If the price is too low think
again. How many times have you heard that phrase? Now what if your close friend
or relative is offering you the low price, will you still think again? If a
stranger was to offer you the low price it is highly likely you will think
again. What is the key difference here? A friend offering you a laptop at $500
in good condition and a stranger offering you the same laptop in the same
condition for $400. You are more likely to buy from your friend, the key issue
here becomes trust.
If 2 suppliers are offering you
the same service at the same cost it is extremely likely you will choose the
one you trust the most. You may even pay higher and go with the supplier you
trust the most.
Trust is the most important
selling tool, the question then becomes how do you get clients to trust you?
Here are a few tips:
Prove your track record
Don’t just show nice pictures of
your work, explain what the project was about and how the process went. If you
have reputable and well known clients, be sure to mention you have worked for
them. Provide references and give the prospective client some flexibility in
references. For example instead of rigidly giving them contacts of previous
clients ask them who amongst your clients they would like a reference from.
This shows your confidence in your work helps building the trust you need to
sell. It also proves the good working relationship you have with your clients.
Another technique I often use is
by giving raw stats. When you are able to say it led to a 10% increase in
online sales or a 20% increase in conversions and you have some evidence to
back that, you are able to easily prove your work produces results. Nowadays it
is really difficult to sell if you simply show your portfolio of previous work,
how is this different from what every other web design company is doing?
Show your process
A clearly outlined process is
reassuring. It shows you know what you are doing, have done this before and are
not making things up along the way. It gives the client an idea of what is
expected of them for example will they provide a logo or will you do it for
them? For many people web design is complex and unknown process. Some probably
only have a rough idea of what they need, which is clearly not enough for you
to build a website for them. Walk them through your process so they can know
what is going to happen and when. Do you start with a wire frame? How many
revisions are they allowed? By outlining the process they can easily see the
way forward.
Be honest
We want to build a good working
relationship with clients, need referrals from them and want them to give us
repeat work. For example how about a maintenance contract after completing the
website?
A lot of the times we convince
clients by making them hear what they want. I will complete the website within
a week, while you know very well you have 3 other projects you are completing
this week. If the client has a tight budget offer them what you can in that
budget. Don’t be afraid of pointing out limitations of your work whether it is
constrained by the client’s budget or by your skills. Don’t burry costs, hide
extra charges like hosting and domains or even taxes. Never over promise and
under deliver. Always under promise and over deliver. This is a concept that I
always apply. Over time a lot of the referrals I have got from previous clients
has been because of that free logo I included in the design package or
promising 7 pages and delivering 10 because they had extra content. It’s not
hard to see why this concept works.
Honesty helps you build a
relationship with the client.
Build a relationship
A prospective client calls you
and asks you for a quote, you ask them a few questions over that phone call and
10 minutes later out goes the email with a quotation attached. Well the client
did call up a few other agencies as well and they probably did the same thing
you have done. If you want people to trust you and buy from you then you need
to talk to them face to face. When a client calls you ask for a meeting. It
will go a long way in building a relationship. You don’t necessarily have to be
friends. But just a simple meeting to understand their needs for a website will
help you get that trust you need to sell.
I believe trust is the most
important tool for you to sell. It’s not easy to build trust but if you show
your track record, demonstrate your process, are honest about it and have a
good working relationship with clients it shouldn’t be difficult either.
0 comments:
Post a Comment