"Yuk, I don't want to do something like that!"

Reflections on how “more marketing” sometimes just means “learning to listen better”. (Adam Evans part III)

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Mar 17, 2023

Even a highly successful adventure guide and coach, who’s proud to have funded a mortgage from his career, has their list of three wishes they want granted. (Maybe it’s only a self-aware guide who can be this successful – and still want to learn more..). Reflecting on Adam’s three wishes made us ponder how much “marketing” is really a state of mind and not a series of activities.

When it’s seen as a series of activities, it is something that many good adventure guides and coaches shy away from. “Yuk. I don’t want to do things like that.” They have that in common with many professionals from other walks of life that we’ve worked with. The smartest lawyer, the most silver-tongued barrister, the brainiest consultant often has an aversion to what can feel like the slimy activities of marketing and selling. There might even be a hint of “Isn’t being so good at this enough? Isn’t shouting about how good I am all a bit beneath me?”.

girl covering her face with both hands — “Yuk, I don’t want to do something like that!” (Photo by Caleb Woods on Unsplash)

But what if marketing was more about a state of mind and not a series of shouty activities?

What if it was more about learning to listen and read people’s wants better?

What if it was more about learning to understand how others really see you? What it is about what you do that they rate? Would that make “marketing” something professionals felt more naturally attracted to doing? It feels to us like Adam’s three wishes fall into this category. Which is not surprising given the focus he has put on developing his inter- and intra-personal skillset.

So, let’s have a look at Adam’s three wishes. From a business professional’s point of view they are all about marketing. They probably apply to most of the people we have worked with over the years. And since we want to reflect on marketing being a mind-set not a series of activities, we’ll be one of those annoying genies who answers a wish with a question. Or many questions:

Wish 1: “Do more marketing”.

Yes, there are so many more marketing activities you can do now. Compared to 20 years ago there’s an awful lot more shouting you can do. And this has led many professionals to feel they should be “doing more marketing”.

But while some of it may be worth doing, what are you going to shout about?! What is it that your audience really wants to hear, read or watch?

Wish 2: “Find a way to convey the difference between what guides like me do and the off-the-shelf adventure offerings”.

For us, this is the first stage of answering the question about what you are going to shout about. Marketing folk will recognise this as the foundation of all good businesses. Knowing what you want to be famous for. There are lots of ways into this, but where better for a smart professional to start than talking to clients they like working with the best.

What do they think makes you different from others in the market? Why do they continue to choose you?

Wish 3: “To find a beautiful way to marry together outdoor adventure and personal development coaching.”

Put another way, how do you develop what you already do to help people in ways they don’t ever realise they want? To give people the greater benefit you know you can give them? Perhaps the best way to do this is a state of mind thing again.

You can, of course, go full on and tailor your current courses and experiences to include new ways of doing things and approaching problems and then try and market them to a new audience. Or you could learn from the ancient - and apt - Hindu parable of the beetle and the silken thread (* see link at bottom of article to a version of this story).

Rather than the full-frontal assault, are there silken threads you can lay before your clients? Threads that when they notice and pull on them mean they discover the cotton thread? And when they notice and pull on that they discover the twine and then the rope and finally pull to themselves what they really want?

(This approach works well, but it does require you to have the professional skills of listening well to be able to spot those of your clients who are pulling on the threads).

In summary

For Adam, there may be plenty of hard work involved in making his three wishes come true. For any adventure guide or coach the same would be true. (At least Adam starts with the rare advantage of knowing what he would do with his three wishes should he meet a real-life genie down a cave one day.) Talking to Adam has reinforced for us that often, the best way to do “more marketing” is to question your own approach and maybe turn things around so you are using your listening skills to do smarter marketing.

I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised. Adam is good at helping you evolve your mental game, after all.

Thanks again to Adam for taking the time to talk to us. We’re really looking forward to seeing more from his mental game and outdoor adventure work.

The Business of Adventure

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