Wouldn’t it be terrific if you could encourage prospective clients to conduct business with you by the use of specific words? Marketers know that the use of certain words create a response, while others are too passive. Entire books exist devoted to nothing but "Words that Sell". Some of these work exceptionally well when working with prospective clients to get them one step closer to agreeing to use your services.
Words that Get Results
So which words are motivators? The following words are considered to be the most persuasive in the English language by Yale University:
- save
- need
- guarantee
- easy
- money
- results
- health
- love
- discover
- safety
- proven
- and last, but by no means least, the word that all of us enjoy hearing – you.
Focus on Benefits
The secret of success here is to determine what words are important to your prospective client and then, rather than focus on what you feel they should know, focus on what’s important to them.
A simple strategy, which can be used to achieve this objective, is to ask the prospective directly what is important to him or her. Nothing could be simpler in understanding your client than simply asking them. Once your client has stated what they need most, you can then focus on the features of your service that best solve their problems.
An Example of Zeroing In On a Client Need
For instance, your prospect answers, “After a long day at the office, the last thing I want to do is keep books.” You now know what their primary motivator is for considering your services. Place the most emphasis on that benefit, since you already know that it matters most to them. Now apply action words from the list above to place as much emphasis as possible on those points.
Enthusiastically respond to your client, “Well, that’s where I come in. I can save YOU all those evenings, giving YOU more time to spend with YOUr LOVEd ones. Furthermore, it’s PROVEN that good accounting information can earn YOU more MONEY to boot! And, I GUARANTEE my work. If YOU’re not satisfied, YOU don’t pay — it’s that EASY.”
Words to Avoid
And while we’re talking about words, it’s a good idea to avoid the use of accounting jargon. There’s nothing more frustrating than participating in a conversation which is liberally sprinkled with accounting jargon that is totally meaningless to the prospect. In selling your service, you want to start from common ground you both understand. You build from there. Accounting jargon will not show how much you know. It will place distance between you and the client and can confuse them. People don’t want to be made to feel inferior or that they don’t "get it".
Let the client dictate their level of understanding of accounting terms. If they begin to use them to describe their business, you are normally safe to use those terms in continued conversation. Until then, keep your explanations to plain-english. Once you convey the benefits of using your service to your client clearly, you are well on your way to a sale. When you use terminology that makes you easy to understand, you make the prospective client feel intelligent. You give them confidence that your service will give them additional insight into their business and how to make it more profitable.
Furthermore, unless you are very comfortable with the client’s industry, avoid using industry jargon. Chances are, your client knows more about their industry than you do. Keeping conversation in clear, concise, everyday words avoids a client feeling they have to prove to you how much they know. Any feeling of insecurity in a client makes them uncomfortable. In his book "How to Win Friends and Influence People", Dale Carnegie places great emphasis upon making others feel important and intelligent. In your conversations with potential clients, you want them to think, "Oh! Now I get it!" If you are the one to make them feel that way, the sale is in sight.
Master Marketing Skills
In the course of a week, you run into potentially hundreds of small business owners that struggle to understand their books. They need the kind of service taught in the Professional Bookkeeper™ program. They just need someone to explain clearly to them what their benefits will be and that you can help them make sense of their business’ financials.
The Professional Bookkeeper™ program places its primary emphasis upon real-world small business accounting and bookkeeping, skills you can put to work right away. You will have an incredible edge in servicing your client’s business that is taught nowhere else. The Professional Bookkeeper program’s marketing module teaches you how to find paying clients easily. You will learn to service their accounts efficiently and keep your clients pleased with how your unique talents give them an understanding of their business that makes them more profitable.
Learn How the Marketing Method Taught in the Professional Bookkeeper™ Program Gets You Clients Fast!
