Read this at absolutely no risk to you

I know I repeat myself.
I know I repeat myself.
And I’m about to do it again.
I’ve stressed before the importance of removing (or lessening) the perception of risk in dealing with you or your business. It’s one of the most important parts of the sales process.
I’ve had a couple of experiences today that have really bought home this issue for us.
Case 1: I made a follow up call to a lady for whom we had provided a proposal for a possible web site. She said she was keen to go but just wasn’t sure. Her “wasn’t sure” was related entirely to her anxiety regarding the suitability of our proposal and, ultimately, her trust of us.
I talked her through the proposal one more time, focusing on the testimonials, the client names and numbers to call, our 100% guarantee, our client list and the suitability of our proposal to meet her needs.
I would like to finish that off by saying she said, “Okay, go ahead!” but she didn’t. Which means she probably won’t go with us (time is another big killer when making a sale. The longer the time between asking someone to buy and them making a decision the less likely are they to say “Yes” to your offer.).
Case 2: A client recently sold his business. The new owners had us in for a chat. The new guy started the conversation with “This conversation won’t get back to the old owners will it?”
It wasn’t as though the new guy said anything ‘bad’ about the old owners (to the contrary, he was complimentary), it was just that he recognised the importance of keeping his business strategies confidential.
Commercially Confidential
Of course all of our dealings with clients are commercially confidential. It’s a gimme. And I should recognise better the importance that our clients are aware of that.
Once I’d reassured the new client of our discretion, then he happily spoke of his vision for the business.
And then it got me thinking that there would more than likely be previous clients who have sold their business and the new owners have been reluctant to use us because of that perception of risk associated with us blabbing to the old owners.
We’ll reduce the perceived risk better next time by informing any new clients that our discussions and work is all subject to the strictest codes of discretion.
Regards
Brendon