The 4 things every business owner must know – Parts 3 & 4

 Marketing, Value  Comments Off on The 4 things every business owner must know – Parts 3 & 4
Jun 142012
 

#3

You must communicate the idea of an Ideal Client Relationship. What is an Ideal Client Relationship (ICR)? Well, it’s different for everybody. It consists of a series of behaviors that you want your best clients to exhibit in their relationship with you. Think of the way that your very best clients interact with you. These interactions are the basis of ICR.

Here is our ICR behavior list for Strategic Adventures:

  • They see the value of a long term engagement with us
  • They provide us with a testimonial
  • They follow our advice and recommendations
  • They experience a measurable outcome
  • They use us multiple times for different services
  • They respond to proposals in a timely manner
  • And they refer others to us

Now, I have yet to have a client fall into my lap that did all of these automatically. It would be nice if the world worked that way. So how do we get clients to start behaving this way? We let them know that this kind of relationship is possible.

Ultimately, the responsibility is on you. You have to make the relationship happen, it is a two way street after all. Let use the our second ICR characteristic as an example: They provide us with a testimonial. In order to get a testimonial you have to do at least two things.

1. You have to do great work for your client that is worthy of a testimonial

2. And you have to ask your clients for the testimonial.

You have to do the work to get ICR’s.

#4

You must communicate the possibility of an ICR with the Qualified Prospects we identified in #2. That’s all there is to it!

 

What are your ICR characteristics and how are you communicating them?

 

Paul

http://www.strategic-adventures.com/content/business-plans

The 4 things that every business owner must know, part 2 of 4

 Marketing, Value  Comments Off on The 4 things that every business owner must know, part 2 of 4
May 232012
 

The second thing that every business owner must know is that you must communicate with qualified prospects. Not all prospects are created equal, which means that not everyone with a pulse is a potential client. So who is a qualified prospect?

There are three criteria for being considered a qualified prospect.

1. The prospective client must have a need for the service or product that you are selling. Contrary to the teachings of many sales training programs, Eskimos really have very little need for ice…

2. The prospective client must be aware of their need for your product or service. It is often your job to give them the opportunity to become aware of their need, using a little something we call marketing. If they are not aware of their need they will see no reason to contact you to take you up on your offer.

3. The prospect must be able to pay for you to satisfy their need. This is often an overlooked component of what constitutes a qualified prospect. The true qualified prospect has the ability to make the financial decision required to purchase your solution.

All of your marketing efforts should be going towards getting your message out in front of more and more qualified prospects.

Who is a qualified prospect for you? What need are you trying to fill?

 

Paul

http://www.strategic-adventures.com/content/business-plans

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