How do I know?
When it comes to spending money, all of us as consumers are looking for proof – convincing evidence of some type that encourages us to actually spend the money. And of course, the bigger the investment, the better and more compelling that proof needs to be.
Social Proof
Most of us appreciate the power of social proof in the form of testimonials. Consumers believe that ‘if clients are prepared to ‘publicly’ advocate you and your services, then you must be someone to be trusted; or at least you are worthwhile taking a closer look at’.
But there are other forms of proof that are also important for you to demonstrate to potential clients.
In their book, “No B.S. Trust Based Marketing”, by Dan S Kennedy, a veteran Master Marketer and Promoter, and Matt Zagula, a highly successful American Financial Adviser and Business Coach – they describe four basic kinds of proof that they believe “could be important for you to use”.
They are:
- Proof of Concept
- Proof of Personal Relevance
- Proof Promised Benefits and Outcomes
- Proof of Superiority.
I agree. Convincing and proving these notions to your market, will take you a long way towards your client conversion objectives.
1. Proof of Concept
In many cases your prospect may already completely understand the concepts you are promoting, perhaps because these are very well known and popular. Often though, this is not the case.
Take my particular role for example. For some, the concept of having a business coach or a sales and marketing coach needs to be sold and bought. For advisers who can’t see how or why this is a good idea, I need to offer evidence, rationale, benefits, outcomes and all round proof to demonstrate the wisdom and necessity of this concept. They must believe that the ideas and concepts we are promoting are right.
So as a coach, I may need to demonstrate that coaching produces measurable, beneficial results.
As a financial adviser, for some you may need to show that having an experienced professional guiding and advising them equates to superior long term financial and personal achievement.
Of course testimonials and case studies can help here, along with the power of your stories about your past experiences – your success stories.
As Dan Kennedy says – if they don’t believe in and trust the concept, they’re not going to completely trust you.
2. Proof of Personal Relevance
Now, many may agree and accept that having a business or sales and marketing coach or financial adviser is a sound idea – but they may question “is it right for me?”
There may be a myriad of reasons why they question the ‘personal relevance’ – but, you have to prove why what you do is right for them.
You have to show them, prove to them, that they too need someone to guide them.
Often, using probing, feeling/finding questions and allowing the client ample time for replies and discussion will soon allow them to ‘see the light’.
Another approach that may help is to:
Acknowledge that they are unique individuals, and so too are all of your clients but nonetheless, in many regards your other clients are similar to them in many ways. And, that ‘these people’ actually needed your advice. They became clients and gained some wonderful benefits from having you advise them. So, therefore, it is very likely that they will gain real benefits too!
3. Proof of Promised Benefits and Outcomes
For someone to buy, they must be absolutely certain in their mind that the promised benefits will actually be delivered.
We’ve all had the experiences of buying something we were sure it would do what we wanted it to do, what we were told it would do, only to be disappointed with the actual results. Of course when it comes to advice about our money, we are even more vigilant, particularly in light of the almost constant barrage of negative press money advice has received over the past few years.
So what tools and strategies can you use to bring this proof to life? Webinars, seminars, eBooks, books and reports, all full of information such as case studies, samples and examples can be useful.
Share your advice. Outline strategies and ideas to demonstrate your ‘subject matter expertise’ – your inherent abilities and your experience. I know many worry about giving too much away, until clients pay for the advice but the reality is, there are only a relatively small range of advice strategies that work, and they are mostly freely available to research online. So tell them what you know. As I read somewhere recently… ”Give away your ‘Secret Recipe’ but not your ‘Secret Sauce’. They won’t be able to cook up a dish like you can. They’ll still need you”. On its own, “knowledge is no longer valuable. Your ability to deliver that knowledge through your service is where the Value Exchange happens”.
Of course, clients openly praising and advocating you and your work, and the results and outcomes you have guided them to achieve, is on top of the list.
4. Proof of Superiority
At some stage, prospective clients may think about choice, that is, your competition. What other providers are there? What are my other choices?
Just about everything we have discussed so far – tactics, strategies and ideas, all lead to adding to your superiority.
Indeed, being able to differentiate yourself, to stand out from you competitors needs to be atop of all of your marketing and promotional activities. Applying time, energy and commitment to building your market presence, helps with this objective. In particular, if you strategically work on demonstrating your uniqueness and showing your expertise and authority within your field, your ‘Leadership Position’ amongst your peers, and building your persona as the Trusted Adviser, will definitely help you achieve this objective.
Preponderance of Proof
As Dan Kennedy quotes “in battle, it’s best to have overwhelming force”.
‘The battle for trust in decidedly untrusting times is best waged with overwhelming proof’.
‘You need quantity, quality and diversity’. So to maximise your chances of success of building and using your trust, you’ll need to provide lots of different forms of proof in each of the areas we’ve covered, to show them, no to prove to them, that you are (or at least, perceptually you are) superior.
The team at Capstone can help you with your client attraction and marketing and positioning strategies including ideas, tools and resources.
Contact us to find out how.
Kym Turner
Head of Coaching & Development
P: 03 8622 0719
E: k.turner@capstonefp.com.au
