As business owners we all have to the face the sometimes icky reality (depending on who you are) that we have to actively sell our products and services if we hope to have a profitable business. For many women this process of converting a prospect into a buyer can be anxiety ridden.
I remember the first time I went on a “sales” call as an entrepreneur. I had butterflies in my stomach, intermittent heart palpitations, and felt like a candidate for the prescription drug Enablex. I was basically a nervous wreck. The prospect in this case was referred to me by a family member, so I knew I had that factor on my side, but I still felt intense pressure to get the account.
A few deep breathes and personal pep talks later, I was face-to-face with my prospect talking about what I could do for their business. I had originally set aside an hour to meet with this prospect, I had no idea I wouldn’t be leaving for three! Yes, three hours. For three hours I sat across the table from the decision maker and two key team members answering questions, addressing objections, explaining how everything would work, and discussing the potential outcomes.
The Day After A Selling Nightmare
By the time was all over I was beyond exhausted. I couldn’t have imagined that I was in for such an intense selling experience, and I wanted to make sure it never happened again. So the next day, I sat down to assess the situation. After listing the pros and cons of the meeting, and reviewing the never-ending number of questions they asked, it hit me.
I didn’t take the time to fully educate my prospect on the benefits of my products and services before I met with them. And in hindsight, I hadn’t spent much time establishing a relationship with them, or learning about their specific needs until they were in front of me. I had set myself up for ambush. It was my mistake.
This is when I started to truly embrace the idea that teaching sells. Because when you teach your prospect how (and why) your products and services benefit them, and how to maximize those benefits, you instantly establish TRUST. And trust, my lovely, is the bedrock of successful selling.
So, What Can You Do To Establish More Trust In Your Business?
Establishing trust with your prospects is very simple – it requires a lot of effort – but it’s not hard to execute. Your guiding principle when it comes to establishing trust with your prospects is to do things that demonstrate you are who you say are, you do what you say you can do, and that you actually care about them.
Here are three simple ways to do this:
1. Tell your personal story. When it comes down to the core of establishing any business transaction everything rests on how the people involved feel about one another. When you hide your story (or your businesses story) from your prospects, you make them fill in the gaps with assumptions and you leave room for doubt. Telling your personal story in a professional and compelling way can sometimes be the very thing that causes a prospect to choose you over a competitor merely because they relate to you or like what you stand for. Stop hiding behind what you think you should say about yourself and your business, and in good judgment share the things that your ideal prospects would most relate to that would also increase their level of comfort in working with you.
2. Provide your prospects with case studies, testimonials, and samples of your work. Nothing is more compelling to a prospect than proof! Take every opportunity you can to get feedback from happy customers, showcase successful projects, and develop a portfolio of raving fans. Then, put this information in places where prospects will see it. This could be your office lobby, your website, your social networking profiles, LinkedIn, and in your traditional marketing materials. When your prospects can identify with the people you already serve, they are much more likely to believe that you can help them too.
3. Help your prospects for free. One of the things I pride myself on is giving people so much useful information that they don’t understand why I don’t charge them for it. I do this because I truly believe that the best way for people to know whether or not I can really help them is for me to demonstrate how I do it. This has never hurt my business, and I don’t believe it ever will. To build real trust with your prospects you either need to be exceptionally useful to them, or teach them something that they did not know before. Better yet, do both!
Prospects Become Buyers When There is T.R.U.S.T
T – transparency
R – relationship
U – understanding
S - social proof
T - time
Establishing trust with your prospects isn’t hard, but it takes time and requires consistency. I suppose that means that you can’t actually transform them into buyers instantly, but it does mean that the instant they trust you, they’ll be ready to buy!
So tell us, how are you establishing trust in your business? What methods of communication are you using to develop relationships with prospects? Have you ever had a selling “nightmare”? If so, tell us in the comments below. Oh! And in case you were wondering, despite my epic selling failure, I got the account and a customer for life. 
Hi Rebecca!
Thanks for your additional insight here. I agree with your points, but I think they belong in a different segment of the selling process. As you refer to it, “selling” in advertising is something you do before you’ve made contact with your prospect, and the ever important aspect of asking questions is something that you would do during the live meeting (although they are important once you’ve made contact too) – Think those things lend themselves to act of getting a sale instead of building trust with the prospect prior to getting into a sales situation. Does that make sense? Nevertheless, your suggestions are spot on and definitely should be part of the selling process.
Hi Marlee,
Thanks for a very interesting blog post. I just finished a blog article on the language of advertising, and through my research I found that the #1 most effective word an advertiser can use when speaking to a prospect is the word “you”. I also remember from sales training classes that letting the customer/prospect tell their story is crucial. Finally, the thing that was stressed most in the sales classes was “the one who asks the questions in the sales meeting is the one who is in control of the meeting.” So maybe another idea would be the focus on finding a balance between telling our own story and letting the prospect tell theirs, plus guiding the sales meeting by being in control of the majority of the questions. What do you think? In these economic times, it’s more important than ever to utilize all the advice that comes our way and, as women in business, work together to reach success, so thanks again for your article!
Sincerely,
Rebecca Savastio
Hi Marlee
i love this idea of the “10% approach” to #3 , sometimes I rack my brain to see what I can give to a prospect just to taste my services and thinking about it this way makes much better sense
@Tia Peterson Hey Tia, I absolutely agree with Patrick and your point about using your blog to demonstrate your expertise. I view blogging as a marketing tool that helps you establish yourself as an expert in your field. If you’re not doing that, you are missing a huge opportunity.
As to doing things differently. I would have scheduled a phone all with them first where I asked the important questions as it related to their needs. Then I would have done some research and followed up via e-mail to give them an overview of what I was offered based on what I learned. If they still had concern or wanted an in-person meeting, I would have offered it to them at that point.
I should also note, though, that now that I’ve been serving that industry for some time, most of my clients come pre-qualified because they are familiar with my work via the web. Ultimately, I think I had to go through the process to figure out what objections to cover in my web content to begin with.
@EvelynBourne@evelynwrites Hi Evelyn, you are spot on with helping for free. I think the best way to approach that is to give what I call the 10% solution. That is you resolve 10% of what they are facing. This way they see that you can help them, they experience results, and they are inclined to hire you for the other 90%. Thanks for your insight here!
What a great way to introduce the topic of trust in the selling process. Sometimes, I wish I could get into my clients’ heads and see what their trust process is.
How would you have gone back and done it differently with this client? Since they were referred to you, would you have used that meeting as a qualifying meeting first?
On a different note, one of the things Patrick Schwerdtfeger talks about in his book is that our websites, often times, are our sales force. So they get the wonderful task of establishing a sense of trust – and I like what you’re saying about transparency there. I also think case studies are great. In the beginning, when there aren’t any, it’s still possible to use blogs to demonstrate expertise.
Marlee,
Fabulous post. I am going to suggest, however, that people approach point #3: “Help your prospects for free,” very strategically. I have found myself on a new client consultation ‘giving away the store’ so to speak only to get that sinking feeling that this person was just pumping me for info with no intention of buying from me. So, yes, it makes sense sometimes to give value first, but be wise about it.
@evelynwrites
Comments on this entry are closed.
{ 1 trackback }