Communicate The Problem...Get The Client

Copyright – 2003 – Irene Brooks

Here’s the scenario:

You‘re at a gathering and you come across someone
who would be a perfect client for your business.
You engage in a conversation and the inevitable
question comes up. “What do you do?”

You get excited, your eyes light up. “This is it,
this is my shot, I’ll get him now” is the thought
racing through your mind.

“Well, I am a small business coach.” You say as
you anxiously await for him to tell you how you
are the answer to his prayers.

“Oh, I see…uh…I think I left the lights on in my
car…uh…it was nice talking to you, bye”

And you watch your perfect client rush away to
find someone else to talk to.

It’s important that you are able to communicate
what you do in ways that will help your
prospective client understand that you are a
solution to his problem. How you position
yourself is the difference between getting that
“deer stuck in the headlight” look from your
prospect or having someone ask you for more
information.

Positioning revolves around your core marketing
message that clearly states who you work with,
what problems you solve, what solutions you
provide, what benefits you offer, what results you
produce, what guarantee you give and what is
unique and special about your particular service.
Positioning is the foundation that you build the
rest of your marketing upon.

Here are two things that you must NOT do:

Do not use your label, this is a sure-fire way of
ending a conversation quickly. How many times
have you told someone, “I’m a coach” and they say
“oh, what team?” or “how nice” and they quickly
change the subject. Chances are that when you
open with your label, if you get a continued
conversation, that person is only being polite.

Do not use the process, for instance, a coach
might say:

“I help people discover their excellence by
co-creating the positive environment needed for a
powerful conversation by having a two-way
structured dialogical process that goes beyond
basic listening skills and includes multilevel
hearing and co-active interaction by the coach.”

If your strategy is to have the “deer in the
headlights” look in every prospect’s eyes, well
this is the one for you.

When you, the business owner communicate the
process of what you do, you are still not reaching
your prospect by communicating what’s in it for
them. They will be confused and they will run as
fast as they can.

Package your services verbally so that you can
communicate in a crystal-clear fashion what you
can do for your prospective client in a nutshell.

Here is one thing that you MUST do:

Communicate the problem, then the solution. This
approach works so well because people are living
in, thinking about and totally immersed in their
problems. So, if you relay a problem clearly and
quickly and show that you do indeed understand
that, you’ll get their full attention in a
heartbeat.

Be as specific as possible.

“I work with organizations that are facing the
many challenges of the slow economy.” Will not get
you the same result as, “I work with small to
mid-sized business owners who are struggling to
get clients”.

Now, you're getting someone’s attention.

Then you follow up with the flip-side of the
problem…the solution. If you can now show your
prospect through logic, examples, testimonials and
case studies that you do indeed have a solid
solution to this problem, you will get that
person’s ear…and business.

Here is an example of a good answer to “what do
you do?”:

“You know how a lot of small businesses struggle
to find new clients? I have a service that
guarantees them new clients.”

Bingo!

You’ve gotten their attention. You notice now that
their body language changes. They lean toward you
as they talk, there is a warm glow in their eyes.
You’re speaking to a small business owner who
happens to be struggling to find new clients. He
asks you “How do you help small businesses get
clients?”

“Good question…”, you say.

Again, I caution you to stay away from your
process. Continue talking about the benefits that
working with you provide.

The processes are for later…much later.

If you remember that this is about your customer,
and not about you, and you engage your prospect by
asking connecting questions about their problems
and linking them to the benefits of working with
you; you will have the perfect opportunity to
explore a great business relationship.