You want to be easy to do business with, right? So, if you were in conversation with a potential client what is the best question you could be asked?
“How do we work together?”
That would take some beating, wouldn’t it?
There are still several things that need to happen, but it tells you that you are having an impact, right?
An essential aspect of successfully on-boarding new clients is that you are easy to do business with.
What does ‘easy to do business with’ mean in practice?
1. It makes more sense to work with you than not
When you have conversations with potential clients, how inherently valuable do they find these conversations?
One of the best pieces of advice I received about how to build a client base was to have conversations with people and make them so valuable that some of those people will pay you not to stop (click here to read ‘Get paid not to stop’).
2. The process is enjoyable and easy
People do not enjoy saying ‘no’. They really want to say ‘yes’ because they want their decisions and their life to be easy.
One of the biggest mistakes that financial advisers can make is to cause people to have to think too much. A common example of this is giving people too much information which can overwhelm them and lead to indecision.
3. The person feels fully understood
Most professional people listen for problems to solve. Very few listen with the intent to understand.
‘When I ask you to listen and you start giving advice, you have not done what I have asked. When I ask you to listen to me and you begin to tell me why I shouldn’t feel that way, you are trampling on my feelings. When I ask you to listen and you feel you have to do something to solve my problem, you have failed me, strange as it may seem. Listen! All I ask is that you listen; not talk or do – just hear me.’ Ralph Roughton, M.D.
Make sure you work on the difference between listening for problems and listening to understand someone.
4. Stay in the world of your client
Imagine you have pain in your stomach, so you call up a doctor for an appointment. You get to the surgery and, without asking you why you are there, the doctor says “Please, sit down and let me tell you about myself and what we can do for you.”
What would you think? It’s unlikely that your response is going to be, “Wow, I am so glad to know this, my stomach is feeling better already!”
Value can only be created in your client’s world, not yours.
5. Needy is creepy
This is one of prolific author and coach Steve Chandler’s favourite sayings. Neediness comes in many forms – needing to be liked, fear of rejection, needing to be right, needing to be the expert, needing the business (I highly recommend Steve’s book ‘Creator’).
In business, any form of neediness will contaminate a relationship. Top negotiation coach, Jim Camp, said ‘In order to avoid showing need, you must never feel it. You do not need this deal’.
More business is lost through neediness than any other reason.
6. Make agreements, avoid expectations
This means making sure that you have agreed what happens next at each stage of the process so that you avoid expectations of what will happen.
Also, something I talk to my own clients about is ‘the half-life of enthusiasm’. Quite simply, enthusiasm fades over time, so be responsive to someone’s enthusiasm and act promptly.
So, are you easy to do business with?
When you it easy to do business with you, then you are far more likely to gain more clients and to retain your existing clients for longer.
Remember to listen to people, create value for them, and respond to their enthusiasm.
P.S. Look at all the aspects of how you bring new clients on board and eliminate any areas of friction and explore ways to increase value.
