Being Upfront With Clients

Being Upfront with Potential Clients Can Be a Game-Changer

By Lenny Ventimiglia, Atlas Digital

Whether it’s in your personal life or at work, developing relationships start with trust. This holds especially true in the world of marketing and advertising.

The first job I had out of college was in a sales role for an NFL team. In a company that size, its sales training was about as good and thorough as it gets. We practiced daily, role-playing sales scenarios and constantly worked at perfecting our techniques. The one thing that was drilled into us constantly was getting the client to trust us. We had to open up about ourselves if we expected them to open up to us.

Shouldn’t we try to use the same approach in our marketing and advertising strategies? Our industry is personal. We are altering peoples’ image and how they feel about themselves. When somebody is at home doing research on how to address their hair loss, why should they trust your company to be the one to help them? One of the best things to do is to break down the walls between you and potential new clients. Don’t be scared to show some of the old “trade secrets”.

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Should I Show My Pricing?

Displaying the prices of your services upfront can be a tricky decision. If you are selling physical products or using e-commerce on your website, it is most likely necessary. However, if you are providing a service, you may not mention pricing at all until somebody comes into your place of business. So is it better to hide the prices of our services or to show them upfront?

On one hand, people will see the price and immediately define the value of your services. This can cause somebody to look at a price, tell themselves no, and look for a cheaper solution. They may not fully understand what you offer when they come to the conclusion that it’s “too expensive.”

On the other hand, there are consumers who won’t reach out to a company if they don’t know the price they’d be paying. If you are going to display your pricing, it is important to clearly show the value of what you offer. Information changes situations, so if you can define the value of your service better than your competitor, somebody may be willing to pay more to come to you.

Keep in mind your target audience. A younger audience may be more apprehensive to pick up the phone and call you and try to figure out your pricing. They’re more likely to price shop online and click through a bunch of different websites until they find what they’re looking for. An older audience might be more willing to give you a call and ask questions. If you do show your pricing, using qualifiers like "only," "just" and "starting at" on your price list can help make the consumer feel as though they are getting good value. If you want to take a big step toward building immediate trust with potential clients, telling them your prices can be

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effective. They might choose you just because you gave them information that others wouldn’t. Make sure you are able to explain the value of your product or service well if you plan on displaying pricing online. Answer Their Questions Before They’re Asked

One of the best things to do to build trust with a new client is to explain your process before they are in your chair. Think about the questions they’re asking themselves while they’re doing research and trying to find a solution to their problem. Maybe they’re asking things along the lines of:

“What kinds of results am I going to see?”

“How does it work?”

“What is this going to cost me?”

“What am I getting myself into?”

The more of these kinds of questions that we can answer, the better chance we have of getting a new client. If we get rid of objections beforehand and they know exactly what they should expect from you, it will be easier to make a sale when they come to see you in person. Using Video Content To Build Trust

Video content is a great way to knock out questions like these all at once. For example, you could post a time-lapse video from start to finish showing how you apply a hair system or put in hair extensions. In a short 1-minute video, somebody can learn what you do, what the before and after results look like, and what the process to get those results looks like. Don’t be afraid to show your process.

A rarely used video concept is a “what to expect” video. This is a video that could be used on a landing page that walks a potential client through the entire process of working with you. You can make the viewer feel as though they have already been in the building and know you.

Video testimonials are another great tool to use in your marketing. A quick video of one of your clients talking about what to expect when coming to your business and how it changed their life can help build trust immediately.

Video content is much more engaging than standard display or text content. Using videos like these prominently on your website or landing pages could be the difference between landing a new client or having them exit the page and going to a competitor's website. Video also allows you to fit much more content into a smaller amount of real estate on your webpage.

If two of our main goals in the sales process are to build trust and eliminate objections, what better way is there to do that than with transparency and answering questions before they’re even asked.