Mediation Marketing Isn’t About Convincing

When I lived in the Burlington, VT area there used to be a car salesman who ran pretty bad commercials on one of our local television channels. The commercials were the kind of low-quality often associated with low-budget ads. The guy wore a weird red wig (like Raggedy Andy!), and his tagline was something like, “I won’t stop wearing this wig until I convince you to buy a car from me!”

A few weeks ago I asked a group of mediators what words come to mind when they think of marketing. The most common answers were “convincing” and “selling.” Of course, my thoughts went immediately and hilariously to Raggedy Andy! No wonder so many mediators seem to shy away from anything that smacks of “marketing.”

Fellow mediators, it’s time to reframe the way you think of marketing. Instead of trying to convince, think inspire. What can you do today to inspire a prospective client to consider mediation?

Copyright © 2006 by Tammy Lenski. All rights reserved.