Value-Soaked Friendships (and it doesn’t have anything to do with dollar signs)

There’s nothing worse than starting something, putting your energy and creative juices to make the perfect platform, and spending hours writing copy.

You get ready, set, and with shaky fingers click launch…

Only to hear crickets. No private messages. No questions about your product. No interaction on your posts. 

Your warm market is either confused or doesn’t care. And what exactly is your warm market? Your warm market is loosely define as a network of potential customers you’ve had some previous contact with - friends, family, coworkers, neighbors. Basically, people you know.

And your first response may sound familiar to one of these:
“Forget them.”
“They don’t get it.”
"I’ll just do my own thing.”

While there is a place to ignore the opinions of others, let’s not burn those bridges just yet.

It might seem as though your warm market, those friends on Facebook, your family, and your physical community might not need the services or products you provide. While that might be very true, those groups offer invaluable support and encouragement.

Chances are, your warm market loves you, wants to support you, and cares about your passions and goals.

Even if they don’t buy, your network of friends and family can provide some seriously value to your business, but you have to be intentional in appreciating the way they support your business.

Three major ways friends and family support my business are:

• Feedback
• Engagement
• Referrals

Feedback

Anytime you create a product, content for a business, or resources for the service you provide, it is so helpful to have multiple eyes look at your work.

If you have a few close friends on social, politely ask if they can look over a few pieces of your content. Maybe you have a pdf you’re launching soon. Could a supportive friend offer feedback, tips, or information on anything unclear or confusing? Then thank them profusely because not only did they save you a few extra minutes of proofing, but they probably added perspective that you didn’t have. And what’s better than a girlfriend saying, “Chick. This is ridiculous. Change it.” Find those friends.

Engagement

It’s no surprise that algorithms have censored much of what our audience sees. If your friends and family are engaging and interacting with your social platforms, that is a tremendous win for your business! And I’m not talking about hundreds of likes or comments. I’m talking about those 3 or 4 high school friends, your grandma’s best friend from quilting, or the co-worker that you always shared the break room with that always interact with your posts. It might seem small and insignificant, but that support creates huge waves for your business and they don’t even realize it!

And here’s how: As more people interact with what you share, Facebook shows your content to a larger number of people. I always reach out to the handful of consistent people engaging with my content and thank them for following along with our shenanigans. They may not even realize it, but their interaction is unknowingly supporting our livelihood too!

If you have different social media accounts for your business and personal, ask those super supporters if they would like to be on your business page. As they engage and interact with your business posts, more of your audience gets to see your work!

And hey, if they’re regionally close to you, take them to coffee and let them know how much you appreciate their support and encouragement.

Referrals

This is an obvious one, but is tightly connected to an idea I wrote about in How to make money by giving it away. It’s coached all over the place to ask for referrals. “When they say no, ask for a referral.”

While that is a get-it-done method, I prefer building trust with my warm market in a way that makes them rain referrals on my business. By maintaining relationships, I’ve had more people than I can count reach out to me and say something along the lines of, “My mom is looking for something that addresses aging. I knew you had something you could offer her.”

This is a more time consuming process of gaining clients, but you’ll be thankful you maintained that trust with your audience, even if they’re not buying.

Even though I don’t ask people who have told me no for referrals, I’m happy to play the long game. I’d rather gain a customer 2 years down the road from a raving fan’s testimony, than a cold call to a referral I might have a mutual friend with.

In the end, I am passively gathering new customers by always providing my audience with value around being a “skincare junkie”. Without fail, I’m the person that comes to mind when someone they know needs what I offer.

So don’t write them off just yet. Nurture relationships with your warm market every day. They have tremendous value they can offer to your business!

So tell me, what’s an obstacle you face when interacting with your warm market?