you are your first client. what’s your first impression?
by martin bissett
business development on a budget
winning your first client is all about understanding why someone would buy from you before you ever speak to them, before you ever meet them, before you ever start the preparation for talking to them.
more: five questions to help forecast your firm growth | four key questions about leadership | showing leadership through customer service | the real math behind the sales pipeline | keep business development going during busy season | walk the commitment walk | two steps toward mastering selling | thirteen ways to show commitment | clients can’t grow without you | seven mistakes in winning new fees | how to develop your communication abilities | five questions for measuring partner potential | five ways to rally your firm to its culture
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this discipline too often goes unexplained by most sales training programs offered to the accounting profession, but ultimately we have to be comfortable with who we are and the value that we offer.
we have to be comfortable with such little details as our appearance, the way we speak, the way we come across, the strength of the handshake, the amount of eye contact. all of these tiny little nuances play a part in how we are perceived by our prospective clients when we go and see them, or when they come and see us. so the more we can get in order first, the more relaxed and natural we are, which allows us to build the relationship.
in case it’s not clear yet, the “first client” is you. “winning your first client” is therefore the concept and practice of understanding why your accounting firm can bring more value to the table for a business than they get from their current accountants. it is about understanding that you must be perceived as professional, that you must be punctual, that you must understand the business owner’s personal needs, which drive their business’s needs.
understand selling in practice by knowing: if we don’t know how we can provide superior support to the business we want to win as a client, we really can’t expect our prospective clients to know that either. the “first client” is you!
ultimately, this can be summed up in one question: “if we were to meet us, would we be impressed with ourselves to the extent of wanting to work together?”
perhaps your personal modesty doesn’t allow you to admit that you would be impressed with yourself. but in selling our professional services we all need that kind of assurance because once we have confidence about how we come across, we are much more assured. and then we are able to project that image to prospective clients as well.
understand selling in practice by knowing: if we were to meet us, would we be impressed with ourselves to the extent of wanting to work together?