“I reach out to people on a regular basis and I go into meeting after meeting but most of the time I don’t get the business” – I hear this often from clients I work with.
Do you know how your prospects choose whom to go with after meeting yourself AND a bunch of your competitors?
Here’s the thing – there are two factors that make us lean towards certain people:
1. You feel they are genuine AND genuinely interested so you can TRUST them
2. You feel they UNDERSTAND you (even more important!) It’s basic psychology.
On No1 – asking questions helps but you also need to make sure that regardless of being professional, you are still who you are (it’s a fine line). We pick up authenticity subconsciously.
On No2 – you need to do thorough research to understand your niche market, instead of shooting in all directions.
Reading articles and looking at companies’ websites is not enough. Nothing like a first-hand experience in this context so here’s an idea:
Interview a number of people from your niche market – ask for 15 min of their time, say you are researching the industry and go in with specific questions that will help you truly understand their challenges. This will help you identify common pain-points and consequently can tailor your services to address them.