The most important conversation you can have is the autopsy of the clients you didn’t get. We all like talking to the clients that love us, but it’s the client that you didn’t get that will give you the most valuable information about what’s missing. And they’re very anxious to tell you if you ask. But you have to ask genuinely. When I tell my clients I want you to send me a pat on the back and tell me what you love about me, not one of them does. But when I say I really want them to rip things apart, I get responses. I’m sincere about it and I genuinely want to know.
Your clients and future clients must feel that free to tell you.
And if the conversation leads you to discover that you lost that client because they jumped to the conclusion that they couldn’t afford you, it’s just because you need to work it out with them. You want to find out if it’s really a question that they can’t afford it, or if it’s a cash flow problem? Almost every time, it’s a cash flow problem, so I say let’s work that out.
— “Let’s meet first and if there’s a good fit, I will not let money get in the way.”
That’s the language I use. What I don’t want to leave them with or have stuck in their head is, I don’t know if I can afford you. What I want in their head is, Mark will work it out if it makes sense. You want to leave your client with a feeling that they can trust you and you will take care of them.
And all of that exists in conversation.