Treating prospects like idiots will lose you the best clients...

Be real. What an alien concept to most. This a great post. So true. Even just phoning them up and talking to them about good work they've done in their marketing in a non-agenda way and getting them to open up would delight a lot of clients and have them opening up and talking about their business in an open way far more easily and readily.

I've been studying a guy called Andy Bounds, because he has been promoted so highly to me from the great copywriter Drayton Bird for so long, and I couldn't ignore him. He wrote a book called the Jelly Effect and another one about communication and sales.

He talks about how sales should be fun for both involved. And advises to draw up a list of 10 things the prospect would like from the sales experience and 10 was you'll accomplish that in your sales process. Things like ''The customer wants a two way conversation rather than being subjected to a massive presentation''. Achieve this by asking more questions. The customer wants short proposals. Achieve this by asking what headers the prospect wants in the proposal and leaving out all unnecessary waffle. The customer wants to feel like they've learned something of worth. Achieve this by providing really great information and education.

TBH, I was underwhelmed at first and thought it was trite. Selling to the prospect in ways they actually want. Make the sales process fun and a delight for both. I couldn't relate to it at first or believe that a sales process could and should be valuable and enjoyable rather than a necessary evil because that's not the done thing.

But then, your post is an example of how to do it. Treat them like a normal human being.

The copywriters of WSO's often write as if there audience is 5 years old. I avoid anyone who does that for most part.

It's actually part of my search criteria to find businesses who already do things well and better than their competitors but could be doing better and you get far better customers and get better results and case studies for your work as well as bigger money. And also to talk about how they are doing great things and get them talking about them. I'd stay away from people with no idea how to do it and try to polish a turd.

You're so spot on, patronising them will not generally work with successful business owners. Acknowledging them and their successes in a non-forning and genuine way usually will and will problem come as a shock because it so rare.

I get a lot of automated calls that start with:

Hi, I'm John. I'm your local Google consultant and I have a spot reserved for you on page 1. It is imperative that you call me to claim your spot. If you do not, your customers will not find you.

John is sometimes Kelly, sometimes Mary, sometimes Mark.

But they all have a spot reserved for me on page 1 on Google and they all are my Local Google Consultant.

I also get a lot of emails about how I could have 300 more visitors a month to my site.

Different outfits, by the names of the company and email addresses, but all know I could get 300 more visitors a month. None of them know how many new clients I will get.

It endlessly amazes me... It doesn't take much to drop the crap and replace with something normal.

That was my long-winded way of concurring, agreeing and being of the same mind.

Good call Plessard, many business owners have tried to DIY and not really managed it, others have done well but following changes (Google etc) and new methods they are now flailing around a bit lost and little time to make it right again, they need to be engaged differently from those that haven't tried to do more than pure basics (leaflet drop, networking etc) .

They should all want more clients, how many new ones a month could they handle? That's often an opening gambit I use , get them thinking of how many they could handle if ONLY their marketing worked better and then talk about how I can achieve that for them . Monetise it 15 new clients per month, the LTV of those clients, after 6 months that's 90 new clients many spending multiple times since becoming customers , add to that the ability to monetise the other existing longer term customers and its jackpot time all round

Customer service will always stay number 1 for attracting and rataining customers.

Good article!

Let's put it this way: the more specifically you can talk about key problems commonly experienced by your target market, in their jargon, the more you will stand out.

And because you know what you're talking about, and they know what you're talking about, your message will resonate with those relatively few prospects who:

a) already value what you're offering

b) do not need to be educated on the subject

c) very likely have a budget for your product or service because they have previously looked into it, and may be doing or using something just like it.

If that's not a recipe for selling success, I don't know what is.

Novices and those who don't have the infrastructure to fulfill complex projects bounce off knowledgeable prospects. This is why. When they know about the subject, as soon as you open your mouth, they know about you.