In “Word of Mouth Magic” I cover, as many marketers do, tuning in to WII-FM.

That is, tuning in to the ultimate buyer’s question that you must answer, “What’s In It For Me?”

Sometimes I get really frustrated, and I think of it as WTF-III-FM – “What The F*** Is In It For Me?”, also known as “Who cares” or “So what.”

I usually hold back when I feel like this, and sometimes holding back is a good thing. One example of this was a UK guy I came into contact with called Gary Coyle.

Gary calls himself a “Post Office Consultant”.

Cute eh?

The only problem is that I don’t have a post office so I don’t need his services right?

100% wrong!

I found Gary on one of the business networking sites I use and as I read through his profile which explained his history of ups and downs of being in business with Post Offices. I would ask him how the UK postal service worked because of my interest in SendOutCards worldwide.

In actual fact when I spoke to Gary he wasn’t wanting referrals from Post Offices at all.

I became really confused.

I am trying to work out who I could refer to him who would be an ideal referral for him. I’m trying to think of myself as a potential client of Gary’s and asking myself “WTF-III-FM” as I’m listening to Gary.

Then Gary explains it in a way I finally get. What he is actually wanting is products and services to put into those post offices.

His real value is in offering businesses a new way to access the vast retail market of the Post Office.

The penny drops.

His ideal client is someone who already has a product but wants to expand their retail marketing in the UK. There are certainly businesses that want that.

An even better referral is people who have connections with such businesses, eg marketers, business advisers, accountants.

Then I explained to Gary that his profile didn’t make it clear who he was wanting and how they could benefit from what he offers ie WII-FM.

The first thing Gary spontaneously said to me…

I’ll be changing my online profile immediately.

Even better, he actually did what he said he would!

He asked me for feedback on the new profile. I gave it. It was still very feature driven eg “22 years in the post office business”. He responded again with more changes.

If you check out his profile currently, the first section and the final paragraph is new. The with middle history with features and no benefits is the original profile.

His first re-draft profile included this explanation of his work…

If you have an idea, product or service that you would like to introduce into 10,000 Post Offices and 40,000 independent convenience stores in the UK, I have the expertise, contacts and know-how to fast track this process.

With a little more thought he has made it even more punchy…

24 million people visit a post office every week. I will show you how to reach them.

For the right client that certainly gets the WTF-III-FM attention!

It takes time to really understand your buyers & clients, but making the effort is worthwhile.

Oh, and did I mention that Gary had been active on this business network for 6 years without any resulting business. We’ll see how much business his new WII-FM profile attracts.

How well do you communicate your WII-FM?

-Martin Russell