The secrets of great client communication

The ability to communicate well is vital in all spheres of life – and for those in business, the way you communicate can be the difference between success and failure. In the first of a series of occasional blogs, our presentation trainer, Sue Carruthers gives the inside track on the secrets of great client communication – how to be more influential and make them want to buy from you instead of the competition.

In today’s fast paced and quick to judge society many people want a magic wand that will help them convince their customers (or potential customers) to buy their product.

What do you put on the front page of your website when you know people will only rest there for a few seconds before deciding to click away?

What is the first thing you say when your meet someone for the first time and only have a few seconds to grab their attention?

I can’t offer you a magic wand to improve your client communication, but I can tell you what will work nine times out of ten. It won’t necessarily make the big sale but it will make them ask the question you really want to hear – “That sounds interesting, tell me more”.

It’s all about benefits not features. The outcome and not the journey. Focus on what the other person will get from the product or service you are promoting and see their eyes light up!

Yes, I hear you say, I do that. But do you really? When we reflect back over what we say to our customers and potential customers we very often get bogged down in how we do it and give them a detailed account of the process we undertake.

We do this with good intent.

We are very passionate about our product and what we do so we want them to know all about it and how it works. We tell them how it came about, the steps we take to ensure consistency and quality, the process we use to work out which one will best work for them, the way it’s put together, etc. etc. etc.

When all the time what they are asking themselves is “What will it do for me?”

Let’s look at an example. Which is more appealing to you?

I am a plumber
Among other things, I fix leaks, put in sinks and baths and service boilers
I make sure that when you get up in the morning on a freezing cold day that you can get into a nice warm shower
I will give you peace of mind that your boiler will work throughout the winter so you can concentrate on the more important things in life.

I hope most of your will say the last two!

Why is this? It’s because the last two show the tangible and emotional outcomes of what you do.

We know that people make decisions in different ways – head, heart and gut feeling. The tangible outcomes are great for those who decide logically using their head and the emotional outcomes tap into the decision-making processes of those who are more heart and feeling driven.

Tangible outcomes are convincing; the emotional outcomes make it even more persuasive. Practice using both in your client communication, and I guarantee your will get many more potential clients saying “Tell me more”.