How well can your clients, customers and prospects explain what you do?

This is one of the questions that every business owner needs to be asking themselves all the time.

Too often, we focus so much on developing our business that we forget why we’re developing our business in first place. Sure, we want to make a profit – that goes without saying. Yet the most likely reason any of us got into business is because we believe we have a unique and better approach to solving a people’s problems.

Take a moment and think about all the products you see advertised in mass media. Each one tries to solve a problem. Think about Gatorade, IcyHot or Midol and I’m sure you can tell me what problems each can solve for me – even if you haven’t used the product yourself.

Sure, each of these products have massive marketing budgets, catchy slogans and world-wide mass appeal (what women doesn’t want relief from her symptoms around her period). Yet they’ve also clearly communicated the problems each can solve. And they do it so well that you’d have no problem explaining to someone else that IcyHot can relieve muscle pain.

But what would your clients and customers say about your business? Is it clear what problems you can help them solve? Not just clear to you, but clear to them. And clear enough so they’d have no problem explaining what you do to someone else?

If they don’t know, why would they work with you in the first place? And if your clients can’t explain how you’ve helped them, how can they tell their friends?

Or do you get that it’s not about you?

That’s right. If you’re the business owner – it’s not about you. So, then, who is it about?

It’s about me – the client, the customer, the patron, the prospect – whatever term we want to use to mean, “who you’re in business for.” If you’re blogging, it’s who you’re writing for. You know, the people who read and comment on your blog posts.

Yet, so much of the copy I see on the web isn’t focused on me and my needs at all. Rather it’s focused on the business and, truthfully, their needs.

Think about the sites you’ve seen. More often than not they say things like, “We can do this,” or “Our services blah, blah,” or “We have 50 years of experience.” Then there’s my favorite – “our mission is…”

As a consumer, I don’t care about your mission. I don’t care what about what you do, your services or your decades of experience. I care about me. I want to know what’s in it for me. How can knowing you benefit me? What can you do to help me?

If I’m ‘in the market’ for something, it’s likely because I have a problem. What I need is a solution to my problem. And if I’m visiting your website, I need to know first that you understand my problem and, then, second that you can help me solve my problem. But I can’t know you can solve my problems unless you tell me so.

I was going to write some tips about how to create a more customer-focused marketing message. But I’d rather have that conversation in the comment box because I really want to hear your ideas. So…let’s talk.

Would you like your customers and clients to promote your business for you? Of course you do, right?

Andy Sernovitz, author of Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking, states that around 80% of online shopping time is spent researching products (and services) rather than buying. And 77% of online shoppers will read reviews before making a purchase.

So obviously what people think about you and your business is very important to your success. And with blast and interruption marketing being less and less effective, what people are saying about you becomes even more important.

In Andy’s book he says, “Traditional marketing is no longer the safe way to go. It may make you more comfortable, but it is becoming gradually less and less effective… It’s time to focus on making customers happy – earning their trust and respect and getting them talking about your stuff.”

So how do you get your customers and clients to talk about you and promote your business? Well, first, “Happy customers are your best advertisers.” (from Andy’s book).

But I go a step further…I say get your clients to fall in love with you.

Think about what happens to you when you fall in love. You’re giddy and excited. Your face carries a perpetual smile and your stride has a bit more bounce to it. And when you’re in love, you can’t help but telling people about it. Especially your friends.

That’s exactly how you want your clients and customers to feel from their work with you. You want them to leave your meetings excited, hopeful and with a bit of bounce in their stride. Then you’ll be the topic of conversation when your client talks to their friends.

So how do you get your clients and customers to fall in love with you? Here’s 7, rather easy, ways to begin:

1. Be nice
   Above all things, if you’re kind, polite and compassionate, they will feel it. And they’ll internally compare how they feel interacting with you with how they feel with others. It’s subtle, but it makes a huge difference.
2. Be fully attentive
   Whenever you’re interacting with a client or customer, put everything else on hold. If things come up during a meeting, write them down so they don’t get in the way of your being fully present. You know when someone isn’t fully there with you – and your clients do too.
3. Exceed their expectations
   Whenever the opportunity presents itself, take the extra step. Doing small tasks that have little impact on your time can pay huge dividends in how your clients see you. Going above and beyond creates a ‘wow’ affect. It makes them feel like they’re the most important client to you. And that’s what they’ll talk about with others.
4. Listen to what they’re really telling you
   People don’t always do a great job saying what they really mean. Listen to their words, AND listen to what they’re saying between the words. When you answer the unspoken questions and concerns your clients will trust you even more because they’ll feel like you really ‘get them.’
5. Help them understand how
   People have hired you or bought your products to help them solve some problem in their business. So make sure it does. If they don’t understand how to use it, they won’t and, in turn, you won’t succeed either. They have to be successful for you to be successful.
6. Always follow up
   If you say you’re going to do something by a certain time, do it. Do it earlier, if you can to exceed their expectations. And if you can’t do it on time, let them know as soon as you do. If you keep your clients well informed, it will go a long way to building respect and trust.
7. Stay in touch
   Even after you’re finished working directly with them, stay in touch. Give them a call or send an email that specifically asks them how they’re doing after working together or buying your product. Trust me, this will be a very pleasant surprise. And, it can give you valuable feedback as well.

Here are but a few ways to make your clients fall in love with you. Put them in action and you’ll have raving fans who want to tell everyone they know about you.

I know I haven’t covered all the ways to make your clients fall in love with you. So let’s talk about it. What’s worked for you? What hasn’t? And what have I left out?

As he does often, Seth Godin grabbed my attention yesterday with his post titled, May I Help You?. It’s short, sweet and to the point. So� here it is in� its entirety.

“May I help you?”

… is almost a useless thing to say.

If you want to end a conversation with a teenager, just ask, “How was school today?”

If you want to end a conversation with a customer, just ask if you can help. Instead, ask, “can I get you a hot drink?” or “what’s the worst thing about your insurance company?” or “one slice or two?”

I couldn’t agree more. You see, your clients/customers/patrons don’t often know what they need. They only know something isn’t working – which is why they’re searching for you in the first place.

If you ask them what they need, they’ll likely give you answer. But that answer will be pointed directly into the problem their facing. It’s highly unlikely it will lead them to a solution. Otherwise, they wouldn’t need you.

It’s much more effective to first listen to their story a bit and then ask specific and pointed questions that will help you identify further their need. The best questions can even get them thinking about the solution as though they thought of it themselves.

I find this the most effective method, when it works. Why? It puts the client back in power over their business. And ultimately as a coach or consultant that’s what you want.

How do you engage your clients/customers that unveil the solution?�

As you can see from my past two posts, I’m working through a shift in my business. It’s not so much a new direction as it is an evolution.

All the work I’ve ever done has been about caring for people and people’s needs. When I was a waiter, I took care of people’s dining experience. When I was buyer at a large outdoor clothing store, I brought in the products my customers most wanted. As a spiritual teacher and healer, I cared about the unveiling of my client’s authentic self. And even as a web designer and web-based business developer, my cares have been about helping my clients understand how to use the web to build their business.

It hasn’t matter. At every turn of my life my work has been about helping people. And that’s certainly extended deep into my personal life as well.

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Do you think of your consumers as clients or customers? I know I often use these terms interchangeably. Yet, I always think of customers as people who buy products. Since I don’t sell any products (yet), I always end up thinking of my consumers as clients.

But what’s the real difference?

I know there are a number of ways to look at this so let’s begin in the most obvious place, the dictionary. Dictionary.com defines each as:

• Client: a person or group that uses the professional advise or services of a lawyer, accountant, advertising agency, architect, etc.”
• Customer: a person who purchases goods or services from another; buyer; patron

Interesting. So by the dictionary’s definition, a client is a person who uses services while a customer is someone who purchases products or services. Does that then imply that clients are active users while customers are simply purchases – who may or may not use what they purchase?

So what would you rather have, clients or customers?

Part 4 of my comments on a really good post from ProBlogger written by Tony Hung of DeepJiveInterests about what he calls “the five prerequisites for having a successful blog.” Realize It’s Not About You (its About Them).

…Certainly the kind of blogging you want to do is not about you at all. Its about Them. I’ve alluded to it plenty of times in this very article, but blogs that are successful, popular, and growing are not ones centered around their authors. They are centered around news and information that is interesting to their readership.

But what does this also mean? It means ask yourself and Them, how you can make yourself better to serve their interests. It means, changing your content to make it wildly interesting to Them. It means ask yourself if the next Big Change your going to do on your blog will cheese them off or encourage more feed signups.
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