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Until You Know Exactly When to Ask Clients for Referrals…Don’t Even Try To

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What you ought to know about the common advice on getting client referrals

A copywriter, my friend Geneva, had been booked solid spring and all summer. And she expected lots of work straight through the end of year before a new project scheduled to begin in January.

When new work suddenly dried up in early September, she called me for ideas and we talked. She zeroed in on asking clients for referrals.

She knew referrals would be gold for her!

Later in November, Geneva called again. This time, without a hint of new business, she was panicky.

She had researched how to get referrals and sketched a rough plan. While she had a general sense of where to start, she still couldn’t answer one important question.

When’s the best time to ask for a referral in a client relationship?

All the advice she found was vague or not helpful for a newbie. Geneva was confused. Questions  raced around in her mind.

 Am I too late to ask my client from last summer? 

 Maybe, I should have asked my new client last week at our kickoff meeting. But is that too soon? 

 What if I do this wrong? I could ruin these relationships forever! I can’t take that risk…they’ll never call again. 

She thought doing client referrals would be easy. But now she didn’t know what to do. She froze. “Now is not the right time,” she said. [Read more…] about Until You Know Exactly When to Ask Clients for Referrals…Don’t Even Try To

Never Feel Slimy About Your Marketing Again. Use These 6 Trust Principles Now. Part 2 of 2

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Photo-credit-Foter.com

Make trust principles the foundation of your business

In Part 1, you read that feeling nervous marketing your business isn’t unreasonable. But it’s not necessary. When your intention is to build trustworthy client relationships, how you market is clearer. Putting your audience first is a game changer.

Potential clients want to trust you. But whether they’re conscious of it or not, they’re searching for clues that you’re trustworthy.

The research of Stefan Grafe, founder of mext, a global brand building consultancy, and his partner, Barbara Grohsgart, a psychologist, identified what clients need to know about you to trust you. From their findings and Charles Green’s work with Trusted Advisor Associates, I’ve developed a list of Trust Principles.

Using these Trust Principles will make it easier to know what to say in your sales and marketing. You’ll know which messages really matter to your clients.  And you’ll feel more comfortable with your marketing.

6 Trust Principles

1. Empathetic Relationships – Clients know you are concerned for their feelings. You listen and let them know you understand. You don’t have to agree with them. But you do understand how they think.

2. Purpose – They know your purpose and your intentions for your business and for doing this work.

3. Improvement – Clients know you are dedicated to learning. They know you’re continuously raising your level of practice or skills in order to help them.

4. Competence – Clients believe you are well qualified to provide your service, specialty, or product. You don’t have to be the most qualified.

5. Solutions – You create and deliver the answers or solutions your clients come to you for.

6. Reliability – They know you deliver what you promise. You consistently do things the way they prefer or are used to.

Are you worthy of your clients’ trust?

Ask your clients. And ask yourself.

Use this Trust Assessment guide to learn how much your clients trust you. [Read more…] about Never Feel Slimy About Your Marketing Again. Use These 6 Trust Principles Now. Part 2 of 2

Never Feel Slimy About Your Marketing Again. Use These 6 Trust Principles Now. Part 1 of 2

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Susan confessed her secret beliefs about marketing. In a small coffee shop on a rainy, dark afternoon, we talked about her business. While she happily spoke about her work as a well-regarded therapist, she stopped smiling when we got to the topic of marketing.

“I have very negative feelings about marketing. To me, it is almost like lying, and cheating and betraying.”

I got nervous for a moment … what did this make me? My career is in marketing communications. But I understood her feelings. I declined to work in the credit card industry, even during its heyday. I saw customers rewarded for spending into debt. The companies increased their profits at the cost of their customers’ futures.

Susan thinks about marketing all the time. Especially when a client cancels or her appointment schedule is empty for the next week. Susan is like many holistic entrepreneurs who don’t want to be salesy or a money grubber. They avoid marketing because the fear of losing their ethics.

Her business isn’t in good shape. Fewer word-of-mouth referrals are coming in. Once dependable new business sources have dried up. No one is calling for a session. Business is down.

“I wish I could think differently about marketing. I won’t sell myself. I am not a salesperson. I have a very hard time doing that. And it affects my business.”

Susan realizes something has to change … in a big way.

Marketing Isn’t Bad …

Do you relate to Susan’s frustrations? The problem isn’t that marketing is a bad thing to do. There’s a script running in your mind saying, “Marketing is a bad thing for me to do.”

You are afraid your clients won’t trust you.  [Read more…] about Never Feel Slimy About Your Marketing Again. Use These 6 Trust Principles Now. Part 1 of 2