by:Robert Middleton
We generate attention and interest for our business by focusing on results, not process, but that’s not enough to make the sale.
The initial reaction we get from our marketing message is key. But then our analytical minds tend to kick in and start to ask questions.
“How does this work?” “Will this work for me?” “How long will it take?” “Is that really possible?” “Who else has done it?” “Can they prove it?”
And, if you don’t answer those questions, you’re in deep trouble.
Last week I got a cold call from a VOIP provider. This is telephone service over the Internet. I’d heard a lot about it and it costs much less than regular telephone service, so I was interested. They already had my attention.
But then I asked the question that was most important to me, “Is the sound quality of VOIP as good as my regular phone line? Saving money is important to me but not if the cost is a loss of quality, since I do so much business by phone.”
I waited for them to prove it to me, and I was disappointed.
The best they could do was, “The quality has increased quite a bit recently.” Boy, was that persuasive!
Now who knows? The quality might have been just fine. But they did a very poor job of proving it to me. So I said, “No thank you!”
When you’re marketing your services, the biggest problem for you to solve shouldn’t be getting someone’s attention. That’s relatively easy. The biggest challenge is to prove that you can produce the results you promise.
And when most Independent Professionals are challenged to prove that they can deliver results, guess what happens? Believe it or not, they once again revert back to process. They talk about how they do what they do.
Your prospect: “You can reduce employee attrition by 30%? OK, how do you do that?”
You: “Well we use Jawarski’s Attrition Reduction Protocol that identifies the seven drivers of employee dissatisfaction and maps them on a grid to determine your primary mitigation strategies.”
Well, isn’t that interesting… Not!
I assure you that a prospect for your services is not looking for that kind of answer – almost never! That’s not proof. In fact, it sounds more like a smoke screen. Instead, they want to know:
What companies you’ve reduced attrition by 30% or more?
Were these companies much like their company?
How long did it take to get results?
Was the process relatively easy or long and involved?
How did they measure the actual results?
If you can’t answer questions like this, as far as they’re concerned, you have no proof that will turn them into clients.
You need to answer their question, “How do you do that?” with an answer that persuades. The good news is that the most powerful way to do that is through “Success Stories” which make a solid case for your services.
Something like this…
“The best way to answer that question is by telling you about a client we worked with recently. They were in the same industry as you and were frustrated that they’d been losing their best talent. We did some assessments (the Jawarski’s Attrition Reduction Protocol – but don’t tell them that!) and then helped them make some changes that would retain their best talent.
“Within six months we’d turned around the attrition problem and by conservative estimates saved the company $987,000 in costs to hire new managers.”
Now I don’t know the results, facts and figures for your particular business, but I’d spend a lot of time developing and practicing these Success Stories until you can relate them with confidence and clarity. Your success as an Independent Professional just may depend upon it.
Once you have your prospect’s attention and interest, prove you can produce results through carefully crafted Success Stories that are hard to ignore.
Robert Middleton, the owner of Action Plan Marketing, has been helping Independent Professionals be better marketers since 1984. On his web site http://www.ActionPlan.com find valuable resources, products and programs for attracting more clients. Get a free copy of his Marketing Plan Sart-Up Kit.
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