Building a small level of trust before you meet your prospect is very important. In fact, missing this step could self-sabotage your meeting all together.
How do we do this?
More times than none, building trust is done through marketing. If you've done your job properly, your prospects will be calling you because of your success through marketing your business properly. If you don't ensure trust within your marketing efforts, you might as well market to a bunch of rocks! "Thoughts are things" - also applies to marketing, "Marketing brings Things". What I mean by this is that, the manner in which you market your company, depicts the manner in which people perceive you.
If you want people to generally like you because you have a kind heart, market your business in such a fashion that shows you care about your community, your peers, your friends, & especially your family. If you want people to think you're the best in your field, become the best and the rest will follow.
What Does This Have To Do With Holding A Meeting?
EVERYTHING! Think about it, the only way you will be able to win someone over in a meeting is if they like you, and that they believe in you. The first way to begin this process is through the way you market your business. Many people used to call my company (when we had services) looking for 'me' specifically, not because they knew me, but because of the 100's of articles I've published online within the marketing field. Without ever talking to me personally, people already "believed" that I was the professional in my field. Once my prospect actually met me, I proved to them that they were absolutely right!
Given this, it made everything a lot easier when I had to break everything down for them and explain to my prospect why they needed 'this','that' and the other 'thing'. The whole idea is to become their advisor without your prospect feeling like they are being preached at, or like you're holding their hand.
People want to be correct about their decisions. The last thing anyone wants is to walk into a company and completely be wrong about their research abilities and their ability to select a right company for their needs. We are all shoppers. And over the years, we begin to fine tune our shopping skills. Finding out later that are our "gut feelings" were wrong , could ultimately devastate someone's morale.
Your marketing message should be clear and precise. There shouldn't be any grey area, and your services should be clearly outlined. You should always try to include what you actually do, and especially what you won't do. This way people who are interested in your business, won't end up with surprises later on. Nobody likes unexpected surprises, sometimes surprises later on could have a very negative, and sour effect.
Branding Is So Important For Your Marketing Campaign:
Branding touches almost everything you do with your business. Branding is the 'thing' that sets your business apart from others. Sure, we all have competition. Competition is actually really healthy because, it forces us to do something different, to do something better, cheaper, or different.
Marketing your brand starts from the ground up, here are some things to consider when branding your marketing efforts for your business:
Do I have a professional logo design?
Does my logo tell what I do?
Is my logo catchy enough to stop someone in their tracks?
Is my logo professionally done?
Do all my colors match?
Does my business name tell people what I do?
Is my business name confusing, or clear?
Is my business original?
Does my name say "I'm local, national, or international?"
Does my marketing copy spell out what I do?
Does my marketing copy target a specific market? women? men? children? families? ethnic? religious?
Does my marketing copy have the right catch phrases?
Do my catch phrases give the right message?
Does my copy have my contact info clearly outlined?
Does my website address & phone number catch your eye?
Do my business cards catch your eye?
Are my business cards cheaply made? Or represent high-quality?
Are my business cards 2 sided with my services outlined?
Do I have business cards?
Does my website clearly display what it is that I Do?
Does my website have:
My logo clearly displayed in the upper left corner?
My "tag line" message for my business?
My location & contact information easy to find?
My services/products clearly laid out?
Samples of my services/products?
FAQ's for potential clients?
Great support?
Does my website address spell out what I do? (Ex. www.myservices.ca)
Is my website address easy to remember?
Is my website address easy to spell?
Is my website address short and sweet?
Do my employees represent my business properly?
Do my employees treat people like I do?
Are my employees friendly?
Are my employees dressed appropriately?
Do my newspaper, and magazine ads stand out from the crowd?
Does my radio ad make you want to listen and call?
Does my TV ad make you stop and watch, or change the channel?
Does my direct mail get people to call?
Does my direct mail offer a promotion, or coupon?
ABOVE ALL - Do people know what I do?
As you can see, there are so many questions to ask yourself. The above list is by far not even half of the questions your should ask when it comes to marketing your business but, it can a great start. If you don't know the answers to these questions, you had better find out because, people who see your marketing material subconsciously ask the very same questions. Without ever talking to you, people have already made up their mind about your business by reading about you, hearing about you, or seeing you on TV. 1st impressions mean a lot when it comes to attracting new business, your branding efforts should reflect your message in all of your marketing tools, not just some here, and a little there.
Have Someone Read Your Marketing Material:
This step is very important. Ask someone that you know (preferably not very close to you) to go through your marketing material, or website copy, in order to "act as if" they where researching for your services. Ask them to be straight up and honest in order to pose the ultimate question; "What does this company do?", "Would I go with them?", "Do I really want to call them up?", and "Is their message clear to me?". Write down everything this person has to say about your marketing material. Don't be afraid to get multiple people to look over your copy, this step could really help you to fine-tune your marketing message and to start attracting the right type of fish from the sea.
In Conclusion:
Staging for your future meeting is very important. Having the right tools & marketing to the right prospects is crucial. Even if you feel like you're desperate for every prospect that calls, you can increase your sales by simply targeting better prospects to meet with.
This brings us to: The Perfect Meeting (part2) - Taking The Prospect's Call!
Martin Lemieux is the owner of a successful article directory network with over 80,000 author submitted articles, with over 30,000 active authors world wide.
http://www.Article99.com - Authors Club
Copyright, All Rights Reserved. Reprints accepted as long as the entire article remains the same including this author resource box.
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