Yesterday, I listened to a call put on Eben Pagan and Dave Lakhani. The interview was put on to promote Dave’s new book, How To Sell When Nobody’s Buying. There was a lot of great points, but there was one in particular that I took away from the chat.
It was that of partnering with your real world clients so that when they needed your service, you were the natural selection.
Looking back on all the client’s I had over the years, I can honestly say that my best ones were the ones I, in my mind, had partnered with. This includes mom and pop retail stores and multi-million dollar colleges. There was way more to those transactions than basic client/provider services.
So, after pondering that thought, I came up with 5 steps that should get you in your next client’s door.
Step 1: Decide who your client needs to be
Nothing in life is achieved without first making up your mind and laying down some sort of groundwork. That being said, decide who you want your next five clients to be.
Looking in my queue here, I have a well established local greenhouse, a pretty big car dealership, a women’s health organization and a couple others. Those are the clients I am targeting specifically. A few of those are through partnerships with marketing agencies. A couple are from my own contacts. But I want those five to be my next clients.
Step 2: Figure out what they need. Find their pain.
Every organization has a target market. Before even meeting your prospective client, figure out what it is. Examine their current advertising trends and learn from what they’re doing already.
Are they leading edge? Do they convey personality? Are they progressive in their technology? Answer those questions and then start to figure out how it is you can help them.
The clients I went over in Step 1 are all pretty progressive. Yes, even the greenhouse wants to gain a social media presence for contests and promotions. The car dealership has an off-road branch (atv’s, motorcycles, etc) which lends itself to the ‘fun’ of social networking.
Step 3: Find your in
Strategic partnerships are wonderful things. If you have a personal contact that you can use to get face time – use it. If you can align yourself with the agency putting their TV commercials together, do it. Any good business person is going to entertain the notion of partnering for a common purpose. Don’t abuse it and you’ll be golden.
Step 4: Demonstrate your expertise
Once you get face time, make sure you show them that you’ve got what it takes to ‘ease their pain.’ That might mean a couple hours of free consulting. Or it might be showing them how to use Twitter to gain followers. The end result is usually that they contract you BECAUSE you know their business. You’ve made it your personal priority to understand both them and their target market.
Step 5: Over deliver
The difference between someone referring you to their friends and partners is often based on how much you deliver over and above what was previously agreed upon. It might be something easy like signing them up to an email newsletter which keeps them up to date on new trends or topics. It could also be more difficult like weathering support issues. Either way, it’s up to you to treat them like an honest to goodness partner.
Selling in this economy is harder than it ever has been. If you approach your prospect as a partner rather than a client, I guarantee you’ll find rewards in the end.
The bottom line, make a decision and commit to an action plan. If you do that, you’ll be wildly successful in business and in life.
So tell me, what has worked for you?
You’re right on, those are the bedrock principles of a sound business.