Susan Friedmann [00:00:00]:
Welcome to Book Marketing Mentors, the weekly podcast where you learn proven strategies, tools, ideas, and tips from the masters. Every week, I introduce you to a marketing master who will share their expertise to help you market and sell more books. Today, my special guest is Sophie Lechner. Sophie is a speaker, author, and business coach. She helps entrepreneurs who are passionate about their work to use marketing to attract clients instead of chasing them. She focuses on showing them how to use LinkedIn to build connections and share their message. Her 20 year presence on LinkedIn has led to speaking engagements, podcast invitations, clients, and a Forbes interview. She's the creator of the Magnet Model, a powerful framework for passionate entrepreneurs pursuing impact, income, and independence.
Susan Friedmann [00:00:59]:
Sophie, it's a pleasure to welcome you back to the show, and thank you for being this week's guest expert and mentor.
Sophie Lechner [00:01:08]:
Thank you for having me, Susan. I'm excited to speak to you again.
Susan Friedmann [00:01:12]:
Yes. It's been almost a year now since we first talked about the magnet model, and you wooed our listeners with your expertise. And I know you're going to do it again. So Sophie, in our last interview, you shared your magnet model. But let's give our listeners a quick reminder of what that is so that we can take the idea and build on it and talk about your brand new book. Take it away.
Sophie Lechner [00:01:44]:
The magnet model is really a way to help entrepreneurs get over the whole fear of becoming visible, or if not not fear, at least uncomfortable. Most of the entrepreneurs I talk to say, oh, I wish I could just focus on my client work. I love working with my clients. I wish I just didn't have to do marketing and sales. And so the magnet model was born because I found a way to actually do marketing that is so not uncomfortable. It is a different way of looking at it. It really is composed of 3 key pillars. So the first one is mission.
Sophie Lechner [00:02:24]:
And this is all about identifying and sharing your mission broadly. So you don't have to put yourself out. That's what's uncomfortable for entrepreneurs most of the time is putting themselves forward. Right? If you put your mission forward, then that removes that entire discomfort with visibility. Mission is about, of course, what you want to do in the world and how you want to help your clients. It's also about digging deep to see why and how you are different. Each of us is unique. Right? We have our own story and how we came to do the work that we do.
Sophie Lechner [00:03:05]:
That's a big part of mission. The second pillar is message. It's, of course, the traditional meaning of the word message. But what I mean here is really going much deeper to really truly understand what the client needs. The key concept here is really to serve your client before they become your client. So serving your audience. The key to message is really to think about your audience as if they were your clients so that you are in a different place in your head. You're not thinking, oh, I'm marketing.
Sophie Lechner [00:03:42]:
You're thinking I am serving. I'm serving my audience who needs the message that I have to share. Then the 3rd pillar is movement. This is really about speaking about your work, not just to your audience who could become clients, but to the world at large because there is a bigger purpose to what you are doing and how you're helping people. When you share that broadly, people get excited. They start to talk about it when you're not around, and it creates a ripple effect. That's how you really can grow your movement, your message. Those are the 3 key pillars.
Sophie Lechner [00:04:21]:
And then in the model, of course, there are strategies to implement each of these pillars in your business.
Susan Friedmann [00:04:29]:
Beautiful. And I know that we're going to dig deeper into that. I'd love to talk a little bit about your new book, Unlock Your Impact, the roadmap to magnetic client attraction for entrepreneurs who hate marketing. Here, you're talking about people who hate that traditional marketing, those strategies. Talk to us more about the central concept here.
Sophie Lechner [00:04:58]:
Oh, it's funny that that word hate, I really hesitated to use it because it's a strong word. But as I was been talking to entrepreneurs, the feeling it conveys really is hate. It's really a powerful feeling. It resonated with people. So I decided to keep that. I decided to call it unlock your impact because I realized that really the deep, deep pain point with a lot of entrepreneurs is that they have this generosity. They feel they can give so much to the world and they are stuck. They're like caged by the whole process of being an entrepreneur and the process of marketing is the biggest struggle.
Sophie Lechner [00:05:39]:
And so my book really will allow them to unlock this impact and really let it fly and help so many people in the world.
Susan Friedmann [00:05:49]:
You're absolutely right with that word hate because I get it all the time that people don't want to be doing their marketing. They think it's sleazy. They think sales and marketing have got the same meaning. They just feel very self conscious about putting themselves out there with the book. Let's talk about this more because LinkedIn is something that's near and dear to your heart. You've spent a lot of time learning about LinkedIn, sharing about LinkedIn. Let's tie that into the conversation because I know that it's such a powerful platform for so many of our authors. You talk about it as being a key tool, but how can authors make the most of LinkedIn using your magnet model without feeling, like, overwhelmed by all of this?
Sophie Lechner [00:06:47]:
Well, it's interesting because I have been a LinkedIn coach for the last 4 years now. And in the beginning, I wrote my book as the key principles behind how to use LinkedIn. But I quickly realized as I was writing it that all these principles that I go over in the book that I capture in the book and that I recommend really apply across all of marketing. So it's not just about LinkedIn. And of course, you can use LinkedIn to share your message. But the whole point of the book is that's why I say bring the joy of your client work into your marketing because it's all about changing your perspective. And instead of thinking I have to talk about my business and I have to sell, it's about being in that energy that you have with your client work. So you are actually doing your client work, except instead of having one client in front of you with a face and a name, your client is your audience at large.
Sophie Lechner [00:07:49]:
It's people out there who might need to hear what you have to say. And it feels like it's a small shift and it is a small shift, but it's huge in terms of the energy shift that it provides. Because once you think to yourself, you leave this energy of, oh, I don't want to be here. I wanna do this. And you go into your generosity and you're giving energy, it unlocks everything. And that's part of the title as well. It really unlocks your generosity and your expertise. And I see that happen in all the workshops that I do.
Sophie Lechner [00:08:24]:
People come in and they're reticent and their body language is all closed up. And then once you get into that energy, all of a sudden or you're back in your prefrontal cortex and your energy and your expertise and your wisdom all can flow out. That's the bottom line key concept of the book.
Susan Friedmann [00:08:44]:
How can our authors create a strong and authentic connection with their ideal clients based on what you're teaching?
Sophie Lechner [00:08:55]:
What authors need to do, and, you know, entrepreneurs, authors, it applies to both, is in your book, usually for nonfiction authors, right? You're sharing your expertise. Now you need to step outside of that. And in your marketing, in your messaging, you want to think about your audiences. Of course, there are people who don't know about your book yet. You want to share with them why you wrote this book, who it's for. I mean, those are the the standard marketing messages, but you really want to embody this mission of why you wrote this book and how you want to help the readers and bring them gradually in your messaging from, I don't know about this topic, or I don't know this author, I don't know this book to, wow, this is really a book for me. You can share in your content some of the content of the book, but you really want to focus on how do I bring people to realize that this is important and why it's important to them. And that's what you do with your messaging.
Susan Friedmann [00:10:08]:
When Arthur's just getting started with this client attraction, what would be the first steps that you would suggest that they take?
Sophie Lechner [00:10:18]:
It starts with the mission and really digging deep to say, what is the big mission? Like, what will be different in the world after people have either read my book or taken my program or whatever it is that you want to put forward? What is the mission and where does it come from? What is it that has brought you to this point where you felt compelled to write this book? And when you share that, it really creates resonance with your audience and it makes them want your product, your book, whatever it is that you are conveying. It makes them want it because they are connecting with you at a deeper emotional level from knowing your mission, your why, your story. That would be the starting point and talking about that. And now it's either on LinkedIn or it's on Facebook or wherever you want, or if it's in speaking, writing articles, going to networking events, or whatever the marketing avenue and tactic is, the key message is this, as a starting point.
Susan Friedmann [00:11:26]:
So examples of that content to showcase that message then, what are you saying, speaking? What else would some of that content contain?
Sophie Lechner [00:11:38]:
You could write articles, you can write posts, you can create videos, all kinds of formats that are available in the different social platforms. In your networking, a lot of us focus on the what, what we offer, but we forget a little bit to talk about the why. So in networking and then in conversations with the people that you do more in-depth one on one networking with. And then, of course, you can be a speaker. A lot of authors then turn to, speaking engagements. And that's a very powerful way because in when you do a speaking engagement, you want to have stories in there. You want to really engage the audience emotionally. Bringing those stories to life in your talk are a very powerful way of connecting with your audience on your mission and your why, your story of why.
Susan Friedmann [00:12:34]:
Yes. And our listeners have heard me say this umpteen times. If you're going to make money with your book, speaking, coaching, training, those are the ways that you're going to be able to get the message out there and use your book as that ultimate business card, says you're the expert. Yeah.
Sophie Lechner [00:12:56]:
Yeah. And publications, if you can get into publications. I mean, I was recently featured in Forbes. I was actually on the cover, which was really fun. And I think that based on what I can see already just by sharing that on LinkedIn, that spreads the word. Whatever it takes to put you in front of more people. Right? That's the part of the movement part.
Susan Friedmann [00:13:17]:
Well, kudos. That was quite something that you got onto the cover of Forbes. How did that happen?
Sophie Lechner [00:13:25]:
With some professional help, and pitching, and making those connections, and getting the word out.
Susan Friedmann [00:13:32]:
And it is. It's about connections. I think that is so key in what you're doing with your book, with your speaking, with everything, that it is about networking, it's building those connections, those relationships with people. I managed to sell half a 1000000 copies of my first book because of a relationship with one company. Wow. It was because of that relationship that this happened. And I wasn't expecting that, but it came about because what I was offering was something that they need. In the same way, you're, you know, Unlock Your Impact, you're giving people things that they want.
Susan Friedmann [00:14:16]:
That's why I think that subtitle is so dramatic and will appeal to people, is the fact that you put in there entrepreneurs who hate marketing because, yeah, it's like almost like this dirty word sometimes.
Sophie Lechner [00:14:32]:
Yes. Absolutely. Yes. You were talking about conversations. And really, for example, one of the things that I share in my book is that you don't need to have sales calls. And I know that's a very sort of antithetics thing to say. It's like very controversial. But I say you don't need to have sales calls because all of your conversations can become clarity conversations.
Sophie Lechner [00:14:58]:
In all of your conversations with anybody in any format, you want to be giving people value. You want to be asking good questions. You want to help them think through whatever it is they're going through. And so when you do that, you're offering value. And it means that when the right person comes at the right time and they have a specific need that you can help with, the sale happens. So it's not like I need to convince people. I need to sell. I need to have so there's a particular format for the conversation, but it's not just for sales conversation.
Sophie Lechner [00:15:36]:
It's for all conversations. And to me, marketing is about, let's go and create as many conversations as we can, whether they're asynchronous via platform or or they evolve into a 1 on 1 conversation or broader. But you want to be offering this clarity, and that replaces the need for a sales call. And that's a huge deal for a lot of entrepreneurs.
Susan Friedmann [00:16:01]:
I know we touched on it a little bit earlier, the whole idea of you're so involved in LinkedIn, and it's so important. How are you going about using LinkedIn now to help promote or market your book? What are you doing?
Sophie Lechner [00:16:17]:
It's interesting because there's this double dynamic where you can use LinkedIn to help you write your book, and you can use LinkedIn to help you in the marketing of your book. And one does the other, if you will. So when you're using LinkedIn to start sharing the ideas that you're going to be including in your book, you get a lot of feedback. And, of course, that spreads the word. And the way I did it, I started writing these newsletters and articles and posts, sharing some of the key ideas. And then I would build on them. And then I would take some of the feedback and incorporate it and and write a bigger piece. Then I started saying, well, actually, this is one of the chapters in my book.
Sophie Lechner [00:17:01]:
You start to see the idea that you're writing a book. And I would say for everybody out there, there's 2 things. If you had the intention of writing a book, even if you haven't written a single word, and I hope you would agree with this, Susan, go put on your LinkedIn profile author and embody that. You are an author. You have a book inside of you, and it will come out. Right? When you start saying to people, I'm writing a book. I'm writing a book. A lot of people start asking questions, and it helps you to actually refine how you talk about it.
Sophie Lechner [00:17:36]:
It helps you refine the ideas in it, and it evolves. It's a living thing, really. Then you write about it in your content, and you talk about it in speaking engagements, and you can gradually get your beta readers signed up. And then you send them the draft and, you know, all of that good fun process of writing a book.
Susan Friedmann [00:17:57]:
What I really like about that model that you just talked about is that you're doing this prior to the book coming out. You're sharing information about the book. Before you're even telling them, hey, I wrote the book, or this is a chapter in my book. You've already engaged them and sort of offered them information that may be valuable to them before you're even mentioning the fact that, oh, and by the way, you can find out more. I've got more of this great stuff in my book.
Sophie Lechner [00:18:36]:
Yeah. A few months before you're ready to actually launch the book, you start to tell people, you know, you could sign up here if you want an advanced reader copy. And that allows you to then ask them if they're willing to give you a review. People can sign up for that, and that helps you when the launch is about to happen.
Susan Friedmann [00:18:55]:
Yes. Because so many authors feel that they have to have the book in hand before they can actually start marketing it. As you said, you can do it months before. I always say once you've got the cover of the book, you can plaster that everywhere.
Sophie Lechner [00:19:12]:
Yes. One of the fun things I did, and it got me my most read LinkedIn post in a long time, is and I've seen this done quite a bit, is I've put the top three choices that I was left with after I eliminated quite a few options for my book cover. And I put all 3, I think there were actually 4, options from my book cover. And I put all 3, I think there were actually 4, and asked people to vote. And that got so much engagement. People giving me their opinions left, right, and center. It was so fun. It comes to life when you do that.
Susan Friedmann [00:19:42]:
You're getting engagement. So many people say to me, oh, well, I've got thousands of followers on LinkedIn, but there's no engagement.
Sophie Lechner [00:19:51]:
Oh, yes. You know, we were talking about the fact of sharing your book, the fact you're writing a book before it's actually done. That is a similar concept to one of the principles that I share in the book is really talking to people before you actually have your offer completely nailed down. Incorporating a lot of what you learn in that process into the actual offer, then piloting it so that you're getting clients earlier in the process rather than going through this whole period where you're in the dark in your office creating the thing and then putting so much effort into it, then maybe it is successful or maybe it isn't. But if you do it, you do this cocreation with your audience. It makes it so much more powerful when it comes out. And it stops you from having to worry so much when it's not like a big launch. Right? Instead, it's just this co creation.
Sophie Lechner [00:20:48]:
And your offer evolves over time with the input from your actual clients.
Susan Friedmann [00:20:53]:
I love that concept of co creation because, as you said, you're asking people for their opinion and they love to help. Yes. Now even with the book title, I've seen people do that. I've seen them maybe help with some case studies. And they love that when they can get involved and share some of their thoughts, their wisdom.
Sophie Lechner [00:21:19]:
Yeah. I got people to vote on the title as well.
Susan Friedmann [00:21:23]:
Excellent. It's a dynamite title, in my opinion. How can our listeners find out more about you, the book? Tell us.
Sophie Lechner [00:21:34]:
My website is themagnetmodel.com. So it's quite simple to remember. Also, if you type my name in Google, all of this comes up right up there. I've created a page for my book where you can actually go and find it and read about it. And it's themagnetmodel.com/book.
Susan Friedmann [00:21:55]:
That's so easy. We'll put that in the show notes just in case people haven't got an opportunity to write that down. And you've been on the show before, so you know that we always ask our guests to share a golden nugget with our listeners. What's your golden nugget?
Sophie Lechner [00:22:17]:
Anytime you feel stuck, frozen, or uncomfortable in your marketing, picture your client and write something, report something, whatever it is, for them. And that will change entirely the energy, the stance that you're in, and it will unlock everything for you.
Susan Friedmann [00:22:39]:
Yes. Such wisdom. I love this. I love the co-creation. I love writing pieces that are directed at the audience, addressing their needs and challenges. Fabulous. Thank you. So good to have you.
Susan Friedmann [00:22:58]:
I love having you on the show. I'm sure we'll have you again. There are never enough times that we can have you here and sharing.Â
Listeners, if your book isn't selling the way you wanted or expected to, let's jump on a quick call together to brainstorm ways to ramp up those sales because you've invested a whole lot of time, money, and energy, and it's time you got the return you were hoping for. Go to Book Marketing Mentors to schedule your free call. And in the meantime, I hope this powerful interview sparks some ideas you can use to sell more books.Â
Until next week, here's wishing you much book and author marketing success.
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