In Roald Dahl's Matilda, Mr. Wormwood is a greasy car salesman who will do anything to make a buck. And that means anything - he super-glues bumpers back onto cars, runs sawdust through the engine, and rolls back odometers. He doesn't care what's legal or ethical, he only cares about the cash.

And for some reason, people think Mr. Wormwood is the model for effective sales. 

They say:

"I can't do sales or marketing for my business. I'm not pushy enough. I like people and I don't want to hard-sell them into buying my service. I hate when people pressure me so I refuse to bring that into my business." 

If you think your options are either no-marketing-sainthood or Mr. Wormwood, of course it's going to feel icky if you choose marketing. 

The good news is, Mr. Wormwood is not the model of ideal sales and marketing. You don't need to be greasy to be effective. In fact, if you act like he does, you will eventually run out of suckers - just like he did. 

Effective sales and marketing are built on a platform of trust and authenticity. 

 I challenge you to look at sales and marketing this way: 

If you provide a product or service you truly believe in - if it genuinely helps people - it's your duty to let those people know it exists. 

How upset would you be if you found out there was a product that could really help you, but the company never told anyone it existed? It would feel pretty lame, right? 

If you hold the key to solving issues people struggle with, give yourself permission to spend time actively marketing it. It's not pushy - it's helpful. Simply let them know it exists, how it can help, and leave them to make the decision. Not only will your soul be saved from a Mr. Wormwood doom, but your customers will appreciate you more. 

The Only Caveat
There's only one caveat to this type of genuine, ethical selling: You have to have a great product or service that actually helps people. You can't be shilling snake oil or putting sawdust in engines if you want this to work. (You don't have to be curing cancer to qualify as "helping people" - if your mission is to make people forget their troubles via stand up comedy, that counts. Your products or services need to do what they promise to do.) 

Pitching A New Client: What Not To Do
An app developer contacted me to pitch their app for my clients. I decided to go ahead and block out 20 minutes for their pitch. 

Here is the conversation we had: 

Them: This app was developed by [top ad agency]. 
Me: Wow, really? 
Them: Well, no. It was developed by someone who works there, though!
Me: Hmm, ok. Who was it?
Them: You don't know them. They worked there a couple years ago, before they quit to work on the app.
Me: You might be surprised, our industry is small - I know a lot of people there. 
Them: Well, they weren't on a team. It was an executive.
Me: Interesting, an [agency] executive developed it? And then quit their job?
Them: Ummm, no. It was was actually someone who can see the executive's office window.
Me: ... 
Them: Actually, it's the nephew of the guy who can see the agency's windows from his office.
Me: So... it was developed by someone who just knows the agency exists? 
Them: Well, when you say it that way, it doesn't sound nearly as cool. 

They lost the sale, clearly. 

But how many times have you agreed to hear a pitch (or click an ad, or read a pamphlet) only to find out they were severely misrepresenting the truth? That "results aren't typical" or that the FREE offer is just a 10 day trial?

If you have to hedge around the truth or put it in fine print, then you're lying. Say something else. 

The sad part is, the app they were pitching was a decent idea. If they had told the truth, I might have bought in. Instead, I'm telling you about how bad their pitch was. 

After You Get The Sale: A Case Study
I was once called by a consumer electronics company who was struggling to break even, let alone make a profit. They were in crisis mode all the time. They asked me what they could do. "We're authentic in all of our marketing, and people still don't buy," they said. "People buy from us once and then never again, so we're always paying to find new customers." 

After the meeting, I did what any consumer would do: I went to Amazon and read some reviews. The reviews were terrible! The customers claimed that the products didn't do almost any of the advertised features, and the company refused to help anyone on the customer service hotline. 

When I went back to my contact, I presented my findings. I asked if it was true. They said, "Well, yeah. No one would buy it if we told the truth! So how can we appear more authentic and get more money?" 

The answer I told them - and the answer I'll tell you - is that you can't just seem authentic, because customers will find you out. They will discover if your product is shoddy and they will tell the world. Your product (or service) speaks louder than any ad in the world. 

You can't delete conversations on social media. You can't remove reviews from Amazon or Yelp. You can't force customers not to tell their friends about their experience. The only thing you can do is sell quality products/services in a way that attracts your tribe of loyal customers. 

When Everyone Else in Your Industry is a Terrible Person
If you find yourself becoming disheartened by the big names in your industry - people who use scummy tactics to run over the little guys - don't let that force you to close up shop. 

If you notice it, I guarantee your prospective customers notice it. They don't like it any more than you do. 

It's your chance to be different. To offer the truth, educate your clients, and discredit the claims of unscrupulous competitors. (Maybe not by name, but in general.) 

You don't need to be scumbag to sell your stuff. I promise.

Publicity Hound posted an article outlining a segment of people who hate when their consultants are active in publicity-seeking efforts. 

The study showed 11 percent of introverted entrepreneurs actively choose not to pursue business with someone who has social proof of expertise, and another 48 percent holds no value in your publicity. 

Since introverts make up somewhere around half of the population (and are more often found in creative fields, as many entrepreneurs are), it's daunting to think that your efforts to land social proof is useless or even detrimental to a third of your audience (59 percent total, divided by half for introverts only).  

Before you decide to never answer a HARO query or send out a press release again, consider this. 

This study asked respondents to answer based on the idea that they already know the consultant. But how many more heard about the consultant from the magazine cover or speech? 

The respondents had three main concerns:

• An expert is too expensive for me
• An expert doesn't have time for me
• A publicity seeker will not be able to get along with me

I counter these concerns with the consultant's view: 

• A client who is primarily concerned with price will never be happy with yours (no matter how low it is)
  
• A client who won't contact you because they assume something about your business isn't going to bring her concerns to you anyway
• A client who abhors publicity may not be ready for success themselves

If you're in the service industry, don't get suckered in the idea that positive publicity will turn clients away from you. If your positive publicity weeds out some clients, consider it a blessing. 

Before you can evaluate how much you should spend on any particular aspect, you have to figure out your communication budget overall. How much can you spend?

Most successful businesses spend between 1 and 15 percent of their gross revenue on marketing. The newer and less well-known your company is, the higher you need to be in that range (even though it might be a little uncomfortable).

It’s common knowledge that most small business owners cut communication before anything else when they’re in financial trouble. It seems the easiest: it’s hard to evaluate the return on investment with some strategies, and it’s not like you can just stop paying rent. However, if you eliminate marketing completely (or even mostly), how will new customers find you?

Why have a budget?

A budget – rather than spending as you go – will help you evaluate the return on investment (ROI) of your strategy. If you’re a small business, and you spent $10,000 on marketing but only made $20,000 in sales, you have a problem. Something isn’t working. But if you spent $10,000 on marketing and made $100,000 or more in sales, you’re on the right track.

Budget types

Your budget could be based on:

I can't tell you how many times I bought a ticket to a networking event and didn't go. I always intended to go - and put my money on the line - but on the day of, I'd chicken out. I'd come up with reasons why I didn't need to go - I had dishes to do, or I already had enough projects, or some other excuse. 

By request, here are the four tips I use to force myself to network. Here are the tools you need to get there, put on a smile, and make meaningful connections with the most terrifying people of all: strangers.

I've had several meetings lately that went something like this...

Me: "Tell me about your target market."
Them: "We finally got it nailed down! Ok, so it's men and women, ages 16 to 60, who live in America."

...And the record comes to a shrieking halt. It's easy to see why someone would want a target demographic like that, at least initially - that's literally almost everybody in the country. However, it's not a target market. 

Logically, it can't be. If you place a 16 year old boy from Brooklyn and a 60 year old woman from rural Kansas in the same room, do you think they'd be even remotely interested in the same products? 

Let's zoom in further. Even if you focus on one geographic location, there's still a world of difference between a teenager and an AARP member.  

Oftentimes, when a smaller demographic is suggested, the business owner says: "I don't want to narrow my focus because I'm afraid I'll be losing dollars." 

The thing is, choosing a target market does not mean refusing to take money from someone who doesn't fit. If you're selling rubber bracelets to high school kids, you wouldn't turn away a middle aged man who wanted one. But you'd also know that the middle aged man is likely a fluke. It would be a waste of money to try and attract more of them. 

Establishing a target market will actually help you earn more dollars. Instead of wasting time and money on general untargeted messages, you can launch specific messages with real impact. You'll get more revenue coming in per communication dollar, resulting in more profits. 

To find your target market, base your customer profile around your ideal customer. For example, a yoga studio's target customer profile could look like this:

Women, age 28-40, who live or work within 10 minutes of the studio
Often in a long term relationship, no kids.
Cares about her body and fitness. Perhaps interested in competitive running.
Have a spiritual mindset, open to Buddhism and Zen practices.

This gives us a pretty clear picture of the type of person who might enroll in a yoga class. She will not be an Evangelical Christian, because she has to be open to Buddhism (so advertising in the local Evangelic church bulletin is a waste of money). She will not be a stay-at-home mom, because she doesn't have kids (so no use targeting play groups). She will not be a coach potato, because she cares about her fitness (so don't waste money advertising on daytime TV). 

This may still feel too faceless for you. If it does, consider creating a fully-fleshed character:

If this was your customer profile, you would write everything like it was meant for Jen's eyes only. You might have a dogs-welcome class. You might design a flier about cross-training for runners. You might host an open house and serve local-brewed craft beer. You wouldn't be afraid of alienating a faceless Jane Doe because you'd know that delighting Jen is all you need.

Having a specific customer profile is actually freeing. Instead of trying to capture everyone, you can try to capture the quality few. You can modify your storytelling to better resonate with the people who fit the profile. Instead of being locked into a prison of general bland messaging, you can be free to have a personality and tell an authentic story. 

"How can I get my name out there as a ______?"

This is one of the most common questions people ask me. They want to know what social media network to sign up for or what event to go to. If they only did the right things, they think, their name would be "out there" and they could finally be something.

The answer to their question is deceptively simple, but never what they want to hear.

You want people to think of you as a writer/insurance agent/life coach/filmmaker/whatever? You have to actually be that thing. No one is knocking on doors to discover if someone is thinking about being somebody.

If you want to be a writer, write. If you want to be an insurance agent, talk to people about insurance. If you want to be a filmmaker, make some films. Then talk about it to everyone you know -- talk about the thing you actually did instead of the things you could do if only you had enough attention. 

No one deserves an audience. It's a privilege. There's no magic bullet: you have to get out there to be out there.