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What’s
the First Thing to Do Meeting a Client?
When you first meet your client, make 2-4
seconds
of eye contact, smile warmly, extend a hand, and treat them like a guest in your office.
You want to come across as open, genuine,
professional but not stuffy.
Because you will be working to solve a problem
for
them, many clients will feel anxious, vulnerable, and
perhaps intimidated. Some may feel sufficiently
insecure and mistrustful that they act in a confrontational manner. You need
to be sensitive to this.
Your expecting these possibilities puts you in a position of control wherein you
can step back
and
deal calmly with your clients, disabuse them of
misperceptions
or erroneous expectations, allay their fears, provide reassurance, and not lose
that
“you’re a guest in my office” demeanor.
(Yes,
you can always pull out the howitzer later if
you need to!)
This
allows you to begin to establish a desirable
rapport and relationship with your client. Today
people are seeking that personal, trusting
connection
with their
service providers. Those that provide this
are the ones most likely to meet their
positive expectations.
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Why
Aren’t You Attracting the Clients Your Want?
If
you’re like most of us, you’re probably blaming it
on competition, market downturns, cost of advertising,
or being overwhelmed by working both offline and on-.
But
is that really the underlying problem? Sure, all the
above may be factors to one degree or another … now
and then. But they’re not the core of this gnawing
in the pit of your stomach and sense of constant wheel
spinning, with clients just beyond your grasp.
At
the core of this all-too-common struggle to attract
clients is fear –
-
fear of putting yourself out there
-
fear
of being evaluated and embarrassed
-
fear of speaking up and speaking out
-
fear of being seen as aggressive
-
fear of picking up the phone
-
fear of the unknown
-
fear of “imposing” on someone
-
fear of talking to strangers and being rejected
-
fear of tooting your own horn and seeming boastful
or immodest
-
fear of being crass or unprofessional
-
fear of having to try to persuade someone to buy
something they don’t want …
…
the list goes on and on and on.
And
what do you do when any of these fears rears its ugly
head? Likely as not, you find a way to avoid the
situation. You may ignore it, run away from it, or
procrastinate. You do anything but look it in the face
because it feels too scary.
But
that doesn’t make the fear of negative evaluation or
rejection go away. It merely submerges the fear, to
let it fester and spread like an infection. The
infection attacks your sense of confidence and
competence as if it were your immune system.
Soon
you begin to feel “unwell” … inadequate and like
a failure. As a result, you begin to subconsciously
sabotage yourself so you “can’t” or don’t have
to present and promote yourself. That lowers the
anxiety but makes getting new clients even harder.
But
what if you could be comfortable speaking with
strangers, knowing what to expect when you spoke with
them? What if you knew what to say because you had
scripted the interaction and rehearsed it until it was
second nature?
What
if you could reach prospective clients through sharing
your expertise and demonstrating your caring? And
…what if you felt professionally and ethically
obliged to provide them with the solution to their
problem that they are dying to have?
Consider
how that would change your perspective and impact your
fear.
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Want
to Create Marketing Opportunities?
Try "Real" Networking! (Part 1)
In
George Bernard Shaw’s play, Mrs. Warren’s
Profession, there is a line that reads: “The
people who get on in this world are the people who get
up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if
they can’t find them, make them.”
This
is what successful people do. In fact, one of the most
important characteristics in self-made millionaires
and other successful people is that they create
opportunities for themselves by networking everywhere,
all the time. They do not wait around in hope that
opportunity will knock on their door … because they
know it won’t.
As
Harvey Mackay, New York Times best-selling author of Dig
Your Well Before You’re Thirsty, repeatedly
demonstrates, networking is the primary and best way
to gain access to friends, jobs, health, legal, and
financial information, hobbies, and services. Whatever
circumstances you seek, whatever opportunities you
desire, you can achieve them through networking.
Networking
business entrepreneur and former-Yippie, Jerry Rubin,
echoed this in his philosophy: “You can meet anyone
you want to know through one or two people. And
don’t be surprised if you meet someone who changes
your life.”
While
everyone has heard of networking, many people avoid
engaging in it because they mistakenly believe it to
be using people or trying to sell them something. On
the contrary, true networking is all about sharing and
helping. It is the active process of exchanging
information and assistance with others in order to build and maintain
relationships.
W. Clement Stone, founder of Success! Magazine,
crystallized networking: “To achieve your mission in
life, you must seek out and work with other talented,
dedicated, experienced people … in harmony.” The
result of networking is a collective or team of
supportive members to whom you can provide
informational, instrumental, and emotional assistance
and from whom you can receive the same when needed.
Networking
is built on the principle of reciprocity, a powerful
norm in Western cultures. Participants in a
relationship expect to give as well as receive. If
there is no mutual benefit forthcoming, the
interaction will feel unsatisfying and incomplete and
likely cease.
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Want
to Create Marketing Opportunities?
Try " Real" Networking! (Part 2)
In
the 1980s when Lee Iacocca was fired from Ford Motor
Company, he talked with his friends and associates,
including George Bennett of State Street Investment
Corporation and Claud Kirk, ex-governor of Florida. In
turn, they talked with Richard Dilworth, a board
member of the Chrysler Corporation. Several phone
calls and luncheons later Chrysler offered Iacocca its
presidency. Iacocca likewise reciprocated for his
networking partners when needed.
Whether
we’re aware of it or not, we all have a basic
network of contacts that has evolved over time. It is
made up of primary contacts, such as family and
friends, who have similar attitudes, values, beliefs,
interests, and contacts It is also made up of
secondary contacts, such as acquaintances, work
colleagues, and service people, who have diverse
attitudes, values, beliefs, interests, and contacts.
Each
contact is a potential resource because of
o
Who
they are
o
What they do
o
What they know
o
Whom they know
o
Who knows them
Each
of your primary and secondary network groups
represents two levels of contact: those you can
contact directly and immediately and those you can
contact indirectly and over time because they are
through someone else. It has been suggested that if
you know fifty people on a first-name basis and so do
all the people you know, you have available 2,500
friends of friends. The more friends and
associates you have, the
greater is the number of people exponentially to whom you
have access.
Today
in the era of e-mail you can reach networking contacts with only a
click or two - even more quickly than psychologist
Stanley Milgram demonstrated with his
“small world” - six degrees of separation -
experiments in the 1960s.
It's
important to keep in mind that networking does not
mean going to any and every business or social
gathering. You want to choose your gatherings
carefully so that they represent avenues to reach your
goals - for example, potential prospects, people with
information, abilities, experience, or expertise you
want to tap into, or people of influence. Furthermore,
whenever possible, you want to have a sense of who
will be there that you may wish to contact, know
something about them, what they do, and their
interests, and why you want to create a relationship
with them.
You
are likely to be more successful in networking and
creating opportunities for yourself if you build your
networking contacts with two goals in mind. The first
is to make yourself well-known by providing assistance
to others in need, and doing so without expectation of
reward. The second is to have a specific goal in mind
for which you are seeking assistance. Erroneously,
people tend to equate only the second one with
networking and then act on that alone.
It's
essential that you never use
your networking to try to sell yourself or create
clients, even in a soft-sell manner.
Of
the two, however, volunteering help is by far the more
important because it fosters good will, expands your
sphere of influence, and creates a positive impression
of you. You are seen as a generous, reliable, and
valued resource for your skills, talents, abilities,
values, tips, advice, information, referrals, and
leads. You become both visible and credible – a
success- and opportunity-bolstering combination.
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Want
to Create Marketing Opportunities?
Try " Real" Networking! (Part 3)
When
you volunteer help to create good will as part of your
networking strategies, it is important that when you
help others (whether it's an individual or an
organization like the chamber of commerce or the
Rotary), you go one step beyond. That is, you do more than
just what is required or expected - you over-deliver.
Furthermore, you
need to do so without any ulterior motive.
This means you are helping because you want to share, not because
you desire a quid pro quo for it. This whole-hearted
altruism engenders a sense of trust and gratitude in
those with whom you network. This makes networking a
solid
basis for your referral-based marketing.
According
to
Rick Frishman and Jill Lublin in Networking
Magic, you should start good will-building
networking before you need to look for information. In
addition, it
is essential that you keep the two networking goals
separate.
But,
remember, to be this valued resource to your network you have to
know what strengths and resources you have to offer.
This means you have to be aware of your skills,
attributes, abilities, information, as well as your
connections. Too often people are not aware of the
diversity, depth, and extent of what they have to
offer. Unless you make a careful evaluation of
yourself, you may be selling yourself short as a
resource.
Humility
and modesty can act as obstacles in this assessment.
You must see yourself as having strengths that others
want and value. You must believe, in your heart of
hearts, that you are a unique blend of background,
values, and work and life experiences from which
others can and will benefit.
Networking
requires that you
o
Take the initiative
o
Accept responsibility for your actions
o
Make no negative assumptions
o
Value yourself
o
Keep expanding your network
o
Create opportunities for yourself and
others
o
Follow up and keep contacts alive
o
Be patient and persistent with the
process
o
Start building your network now.
Henry David Thoreau once said, “If you have built
castles in the air, you need not be lost; that is
where they should be. Now put the foundations under
them” You do it with interpersonally-savvy networking!
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