The Desert of Arizona
Sunny 44 Degrees
It’s amazing how many dumb mistakes you can make when you’re speaking with a prospective client.
A few word changes can mean the difference between you differentiating yourself and you blending in with all of the other service providers.
If you think about the interchange as a sort of a tennis match, things become a bit clearer.
Ask yourself, in whose court is the “ball?” Whoever has the ball gets to decide what to do with it. So you want to keep the ball. And even when you hand over the “ball,” you want to remain in control of its direction.
Here’s the typical exchange:
Service Provider: Let me tell you about what I do. Blah, blah, blah. Do you want to arrange a time to meet so we can go over your situation and figure out what’s best for you?
[Ball goes to prospect’s court…]
Prospect: No, I’m not ready to do that.
[Prospect takes ball and goes home… you lose.]
So let’s try that again:
Service Provider: Let me tell you about what I do… but first, why don’t you tell me a little bit about your situation so that I can make sure to cover what’s important to you.
[Service provider KEEPS the ball and control of the conversation…]
In the first exchange, it’s short, it’s sweet and it’s over before you can blink.
In the second exchange, the service provider has KEPT the ball and is now in control of an exchange that is actually going to resemble a conversation between prospect and advisor.
When you’re speaking with prospective clients, just start becoming aware of where the “ball” is and who is controlling its direction.
It’s pretty eye opening…