How to Earn the Qualification

How to Earn the Qualification

Consider: potential customers are first complete strangers. Nobody there is familiar with you or your company. One often goes through the stages of meeting someone new, becoming friends, falling in love, and then committing to a long-term relationship with that person.

You don't need me to spell out the dating analogy for you to get the idea, but this is important: don't expect strangers to commit to your professional services before you move them through the trust-building steps of creating a relationship.

Consider advertising as a means to gain patronage. Definitions of each stage can be found below. Continue reading for more suggestions on how to make it through each stage.

Strangers. To an outsider, you're just another person providing the same service as everyone else. Simply put, you're just another gorgeous face in the crowd. The goal here should be to attract and keep the interest of qualified leads.

Acquaintances. People you know professionally usually buy things based on price and convenience. They have no interest in paying for quality and need the products immediately. You don't need anything special, so store-bought will do. Acquaintances aren't likely to be loyal to you. Although this is not the best strategy for expanding a professional services business, it is possible to serve and even thrive in this market.

Friends. You may now be working closely with a client, or you may still be establishing credibility with them. Typically, friends have a written agreement outlining the specifics of their collaboration, such as pricing, service, and deliverables. There are plenty of opportunities out there, regardless of how much or how little labor you've done for a friend in the past.

To be in a relationship with someone is to be a highly linked business partner in a connection of commitment and trust that has been openly negotiated and contractually defined. They get all the perks of a trustworthy partnership, such as regular, open communication, special offers, and tailored solutions.

Partners that are loyal to one another have been working together for a long period of time, often years. They are confident in their own abilities and those of their peers, and they readily refer business to one another. They've each picked up some valuable knowledge from one another, and they're both better off as a result of their interactions.

Try out these strategies to turn your leads into buyers and your customers into devoted patrons:

To get a stranger interested, you need to make them take notice. To do this successfully, you must first identify your target audience and then tailor your message accordingly. To put it another way, you need to differentiate yourself from the competition and answer the WIIFM (What's In It For Me?) questions of your readers.

If your opening 10 words aren't spot-on, your prospect won't stick around to read the rest, no matter how clever they are. Think of the difference between a corny pickup line and a well-considered first remark. Consider your audience's interests while crafting your introduction, organizing your homepage, or crafting your article's headline.

The question is, "How do you go from strangers to acquaintances?" Maintaining a prospect's interest is crucial. The simplest method to achieve this is to inquire about them and their difficulties that you may help them with. Everything you say at this point in the "conversation" (whether it takes place in person, online, via direct mail, over the phone, or at a sales meeting) should be focused on the other person.

Use quick surveys, self-evaluations, and inquisitive questions to learn more about your customers' needs instead of droning on and on about your services.

Inquire as to their difficulties, areas of improvement, and expectations for your professional services;

Take your time to answer their inquiries and learn as much as you can about their world.

Allow them to set the pace, and don't bombard them with details they haven't specifically requested.

See if there is an article you can send that is relevant to their needs and that they could find helpful.

Sending a handwritten message as a follow-up, providing the item referenced, and respectfully probing for interest in further contact are all simple (but successful) methods for creating relationships. A follow-up call, meeting over coffee, or office visit at this stage could be a great way to get to know each other more (a first date!).

To become more than just casual acquaintances: Potential customers may make a purchase decision at this stage, but it's quite unlikely. It's too soon; your argument for why you're the best candidate to meet your prospect's needs hasn't been made yet.

You can make your case by showcasing your credibility (with credentials, testimonials, case studies, and awards), authority (through WIIFM-oriented e-newsletters), value (through transparently communicating outcomes and results and de-mystifying your collaboration with the buyer), and reduced risk (through guarantees, references, and follow-through).

A good example of this is when a potential customer is eager to work with you but only wants to spend a modest sum on a relatively safe investment. You may, for instance, market your knowledge in the form of premium reports, audio recordings of lectures, or instructional guides. All of these activities help prospects become more familiar with you, build trust, and increase their faith in you.

If you want to go from "friends" to "lovers," you need to prove to your client that you can be trusted, earn their trust, and then continue to set yourself apart from the competition. Money, decision-making authority, and potential derailers have all been broached. Taking our relationship with you to a deeper level feels like the next logical step.

You'll be doing regular, ongoing business as lovers. You will get invaluable insight into one another's personalities, communication styles, conflict resolution strategies, and expectation management techniques. If you want to keep the relationship at this level, you need to constantly assess and address their demands. Their patronage should not be assumed. Understanding the needs and challenges of your most valuable customers might inform crucial innovations.

Become loyal partners instead of just lovers. Even if a newer, flashier rival enters the market, rest assured that your loyal partners will remain steady. They will not consider hiring anyone else to do what you and your company do for them. They will inform you if someone else approaches them, giving you the opportunity to fulfill their requirements before the newcomer does. You have learned to utilize disagreements to your advantage, to not take their loyalty for granted, and to repeatedly show your appreciation for their dedication, just as you would in any healthy, long-term relationship.

You can't put the brakes on progress in a meaningful relationship. This process shouldn't be expected to be completed in a single session or even two encounters. Whenever things seem too perfect, too quickly, problems arise in partnerships (both professional and romantic!). As a result, I've learned to take my time, space out my queries, and generally slow down the discourse. The improvements are both noticeable and long-lasting.

Whatever you say and do, make sure it rings true and serves the needs of your customers. Smart clients and customers may see right through the "lines" of a player—someone who is simply interested in making a buck. That's not the method to establish your brand in the market, and it won't help you grow your company.

If you're thinking this seems laborious, you'd be right. But think of the benefits: enduring partnerships with patrons that benefit all parties involved.

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