Look around you. Unless you have a completely unique product or service which is highly unlikely, you’ll have myriad competitors.
So what distinguishes you from all of them?
The answer is YOU!
My name is Rashid Kotwal.
No matter what you’re selling, two rules apply.
People buy from people. And you can’t sell anything to anyone. Which is quite counterintuitive.
The word sales comes from the Norwegian word Selje, which means to serve.
You serve your prospects by helping them realise they have an issue which you could solve. And then show them why it would be in their best interest to proceed.
This is especially true if you’re a professional consultant.
Your clients are buying you. Yes, your ability to solve problems is a given, but it goes far deeper than that.
Your clients want to know who you are as a person. What you stand for. Your unique point of view. Your values and beliefs around solving their specific issues.
If they can’t grasp this, while some may become clients, they’ll never really accept your authority and trust you fully. There’ll always be a niggling doubt where they’ll question your advice.
I’ve had it happen. A client of ours took on a new business partner. While we’d helped our client reach significant success, his new partner couldn’t get a handle on me and didn’t like me. As a result, they stopped working with us.
Looking back on it, it’s not surprising.
Every one of our successful clients has been indoctrinated into our world view over a period of time. They’ve heard me speak. Read articles over the weeks, months and sometimes years which provide value, taught real skills and most important, explained our point of view about how we work together.
We share personal stories which let people into our lives. Our experiences resonated and they were attracted to us as people.
Was this an instant process? Hell no. It takes time to build up the know you, like you and trust you that is so essential for long term partnerships.
And as a result, we’ve never had to “persuade” anyone in the traditional sense to become a client. I can say that every one of them has come to a meeting with an intention of becoming a client. How do I know? They’ve told me.
Wrapping up, if there’s one thing I’d emphasise, it’s take a stand. Have a point of view, even a contrarian one if you can show that it holds water.
Decide on the people you want to attract. And then have the courage and confidence to shout that from the rooftops.
Till next time, this is Rashid Kotwal.
