- Understand the “Respect Me” buyer by getting rid of self-doubt.
- How to reason with “Respect Me” buyers by understanding the types of questions they’ll ask
- How logic IS emotion for the “Respect Me” buyer
- Appeal to the “inner self” of the “Respect Me” buyer and they’ll thank you forever
So you love to draw.
Doodling and scribbling since childhood.
Visions of whimsy and fancy dancing in your mind, yearning for life on canvas.
But then, reality sets in. “Who am I kidding? I can’t draw. And I’ve got real stuff to do. Important stuff. Like, pay my bills and all. Who’s got time to waste on trifles like drawing? Who do I think I am, Picasso or something? Get back to the real world.”
Jane Davenport, artist and online art instructor, agrees. You are not Picasso… Or Rembrandt… Or Van Gogh.
But maybe even better, you are YOU. And within you is your own creative genius, if you would but trust yourself.
Jane respects that inner genius.
She validates each person’s creative spark. Jane knows how important it is to you and the whole world that you find and learn how to express that inner genius.
And she teaches you that your talent IS real. As real as anything else in the “real” world.
So, implores Jane, stop the self-doubt. Respect yourself. Learn to respect your art. She will guide you to the hidden artist deep within you.
Jane Davenport’s art school teaches aspiring artists how to draw.
And it teaches marketers how to reach the Respect Me Buyer.
Who is the Respect Me Buyer?
The Respect Me Buyer tends to see herself as a discerning consumer, and expects validation of her intelligence. She wants her abilities and judgment to be esteemed and admired, and she wants the importance of herself and her activities acknowledged.
To reach the Respect Me Buyer, you must appeal to her reason and logical faculties. She will ask detail-oriented and logical questions like:
“Will I need a new ______ to make this work?” or,
“Are there hidden costs?”
These kinds of questions often reflect a sense of self-doubt.
But her overarching hidden question is this: “Is this right for me?”
The answer to this must be logical, must respect her intelligence, and validate her identity, who she really is. The seller must make her know that she and her activities are important, not only to herself but to the outside world.
How to Address the Respect Me Buyer
To address the logical objections of the Respect Me Buyer the seller must give straightforward reasons for everything.
She is intelligent and expects you to treat her as such. Because you respect her for who she is, give her clear choices and good reasons for the choices you ask of her. Explain the positive implications of going forward and the ramifications of doing nothing.
At the emotional level, for the Respect Me Buyer logic IS an emotion.
Logic, for her, feels right.
Order feels good.
It has a richness to it.
Reassure her that she won’t regret her choices. Since she likes how orderliness feels, it is best not to ramp up the excitement level of your sales approach.
Calmly and logically affirming the Respect Me Buyer’s sense of importance helps her to trust who she is, and she will always thank you for helping to restore her hidden sense of self.
How Jane Davenport Respects Her Art Students
Jane Davenport recognizes that one of the major obstacles to becoming an art student is the unsettling sense of insecurity that the new student feels. “Am I good enough,” she asks? “Is the quest worth it?” Jane’s response is two-fold:
- She offers support. “You can do it because it’s already in you. What you are doing is important to you personally and for the world.” She validates the student’s inner creative spirit with rationality, intelligence, and respect.
- She calms the emotional turmoil by providing the aspiring artist a transparent, logical process that will enable a metamorphosis from fearful neophyte to confident master of self-expression.
Jane constantly implores her students: “Trust the mess, fold yourself into the process.”
Like here.
Jane often appeals to her students in this manner, affirming their deepest hopes, relieving their deepest fears, and giving them an intellectually satisfying answer to their deepest question: “is this right for me?”
This is right for you, says Jane because creative genius is already within you. You don’t have to be perfect; you just have to discover your muse. And then you will know for yourself “how easily (creativity) fits into your life.”
You are beautiful. You are creative. You are important. You are respected.
It’s all perfectly logical.
“It is meant to be there…”
IF…
If you submerge your fears and doubts (the mess) into the cleansing, calming waters of Jane’s orderly teaching process.
It looks something like this.
Jane doesn’t just tell her prospective students which course to take. She respectfully provides a logical roadmap. You get to choose.
“Discover which workshop is right for you!”
After answering a series of yes/no questions, Jane invites you to discover for yourself which course(s) you need. Jane respectfully trusts your judgment, and at the end of the process, you know that what you have chosen “is right for me.”
Once you enroll in a class you find, once again, order and a calming sense of simplicity. Jane seems to be saying, “you can do this. It is right for you.”
In lesson 1, you learn to “be your authentic artistic self.” Admonitions to authenticity are key to reaching the Respect Me Buyer, who cares most of all about being true to herself. It is a word repeated often on Jane’s website.
Lesson 2 asks you to “feel at ease and creative” and “start with what you have.”
In lesson 3, you are reassured that the doodling you already do is a suitable starting place for your new journey.
In lesson 4, you get some easy “shortcuts,” and in lesson 5, it all comes together “quickly and easily.”
All in all, for the wary, aspiring artist, this simple, logical process brings comforting reassurance, order, and serenity. Ramping down the excitement is key. And it gently suggests, “this is right for me.”
You Are Important. Your Art is Important.
Being a discerning buyer who needs to know the implications of moving forward and the risks of doing nothing, Jane Davenport’s Respect Me Buyer requires:
- Logical validation that learning how to draw is beneficial to her personal growth, and
- She needs to know that her art is objectively important in the world.
Jane makes both arguments frequently, with the characteristic logic that the Respect Me Buyer demands. For example.
“Drawing is so good for you.”
But the world needs your art too.
Draw, not only because it is good for, gives you peace, makes you smarter and wiser. But draw, because through drawing, you communicate ideas too profound for words, and because you uplift the whole world. Draw because you are important, and should, therefore, do something with your life that is important
Sure, you may make a few mistakes, there might be a “mess” for a while, but look at how much you lose if you don’t even try.
Respect yourself. Fulfill your destiny. Be an artist.
How to Cure “Rainbowitis” (or How I Learned to Love Painting More Than My Paints)
A common pitfall for aspiring artists is a fascination with acquiring art supplies, rather than actually using them. Jane calls this distracting love of all the colorful pens, pencils, and paints “rainbowitis.”
And for that Jane has the perfect cure, a class just for how and when to USE all the beautiful art supplies.
Another practical objection prospective art students often have is their own experience with procrastination. Will my art supplies become a distraction? Will they make me procrastinate? These are the kind of detail-oriented questions typical of the Respect Me Buyer, and Jane answers with practicality, honesty, and respect.
Here’s a class, she says. It will refocus your energy on the “right now.” It is right for you, it will free you to “let your style out.” “Trust the mess,” and on the other side, this will be your reward.
How do her students respond? Check out this testimonial:
“There is something really special about taking a class with Jane Davenport. It transports you to a place you never thought you could go…Here I am drawing and painting and finding a new me, a me that can draw, paint, and loves it. There is something about Jane that will show you there is a you inside yourself that you didn’t even know existed.” – Laura Emmett
And what is that “something about Jane?” As Aretha Franklin might have put it:
“R-E-S-P-E-C-T. That’s how much it means to me.”
Takeaways
- The hidden question of the Respect Me Buyer is: “Is this right for me?”
- “Right” means: Does this fulfill who I really am as a person?
- To help the Respect Me Buyer understand that this is right for her, affirm and validate that she, her dreams, and endeavours are real and important.
- Since she tends to not trust herself, calm her emotions and affirm her identity with logical appeals. Present an orderly process. Ramp down the excitement level so she can be quiet enough to find her real self.
- If you can help the buyer respect her own “inner self,” that “hidden, beautiful you,” she will thank you and reward you forever.
This post was written by William Metzger
About the author:
William Metzger – MA History, teacher, writer, DJ, baseball fanatic, marketing analyst. Currently, lead writer and Managing Editor of the Crawfish Boxes, a Vox Media, and Houston Astros fan blog.
