One of the things that make getting more clients into a services business trickier is that you are asking people to trust you with some of the more personal areas of their lives and/or business – you are asking them to trust you enough to spend a lot of money with you.
It’s tricky because in today’s “anonymous” online world, it’s not that easy to earn trust by just sending prospects a brochure or a couple of emails or having a great website or even by connecting with them via social media.
Although these are all great marketing tactics, they take time to instill and build the important “know, like and trust factor”.
Also, most people don’t buy professional and personal services from an anonymous company and certainly not the first time they land on your website. And the more personal (or the more expensive) the service you offer, the more likely this is to be true.
So here are…
5 Ways that work best for most services professionals when you want to get paying clients easy and fast.
- Meet and talk to people in person – at events or by appointment
- Reach out and talk to people via phone or Skype
- Send personal letters and emails and invite people for a short phone / Skype conversation.
- Follow up personally afterwards. Send a note to thank them for their time. Make them feel important because you’ve remembered them. Look for opportunities to stay in touch.
- Speak to groups – at your own events, meetings and conferences or on other people’s stages. Invite attendees to personal 1-to-1 discussions afterwards.
5 Reasons why personal 1-to-1 discussions with people can help you get clients.
- It is cost effective. You do not need a big marketing budget for this. It only involves a little bit of time.
- It is an excellent opportunity to build relationships. When you take the time to meet potential clients in person or over the phone, you open the door for a friendly discussion. You now have the chance to ask them questions about their concerns, problems and desires in relation to the services you offer – even understand them as an individual and not just another “anonymous” potential client.
- You can tailor your message to their specific needs or desires. During the discussion you can demonstrate you understand what they struggle with and discuss the solutions you provide to help them achieve their goals faster. This quickly instills trust.
- People prefer to do business with people they know, like and trust. It has been proven time and again that personally talking to potential clients quickly provides that element of trust they crave for making the decision to work with you.
- You overcome “marketing noise”. With personal 1-to-1 discussions, you have the client’s full attention. It creates the opportunity to be enthusiastic and energetic about what you do. You can outshine the competition and it is much more powerful than just being another email in his /her already overloaded inbox.
5 Effective tips for face-to-face meetings
- Dress for success. When you look and feel good, it does wonders for your self-confidence. People, who look and feel successful, often are.
- Be prepared. Know your ideal type clients in terms of their problems, challenges, frustrations and desires and know how your services can benefit them. Good knowledge of these basic elements can create wonders in any communication situation. Be prepared when someone asks you what you do for a living. Stuttering and stammering and “uhm” and “ah”, will not create the trust factor.
- Maintain eye contact with the person you talk to. Don’t look around the room, at a desk, or anywhere other than the person’s eyes. If multiple people are in the room, maintain eye contact with each person, rotating your eyes from person to person.
- Ask open-ended questions about their business. People like to talk about themselves and you can get wonderful information to demonstrate how you are the best person to help them.
- Listen carefully and do not interrupt when others are speaking.
Talking to people in person (or over the phone) about what you do, can be extremely effective to build relationships and find new clients.
To Your Success
