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Bridging the Gap between Your Prospects Your Offerings

Written by: Nancy Michaels

Article Overview: The best way to get tuned into what your prospects and clients biggest challenges are is to listen to the questions they ask you that they need answers to. It seems so simple, yet we often forget to write down the thoughts, concerns and needs of our clients. Begin to make a list of the questions you hear them ask over and over again and begin to formulate pro-active responses that specifically address their needs and provide a solution to their problems.

Bridging the Gap between Your Prospects Your Offerings

Step 1: Tune in and listen to what your clients and prospects are saying or asking your advice on. The best way to get tuned into what your prospects and clients biggest challenges are is to listen to the questions they ask you that they need answers to. It seems so simple, yet we often forget to write down the thoughts, concerns and needs of our clients. Begin to make a list of the questions you hear them ask over and over again and begin to formulate pro-active responses that specifically address their needs and provide a solution to their problems.

Step 2: Ask them what their challenges are that “keep them up at night.”
Ok, I know that’s a bit cliché, however, you and I know there are pressing questions we all go to bed at night with and if you’re like me, you have a pad of paper and a pen handy to jot these concerns down, so you can tackle them the following day and you can get some much needed rest. If prospects aren’t forthcoming (which I would find questionable, given the endless stream of questions I receive), ask them what their concerns and fears are and start addressing them with doable solutions.

Step 3: Keep it simple
Information marketers are overwhelming to me. Many of them are geniuses in their own rate and have great command of their material. What they fail to grasp is that those they serve are seeking them out because they are unaware of this expert knowledge, however, want to gain some insight in order to do one thing – and one thing only – take action on what they learn and implement it in their business. So, why then, is the delivery of this information so convoluted? We take for granted what comes naturally to us. It’s also an ego boost to be told that we are experts in our own right. Here’s my suggestion. Focus on becoming an information provider and resource to your customer base and keep concepts simple and easy to understand and for them to apply in their own businesses.

Step 4: As Ghandi Said, Be the Change You Wish to See.
Or, walk your talk. If you claim to be the picture of what it is you are selling – then be it, completely. If you are not there yet, act as though you are and carry yourself tall. I featured a woman in the book I co-authored with Debbi Kickham, Off the Wall Marketing Ideas, and she had a home-based nail salon in Westchester County, NY nearly 30 years ago – long before it was acceptable to have a business from your kitchen table that you invited the public to participate in. Each day, she woke up, got professional dressed and made up and put on a pot of coffee. She would announce herself at her front door many days to greet her one and only customer to her “salon.” When the client came in, they noticed numerous cups of half drunk coffee with different shades of lipstick. The owner of the salon quickly explained that she had been so busy; she hadn’t had time to clean up her kitchen. A booming business was born and she now has five salons – all fit with kitchens – and sells her nail products on QVC. Be confident and move forward in your intentions to serve.

Step 5: Listen to your gut
You probably have a better sense of what your clients want to achieve from you than you realize. Keep track of the breakthroughs you provide for your clientele. Request testimonials and endorsements (if you don’t know what an endorsement is – we covered this extensively in our Home Study System and our Virtual Class. You can learn more about it by clicking here). Include them on your web site, and other marketing materials – even your biography. People want to do business with people we know, like and trust. If you’re targeting a new or prospective client base that is not as familiar with your work as you’d like – you need to tell them the story of solutions you offer and attract the business to you.

Get out there and move with confidence in the direction you are destined for.

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Article Tags: challenges, customer base, ego, endless stream, expert knowledge, fears, geniuses, information provider, insight, jot, marketers, pad of paper, prospects, step 1, step 2, step 3, suggestion



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