Are you struggling to win or retain more clients?  If so, you may need to consider who your client’s are being influenced by. The human dynamic is interesting. We often seek the feed-back, advice, support, approval or a simple thumbs-up from important people in our lives about a variety of issues whether business or personal. Ever noticed how often you consult with key people in your life when you’re making a big decision?  For many of us, the decision doesn’t have to be that big at all in order to seek counsel from friends, colleagues, family or our significant other.  As an entrepreneur, I bet you’ve encountered the very same situation with your ideal clients or customers. When you are at the point of signing on a new client or closing the sale with a new customer:  have they ever put a pause or a complete halt in the process to “check with” someone they trust? Yeah, I thought so.  This person is their key influencer. If you’ve ever had clients say: “this sounds great…but I just need to run it by so and so (insert the name of their key influencer), then you’ll want to keep reading. I’ve put together a checklist of steps to help you get more ideal clients by winning over their key influencers in a non-pushy, non-threatening yet super effective way.

 

Before I get into the list, allow me to caution you about why it’s important to win over the key influencers of your ideal clients. First and foremost, if you want to win over your ideal clients, you must also win over the people who they trust and rely on for approval, feedback and advice. Second, if you want to win over your ideal client and their influencer you have to value the role that the influencer plays in your ideal client’s life or business. Down the road, “Influencer X”, may very well be your biggest asset or your worst liability. Third, put yourself in the influencer’s place. Can you understand how he or she might be feeling? Once you have addressed these issues, it will be a lot easier to work through the steps below. Here are the top four steps to win over the key influencers of your ideal clients.

 

Identify all key influencers around your ideal client. This is a simple yet complex task. Some people freely reveal who they consult with on decisions and some are hesitant to reveal who their key influencers are. Typically, the people who say they are the key or sole decision maker are being truthful. However, that doesn’t mean they don’t have influencers.  Considering that, you can politely ask: “is there anyone whose opinion or feedback you value that you might consult with on this decision?” If they answer yes, chances are, that person is a key influencer and may weigh heavily on the outcome of your ideal client’s decisions. Make certain that you have properly identified all of the important influencers that your ideal clients have.

 

List all possible objections held by the influencer.  This exercise is possibly the most valuable. It reminds me of a famous James Baldwin quote: “You can’t fix it, if you don’t face it.” If you know what the objections are or may possibly be you can address them. When asking your ideal clients who they rely on when making critical or big decisions, you can also ask them what the possible objections are that Influencer X might have. The purpose is to get everything out in the open.

 

Address objections first and fast.  Don’t delay when objections are raised. If you skim over objections of your ideal clients or their influencers, trust me the issue will resurface again. It’s best to deal with objections head on.  Discuss objections up front and fast. Even if you’re the type to avoid confrontation, challenges or problems, you don’t want to allow objections to hinder your ability to get new customers because you did not satisfactorily handle objections. The key is to show empathy and let the influencer know that you understand their position and their concerns.

Communicate benefits for all parties involved.  Here’s the sweet sauce. Once you have done all of the steps above, the next step is fun and rewarding. This is when you want to load up the value added items and bonuses. Take this time to communicate all of the benefits, advantages and additional perks for your ideal client and their influencer. This step involves making sure the influencer knows all of the ways  that your ideal client will benefit from working with you or buying whatever you’re selling. It’s important to get the influencer feeling like they are playing a supporting role in the outcome of your ideal client experiencing all of the great benefits that will unfold. The next crucial phase of listing benefits is to make certain that you have listed benefits to the influencer. After all, they’re waiting for you to tell them, what’s in it for them. So let them have it. Stack up as many benefits and perk that you possibly can for the influencer too.

Trust and believe, if you follow my simple steps for winning over and marketing to the influencer’s of your ideal customers and clients, you will be well on your way to getting more clients, retaining more clients and more repeat business! What’s the end result? You will have more revenue for your bottom line.

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This article is written by Lori A. Manns. Want to use this article for your website, blog or newsletter? No problem. Here’s what you must include: Lori A. Manns, CEO of Quality Media Consultant Group your marketing and sales success mentor, and founder of ABC’s of Successful Sponsorship Sales System;TM  that shows you how to get more sponsors and sales for your business, guaranteed. To purchase consulting  services on marketing, advertising or sales and, learn how to increase your revenue and grow your business; please visit www.qualitymediaconsultants.com.