KEY POINTS:
Manhattan, New York, isn't a scary place.
And yet, as I stepped out of the subway into a sea of people, I was intimidated. I wasn't sure where to go. Or what to do next.
I felt like I was completely out of my safe zone.
I'd gone from a country of 4 million people to a country of 300 million.
And I was intimidated.
Your customers feel the same intimidation when dealing with you. As the person in charge, you're like a New Yorker. You know the streets. You know the subways. You speak the lingo.
The client is a stranger. And intimidated as heck.
But where does this intimidation come from? It comes from two sources: Firstly the supplier (that's you), and secondly the buyer (that's the client).
The client gets intimidated for several reasons.
For example, the product you're selling may be unfamiliar to them. The information that you're giving may be buffet-sized, and hard to consume.
The training may be bouncing right over the client's head, because of the sheer amount of new information.
But it's not all your fault. Because a good chunk of the intimidation may come from the client.
The client may have some level of product-phobia.
The client may have dealt with consultants before, and got easily confused.
The client may think your training will put them in a spotlight they'd rather not be in.
As you can see, it's kind of impossible to guess what makes people feel unsafe. And therefore the first thing you need to do is announce the presence of a safe zone.
Announce the presence? Yes, announce it.
If you're starting a consulting session, announce the safe zone.
If you have a membership site, announce the safe zone.
If you have any situation where the client is outside their comfort zone, you'll need to create a sort of comfort zone.
But in the rush to get things done, it's easy to forget about the announcement.
A situation where you're interacting with a client has a lot of factors involved.
And it's easy to forget to announce the safe zone, so I put in a reminder.
If I'm doing a workshop or training session for instance, I'll put the "safe zone" slide in my list of slides. So right at the start, the slide pops up, and then I can make the announcement.
If it's a teleconference, we announce the safe zone over and over again.
And if it's a consulting session, we announce it again. And again.
And demonstrate that no question is a silly question.
But of course, while you agree that the safe zone works with services and training, does it work with products as well? Yes it does. But it depends on the product. If you're selling a pen, there's no intimidation. If you're selling a sound mixer, the intimidation pops up quickly.
So many products create "Quickstart guides" - guides that are simple to use and have specific 1,2,3 steps that anyone can follow.
And that's only part of the intimidation The other part of the intimidation comes from the client.
Their past experiences. Their inhibitions. The ghost that's in their head.
You can never fix that.
So if I walk into the light from a Manhattan subway, I may feel a little jittery. But that may be because I'm not used to crowds. Or that I've just had a bad experience on the subway. Or that hotdog is starting to have an effect of sorts and I need to find a toilet pretty soon. Who knows what causes me to be intimidated?
But the city of New York does its bit. It puts up signs. It prints maps. It has visitor centres. It maintains an informative website.
But is that all you can do?
No it isn't. It's important to ask customers how they felt when they first ran into your product/service or training. What intimidated them the most?
You'll find that customers are more than willing to let you know.
And then you should reduce, or better still, fix that intimidation factor.
And that's the first step to a safe zone!
Personal Experience: When we have our workshops, I'd start off the workshop at 8:02 am on the first day of the workshop itself. So what was intimidating about starting on the day itself? Well, most people don't know others in the room. Most don't know where they need to sit. Or what they need to do.
So one year, a client told us how he didn't feel safe and suggested we have a "meet and greet session" the day before the workshop. And so we did.
And what a massive difference it makes.
At that session we show the participants the room, where they're sitting, and take any questions. I'm also dressed down in a very casual T-shirt and jeans. This relaxes the audience, and sets the tone for the dress code.
And so not only do they relax, but they also get to know each other. They share a dinner. They talk. And they rest well before the start of the workshop. We have relaxed, calm, chattering participants the next morning.
And that my friend is just one instance of how you create a safe zone.Sean D'Souza is chief executive of Psychotactics and is an international author, speaker and trainer.
www.psychotactics.com
