FBO: Viewers Don’t Care about Your Problems

Tuesday, September 9th 2008 by Shanel Yang

[For “FBO: Treat Your Viewers Like Your Best Friends,” click here.]

This part of the “FBO” or “For Bloggers Only” series is actually NOT JUST for bloggers, but FOR ALL entrepreneurs, employees, and nonprofit organizations seeking to raise funds to support their goals.

If you want millions of viewers, readers, customers, clients, members, etc., then you’ll want to follow along as we go through, one by one, the rainmaking secrets provided by Jeffrey J. Fox in his book How to Become a Rainmaker: The Rules for Getting and Keeping Customers and Clients.

VIEWERS DON’T CARE ABOUT YOUR PROBLEMS

A. FOX’S TIP NO. 3 FOR ALL RAINMAKERS

Fox’s Tip No. 3 for how to become a great salesperson, or rainmaker, is: “Customers don’t care about you.’” As he explains in his book:

In the selling arena, customers don’t care if you have a mortgage to pay. Customers don’t care if you need their business to win a contest. Customers don’t care why your shipments are late. Customers don’t care what you like, where you went to school, or what sports you play or played.

The only thing customers care about are themselves and their problem. You are in front of the customer only because the customer believes, if only a little bit, that you might be able to better his or her situation.

You are there by invitation only. You must concentrate on the customer. You must be on high receive. You do not talk about yourself; rather, you ask probing, preplanned questions. You listen to what the customer says. Clarify. Summarize. Determine how you can help the customer and how your product solves the customer’s concern.

Rainmakers say “you”; they don’t say “I.”

B. APPLYING FOX’S TIP NO. 3 TO BLOGGERS

If you want to become an A-list blogger, apply Fox’s Tip No. 3 above to your blogging business by reminding yourself, “Viewers don’t care about your problems.” (Unless your blog is highly personal in nature, such as dooce.com, in which case, whine, rant, and complain away about anything you like! If you can write as well as Heather B. Armstrong, you just might become an A-list blogger doing just that!)

I didn’t convert Fox’s tip more literally to “Viewers don’t care about you” because most viewers do want to know a little bit about you, your background, and why you created your blog. Hence, the ubiquitous “About” page. But, if the focus of your blog is, say, antique automobiles, they don’t really want to know about your distant relative that recently passed away. They just want more resources, images, and, even, trivia, having to do with at least something remotely related to very old cars.

If you do blog about antique autos, find out what about them your viewers want to see on your blog. Ask them. Then, accommodate them. Give them what they want. If you can’t do it right away, give them as much as you can for now and let them know when you can give them the rest. Don’t make promises you can’t keep. When necessary, explain; never make excuses. That’s how you become an A-list blogger!

CONCLUSION

Remember, viewers don’t care about your problems (unless yours is a highly personal blog to begin with). Focus on the viewers’ needs and wants—not yours!

If you would like your own copy of Rainmaker someday, here’s what it looks like.

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