We all love referrals. It’s the easiest way to sell. Of course, this assumes you are remarkable enough for a client to take a risk and refer you. The prospective client is then engaging you based on trust. Without trust you lose in winning a new client. High trust is what helps overcome the perceived risk they feel with you.
If you sell me and only talk about how great you are, my defenses will go up. I don’t want to be sold. However, I am looking to buy. The question is whether it is from you or your competition. It will be from the one I feel trust with to meet and engage.
You have two possibilities in your initial consultations:
- Selling: Your prospective client does decide to have an initial consultation with you. However, because your positioning, nurturing and referral system is weak, you have to compensate by selling. You have a lot of pressure to overcome low trust.
- Buying: Your prospective client wants to meet you. They are ready to buy, and doing business together is a formality. This is from a strong buying system which refers you and positions you for the client to say, “Yes.”
The first possibility is typical. It is for the one who only thinks tactically.
The second is highly strategic. It is for the one who understands they are one of many options. Connecting and positioning with your buyer must take place far before you have a meeting.
Building trust today does not start with a handshake and a smile. The buyer learns about you far in advance because the inefficiencies of learning about you in the past have been dealt with in the new economy. Automate the buying process to create the predictable result you are seeking and watch your business grow consistently from a high trust strategy.
