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This week’s issue is a 3-minute read.
Hi there, Solopreneur!
❄️ We had the first decent snowfall this weekend in Rochester!
⛷It finally looks like winter in my neighborhood, and I can’t wait to put the sleds, skis, and snowshoes into action.
50% of my ancestry hails from Norway (hence the ‘k’ in Erik), and snow makes me smile.
The fresh snow is giving me energy to create a new resource for you.
Your perspective is vital, and it ensures I’ll build the right product to fix your most pressing solopreneur challenge in 2024.
I appreciate you making a choice for this quick poll (click to vote on your choice).
I’ll share the results!
Is it Time for a Difficult (and Productive) Conversation with Your Prospects and Clients?
When you operate a solo gig, you want customers to love your product and value your advice. This desire is always with you, and it’s most visible in year 1.
When you start building your social media profile and conducting your discovery calls, chances are high that you ‘go along’ with your followers, prospects, and initial clients.
You might post only positive comments on LinkedIn, offer a few extra business services for free, or lower your pricing.
Each of these steps is to ensure your prospects say ‘yes’ and become clients.
I empathize with your desire to stay in the positive lane.
When I launched my financial services business, I gave away countless hours and insights to prospects.
I thought if I gave more, flexed to special requests, and agreed with their strategies, I’d win their business.
😕 I was wrong.
The extra time, effort, and nodding ‘yes’ to every sentence brought me frustration and disappointment.
When I shared my challenges with a senior financial advisor, she reminded me that business leaders possess a special quality.
They know how to have a direct and/or difficult conversation with their clients.
Clients come to you because they trust your insight, experience, and advice.
While they expect you to be amicable and kind, they also need you to be honest, direct, and accurate.
If you consistently praise every decision they make and shy away from delivering helpful, tough love, they might question your expertise and confidence.
👨⚕️ Consider health care specialists.
Doctors and nurses have years of training, and their patients rely on them for a treatment plan.
Imagine if you had a challenging health issue and your home remedies were not fixing the problem.
Your doctor gives you a check-up and says, “You can take these blue pills or these orange pills. Which one do you want?”
That’s not the medical advice you seek, right?
You want your doctor to give you a recommendation, support it with data, and tell you that your health will improve with this course of action.
The same is true for your interactions with prospects and clients in your solopreneur gig.
After you listen to your prospect describe their challenge and present their objectives, it’s up to you to build a solution and deliver it with confidence.
Your client may not like the answer.
Your client might think your advice is wrong.
Your client may not take your advice and express disappointment.
It’s natural to want your clients to like you, and it’s essential that they look forward to collaborating with you and your team.
Yet, one of the big mistakes I see with new solopreneurs is that they shy away from what they want to say and, instead, defer to the client for fear of causing an uncomfortable situation.
I encourage you to combine your personality with your business expertise. You can be friendly, funny, and direct.
Your prospects may not always agree with your recommendations or value your solutions, yet those that do will respect your insight and value your direct approach.
🔑 Takeaways
Conduct the research necessary to demonstrate how your solution improves your prospect’s challenge
Demonstrate why your pricing structure is competitive and appropriate given your education, expertise and quality of work
Deliver your recommendations with confidence and clarity
Illustrate how and why your product and service can fix your prospect’s challenges and make your clients excel in their niche
Should you have any challenges with embracing those difficult client chats drop me a note and we can exchange ideas. erik@thinkaday.com
🔑 Stay curious and keep opening doors.
-Erik
Chief Strategy Fixer
