – the most common response I get…hands down…is: “thanks for calling!”

When it comes to your email list, welcome the unsubscribes.

These are the people who would actually be “bothered” by your emails. Yay! They’re making sure you won’t bother them…and if you ARE bothering someone, remind yourself that they can unsubscribe too.

Regardless of what the “list building people” will tell you – your goal is sales, not the most subscribers. When you hesitate to market because you don’t want to lose those numbers, you’ve taken your eye off the real goal.

3. Change your perspective

YOU are immersed in your own business and content every day.

It seems like a LOT to you…because it’s your stuff…and that’s what you see.

Since I started recording videos every day, my Facebook page is littered with my own posts…and because I’m doing video it’s just post after post with my FACE. Yikes!

But that’s not how they appear on OTHER peoples’ feeds. Mine is just one of a zillion other posts they see – if they see it at all.

I’m also up close and personal with every email I send. Yet, my emails land in someone else’s crowded inbox.

They might see it. They might open it. They might read it. Or they might not.

My job is to keep sending them.

So is yours.

If you’d like get a weekly, friendly, totally non-bothersome email from me, give your consent below!