Build Genuine Connections Before Selling

Listen as I break down practical tips for crafting compelling outreach messages that prioritize the needs of those you aspire to work with. Discover why playing the long game—building trust, community, and credibility—is crucial before attempting to sell your services. 

Follow Dr. Sheena Howards' socials:
@drsheenahoward | Power Your Research

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Every strategy includes spending time to get to know the person and then communicating to them how you can help them with their life. I don't want my work to be stuck behind an academic paywall. I want to leave a legacy, I want to reach my potential and I want to change lives. This podcast, power your Research, is my attempt to help the smartest people in the world do that very thing. My hope is that you use the lessons I share to make more money than what your higher ed job can ever pay you. I've done it, my clients have done it, and so can you. My hope is that you'll apply what you learn here and one day join the Power your Research program, where you can work with me one-on-one. The title of today is being Stingy is Holding you Back, and this is something that I had to learn as well. Listen, as humans, we are selfish, right. We show up in a way that is about what can we get right. We want what we want, and we have to get value out of things. We follow people on social media because they're giving us something. It's about us. You know, they say when you go to a networking event, the best thing to do is that people talk about themselves because that's what they're there to talk about, but you have to think about building your platform and making money in a very different way, like whatever the complete opposite is of selfish. You almost got to go to the complete opposite now. I get messages all the time where people will say some version of this hey, here's the link to my work, would love to work with you sometime, or some variation of that. And sending a message like that to someone will almost always guarantee that you will not get a response, because it is all about you. You want to work with me or you want to work with whoever that person is that you're sending this message to, when? Instead, if you led with value, you would get a better response. I talk about my strategies to working with people who are at a more advanced level than me, people who are CEOs and celebrities. I give you these strategies all the time, in detail, because I want you to be able to work with the people that you wanna work with, the people who are ahead of you, and every strategy includes spending time to get to know the person and then communicating to them how you can help them with their life, their problems, the thing that they are trying to do. How can you add value to them?

Speaker 1: 2:55

When you send a message to someone and say, hey, here's a link to my work, I would love to work with you, you're expecting them to click on the link and figure out how they can work with you. Why would anybody do that when, instead, you should be saying hey, I've been following you for a while. I noticed that you don't do X, y and Z, or I noticed that you do do X, y and Z. I think I can help you in that area, do it much more efficiently or effectively, or take this off of your plate completely. Here's a link to my calendar. Would love to discuss how my skill can help you get to the next level. Those are the types of messages you should be sending when you want to work with people who are at a higher level than you. This is how I've been able to work with high-end people. It's not about you, it's about them. Hey, everyone, real quick. I don't run any ads on this podcast, so I have to rely on word of mouth. If this podcast has helped you in any way, please share it with a friend and follow me, dr Sheena Howard, on LinkedIn, where I give more free content on building your brand as an academic. If you tell me you came to my LinkedIn from the podcast, I'll make sure I accept your request.

Speaker 1: 4:07

The other thing is a lot of us want to sell things and we have the steps all mixed up. We go right to trying to sell our coaching thing before we built a community, before we built trust, before we built credibility. The way that you build a community, trust and credibility is by giving people value, so you can actually find the people that want your thing and then give them even more value so that eventually they will want to buy from you. Some people follow my content for a year before they even spend $3 on me. So you have to be in this to play the long game of giving value. Tell people what you know and stop holding back. Understand what your end goal is. If you want them to get into the $2,000 program, give them $1,000 worth of free information. You're still gonna get the $2,000, but you're gonna get a lot quicker, as opposed to just trying to sell your thing for $2,000 before you built up trust, credibility and a relationship with people. This also involves you spending time building a relationship with each individual that you want to buy something from you Audio messages, frequent communication in their DMs, responding to their questions, documenting who your true fans are, documenting the questions that people are asking so that you can create a video to give them value and answer their question. Does it sound like a lot of work? Yes, but that is what not being selfish is about so that you can make money.

Speaker 1: 5:30

And then the third thing I'll say is the best way to work with someone is to be a part of their thing, be a part of their community. I had the amazing experience to be live get live coaching from Alex Hermosi. Some of you know who Alex Hermosi is business guru, amazing guy. Been following him for a very long time, but you know why I was able to get on his show. It's because I buy his stuff. I bought three of his books, four of his books. I show up to his comments, I comment, I add value to his community by commenting constantly. I'm on his mailing list. I see everything he does. I'm engaged with his stuff.

Speaker 1: 6:11

Some of you are failing to realize that the best way to work with the people you want to work with is to be a part of their thing, because when you're a part of their thing, you're closer to them. Knowing you and you knowing them, you're closer to understanding what their needs are, so you can help them solve their problems. Trust and believe that in my communities, whether it be Power, your Research or Patreon, the people that are behind the paywall get extra level access to me. They get their questions answered, they get one-on-one time, because that's just how it works. If 80,000 people follow me on Instagram and 200 people are in my Patreon, these 200 people get a different version of me because there's less of them, because I can have a better relationship with them, because they're a part of my community. So you need to think about this the same way for the people that you want to work with, the high-end people that you want to work with the celebrities and CEOs that you want to work with, even when it comes to getting media coverage.

Speaker 1: 7:01

Sometimes I've been able to land media interviews because I was a part of the host thing. I engage with them on social media constantly, day in, day out, and so, again, think about this. Is being selfish, holding you back? For most of us, it is. It used to be for me, too, which is why I'm teaching you this stuff, and so I hope this helps someone out there. Again, my name is Dr Sheena Howard. Founder of Power, your Research, you.