The scary part about entitlement servicing? None of us believe that we’re actively doing it. 

Even as we dig into this in a detailed manner together, I would bet that you wouldn’t necessarily desire to admit that this has been a portion of your process in business, but what I want you to remember is that we are, at times, a product of our environment if we’re not careful.

The online business space promotes entitlement servicing much too often and we’ll be breaking down the ways to be aware of it in your own processes, get keen to shift your sales processes should you need to, and how to stay out of the entitlement servicing trap.

You know we’ve been talking about entitlement servicing since day one because we noticed how prone the online business space was to expecting A LOT from potential clients while expecting VERY LITTLE from themselves to actively serve, tell, and sell with attention to detail, care, service, and support before money is exchanged.

The duality of exchange is something we’ve been talking about for a long while… we feel more connected to those that we’ve had an exchange with, no matter how small. A comment, a like, a response via social or email to your absolute-clients IS the bridge to being able to serve them in a paid capacity.

Exchange connection first. Let’s dive into how.

The Entitlement Servicing Trap

This trap is sneaky because we’ve been consuming content that specifically suggests that we value engagement rates more than people, money more than people, and success more than people.

What IS the trap of Entitlement Servicing?

“I’m only nice to you, I’m only creating for you, I’m only doing this in order to make money, look successful, or feel successful. I’m only connecting with you, creating for you, and collaborating within the communities I’m building IN ORDER TO make money (and caring about the people, their process, their experience, and their transformation isn’t necessarily on my mind as often as those $50k months are!)” 

Here are some ways that I see entitlement servicing populating:

• You may be creating content for your lead-generating platform, yet more focused on likes, comments, saves, shares, and views than you are on the content actually being helpful to the absolute-client that’s been looking for you
• You may be so focused on keeping up with the trends on social media that you find yourself crafting content that isn’t best for your ideal clients (creating super fast and unreadable reels in order to raise view rates, but limiting the readability and touchpoint within the sales process for your absolute-clients) 
• You may be thinking about connecting with our absolute-clients daily, weekly, and monthly as a chore, a “have-to”, and an opportunity to “make sales quickly” without really caring about the people on the other side of the DM 

This is a lot to consume at once, but I want you to engage in non-judgment here as we review your processes below. 

Review Your Processes

If you relate to one or more of those bullet points above you may have slipped into the entitlement servicing trap. 

And that’s okay because now you’re aware of it and we can shift to doing business in a way that feels really good instead of following the processes that were set before you in the online business space.

Here are some ways that you can tap into true and real service that promotes serving and selling:

• Every day before I jump into my work day (to support our clients, members, and community through our offers and all of our social channels) I ask myself this question: “How can I be of service today? Who needs my help today? How can I be a vessel of service to those around me?” I invite you to try these on for size and tweak the language if need be. These are questions that I used to ask myself when I was on the sales floor as one of the head managers in boutiques I’ve worked at, as a Marketing Strategist at a marketing agency, and even as an Executive Assistant in higher education. 
• Is this content that I’m creating helpful for the community or is this viral, trendy content that may simply increase views? Which is most important to me, the company, and the community?
• Am I prepared to be of complete and total service as I connect with our communities across several platforms (from email to Instagram to Facebook to LinkedIn to Pinterest)? How can I bring light and joy to someone’s day when I connect with them online? When we get to a point where it’s time for them to shift into an offer we have, will I let them know through a simplistic invitation into that offer since they’re asking strategic questions that that offer solves? 

It can be hard to review your processes on your own and it may feel a bit intense to shift these actions on your own. If you’re interested in connecting in one of our Power Sessions to review your processes I’d love to invite you to read more on this page and apply via any of the buttons on that page. 

Shift Your Processes

I don’t want to just share all of this information and leave you on your own, though. 

I want to focus on connection the very most. 

Here are some of the things we hear a lot:

• “I’m not getting any engagement at all.”
• “I post content four times a week, but no one books me.”
• “I’ve tried an engagement strategy before and it doesn’t work for me.”

I totally hear you, but now we have to turn these statements back to you for you to shift (since we’re in agreeance that it’s not your potential client’s job to sell themselves, right…we’re meant to help them to the conversion-line?)

• “I’ve noticed that our engagement has been lower across the board … I’m going to focus on our core social media strategy as it’s been, adding in some trending pieces to increase views and visibility on our page (think reels on Instagram), but I’m going to ACTIVELY go out and connect with other people in order to initiate engagement instead of waiting for it.”
• “I’ve been posting content four times per week for the last month and I haven’t seen an increase in sales. I’m going to actively reach out to those that have liked, commented, viewed, and responded back to my content to create a relationship with them. Through that relationship, I may create a possibility for conversion into one of our offers or potentially gain a collaborative relationship with them to serve their communities with my expertise.”
• “I am open to the idea that utilizing an engagement strategy can connect me to ideal clientele if I am seeking out the right people, that need support from me and my services, that are open to connecting and creating a relationship with me. I recognize that an engagement strategy is simply a way to connect with ideal clients digitally to create a relationship. The relationship allows for conversion, not the engagement strategy itself.”

Key Takeaways

This blog is full of opportunities for you to shift your servicing efforts from an entitled stance to an excited stance.

You can be excited about connecting online with other real humans that really need your services.

You can be excited about the potential of creating content that absolutely serves your ideal clients.

You can be excited about the opportunity to simplistically invite someone into one of your offers through an intentional customer-journey that starts with actively engaging, connecting, and creating a relationship with them.

Doesn’t that sound like fun? If this is something you’re seeking help with, we’d love to invite you to take a peek at The Cheetah Coalition Membership. It’s your self-paced place and space to serve and sell online with simplistic support to do so. 

Bio:

Ashleigh Henry has been in marketing, sales, and leadership positions for the last decade and it was exhilarating for Ashleigh to climb the retail, corporate, higher education, and start-up ladder holding positions such as Marketing Strategist, Copywriter, Social Media Strategist, Manager, Editor, Co-Editor…until it wasn’t. Alongside her degree, Ashleigh decided to bring all of her experience into the freelancing world until it became clear that she didn’t just want to pay the bills – she wanted to create a company that was foundationally built on cheetah print, legacy-minded marketing, and sexy sales structures that could stand the test of trend and time. The Cheetah Company, founded by Ashleigh, does this for female entrepreneurs through their education, coaching, and consulting services. Learn more about Ashleigh here.