In today’s episode, I’m sharing with you what to do when you see your perfect client ask a question or ask for advice in a FB group whom you could perfectly help with your services…
How do you lean in and say to them that they would benefit from working with you without bypassing their consent, being spammy or getting them to run away?
Here for the links referenced in the show notes?
Bev Roberts’ List-Growth Club: bevroberts.com/the-list-growth-club
Heart-Centred Soul-Driven Entrepreneurs group: tashcorbin.com/group
If you’ve ever found yourself in this situation, I think you’re going to find this one really helpful!
Let’s dive on in…
This scenario can apply to when you see your ideal client engage with someone else’s content in a FB group, or when they ask a question straight into the group.
First and foremost, I just want to be really clear on the situation that I’m talking about.
Someone’s not commenting directly to you or asking you for advice. Instead, you can see they’re asking for that kind of advice or complaining about that kind of problem, and all you want to do is swoop into the comments and mention that this particular issue is in your area of expertise.
Let’s say you’re a decluttering and Feng Shui expert, and someone mentions in a Facebook group that they just wish someone would jump on Zoom with them and force them to declutter their wardrobe.
All you want to do is jump into the comments and offer them your paid services.
Alternatively, say you’re a systems expert and someone asks a question in a FB group about how to set up their email sequence. Naturally, your instinct would be to tell them to book a session with you to get it sorted. You want to sell to them as a response to something that they’ve posted on the internet… but they’re not talking specifically to you. Nor are they explicitly stating that they’re willing to pay for help.
The first thing I want to talk about is how NOT to respond to one of those instances…
Do NOT say that this is in your area of expertise so they should book a session with you.
This is because that person has been putting something out generally.
They didn’t ask you. They didn’t specifically say (in a lot of cases) that they want to hire someone.
If they’ve said that they need to hire a web developer, and that’s exactly what you do, then of course respond to that. But if they’re just asking for advice, or asking a large-scale FB group a question, then they haven’t asked you specifically.
My advice is not to jump in and sell to them.
I don’t recommend diving straight into a sales pitch.
I also do NOT recommend the classic ‘Hey babe, DM me and I can help’.
This happens so much in the Heart-Centred community.
I just want to reach out to those people and tell them that the chances of that ideal client DMing them are slim to nil. They’ve also just lost an opportunity to get even more clients than this one person.
The other thing I see happen a lot is offering a free session.
Especially in the online business world, there’s a belief that if you can just get them onto a free session, you’ll be able to upsell to them straight away.
This is absolutely not the case. Please don’t do that.
I don’t recommend any of those strategies when you see someone asking for advice, especially not in a Facebook group.
The best strategy I can recommend is… give the advice!
They’ve asked for advice, so give the advice!
Not by DMing them privately. Not on a free call with them. And definitely not only if they pay you.
Give the advice right there in the comments.
Set a timer and be boundaried when you answer a question in a FB group.
When I see someone in a FB group ask a question that I have a really good answer for, I will set a five-minute timer on my phone and answer the question.
However, before I answer the question, I will quickly go and check my profile for the group (because Facebook creates a specific profile for you for each group you’re in).
I like to check that my profile is all up to date in that group just in case the person who I’m giving advice to is interested in finding out more about me and my services.
I also make sure I have links to my Facebook page in my group profile.
Then in the five minutes I’ve allowed myself, I’ll go and give them my advice in the comments.
Instead of being elusive and telling them to DM me; instead of missing out on the opportunity to demonstrate my expertise, not just to the question asker but to every other witness in that community, I give the advice freely and within a boundaried time.
I set my little five-minute timer, I go and check my profile, make sure I’ve got my links up to date, and then I give the advice.
How amazing is that?!
I give the advise freely.
In Facebook communities, in particular, my goal is to establish myself as an expert.
I want to establish myself as a leader in the space.
Not a leader because I own the space or because someone gave me some random badge.
I establish myself as a leader because people look to me for advice.
I establish myself as a leader because I’m generous, I connect with people in that community, and I behave like a leader.
That’s what being a leader is!
I demonstrate strong leadership qualities, I help people who need help, and I help them freely. I look for people who I can support, and I connect people with the help that they need.
Inside the Heart-Centred community, I would say there are about 50-100 people who I would consider A-plus leaders of the space.
Then there are another 200-500 people who I would consider quite consistent leaders in the space as well.
The Heart-Centered, Soul-Driven Entrepreneurs Facebook group has this beautiful model of shared leadership.
Not only do I allow other people to be a leader in the space, I encourage other people to be a leader in the space.
If someone’s asking a question about Feng Shui [LINK],
I’m not a Feng Shui expert – I can’t answer questions about Feng Shui in the Heart-Centred group. I’m also not a parenting expert – I can’t give anyone advice about parenting.
I can’t be all things to all people in that community, nor would I want to be.
So that’s the first thing I do when I see my perfect client ask the perfect question in a FB group – set a five-minute timer, quickly check my profile, make sure I’ve got links to my page, and then go give the advice.
This then allows people to lean in.
If they like my advice then they can either send me a DM, ask me where they can find out more about my business, or just skip all of that and go stalk my Facebook page. That’s what I consider them leaning in.
I haven’t bypassed their consent. I haven’t dangled the carrot in front of them and made them jump for it. I’ve just given them the advice, which gives them an opportunity to lean in.
It is also the perfect opportunity for other people in that community to see how helpful and smart I am, to see how amazing my strategy is, and to see that I give advice as a leader.
That is what I recommend you do when your perfect client asks for advice in a Facebook group.
It’s fairly straightforward… Give them the advice in the comments! Right there in the comments.
There are a few little things that you can do to make sure that it’s boundaried…
Set a timer, make sure that if they go to find out more about you they can, make sure you check your profile, and make sure you’ve got links to your Facebook page.
Showing up and giving advice without attachment, without making people jump through hoops, and without feeling like I need to turn every single interaction into a sale is how I was able to scale my business up so quickly and be seen as a leader in so many Facebook communities and spaces online.
It’s been an amazing growth opportunity for my business.
I do want to say that there’s one time where I don’t recommend that you even answer people’s questions…
That is on other people’s pages and comments.
Let’s say you’re in a Facebook community, someone gives a tip about copywriting, and you can see that someone in the comments has asked that person for advice.
If you’re a copywriter, you don’t swoop in on that other person’s space.
They initiated the conversation and someone asked them a question. I think that it’s out of integrity to then swoop in and take over as the advisor or helper for that person.
Similarly, if you are following someone else’s Facebook page, and someone asks that person for advice, swooping in with your advice in the comments is not okay.
It’s that person’s space. That’s their space to show their expertise.
I definitely don’t swoop in and give advice on other people’s pages.
The only time I would comment is to talk up the person whose page I was on.
For example, I am in Bev Roberts’ List Growth Club (it’s an amazing space, make sure you go and check it out).
On Bev’s Facebook Page, she was talking about some different concepts around list growth, and someone asked for advice in the comments.
I didn’t go in and give them advice. Instead, I commented that they’re in such good hands with Bev, and this month we’re working on X in List Growth Club if they’re interested in joining.
I want to help Bev make the sale.
I want Bev to get that person into List Growth Club. My goal is to reassure that person that they’ve asked a great question and they’ve asked the right person.
I’m not swooping in and taking over as the expert. I’m simply reassuring them that it’s a good question to ask and they’ve asked the right person because that person is an expert in this space.
Hopefully, that gives you some clarity on how to help people who are asking a question in a FB group.
I do have a little ulterior motive for doing this podcast episode this week…
We’re bringing market research and question-asking back into the Heart-Centred Soul-Driven Entrepreneurs Facebook group!
You may have noticed for the past 12 months that we have not been allowing people to jump into the Heart-Centred community and ask questions.
We used to use #helpanyday so that people could ask questions of the community.
The reason why we had to shut it down was that our community was being targeted by two mentors in particular, who had highlighted to their students that my group had a highly engaged audience, and had taught them strategies to come and phish in the Heart-Centred community to spam people.
What ended up happening was there were all these people coming in and asking for fake advice.
They would say something like, ‘I’m getting a new laptop, should I stick with my Windows PC or should I get a Mac?’
They actually weren’t looking for an answer to their question, they were just looking for as many comments as possible on their post so they could go and send DMS to all the commenters and initiate a conversation.
There was this DM script that they would follow to try and recruit that person to their Facebook page, and then pitch them a service.
It was this really yucky, manipulative, out-of-integrity sales strategy that was being taught. Unfortunately, the people who were teaching it were telling their students to specifically target the Heart-Centred community because everyone’s so helpful and they’d get so many comments.
In order to protect the community from the spamming, phishing and manipulation, we closed down asking questions in the community for an extended period of time, so that those two mentors would stop recommending people come and phish in the Heart-Centred community.
Now the coast seems to be clear (I’ve got a couple of spies out there checking) which means…
We can go back to letting people ask questions in the Heart-Centred community!
If you’ve got questions, need advice, want help with your business, or whatever it may be, you can ask for advice and get help from people in the Heart-Centred community.
We’ve created some boundaries and structured ways that you can do that over in the group.
You now have the opportunity to ask questions in the community, and have a really clear strategy on how you can react and respond in that community to present yourself as a leader, and invite leads to lean in without getting all spammy, pushy and attached to turning every single conversation into a sale, and instead come at it from a space of abundance, and recognising that a rising tide lifts all ships.
If you’re looking for all the details on how to ask questions in the community, what the boundaries are and what the new hashtags are, simply head into the Heart-Centred Soul-Driven Entrepreneurs group: CLICK ME
My team are all set up and ready to go to help you navigate it, so just head to the announcements section to find out more.
If you have any questions about it, just comment on the pinned announcement, and my team will be able to answer all your questions.
Please do make sure that you read that pinned announcement in full before diving in and asking your questions, doing any market research or seeking advice.
Thank you so much for joining me for this episode of the Heart-Centred Business Podcast.
Until next time, I cannot WAIT to see you SHINE.
