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Humans, Not Numbers: One-on-One Marketing Succeeds for Introverts

Humans, Not Numbers: One-on-One Marketing Succeeds for Introverts

Marketing is a numbers game, some people claim. In that approach, you put disembodied messages out into the world. A proportion of them hit the spot and provoke purchases. Your challenge in marketing is to tweak your message and your target market until the ratio of sales to outreach makes you the kind of money you want to earn.


Does that paradigm feel disembodied, alienating and scary to you? If so, you may be more comfortable thinking of marketing as a way of making genuine connections with actual people – not numbers. In this approach, you rack up successes one individual at a time, not in the realm of mass numbers. If you have a small business or a professional practice, winning over customers or clients one by one can add up to a considerable income. And this especially suits introverts, who are less socially aggressive, more comfortable with person-to-person communication than anonymous broadcasts.

One-on-One Marketing for a Healthcare Practitioner

I once had a consultation with an alternative healthcare practitioner who felt a lot of trepidation about marketing as it was usually presented to her. However, she told me she’s at her best face-to-face, one-on-one with prospective clients. In that situation, she easily and naturally explains what she can do for the other person and gives them an experience that gets them wanting more.


Well, suppose she thought about marketing as the task of setting up situations precisely like that, where she could have a human connection with likely clients, one at a time. Then, if the need was there and the connection was right, both parties would want to turn that experience into a client-practitioner relationship. She loved this idea.

One-on-One Marketing Options

Together we brainstormed ways that the healthcare practitioner could arrange un-intimidating situations where she could get face to face with potential clients, without any cost or risk for them. Our ideas included:


  • At a wellness conference, wearing a lapel button offering a free session of her specialty
  • With the facility’s permission, providing a free sample session at a health club, beauty salon or yoga center
  • Being available for free trial appointments at a medical clinic one day a month
  • Having a regular free drop-in time slot at her office every week or month
  • Running a bring-a-friend special for existing clients where the friend would get a free session and the client would receive a gift for bringing the friend


All of these ideas felt doable and even exciting to my client, and she couldn’t wait to get them going.

Other One-on-One Ideas

So what would the equivalent human-contact experience be for you?


Not long ago I heard a business consultant describe the one-on-one marketing he did while attending a large conference, and afterwards. During the conference he had many chats with other attendees, one at a time. He would simply smile at someone standing alone and say, “Hi, what do you do? How’s business?” Then, based on what the other person said, he would offer some business advice.


He would add, “There’s probably more than we can go over later. Would you like to have a 20-minute conversation with me after the conference?” Back home, he followed up on that conversation and signed many of those contacts as clients.


That sequence fits the alternate paradigm of marketing I described above: Face to face, make a genuine human connection. Provide an experience of what you have to offer. Let them get to know both you and your expertise.


A financial advisor I knew incorporated a group component into his one-on-one marketing, as follows. First he selected the zip codes in his area whose residents had the demographic profile of his ideal clients. Then he had a marketing service mail postcards inviting recipients to a small free retirement planning seminar. At the end of the seminar, which included plenty of time for questions, he offered appointments for a free private consultation where he could answer additional questions. That free face-to-face, one-on-one (or two-on-one, in the case of a couple) consultation was the key part of the whole operation. Nearly half the time those people became clients.


Notice that there’s nothing pushy about any of the methods I described. You don’t have to accost anyone, bother them, put on an act or talk people into anything. That’s why this whole approach fits introverts, who shine best and feel serene about having a real conversation with one other person at a time.

Now You Try One-on-One Marketing

Those you talk to are people, not numbers. You need not be a cog in some impersonal, abstract machine. Instead, you create a chance to demonstrate your talents and knowledge. Then those who appreciate that experience have the opportunity to step up to a client/practitioner/customer relationship. No pressure, it’s their choice. Both sides benefit.

MARCIA YUDKIN


 A long-time introvert advocate, Marcia Yudkin now publishes a weekly Substacknewsletter called Introvert UpThink, which exposes the many ways introverts are misunderstood and stigmatized in today’s society.


🖥 https://www.introvertupthink.com

🔵 On Twitter she’s @marciasmantras

1 Comment
JuliaOra
Posted on  04/10/2022 09:49 I can confirm this of myself! I am an introvert and all of my clients come from one-on-one calls and meetups👍
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