Talking about yourself, being passionate about your new business, raving in glowing terms about your jewellery - easy as pie. Having everyone you come across jump on the bandwagon and then watch the sales 'ka-ching ka-ching' through the cash register - logically that follows.
However, tooting your own horn can be difficult - what if the audience likes the cello?
At my "day job" (that I was still working 5 days a week at while MinzBeadz was in the initial stages) it was easy to talk it up. Our customer service record was terrific, the value to someone's business was indisputable, and we cared about what we were doing and did it well. Consequently, we had a lot of "word of mouth" referrals.
Talking about yourself, promoting yourself, is a whole other ball game. (Okay, I'll stop with the cliches now).
There's nothing "wrong" in having a jewellery business. It doesn't hurt people, it's not offensive - in fact most of the time it's quite a lot of fun. MinzBeadz all started as an affordable alternative to those who wanted a bead and charm bracelet (me) but couldn't afford a big name one like Pandora - so it's not even expensive fun.
So what was wrong with me that I couldn't talk about my business in a glowing light? Whilst it has become easier with time, but there are still moments when I feel like "shut your mouth already, nobody is interested". Which is quite ridiculous, as anyone with any common sense can tell when someone isn't actually interested in a conversation.
(NB: For those who have no common sense, this would be when a person's eyeballs roll back into their head and you think they may be possessed by the devil. It's more likely to be boredom with the conversation. They haven't left because you're standing on their foot, which happened when you stood 3cm away in your enthusiasm to spit in their face whilst you talked.)
People who have embarked on a new adventure, be it a business or buying a new yak, are engaging people - they have new yak passion and talk about their yak excitedly. And one thing about enthusiastic people, whether their new yak is your idea of adventure or not, their enthusiasm is contagious. You walk away feeling better for having spoken to such happy yak people and your whole day is brighter for it.
Mind you, when you've had to kiss the new yak and goo and ga at it like a baby, well ...I'm working on getting my timing right to walk away first. (I've been busy watching in case I got hit by a rolling eyeball).
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| Cootchie cootchie coo |
So why is it so difficult to translate that to me being the one who is enthusiastic, and someone else feeling better for having spoken to me? Well, here's the short answer - I have no idea. Which of course has set off an entire train of thought along the lines of, am I really so insecure? (Refer to my last blog where I need the affirmation of faceless people on Facebook to like me!). Conclusion: apparently I am.
What I have worked out though, is that I don't actually need to talk about my business - it's fairly apparent what that is anyway, except if you're already doing an eyeball rolling devil impersonation. If you're at that stage before I even say hi, then really, why did you leave the house today?
I just have to be my naturally charming self (it's true, I am. I'm also modest, which is a very becoming quality...) and simply talk to people. It's the pleasure of the conversation that is remembered afterwards, not whether or not is was a description of my business in 9725 words or less.
So has word of mouth marketing worked? Who knows. But I have met some particularly nice yaks in the process.
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