So, I'd kind of momentarily forgotten just how complicated your world is. Until, this week when I wrote a book about something technical.
It took me 5,023 words to explain email security in a way that people who don't know (or care) about email security will understand it. And will then want to take action to protect themselves and their company's email.
Now I must state - if you didn't already know - I'm not a tech and I don't have a technical background.
Yes I have an interest in technology. And I love working with MSPs and IT support companies obviously. But I am not a technical person at all.
Hey - I'm an Apple FanBoy! That's surely the greatest sign that I don't really understand technology.
My new book is called "Email Hijack". It tells the fictitious story of a business owner whose email is compromised and £12k stolen from his business bank account, to explain email security to lay people
I've written it for my UK and international subscribers to the MSP Marketing Edge.
Every year I write them a new book. They can put their name on the cover and use it as:
- A 48 page business card when they meet people in their local areas. Being an author gives you enormous credibility
- An ethical bribe on their website, so they can give it to people in return for their contact details
This is the third book I've written for clients. The first was about GDPR. The second was about the 2020 problem (Microsoft software reaching end of life in January).
This new book will be used next year by my clients throughout the world.
The concept behind the book was explaining email security to ordinary business owners and managers who simply don't know about email security. And to a certain extent they don't care about it.
And that's the challenge when your world and their worlds collide
You've got a fundamental problem that you have to overcome trying to explain critical concepts to ordinary people. Who don't care about it anywhere near as much as you do.
Because when someone is a little bit baffled by something, they are much more likely to just dismiss it, ignore it and move on, than they are to take the time to understand it.
We live in a very busy world, don't we? And our brains are constantly trying to make sense of that world.
So if you baffle someone with science + technology + acronyms... it's more likely that their brain will disengage and they will just carry on as they are.
You must see this with your clients day in day out. Unless they've got a very specific problem that has to be fixed for a very particular reason, they will put up with a fudge or they will just make do. Because really, they don't understand what the problem is. And their brain's just not interested, anyway.
This was the challenge with this book. To explain:
- Email security
- 10 blended layers of security
- How hacks can happen, and
- How something as simple as one hacker getting into one email account can be so disastrous for a company. And can see it lose thousands and thousands out of its bank account
All of this had to be done in a way that non-technical people would understand.
That's why it took 5,000 words and me being locked away in a luxury hotel from Sunday night to Tuesday morning! This is the personal burden I carry 🤣
The challenge for you is to break down what you do into the smallest possible, most easily understood chunks
Whenever you're talking to prospects, and equally as importantly, clients.
The second they don't "get it", they will disengage and you won't get the sale. Life's going to be harder for you.
Everything needs to be explained in the easiest possible way. This is not, by the way, about talking down to them, far from it.
This is about you dropping down to their level and looking at things as they look at it.
There's a phrase that I've been using for a few years that explains this concept well. I can't remember which book I've stolen it from, but here it is:
To influence what John Smith buys, you must look through John Smith's eyes
This is exactly what we're talking about here.
In fact, within your IT support company, the challenge is to be constantly interpreting the technical gobbledygook that is your world, into normal, everyday, easily understood concepts for the people that you're serving.
And the clearer and the more precise your business is ---> the easier it is for them to understand ---> the greater the financial rewards will be.
Because remember, these ordinary business owners and managers aren't making decisions on suppliers and spend using their brains.
Their brains are just rubber stamping the decisions that their hearts are making. This is why we have to create marketing that is emotional, rather than logical.
So this is your heart having a conversation with their heart. With a bit of evidence to reassure their brain to rubber stamp the deal.
