There’s no doubt that you’ll encounter more than your fair share of sceptics. You know, the people that don’t believe what you have to offer has any real value.
Most people are sceptical. That’s why much of the advertising we encounter has little to no effect. So how do you cut through the clutter and prove you’ve got the skills to get the job done?
Here are 3 suggestions on how to approach this:
1. Fish in the Right Pond
Some potential consulting customers will have little to no experience or interest in having someone like yourself help them with their business. Hey that’s fine. You can try to point them in the right direction, but if it becomes pretty clear that they’re not going to give you the time of day, move on.
There are plenty of business owners and company employees that understand they need help and are just waiting for the right consultant to come along. Target those people.
2. The Proof is in the Pudding
Give concrete examples of how your services and involvement has helped generate results in one form or another.
If you can paint this picture in terms relevant to the prospective client you’ll see better results. Example: You “helped reduce Company A’s costs by 25%.” Or helped them “double their sales” or “increased their website traffic every month”.
While I’m sure you’re a trustworthy person, your words alone will only get you so far. Testimonials and letters of reference from your clients, past employers…or anyone willing to ‘testify’ that you’ve helped to make things happen is a what you should really be showing clients.
Having others say good things about you is so much more powerful than you saying it yourself.
3. Eat the Risk
You need to step up and swallow the risk.
Unless you have a bulletproof set of accomplishments and people are knocking down your door to hire your consulting services, there’s little reason for business owner to believe you.
It’s not that they necessarily think you’re lying or making false claims. But until you show THEM first hand what you can do, they’ll remain a sceptic.
So what should you do? Offer them a guarantee. If they’re not happy with your results, they don’t have to pay. Or you’ll keep working at no charge until the results are achieved.
Whatever you arrange, reversing the risk by taking it off their shoulders and putting it onto yours says a lot about how confident you are in your consulting services.
There you have it, three ways to deal with sceptics.
*Update: If you’ve found this information helpful stay tuned. Based on our readers feedback we’ve developed, and are now putting the finishing touches on, a course all about Becoming a Successful Consultant. Coming soon…
