Assume Potential Customers Don't Know Anything About Anything Your prospects don't know the awards you've won or the flagship clients you've served. They don't know how reliably you've solved problems in the past. They don't know what to do next. You have to spell it all out for them.
By Daniel Priestley Edited by Dan Bova
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
It is useful to assume that your potential customers have no imagination and they are also not proactive.
Your customer does NOT know what you know. They don't know what their results could look like after working with you. They don't know what the process would entail. They don't know what has been achieved by other people in their position. They don't know what it would feel like to get a breakthrough in the area you can help them. They don't know what success would look like, feel like, sound like or the flow-on effects that would come to them after they got the results.
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Your potential clients aren't sure what first step to take. They are hesitant and confused. Unless you tell them clearly what steps to take, they will politely disengage to avoid doing the wrong thing. Your customer doesn't know why they would be getting on a call with you or why they should attend a workshop. They don't know if they can trust you or trust themselves even with small steps. You have to make it easy and obvious for them.
Many businesses assume that their customers can read minds. They assume that the customer has done their research, read the articles you wrote years ago, took notice of the awards you won and studied up on the product descriptions on the website. They also assume that customers are good at taking actions when they want something. "Surely the customer will call when they are ready" many businesses assume incorrectly. "If a customer want's something, they will go onto the website, click the link or send us an email" is the default plan many businesses are relying upon.
The truth is the opposite. Your prospects don't know the awards you've won or the flagship clients you've served. They don't know how reliably you've solved problems in the past. They don't know the industry jargon, they don't pick up on your subtle remarks about the quality of your work. Their world is noisy. They are distracted. They have hundreds of people communicating messages to them every day. They can only pick up on the clearest and most credible communication.
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They don't take bold, decisive actions. They don't pick up the phone when they should or send an email asking for support. They soldier on with their problems and deal with their struggles despite the fact that your business is just a click of a mouse away.
Your offer is great. You are a legend in your industry. Even still, make sure you communicate powerfully who you are, what you do, why it's valuable, who it's for, what can be achieved in what timeframes and why it's believable. Be more obvious.
You have to be the one to call them. You have to spell out the solution. You have to ask them the painfully obvious questions and then give them the micro-steps to get started working with you. Your next 100 clients are already on the fence, but you are waiting for them to make the first move. They won't — you have to. Assume that your customers can't read minds and they need your leadership and your business will thrive as a result.
