I had a chance to meet with a well-intentioned service provider yesterday.  He’d just been to a long meeting with two potential clients who turned out to have very little potential at all.

“They just don’t understand,” he said.  “They really have no idea what it will take to do this project successfully and they couldn’t see how I might be able to provide value.”

It doesn’t really matter which service in particular this person provides.  The truth is he could be selling legal services, or accounting, or finance or interior design.  His clients couldn’t see the value and he couldn’t help them see it without sounding like a pushy jerk.

EDUCATION

One of the MOST EFFECTIVE but LEAST UTILIZED secret to selling services is EDUCATION.

People hire service providers like lawyers and event planners and interior designers precisely BECAUSE they have an expertise that those clients do not.  Unfortunately, that often also means there is also a lot they need to know about how to hire someone like you.

• How much does a good painter charge?
• How do I tell if the CPA I’m thinking of hiring is a good one?
• Do you pay an event planner by the hour?  How much?

There are typically two types of prospective clients we find most frustrating.  One kind is just not your CHOIR.  They don’t get it because they never will.

Another type however are the great people who don’t get it because they’ve never gotten educated.  There is a lot they don’t know…often starting with how to find someone like you, how to evaluate you before the hire you and how much they should be paying for someone like you.

They might actually be GREAT clients but you’ll never know if you don’t take the time to educate them.

You may think  selling a service is tough…but try buying one.  It’s hard to feel confident about the decisions you’re making when you don’t have at least a basic education about what you’re buying.

THE GOOD NEWS

The good news in all this is that the problem is also a very effective solution.

They are missing knowledge.

You have it.

GIVE IT TO THEM!!!

WHAT TO DO

Take the time to create documents that explain how things work in your industry.  Take the time to write up a page or two on the different types of people who have a title like yours and where you fit in as far as experience, expertise, and even price.  Do a bit of research and put together a short write-up of standard pricing in your industry.  Do the work to give your clients that basic background knowledge.

If you can’t write it yourself, see if someone else already has.  Gather some resources and display them on your website or give them away prior to your first meeting.

Some specific ideas to get you started EDUCATING your potential clients all the way to the bank:

• 10 Top Mistakes People Make When Hiring a
• 5 Smart Things to Remember When Hiring a
• How Much Should a Cost?
• A Guide to Hiring a
• All Are NOT Created Equal
• 7 Surprising Things About Working with a
• Ten Tips for Finding a GREAT

These can be simple articles that you use on your website, post on your blog, submit to a magazine, or offer to email a new contact.  However you deliver them, they should all have a note at the bottom with your contact information and a short blurb about your services.

Remember:  Take the time to teach your clients how to buy services like yours and you’ll find that many more of them actually buy those services…FROM YOU.

Good News!  We’re launching several great courses to help you get good at finding good clients.  If you missed out on 60 Second Commercials 101 or Referrals 101 we’ll be offering those AGAIN as well as two BRAND NEW courses:  Identify Your CHOIR and Leads Group Strategies (a 3 hour workshop.)  Visit the Classes & Books page on our website for all the latest.

• What they do
• How to talk about it
• Who to talk to (your CHOIR)

Most people are wrong.

Ask yourself, how good are your friends, colleagues and clients and understanding and communicating your value?  This one little question can tell you a lot about why you get the referrals you get now and how to get more.

If I asked 10 of your people what you do and WHO you do it for (your CHOIR), would I get 10 different answers?  Would I even get the right answers?  Would they know what you do but not who to talk to?  Would they know WHO but say the wrong thing?

Selling services can be a complex thing, ESPECIALLY when it can be hard to answer these questions for ourselves.  It’s critical to answer these questions well and specifically and even more so to educate your fan club.

If your “fan club” of potential referral sources

can’t talk about what you do or isn’t talking to the right people,

you’re MISSING OUT ON GOOD REFERRALS

AND GREAT CLIENTS.

Make sure you take the time to figure out who you really work with, create simple ways of explaining your WHO to other people and make SURE that you take the time to TRAIN YOUR FAN CLUB so they can spot your future clients and connect you to them.

SPECIFICALLY:

• Don’t Assume…they know what you do.  You’d be surprised how wrong they often get it.  Don’t take it for granted that even clients who have done work with you, even multiple times, are really clear about who you work with and why, often, they are NOT.

• Ask…go out of your way to find out how they describe you, who they think you work with and why.  The best way is to simply ASK the people you hope would send you referrals.  Amazingly, many people are willing to ask for referrals but shy about asking how people describe them, who they think they work with and so on.

• Go Basic…keep it super simple for everyone involved.  Don’t try to teach everyone about every single thing you do.  Make sure you focus on one or two key things with each potential referral source.  Trust me, they’ll often have a hard enough time remembering one basic service and client.  Overwhelming them with ALL the stuff you do is a great way to get NOTHING.

Remember, it’s YOUR JOB to educate your fan club.  If you don’t do your job, don’t assume they know who to connect you to and don’t assume you’ll get the referrals.  The one little question is:

Do you potential referral sources REALLY know

what specifically you do,

how to talk about that service

and who to talk to?

If they don’t, your job it to give them the answers to that question, remind them when they forget and repeatedly supply them with stories that reinforce the message.  Do THAT and you’ll find yourself happily receiving more great referrals.

If you could use some extra help training your fan club, make sure to check out Referrals 101 live in Denver on April 15^th or via webinar on April 21^st.  Click here for more details and to get registered.

1. It was a generic email…which is NOT a problem.  It contained NO personal reference at ALL which IS a problem.  Primarily this is a problem because I had no idea who the person sending the email was.  I meet lots of people and maybe everyone else on her list knew her name immediately but I did not.
2. I received a second email about a week later. Good on the follow up, again bad because I didn’t want the email to begin with, had no idea who was sending it or how I might have met them and therefor the series of communications is now, technically, SPAM.
3. I write a very polite, very nice response letting the sending know I had been a member of a BNI chapter a few years ago and was not currently interested.  I also said I couldn’t remember how we had met and asked her to please remove me from her mailing list.  I added that I wished her great success with her new group. SHE NEVER RESPONDED. This was her big chance to actually communicate with me, build a relationship with me.  She could have apologized, asked questions, asked if there was anyone else I’d like to send, never explained how we knew each other…nothing.
4. Today, the coup de grace. I receive a phone call from a person who sounds like they’re two minutes away from falling asleep or comitting suicide who tells me she’s with a company that sent me an invitation to a BNI meeting.  She could not be LESS enthusiastic about talking to me or her group.  Worse than going thru the motions, she actually sounds like she’s so bored she’s in pain.  I politely inform her that I had received a couple of emails, one of which I’d responded to saying I was formerly a member and not interested in joining at this time.  She then says, “O.k. thanks,” AND HANGS UP. I know we’re all guilty of skipping a couple of steps in the interest of saving time but a couple of hints: 1. As email has become more and more widely USED, it has become more and more widely ABUSED which leads to less use.  A mass email used to have some pull, not anymore.  Any communication will go a LOT further if you can be specific, talk directly to me and at least fill in any missing information about how we know each other.  Adding a detail or two to a generic email means that yes, you sent a generic email but you also gave enough of a damn to tweak it for ME.  The least I can do is read it for you. I once watched an insurance salesman send out 500 personally signed Christmas cards, not a single one of which contained a personal message.  Better strategy, send out 50 with a personal note.  They’ll actually get read, you’ll actually forward those relationships and you’ll save at least one tree and and a bunch of stamps. 2. Respond to any response communication. It’s an opening you worked hard to create, make sure you USE it. 3. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, at least be interested in your own invitation!  If you don’t care, why should I?  You don’t have to jump up and down like a cheerleader on speed, but you could at least be interested in talking to me, somewhat happy, excited about your own event, your life, your phone, the possibility of caffeine in your future.  Sound alive…please.

Invitations are powerful tools for building relationships.  Even if people don’t accept them, it’s a real reason to be in touch, to communicate their value to you, to be on the lookout for what might benefit them…all things that help solidify their connection to you. As with all powerful things however, you must use your power for good and not evil.  Used carelessly, a badly made invitation can do a lot of damage to your relationships and reputation. Invite well and prosper.