Nobody’s perfect. If you’ve spent any amount of time on the planet, you know that.
But if you read the marketing materials some educational consultants put out there, it sure sounds like they are—or at least that they want to be perceived as perfect.
And that’s a big mistake in business.
The fact is, people aren’t attracted to others who try to portray themselves as super impressive, with no character flaws. We sense a con.
People are much more attracted to businesses where the owner admits that they aren’t perfect, where the owner is humble and relatable (while still being credible), where the owner isn’t afraid to sprinkle in some self-deprecating humor every once in a while.
Let me give you a few examples of people I know who aren’t afraid to share their weaknesses, quirks, and character flaws–and how it works out really well for them.
One of the top copywriters in the U.S. is Laura Belgray. She’s undoubtedly successful, having started out as a writer for a number of popular TV shows before moving into copywriting. She now makes over a million dollars a year selling her copywriting courses to her huge list of followers (including me).
But Laura’s the first one to admit her faults.
When you read her emails, she’s constantly talking about how lazy she is, how she really doesn’t like to be around lots of people (kind of tough to do when she lives in New York City), and how much she hates traveling (for work, that is–she’s all in for vacation travel) and speaking to large crowds (but she loves having spoken to large crowds and loves chatting it up with the attendees afterwards).
All in all, she comes across as a flawed, quirky, but super interesting and intelligent person. And her followers love hearing all about both her accomplishments and her flaws (some of which have become long-running inside jokes in her email community).
Then there’s Berit Gordon, an educational consultant who’s an expert in language arts instruction. In getting to know her a bit recently (I had her as a speaker at one of my conferences and then also interviewed her for my book, Marketing Magic)–I found out that she’s a bit different than the typical, driven educational consultant out there.
She readily admits that she doesn’t buy into “hustle culture.” She could certainly get more work than she does, but she values her work-life balance too much.
As a result, she only takes consulting work from a few large school districts at a time and intentionally doesn’t overcrowd her schedule. Her goal is to over-deliver for her clients, and her choice not to take on too much work allows her to do that.
Some people might call her lazy, but she doesn’t apologize for her lack of hustle–in fact, she wears it as a badge of honor.
My last example is my friend, Allan Wolf. Allan is one of the most creative people I know, as you’d learn if you ever saw him present–he mixes the content of his talks with songs, zany humor, spoken word poetry, and sometimes even puppets. Straight-laced and professional he is not.
You could tell how “out there” he is by reading any of his books–he’s written multiple books of historical fiction on topics as varied as the sinking of the Titanic, the Lewis and Clark expedition, and the Donner party, all written in verse–or just by reading the titles of his books for young kids and teens (for example, The Blood-Hungry Spleen and Other Poems About Our Parts, The Day the Universe Exploded My Head, and Junius Leak and the Spiraling Vortex of Doom).
But it’s not just that he’s creative (one might say “wacky,” or even “weird”), but that he leans into it. In his emails, he plays up all of his wackiness. He even addresses his emails to his list as “Hey Po’ Folk” (“Po’” stands for “poetry”) and always closes with “Metaphors be with you” (Star Wars fans will get it).
The point of all of this is that, as I said several times in last week’s blog post, relatability sells.
People like to buy from people who come across as someone they’d like to get to know. Someone who’s human–warts and all.
Now, this doesn’t mean that you have to confess to ALL your character flaws and every mistake you’ve ever made in your life. A little bit of honesty goes a long way.
And if you’re up for a little challenge, try this: Take 5-10 minutes and write a bit about some of your character flaws that you’d be willing to admit to your followers and business prospects. You’re looking for the kinds of things you can laugh about and poke a little fun at yourself through self-deprecating humor.
Then, once you have something down, look at all the marketing copy you use on your consulting business website, in your blog posts, etc. and see where you might begin interjecting some of that material into your content as a way of humanizing your persona.
I promise you, you’ll come across as more relatable–and more hirable–for doing so!
In my next post, I’ll share a little branding tip from comedian Chris Rock that I think you’ll like. So, stay tuned for that.
Talk soon.
To Your Success,
Willy
CEO, Ed Consultant Marketing
P.S.–I’d love to hear your thoughts on this topic.
Have you opened up to your audience about some of your quirks or character flaws? How have people responded?
Or are you afraid to try your hand at this? If so, what are you afraid of and why?
If you’re open to talking about this topic, please shoot me an email at willy@edconsultantmarketing.com or just reply in the Comments.
Willy
