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To Gain a New Client, You’ll Have to Break 2 Bad Habits
The phone rings. It’s a new, potential client calling. You answer, “This is Joan Advocate. May I help you?” The client, Juanita, is relieved to hear your friendly voice. She launches into her story about the doctor not listening to her, and that she can’t fill her prescription because it’s too expensive. Then she asks if you can help her. “I’ll do my best!” you reply. Then you begin to address Juanita’s challenges. “Let’ talk about your doctor not listening. Have you tried writing down your questions before you go to your appointment?” No – Juanita has never tried that. “Good idea. I’ll give that a try,” reports Juanita. “But what about my prescription?” “Is it possible there is another drug in the same class? Or even a generic? Sometimes you just need to ask your doctor about those possibilities. He may not realize the one he prescribed is too expensive.” “Thank you so much,” Jaunita answers. “Great idea!” So then, because you know it’s a necessary evil, you ask, “Juanita. You can see I’ve been able to help you. Would you be interested in hiring me to be your advocate?” “What do you charge for your services, Joan?” …. And there we are. The dreaded “how much does it cost?” question. After you tell Juanita what you charge, Juanita thanks you profusely for your help, hangs up the phone, and once again you are frustrated because you weren’t able to convert a call into a paying client. What went wrong? At least two things… Let’s look at these bad habits of yours to figure out how to fix them. Bad Habit #1: Giving Away the Milk We’ve explored this before; the concept of “why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?“ Look at the conversation above. Juanita posed the problems, and you gave her possible solutions. So why would Juanita want to pay you now that she knows what to do, and can do both of those things herself? She won’t. Not convinced? Then let’s look at it differently. Suppose your hair has become difficult…