Bringing Value to Clients and Prospects

Do you feel like you’re getting “ghosted” a lot lately? Are you spending your day sending endless “Just checking in” emails or leaving voicemails? 

Perhaps it’s because you’re only sending messages that are about what you want. What if you think about it from your contacts point of view?

Becc Holland from Flip the Script has a great way to think about these interactions as making either deposits or withdrawals from your contacts. The only way to make a withdrawal is to first make a deposit, so you have to find a way to bring value to your contacts before you can expect anything in return.
Here is a short list of powerful deposits you can make for your prospects broken into four categories: People, Places, Things, and Ideas.

People

• Give them a Referral: The biggest possible deposit you can give any prospect is to refer a potential client to them. It shows you know their business, you value what they do, and you’re willing to give them potential new revenue before you even ask for anything. 
• Make an Introduction: Connect them with someone else in their industry or their city. They won’t forget it if you help them find a new resource for their work.
• Connect to Someone They Need: If they mention a need for a new HR director and you happen to know someone looking, perhaps you can connect them.

Places

• Invite Them to an Event: This shouldn’t be your company party, but some other kind of event that you think would peak their interest in their community - a fundraiser or civic event works well.
• Introduce Them to a Community: If they’re in Client Success, connect them with a community your Client Success team participates in. If they’re new to town, connect them with the chamber.

Things

• Send a Gift: This could be reserved only for those prospects you know extremely well, because it needs to be something targeted that will really resonate with them. 
• Suggest Books: If you’re selling into their industry, then you should know it pretty well. Suggest a book or two for them to read, or send them one that you particularly enjoy.

Ideas

• Provide a New Idea or Solution to a Problem: Again, this shouldn’t be something related to what your business is (i.e. don’t say that it looks like their internet is slow and you know how to fix it, if you’re an internet service provider). Always be listening to their pain points beyond the scope of your product and try to offer a solution.
• Share a Podcast/Webinar/Article: Link them to information about their industry, their pain points, their area of the country. Whatever it is, make it relevant to them, but not about you.