Create a Preference for You and Your Solution In 26 Ways

To land your dream clients, you need to create a preference for you and your solution. It won’t happen without a plan. Here are the questions you need to answer and the things you need to do to create that plan:

Insights and Outcomes

1. What do you know that can help your prospect or client produce better results than they are producing now? How do they know you have ideas to improve their performance?
2. What outcomes can you improve if you are given the opportunity to discuss change? Does your client or prospect know and believe that you have these ideas?
3. What have you shared that would give your client or prospect the belief that you are the person who can help them the most when it comes to their business?
4. Are you considered a peer and a trusted advisor when it comes to the areas where you serve your clients and prospects? Does your knowledge cover a gap in the knowledge they need to  produce better results?
5. Would your client or prospect say that you are the person best equipped to help them compete and win in their market?

Presence

1. Be likable. Have a personality. Have a sense of humor. Be human, and allow other people to be human.
2. Who inside your client or prospect account knows you?
3. What do you know about their individual needs? Would they know that you know what they need, and how they think about it?
4. What do you know about their preferences when it comes to the business? Would they understand that you are aware of what they want done and how it needs to work for them specifically?
5. What do you know about them personally?
6. How many people have you spent time with within your client or prospect’s business?
7. How many times have you called to thank your client or sent them a thank you note apart from email?

Trust

1. Do you follow up and keep the promises and commitments that you made at each stage of the process?
2. Are you honest about the time, effort, and resources that it will take to execute the change that your client or prospect needs and that you are recommending?
3. Are you present and available to help when your client or prospect has problems, or do you wait until they are resolved before you engage them?

Understanding Change

1. Do you proactively bring your clients and prospects new ideas that can help them produce better results?
2. Do you know where each of the stakeholders inside your client or prospective client is in regards to change? Where are they in the buying process and what do they need?
3. How do you help them build the case for the change they need inside their own organization? Do you know how and when to help them navigate their internal processes?
4. Do you know how to help your client or prospect protect the investment they need to make when purchasing is involved? Do you know how to engage their professional buyers in a way that ensures they get the outcomes they need?

Differentiation

1. Do you know how to differentiate your company and your offering in a way that positions you to be preferred?
2. Can you tie the way you create value to the better results your client needs in a way that compels them to choose you, your company, and your solution over your competitor’s?
3. Can you explain how your solution produces greater results than competitive solutions or alternatives?

Process

1. Do you have a process for collaborating with your client to ensure that you can help them with a solution they can support and that they will own—and defend—through the sales process?
2. Do you take the time to resolve your client or prospect’s concerns to help them confidently move forward with the change they need? Do you provide them with the necessary proof?
3. Are you easy to do business with, making the negotiation of terms, conditions, and changes an easy process for your clients and prospects when this is necessary?
4. Do you follow up to ensure your client or prospect is achieving the outcomes, the results that you sold them? Are you accountable?