It´s Not About Me, It´s About You 

August 4, 2006
Issue #2 

We have two college age sons-when does this next semester start? When both of my sons were in grade school, they each decided that they wanted to run for student council. Neither one was extremely popular-must be genetic. They asked me for help with their speeches. Each one got basically the same speech, "Its not about me, its about you." In grade school this doesn't exactly come naturally, but after some practice they both got the speech down well enough and both were elected. 

The point of this article is not my sons political careers or that I am a behind the scenes kingmaker (actually I am a very good coach and make some fantastic web sites if you are interested), no the message is that your marketing should follow that same principle- ?It´s not about me, it´s about you. This principle applies to your marketing, your relationship with your clients and almost everyone you come in contact with. 

Think about how much more interesting you find someone who talks about you. Think about web sites you visit that are all me, me, me. You usually go, go, go. If you want to increase sales, find out what is important to your prospect. It doesn't matter what you think is important, if the prospect doesn't think it is- even if they are wrong. 

We have all these great services, programs and fabulous track records that we just have to share. At the very least, remember to present the benefit to the client not just the feature. An example would be "I have a great web site"-this is about me. "You will get exposure to an additional thousand potential buyers increasing the likelihood of selling your house with the use of my web site"- this is about you. 

Better yet, ask your client/prospect what is important, listen and build your presentation around what is important to them. All the fancy programs won´t help you if the client isn't interested. Ask them if they are interested in the extra benefits that they will get. 

Next time you are at a presentation, picture two curly haired kids pointing at the class saying it´s not about me, it´s about you. It doesn't always come naturally even to adults. The follow up to the story was that neither one asked for help again. The next year they forgot the principle of it´s not about me, it´s about you. Two political careers ended tragically way too soon.

Monthly Tech Tip
Do you ever wonder why they have a Print Screen key? You hit it and it doesn't print the screen-what gives? You probably think it is as useful as wisdom teeth. 

The Print Screen key should be called the Copy Screen key. The Print Screen key copies everything on the screen to the clipboard (Don´t worry about where the clipboard is, just know what you copied is available to use). If you want to print what is on the screen, hit the Print Screen key, open up Word, Publisher or some other program click on Edit, click on Paste and now you can print that screen from the program you used. 

Using this feature is a great way to get a screen shot of your web site or any web site.