photo credit: ladybugbkt

Colleen Francis shares a rude email she got from a business with her readers where the sender basically lets her know they don’t have time to respond to her email because they’re too important.  YIPES!

When you’re on the receiving end as a client or prospect you’re immediately turned off.  You wonder what they could possibly be thinking sending out such a cold uppity message.  But then again you’re looking at it from your perspective.

Therein lies the problem.  When a business is focused on the business it’s easy to fall into the me-me trap and think an insulting message is perfectly acceptable.  The business is thinking we simply can’t deal with all these emails and we don’t want to expend the resources to deal with them so we’ll be proactive and remove the need to respond.  Hmmm…it sounds so logical, so business savvy, so professional.

However, when you take the same message and read it from the clients perspective you’re shocked and horrified.  Now it comes off as cold and impersonal, rude and insulting, business sabatoging rather than business building.  You can’t believe you even thought for a New York second it was a good idea.

Every contact and connection you make with a prospective new client or an existing client is either reinforcing their good perception of you or their bad perception of you.  Within the first 10 seconds they will formulate a perception.  Make sure it’s the perception you want.

And that brings me to the most important message in this post.  You set the tone for the perception your prospects hold in that first connection or contact.  Are you creating and building a perception reinforcing your expertise , your ability to act on their behalf as a trusted adviser, someone they can be open and honest with?  Or are you setting yourself up as the dreaded sales person?

Take a look at that first connection or contact no matter the format or venue.  Review it as if you were the intended prospect and the message came from a competitor.

• how do you react?
• what emotions does it trigger?
• do you feel like someone is trying to sell you something?
• do you feel like you want to know more?
• would  you take the requested action?

If you don’t like your answers that’s ok.  We all have opportunities for improvement.  We’ve all made unfortunate mistakes in our messages.  But smart people like you take action to take advantage of those opportunities ASAP.

There’s no time like today to start fresh and build a client-centric business where both you and your clients win.  Where you enjoy working with each other.  Where you know you’re doing the best job you can possibly do for them and so do they.  After all when you want to build a top producing business you can’t be afraid of making improvements.

photo credit: C.Alary - expose à La Taverne de Cluny-Paris 5è

Go on over to Michel Fortin’s blog and watch the copywriting giant rock out.   Don’t worry it doesn’t take long to watch and it’s fun.  Then when you come back you’ll better understand what I’m going to talk to you about.  Relationships.

Welcome back  

You conceptually understand that if you want to increase sales and sell more you have to establish relationships with people who are potential new clients, and deepen your relationship with existing clients.  There are a number of ways to approach building relationships.  As you build relationships the benefits to you include:

• more sales
• higher value sales
• trust leading to repeat sales
• trust leading to referrals
• open communications between you and your potential new clients and existing clients.

Good stuff, right?  You certainly know how to establish relationships when meeting people one-on-one in a face-to-face setting, but what about people you haven’t met yet who are great potential clients for you.  Can you start a relationship with a complete stranger?

Yes, you can.  Now I’m not suggesting you make a video like Michel did and email it to future prospects.  However, I am suggesting that you do things that make initial relationships build faster.  Your sales outcomes are directly impacted by that first connection and the follow-up connections you make with potential clients and existing clients.

Relationships demand you be the real you.  You can spot a phony instantly and you resent anyone trying to be someone or something they aren’t.  So think of how you can allow the people you connect with to get a feel for, or sense of who you are.  Your values and beliefs…what’s important to you.  You don’t want to ram it down their throats just allow the real you to come through whether your sending a sales letter, making a phone call, writing your newsletter, however you’re making that first connection.

Sometimes fun can be viral.  I shared Michel’s video with you because it’s fun and it provides a good example of allowing potential client an inside glimpse of who he is.  I’m sure other blog viewers shared his video too so who knows how many people have seen his video by now.

If you’re going to hold a barbecue for a few friends anyway why not include a few clients and share photos of the event in your newsletter.  They’ll show their photo to their friends thus spreading the word about you.

Why not allow them to bring a friend and invite all your clients so they can mingle with each other.  After all the more people who know you the better.

What if they each shared a story about you?  And you included those stories in some of your marketing materials.   What if you had a contest for the best story?

When you allow them to share and contribute you exponentially increase your relationship.  You make them feel important and you validate why they like and trust you.

The ideas are endless…

Your clients don’t want to work with a stiff shirt big company.  They want you to be a real person who cares a whole lot about them and their outcomes.  Allowing yourself to be a little vulnerable, and giving them a closer look at who you are makes you more trustworthy and trust-able.  They just want you to be human because they want to connect with you if you’ll just help them…