What makes your client prefer your services?
Teleconference meeting © Jacob Wackerhausen
Since my Building Trust post, I have felt uneasy about having over-lectured on trust, but, having neglected to stress why it’s so important.
No handshake? No lunch?
Trust is more necessary than ever because most of the communication between two parties is held sitting in front of machines. The normal conversation cues are missing, or at best blurred by a skype image. To make matters worse, it may well be between people that may be worlds apart and will never meet in person.
Barring the difficulties, those who learn how to build trust within remote network relationships open themselves to a sea of opportunities. The rewards are twofold: to be able to tap into a world pool of (work) relationships, as well as, to reach an unlimited world audience.
What makes your client prefer you?
Technology or no technology, trust has been all along the most important factor that gets you past the finish line to the coveted service contract. At the end of the long client selection process, he will most likely have to choose between your offer and that of another excellent provider.
After your client has exhausted his technical abilities to sort out the final candidates for the job, he has many reasons to feel insecure. The fact that he may prefer you over your competitors is a reflection of how well you have appeased his worries:
- He is afraid that he will lose control
- He is anxious about his secrets
- He feels ignorant
- He is worried about the risks
Although, he recognizes by now that he needs outside help, he is afraid that he will lose control. If you have been presenting alternatives and asked him to decide along the way, you are making him feel that he will continue to be in control.
He is also anxious because he knows he will have to show you some of his company’s secrets, and some of his dirty laundry. Have you made it evident that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas?
He evidently needs you because he doesn’t know enough about the issue. In this venue, he feels that you may be enlarging the problem. Does he feel that you know his company well enough? Have you been educating him along the way? Is he feeling that you have honestly presented him with well informed alternative paths to solving his problems? Are you telling him about what has worked with other clients? Does he feel that his decisions are well substantiated?
He is worried about the risk that this new endeavor represents. If this thing blows up, it will be in his face. Can he count on you? Are you helping him to look good with his boss? Do you handle yourself in a professional manner? Do you schedule and stick to your appointments? Can you demonstrate an outstanding delivery? Do you promptly return his calls? Will you be available all the time? If not, whom?
To sum up. You need to develop trust to reap the opportunities arising from the remote encounters that technology is making so ubiquitous. You also need trust to gain the edge to get your clients to sign the deal, or to prefer you over the competition.
