In the past fortnight I have had two separate conversations with people who are now charging prospective clients for initial meetings. It comes as no surprise to learn that they are also both on the same ‘entrepreneurial coaching’ journey.
I have previously played with the idea of charging prospective clients for a first meeting, but for one reason or another – fear mostly – have not followed through with it. Yet it makes a lot of sense.
If we try to screen clients by telephone, or at a first meeting, it is time-consuming and expensive. All too often we are spending too long talking to the wrong people. There are still too many ‘tyre kickers’ or those trying to negotiate fees.
Yet these days we have all the resources we need to provide prospective clients with everything they need to know about us and about our services. Websites with video, brochures, DVDs and loads more besides. And all at relatively low cost. What more could any prospective client want to know that you cannot deliver remotely? We no longer need to be present to deliver our pitch.
In reality we do not need TV-quality production levels, or printed material that matches the quality of the largest companies. However, with the resources available to us, we are probably only a hair’s breadth away from those levels of production quality anyway. What might let us down is the quality of the language used in our communications. Copywriting is an art form in my opinion.
Which is why I am enrolled on two copywriting courses this year. Most of what I do is communication, and a lot of it involves the written word, even if it is subsequently spoken. I do not know about you, but I surf the internet looking at websites of my peer group. Graphically I see some marvellous stuff but the content often makes me shudder. Our own website copy is not much better either, I hasten to add.
In preparation for these copywriting courses I have been reading as many books as I can lay my hands on about advertising and copywriting. Some comments really stand out as so basic and common sense you wonder why we make the mistakes that we do. Brochures and websites act as our salesmen, yet we use language that we would never use verbally. Too often it is all about us, but if you met someone that only talked about themself you would soon switch off.
I am fascinated by the way we communicate with each other, particularly the written word. It is such a powerful medium yet we have allowed ‘compliance’ and ‘regulator’ language styles to dominate the way that we communicate to clients and prospective clients. And it shows.
Long story short: if we can communicate better with people ‘offline’ we can provide them with almost everything they need to know before they ask for a meeting. And on that basis they should be happy to pay for it.
If we can communicate better with people “offline” we can provide them with almost everything they need to know before they ask for a meetingDennis Hall is managing director of Yellowtail Financial Planning
