If you own a service business, you’re familiar with the concept of selling air. “Hello prospect, would you like to buy some air.
It’s very good air. How can you tell? Well, yes, I know you can’t see it, hear it, smell it, taste it, or feel it, but believe me, it’s the best air available anywhere. Take my word for it. You will love this air.”
Sounds pretty weird, doesn’t it? Yet, that’s how most people start off when they’re first learning to sell a service. It seems like there’s nothing to grab onto, nothing to show, nothing to hand to the prospect to take their attention off of you.
And there’s a reason for that — when you sell a service, you’re really selling yourself. And better yet, you are selling results. Your job is to convince the prospect that not only do they need your service, but they need you to be the one to provide it. And beyond that, if they hire you, they will experience some desired result.
The question is – what is their desired result? And once you identify it, how do you convince them that you can deliver? And after you’ve delivered, how do you make sure that they know it. That’s where I began with Todd.
When Todd started his desktop publishing business, he had no sales experience. He had been a self-described “cog in the wheel of Corporate America” – just one guy in one department buried deep within the corporate structure. Although he seemed to have the right intentions – to treat people fairly and to deal honestly, he didn’t know how to go from “nice guy” to “professional” when dealing with prospects.
Over the course of several months, we worked on sales basics – qualifying prospects, identifying their needs, and offering appropriate solutions. He became pretty comfortable with selling — he even started to enjoy it.
Yet, while he was becoming proficient at getting new clients, he was missing opportunities to build relationships with his current clients. His sole focus on “making the sale” had kept his attention away from retaining his clients, generating repeat business, and getting referrals – all key components to the success of any service business.
Our goal then was to figure out why his clients weren’t coming back to him. “What would make your clients come back to you the next time they needed desktop publishing services?”
“I don’t know. I do a good job. I would think that would be a good enough reason to call me the next time they needed me.”
“What do you do to stay in touch with your clients?”
“Nothing, really. I’m here if they need me though. I make sure I always get back to people within 24 hours if they call and leave a message.”
“Well, that’s great. However, they aren’t really getting to know you very well. How much time would you say they spend interacting with you while you are working on a project for them?
“Probably 7 or 8 hours total between meetings and telephone calls.”
“If you think about it, that’s not really a lot of time to build a relationship. So, if several months or a year have passed since you worked together and they meet some other desktop publisher at a networking meeting, they might be just as apt to hire them the next time.”
“I bet they won’t be as happy with somebody else. Most people don’t take the time to really talk to the client to find out exactly what they want. I know the right questions to ask to save them money and get their job done faster.”
“That’s really great. Do they know you’re saving them more money and getting their job done faster than another desktop publisher would?”
“Probably not. I don’t really want to go around talking bad about my competitors, so I just make sure I do a good job.
I thought that would be a good enough reason for them to come back, but since I’m not getting a lot of repeat business, maybe it isn’t.”
Repeat business and referrals are integral to the success of any service business. In order to get them, your clients need to be convinced of the value you bring. Many times clients don’t recognize all of the things you do that set you apart from your competitors and provide additional value to the client.
Todd and I used the next two sessions to come up with ideas for how he could strengthen his relationships with his current clients and affirm their decision to hire him by pointing out the benefits of having done so.
Through our conversations, Todd began to understand that I wasn’t asking him to talk bad about his competitors. I was asking him to talk good about himself. His job was to make sure his prospects and clients understood why they should hire him. Then, they could make an educated decision based on what he told them about himself and what they learned from their own experiences with his competitors.
Over the next month or so, he implemented a number of ideas to establish his value with his prospects and clients. Here’s just a few of the ideas he used:
1. Put together an informational sheet entitled “10 Ways I Can Save You Money on Your XYZ”. Share it with prospects at the first meeting and mail it out to your clients
2. Keep in touch with your current clients every month or so by calling them, sending a notecard, or mailing a newsletter
3. Add a section to your invoice that highlights the difference between the estimate you provided and the final cost (if the final bill is lower than your original estimate)
4. Send thank you notes at every opportunity – send to prospect after your initial meeting, to new client after contract signing, to client after project completion, randomly to client just to say you appreciate their business, to client after giving you a referral
5. Overestimate your timeline and when you finish before the client expects you to, contact them with the finished project and excitedly tell them that you are very pleased you were able to complete it 3 days early for them
6. Personally visit your clients, if local, and drop off a small gift. Or stop by with your proposal, contract, or project instead of mailing or emailing it
Remember, your prospects and clients are like Todd’s. They don’t necessarily have the expertise to distinguish between the work you do and that of your competitors. They will most certainly know if you do a bad job, but, without your help, they may not recognize a good job.
By helping them to see the difference, you are establishing your value, strengthening your relationships, and saving time and money in reduced marketing efforts.
Best of Luck!
Kimberly Stevens is a Business Coach and author of *Ask The Biz
Coach How To Make $100,000+ Every Year: A Practical & Proven
System for Coaches, Consultants & Solopreneurs*. Download your
free copy of this ebook at:
http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/aftrack.asp?afid=161097
