Andy Burrows — The Trades Coach — explains the Vulcan Mind Meld trick that Star Trek’s Mr Spock used to employ to “get to know people better” — and how it can help you in your everyday marketing and promotion.
For those of you old enough (like me) to remember Leonard Nimoy as Mr Spock on the original television series of Star Trek, you may also remember the Vulcan Mind Meld trick he used to perform.
In order to understand a subject person better or uncover hidden memories, Spock would place his hands on a person’s head and mentally become one with them.
He would then be able to think as that person thinks and, of course, help save the day in some way.
What does Star Trek have to do with marketing for builders and tradies?
In terms of marketing for builders, quite a bit as it turns out. When developing your marketing and sales strategies, I want you to think “Vulcan Mind Meld” as the first thing you do before you think about spending any time or money on implementing tactics.
Why? Because understanding your potential client and how they think will save you a lot of wasted effort and precious resources in your lead generation efforts.
It will make your building or trades company stand out more in a crowded market, and make it more likely that a prospective customer will reach out for that first conversation.
By knowing how your potential clients think and feel, and by expressing that in your marketing messages, they will automatically assume you have the answer to their problem or dream.
Improve your sales effectiveness
The Vulcan Mind Meld technique also plays a big part in the sales process for builders or other trades.
Achieving better conversion rates in sales is often about developing trust with a prospective customer.
One element in the trust building equation is to focus more on the customer’s needs and wants, rather than boasting about how good a builder or tradesman you are.
If your messages are more client-centric and directed better at the key emotional drivers of your clients, you will rank higher in their eyes, and will likely achieve a higher sales price than someone with a more generic message.
How to understand your target client better
So how can you do this without the special Vulcan skills that Spock has? Two things that may help you in this process are Asking and Listing.
It seems pretty obvious, but the first thing to try is ask past clients what were the main reasons for deciding to go with you, and also asking similar people what were the main wants and fears they considered before engaging a tradesperson like you?
When they tell you, ask why again. Why is/was that important to you? Empathise with them and draw out the core emotional reasons.
Secondly, make a list. On an A4 piece of paper draw a line down the middle.
Head the left column with Fears and Frustrations, and put Wants and Desires on the right column.
Start listing the problems that the client is trying to get away from and, on the other side, the better situation they are trying to reach.
The aim here is to become your client and think like they think. Just like Spock!
Wrapping it up
When you can express your target clients’ problem or dream almost better than they can, you are in the perfect place to develop your marketing offer. It will resonate with your target clients much more effectively.
This will help you achieve a much greater conversion success percentage in your sales process, and probably a higher price too.
“Live long and prosper” Mr Spock.
For help in developing your own Vulcan Mind Meld process, contact me at www.tradescoach.co.nz, or email me at [email protected].
