Meet your clients where they are… then move them to where they want to be.
No clue where along my professional journey I picked up that little gem, but it has served me and my clients well over the past two decades.
Back in the days when I was selling radio advertising (and even before that, now that I think about it) I was taught to promote a particular product or service to a prospect. It felt a bit like, if all you have is a hammer, everything is a nail.
In fact, the entire sales call was designed to get a prospect thinking that the pre-packaged solution I happened to be pitching was exactly what the doctor ordered. Except it left me wondering what might have served them best had I asked more questions, better questions, questions focused on getting the full picture of where they are… not the partial picture of where they are in relation to what I want to sell them.
I’m pretty sure I was one of those salespeople who gave salespeople a bad rap.
Then I learned a philosophy that has shaped my business and served my clients in ways I never could have if all I had was a hammer.
The “Meet Your Clients Where They Are” approach is simple and to make it easy to remember that they are not just “a nail” you’ve got the acronym “NAIL” to help you get the pieces of the philosophy just right.
- Never assume what I want to sell is what will be best for them.
- Ask as if I really want to understand, don’t act as if I know their story.
- Involve emotion
- Listen for the truth, don’t just solve the surface pain.
If you like this concept, I’ll share more details in future blog posts so stay tuned. In the meantime, I’ll be busy eating my own dog food (how many cliches can I pack into one blog post?) and working on an exciting new way clients can work with me in a “Choose Your Own Adventure” type approach… Stay tuned…