Tired of being treated like a pair of hands? Want to be valued for your brain and your ideas?
My advice: stop blaming your clients and start acting like the strategic partner you want to be.
When I talk about "getting better clients with bigger budgets," I'm talking about the ones who value your services and who treat you like a strategic partner, rather than an "order-taker." These clients are hard to find but there are things you can do to attract them. You have to show them your value and share your ideas, instead of waiting for them to tell you what they need. Here's how:
- Ask questions -- lots of questions, and good ones that show what you know. Even better: find questions that reveal the gap between what you know and what they don't know. (That's curiosity as a marketing tool.)
- Share your ideas -- don't be stingy, paranoid or precious. Instead, be generous and describe how you would approach their challenge.
- Show your work -- in case study format is ideal, so they can see your process and how you solve problems like the ones they're struggling with.
- Show you care. Take time and give thought to their situation -- that's a sign of caring. So is your enthusiasm for their organization and mission.
- Connect with content -- I explained how to do this in a recent interview on the Sandler Training's "How to Succeed" podcast here.
The bottom line is that you have to stop waiting for the client to tell you what they need and instead start being proactive and showing them what your brain can do for them. That's how you go from order-taker to strategic partner. This also came up in an interview I did for a new industry report from inMotionNow. Download it here: https://bit.ly/2vUknZ2
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