Check out this interesting article from Yoga Journal about transitioning from teaching classes to leading workshops.
Yoga Journal - Yoga Methodology - The Next Step
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Friday, October 03, 2008
Saturday, June 21, 2008
How are you using social media?
Are you using social media to get connected in cyberspace? Sites like Facebook, Linkedin, and You Tube are all examples of how you can use the power of a network to reach more people.
How are you using these type of sites to grow your business?
Share your experience here!
How are you using these type of sites to grow your business?
Share your experience here!
Friday, June 06, 2008
Embarrassed By Marketing
The workshop leader was an accomplished yogi, usually very confident in his teaching skills. So why was he looking so uncomfortable in front of the group? His face was red as he repeated over and over again that he was very embarrassed.
The reason for his embarrassment? He was telling the group about his programs and his center. As he did his bit of self-promotion, he looked like a kid who just stole the cookie from the cookie jar--guilty and miserable.
Why is it that marketing and promotion can feel just plain slimy in the body/mind?
If it feels wrong, it is. But it is not the marketing that's wrong, it's the sequence.
Imagine this. You are walking down the hallway and BAM! you jump into triangle pose. Then you keep walking on your merry way down the hall for 10 more steps. BAM! You jump into warrior pose.
Striking a pose may work well for Madonna. For the rest of us mere mortals, people just look at you funny and maybe we feel a bit embarrassed.
There is a sequence to yoga. In training we spend quite a bit of time talking about how certain postures set the stage for a more difficult posture. You don't, for example, open a class with a backbend. You work up to it.
Marketing has its own dance, its own rhythm, its own unfolding. There is a sequence to marketing. When done correctly, marketing and promotion feels like a true relationship rather than an awkward first kiss.
This speaker was striking a marketing pose BAM! right at the beginning of the workshop. It is no wonder he felt embarrassed. The marketing sequence was out of step.
There is a cure for the Embarrassed by Marketing Syndrome (EMS--yup, I think I just created a new acronym, not to be confused with the hiking store here in the Northeast).
The first step is being aware. When does marketing feel awkward? Are there moments when promotion is smooth (like when someone else is giving you a glowing testimonial)? What is your process for self-promotion in a workshop? Where is that promotion placed in the context of the workshop? How ready does your audience appear for more information about what you have to offer? What is your response to the embarrassment--keep pushing through it? Shut down? Disclose your embarrassment?
Just as in life, awareness of the issue is the first step in changing your promotional efforts to a more effective and less embarrassed strategy.
Once you become aware of yourself in relation to the marketing flow, and your natural tendency toward or against that flow, you can take the next step—deliberate action to make marketing less painful and more natural.
Here are some ways to easily and comfortably weave marketing into your program:
1. Get started before the program even begins. If you have a list of registrants for the workshop, send them an e-mail or a letter with a brief note welcoming them to the group and letting them know you’re looking forward to working with them. Make sure to give them your contact information.
2. Wait for the right time. Don’t start your program by talking about yourself, or your products or services. That’s like asking someone to marry you while you’re still on your first date. You need to create a relationship before you ask for more commitment.
3. Make your handouts count. Give participants an easy, non-threatening way to stay in touch with you: make sure your handouts contain quality information that people will want to hang on to, and list your website and contact information at the bottom of the handouts so it’s right at their fingertips.
4. Encourage ongoing communication. Don’t let your workshop or lecture turn into a one-shot deal. Include a tear-off coupon in your handouts so participants can sign up for your e-newsletter, and offer a gift for signing up, such as additional free content about your subject. Have them return the completed coupon to the resource table (see #7 below) so they can get another look at your products.
5. Use your products within the workshop. For example, if you wrote a book, actually open the book and read a paragraph or two in relation to what you are teaching, or ask someone in the class to read it. That way people can see, hold, and touch the book to make it more tangible.
6. Give away your product or service. Have fun contests, reward people who are actively participating, have a raffle winner pulled from the e-newsletter coupons, or give a prize to the person who traveled the farthest to come to the workshop. Do it in front of the group and have them hand your book (or DVD, CD, training manual, etc.) through the audience to the winner. Again, this makes it tangible.
7. Have your product available in the room. Whether it is on display or for sale, make sure your participants can easily access it during the time with you. Before you take a break, invite people to check out the resource table. (This is where people will return the coupon for the e-newsletter registration, giving them a chance to linger.)
8. Make the intangible tangible. If you do not have a product, but you want to promote a workshop or a service, use a tangible product to represent the intangible. If you are promoting a yoga retreat in Costa Rica, for example, display a beautiful picture book of the area along with brochures.
9. Ask your host or an assistant to introduce you. Having others talk you up is much less awkward than self-promotion. Trouble is, many times we leave this to chance. Make sure you give your host or assistant a written introduction or bullet-point list of promotional references that they can use when making the introduction.
10. Ask raving fans to chime in during the program. Sometimes those who love your work will contribute freely. You can also help elicit third-party testimonials with encouragement along the lines of, "Tell us how you have used this process in your work." Their feedback will be helpful to other participants as well as to you.
11. Use testimonials on all promotional material. Provide feedback surveys at the end of the training, offering people the option to include their names and check a statement giving you permission to use their comments in promotional material. Then post the nice things they said on your website, and include them in brochures or handouts for your next seminar.
12. Stay in touch with attendees through your newsletter. Keep communication going for those who sign up for your e-newsletter, developing the relationship over time. If you don't have a newsletter going already, just click the Constant Contact logo at the bottom of this newsletter to get started.
Marketing doesn’t have to feel awkward or embarrassing, and you don’t have to play hardball from the get-go. Think of marketing as a story that gradually unfolds over the course of a relationship, reaping benefits for all involved.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Megan McDonough helps you get clear so you can get positive results. Along with teaching yoga, she's the award-winning author of Infinity in a Box, a marketing consultant for mind/body organizations including Kripalu Center, and a corporate trainer to companies such as the American Cancer Society. www.ugetclear.com
Want to use this article in your e-zine, website or blog? You can, as long as you include the complete bio above.
The reason for his embarrassment? He was telling the group about his programs and his center. As he did his bit of self-promotion, he looked like a kid who just stole the cookie from the cookie jar--guilty and miserable.
Why is it that marketing and promotion can feel just plain slimy in the body/mind?
If it feels wrong, it is. But it is not the marketing that's wrong, it's the sequence.
Imagine this. You are walking down the hallway and BAM! you jump into triangle pose. Then you keep walking on your merry way down the hall for 10 more steps. BAM! You jump into warrior pose.
Striking a pose may work well for Madonna. For the rest of us mere mortals, people just look at you funny and maybe we feel a bit embarrassed.
There is a sequence to yoga. In training we spend quite a bit of time talking about how certain postures set the stage for a more difficult posture. You don't, for example, open a class with a backbend. You work up to it.
Marketing has its own dance, its own rhythm, its own unfolding. There is a sequence to marketing. When done correctly, marketing and promotion feels like a true relationship rather than an awkward first kiss.
This speaker was striking a marketing pose BAM! right at the beginning of the workshop. It is no wonder he felt embarrassed. The marketing sequence was out of step.
There is a cure for the Embarrassed by Marketing Syndrome (EMS--yup, I think I just created a new acronym, not to be confused with the hiking store here in the Northeast).
The first step is being aware. When does marketing feel awkward? Are there moments when promotion is smooth (like when someone else is giving you a glowing testimonial)? What is your process for self-promotion in a workshop? Where is that promotion placed in the context of the workshop? How ready does your audience appear for more information about what you have to offer? What is your response to the embarrassment--keep pushing through it? Shut down? Disclose your embarrassment?
Just as in life, awareness of the issue is the first step in changing your promotional efforts to a more effective and less embarrassed strategy.
Once you become aware of yourself in relation to the marketing flow, and your natural tendency toward or against that flow, you can take the next step—deliberate action to make marketing less painful and more natural.
Here are some ways to easily and comfortably weave marketing into your program:
1. Get started before the program even begins. If you have a list of registrants for the workshop, send them an e-mail or a letter with a brief note welcoming them to the group and letting them know you’re looking forward to working with them. Make sure to give them your contact information.
2. Wait for the right time. Don’t start your program by talking about yourself, or your products or services. That’s like asking someone to marry you while you’re still on your first date. You need to create a relationship before you ask for more commitment.
3. Make your handouts count. Give participants an easy, non-threatening way to stay in touch with you: make sure your handouts contain quality information that people will want to hang on to, and list your website and contact information at the bottom of the handouts so it’s right at their fingertips.
4. Encourage ongoing communication. Don’t let your workshop or lecture turn into a one-shot deal. Include a tear-off coupon in your handouts so participants can sign up for your e-newsletter, and offer a gift for signing up, such as additional free content about your subject. Have them return the completed coupon to the resource table (see #7 below) so they can get another look at your products.
5. Use your products within the workshop. For example, if you wrote a book, actually open the book and read a paragraph or two in relation to what you are teaching, or ask someone in the class to read it. That way people can see, hold, and touch the book to make it more tangible.
6. Give away your product or service. Have fun contests, reward people who are actively participating, have a raffle winner pulled from the e-newsletter coupons, or give a prize to the person who traveled the farthest to come to the workshop. Do it in front of the group and have them hand your book (or DVD, CD, training manual, etc.) through the audience to the winner. Again, this makes it tangible.
7. Have your product available in the room. Whether it is on display or for sale, make sure your participants can easily access it during the time with you. Before you take a break, invite people to check out the resource table. (This is where people will return the coupon for the e-newsletter registration, giving them a chance to linger.)
8. Make the intangible tangible. If you do not have a product, but you want to promote a workshop or a service, use a tangible product to represent the intangible. If you are promoting a yoga retreat in Costa Rica, for example, display a beautiful picture book of the area along with brochures.
9. Ask your host or an assistant to introduce you. Having others talk you up is much less awkward than self-promotion. Trouble is, many times we leave this to chance. Make sure you give your host or assistant a written introduction or bullet-point list of promotional references that they can use when making the introduction.
10. Ask raving fans to chime in during the program. Sometimes those who love your work will contribute freely. You can also help elicit third-party testimonials with encouragement along the lines of, "Tell us how you have used this process in your work." Their feedback will be helpful to other participants as well as to you.
11. Use testimonials on all promotional material. Provide feedback surveys at the end of the training, offering people the option to include their names and check a statement giving you permission to use their comments in promotional material. Then post the nice things they said on your website, and include them in brochures or handouts for your next seminar.
12. Stay in touch with attendees through your newsletter. Keep communication going for those who sign up for your e-newsletter, developing the relationship over time. If you don't have a newsletter going already, just click the Constant Contact logo at the bottom of this newsletter to get started.
Marketing doesn’t have to feel awkward or embarrassing, and you don’t have to play hardball from the get-go. Think of marketing as a story that gradually unfolds over the course of a relationship, reaping benefits for all involved.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Megan McDonough helps you get clear so you can get positive results. Along with teaching yoga, she's the award-winning author of Infinity in a Box, a marketing consultant for mind/body organizations including Kripalu Center, and a corporate trainer to companies such as the American Cancer Society. www.ugetclear.com
Want to use this article in your e-zine, website or blog? You can, as long as you include the complete bio above.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Selling vs. Manifesting
What is the difference between selling and manifesting? To me, it's simple. Selling asks "How may I be of service to you?" Manifesting asks "How may I be of service to me?"
The art of selling
I know many people think of sales as a pushy process that forces someone to buy something, a process that feels lousy, unnatural, and manipulative. We've all had the experience of a pushy salesperson trying to sell us something we don't want. This, in my book, isn't sales. It's just bad manners.
The mindset of "I need to sell this (yoga class, group workshop, DVD, etc)" can be extremely stressful and create behavior that backfires. When you approach selling with an arsenal of weapons—a list of benefits, a glossy brochure, lots of testimonials to convince others of how great your product or service is and how it can help them—it can feel like you are engaging in battle.
The fundamental mistake we make is buying into the idea that we’re under the gun to sell something. If we turn this whole process around and ask, "What do they (the people I’m trying to reach) need that I can give them?" you have the most efficient, effective and stress-free mindset for the sales process. Selling, at it's best, is service.
Instead of selling to just anyone, look for the appropriate buyers—the people who want or need what you have to offer. Within that mindset, there are three things that good salespeople develop. They are:
1. Relationships
2. Trust
3. Solutions
The framework for the sales interaction is listening intently to what the client needs and determining if your services or products can help him or her. That's the context within which your work will flourish.
The art of manifesting
When you set out to manifest something, you are committing yourself to what you are going to create. Notice I didn’t say committing to what you want to create. What you want often changes, and looking for the “right” answer can eat up way too much time. By making a clear decision about what is to be created, you intentionally screen out other options, and focus on actions, words, and thoughts that support that intention.
Manifesting takes just as much focused attention as sales, but instead of focusing on what someone else needs, you are focusing on your own needs. Manifesting also demands the same creative energy as sales--moving with the flow, rather than sticking with a rigid definition of what you think is “right.” Selling calls for a deep listening to another. Manifesting calls for a deep listening to yourself.
In the art of manifesting, I love to play with the concept that there is only One. Different forms, yes, but only One reality from which all the forms come out and play. If that’s the case, then I am Everything. If there is only One, and I am Everything, how could I want more? I approach manifesting as a broadening of awareness, an openness to seeing what is already there, waiting patiently to be seen.
I love what Byron Katie says about money. She says money is like air: it is all around us. That’s the essence of manifesting for me. Trusting that what I think I am lacking is available. Can I breathe it in?
Trusting the process
I notice that when it comes to either sales or manifesting, I most definitely have a biased opinion. By that I mean I want to get what I’m asking to manifest. I want you to buy what I am selling. I am not an impartial participant in the game. I am actively rooting for—and taking action toward—a particular outcome.
A defense lawyer’s job is to defend the client. You wouldn’t hire a defense lawyer who said, “Let me just release to the flow and be with what happens.” No, a lawyer argues the case vehemently to the jury. After all the facts are discussed, the jury makes an informed decision. Just like the lawyer, you have a role. Your job is to confidently position your services and trust that other people have the capacity and the intelligence to make a sound purchasing decision that fits their best interest.
The same holds true for manifesting, in my experience. I am an advocate for what I want to manifest. In both sales and manifesting, I have an intention. In both sales and manifesting, trusting the client or the universe to make the best decision means you don’t need to sweat the outcome. Trusting the process gives you peace of mind.
You have absolutely no control over what the actual outcome will be—just like the lawyer can’t know how the jury will vote. The trick is not to let that future possibility deter you from standing confidently in your own truth now. There is a difference between surrendering and giving up.
The other thing that keeps me sane as I balance what I want against what is unfolding is being curious. Asking questions about the unfolding outcome can stimulate your creative juices and help you flow around the perceived obstacle.
In her book The Forgotten Body, Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy co-director Elissa Cobb shares a story about a client’s experience during a session. The client reports:
…I had an image of a teeter-totter and I was right in the middle, with arms outstretched, in complete balance. My intention for this session was to explore the difference between control, surrender, and giving up. Even though I know intellectually that surrender does not mean giving up, a part of me feels like surrender is giving up. At one end of the teeter-totter was control and at the other end was giving up. Here I was in the middle. What was this place? It came to me that this must be surrender.
That’s how I view the most productive mental position relative to sales and manifesting. Be clear in your thoughts and actions about what you are selling or manifesting, and enjoy the ride as you let the client or the universe make the next move.
__________________________________________________
Megan McDonough helps you get clear so you can get positive results. Along with teaching yoga, she's the award-winning author of Infinity in a Box, a marketing consultant for mind/body organizations including Kripalu Center, and a corporate trainer to companies such as the American Cancer Society. http://www.ugetclear.com/
Want to use this article in your e-zine, website or blog? You can, as long as you include the complete bio above.
The art of selling
I know many people think of sales as a pushy process that forces someone to buy something, a process that feels lousy, unnatural, and manipulative. We've all had the experience of a pushy salesperson trying to sell us something we don't want. This, in my book, isn't sales. It's just bad manners.
The mindset of "I need to sell this (yoga class, group workshop, DVD, etc)" can be extremely stressful and create behavior that backfires. When you approach selling with an arsenal of weapons—a list of benefits, a glossy brochure, lots of testimonials to convince others of how great your product or service is and how it can help them—it can feel like you are engaging in battle.
The fundamental mistake we make is buying into the idea that we’re under the gun to sell something. If we turn this whole process around and ask, "What do they (the people I’m trying to reach) need that I can give them?" you have the most efficient, effective and stress-free mindset for the sales process. Selling, at it's best, is service.
Instead of selling to just anyone, look for the appropriate buyers—the people who want or need what you have to offer. Within that mindset, there are three things that good salespeople develop. They are:
1. Relationships
2. Trust
3. Solutions
The framework for the sales interaction is listening intently to what the client needs and determining if your services or products can help him or her. That's the context within which your work will flourish.
The art of manifesting
When you set out to manifest something, you are committing yourself to what you are going to create. Notice I didn’t say committing to what you want to create. What you want often changes, and looking for the “right” answer can eat up way too much time. By making a clear decision about what is to be created, you intentionally screen out other options, and focus on actions, words, and thoughts that support that intention.
Manifesting takes just as much focused attention as sales, but instead of focusing on what someone else needs, you are focusing on your own needs. Manifesting also demands the same creative energy as sales--moving with the flow, rather than sticking with a rigid definition of what you think is “right.” Selling calls for a deep listening to another. Manifesting calls for a deep listening to yourself.
In the art of manifesting, I love to play with the concept that there is only One. Different forms, yes, but only One reality from which all the forms come out and play. If that’s the case, then I am Everything. If there is only One, and I am Everything, how could I want more? I approach manifesting as a broadening of awareness, an openness to seeing what is already there, waiting patiently to be seen.
I love what Byron Katie says about money. She says money is like air: it is all around us. That’s the essence of manifesting for me. Trusting that what I think I am lacking is available. Can I breathe it in?
Trusting the process
I notice that when it comes to either sales or manifesting, I most definitely have a biased opinion. By that I mean I want to get what I’m asking to manifest. I want you to buy what I am selling. I am not an impartial participant in the game. I am actively rooting for—and taking action toward—a particular outcome.
A defense lawyer’s job is to defend the client. You wouldn’t hire a defense lawyer who said, “Let me just release to the flow and be with what happens.” No, a lawyer argues the case vehemently to the jury. After all the facts are discussed, the jury makes an informed decision. Just like the lawyer, you have a role. Your job is to confidently position your services and trust that other people have the capacity and the intelligence to make a sound purchasing decision that fits their best interest.
The same holds true for manifesting, in my experience. I am an advocate for what I want to manifest. In both sales and manifesting, I have an intention. In both sales and manifesting, trusting the client or the universe to make the best decision means you don’t need to sweat the outcome. Trusting the process gives you peace of mind.
You have absolutely no control over what the actual outcome will be—just like the lawyer can’t know how the jury will vote. The trick is not to let that future possibility deter you from standing confidently in your own truth now. There is a difference between surrendering and giving up.
The other thing that keeps me sane as I balance what I want against what is unfolding is being curious. Asking questions about the unfolding outcome can stimulate your creative juices and help you flow around the perceived obstacle.
In her book The Forgotten Body, Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy co-director Elissa Cobb shares a story about a client’s experience during a session. The client reports:
…I had an image of a teeter-totter and I was right in the middle, with arms outstretched, in complete balance. My intention for this session was to explore the difference between control, surrender, and giving up. Even though I know intellectually that surrender does not mean giving up, a part of me feels like surrender is giving up. At one end of the teeter-totter was control and at the other end was giving up. Here I was in the middle. What was this place? It came to me that this must be surrender.
That’s how I view the most productive mental position relative to sales and manifesting. Be clear in your thoughts and actions about what you are selling or manifesting, and enjoy the ride as you let the client or the universe make the next move.
__________________________________________________
Megan McDonough helps you get clear so you can get positive results. Along with teaching yoga, she's the award-winning author of Infinity in a Box, a marketing consultant for mind/body organizations including Kripalu Center, and a corporate trainer to companies such as the American Cancer Society. http://www.ugetclear.com/
Want to use this article in your e-zine, website or blog? You can, as long as you include the complete bio above.
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