What Are You Really Offering Your Clients?
It’s an important question.
I was reminded of this the other day when I happened to see an email that was sent to a potential bookkeeping client by an accountant.
The email left the potential client confused and overwhelmed. And this is also how it goes when I see fellow freelance bookkeepers attempting to offer their services to their potential clients too, whether in person or in writing.
The email was intended as a way to persuade the potential client into doing business with the accountant by illustrating the services he had to offer. In his lengthy message he ran through a technical list of all the customized functions he could perform for the client.
Whenever we do that, we often defeat our purpose and snag far fewer clients than we could, for several reasons:
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- We don’t realize we are using our own accounting jargon, which the vast majority of our clients don’t understand (Accounts Payable, General Ledger, Balance Sheet, Adjustments, etc.) They have no idea what we are talking about, and worse yet, it does not communicate ANY value to solve their problems
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- We tell them WHAT we can do laundry-list style, instead of demonstrating how we can truly BENEFIT their business. In an effort to show how experienced and knowledgeable we are, we often make what we do sound like a lot of work and complicated. Again, this defeats our purpose because it doesn’t communicate value to the potential client
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- We are oblivious to the true needs of our potential clients. Instead of asking questions and finding out what they really WANT, we tend to tell them all about us and what we do and what we think they need.
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Do you really know what you have to offer your clients? How is what you do for them different than what other freelance bookkeepers offer?
If you don’t know the answers to those questions, you will be treated as a commodity, just like any other bookkeeper they can find online.
Likely, more than a few of your potential clients will try to get your rates as low as possible, since your services provide nothing of particular benefit to them, at least none that you are communicating.
And that’s the crux of the problem. Do YOU know what unique VALUE and BENEFITS you are providing for your clients? It is impossible to offer value that your clients will be willing to pay for if you are not crystal clear about the value you provide them yourself.
In my own business history, I’ve found it extremely helpful to come up with a short “elevator speech” which is what you say to someone that you meet in person who asks you, “What do you do?” It is a short blurb you give to help show WHO your ideal client is and WHAT you do for them.
But I think we need to dig deeper and know what our core offer is that we are offering as individuals and as a business. In fact, here’s a great short video I saw by Jim Edwards (my own marketing mentor) that really boils it down to four main components. These help you enter the conversation that is going on inside your client’s head when they are considering hiring you to do their bookkeeping. It’s definitely worth watching.
“Your #1 Business Problem” (6 min video)
And according to Jim, you have to be able to communicate what you have to offer in only 3-5 SECONDS! Wow! But if you think about it, that’s what Federal Express has done, and it’s easy to remember. That’s very powerful.
“When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight”
Companies sometimes come up with a slogan that communicates their true offer (and sometimes they don’t) So it got me thinking about what my own true “sweet offer” is. Hmm…
It really takes some thought to come up with just a few well-chosen words that “say it all” about what we have to truly offer our clients.
So, I’ve decided that it’s time to come up with a laser-targeted short phrase for my own business. Care to join me? What is the essence of the VALUE you provide your clients that you can express in 3-5 seconds?
We can do some brainstorming and then share ideas and compare notes. I’ll also do a follow-up post when I’ve come up with just the right “sweet offer” for my own business and share it with you.
It sure does seem that we can always improve how we communicate to our clients and our prospective clients. And being able to get absolutely clear on what VALUE we have to offer is probably one of the most important bits of communication we all really need to master.
What do you think? How do YOU communicate what value you provide your clients that sets yourself apart from all the other freelance bookkeepers in your area?
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9 Responses to “What Are You Really Offering Your Clients?”
John Thomas on August 10, 2010
Gabrielle,
How about “I show businesses how to add at least twice as much profit to their bottom lines as my services cost or my services are free”?
I’m thinking that may meet all of Jim’s criteria.
Or, “I show companies how to save at least twice as much in taxes as my services cost or my services are free.”
Or, “I help businesses get accurate data so they can see areas of opportunity to dramatically boost their bottom-line profits.”
Thoughts on these?
- John
Gabrielle on August 12, 2010
Hi John,
The intent of your ideas is good – to provide some tangible value to the client.
Something to consider, though…. if you do a… “you get X or my services are free” you (1) need to make sure that you can absolutely deliver on the promise. Otherwise, it could backfire and hurt your reputation. On promises like saving taxes or increasing profits, you may not have as much control over what the client’s results are, especially if they are not following the advice that you give them that would produce those results… and when that happens, they will blame you. Also, (2) the feeling of these first two ideas also hit me as though you have too much competition, if you’re willing to offer it for free if you can’t deliver. That turns your service into a commodity.
Now, that’s just how it hits me, for what it’s worth. It may not hit others that way. So my feeling is it would be better to not use an “or my services are free” type of offer. I’d love to hear others’ thoughts on this though, too.
BTW, I may be a little sensitive to this type of offer because some time ago I hired an expensive consultant for a specific outcome and his promise was that if we didn’t achieve the goal, he would give me up to 3 additional months’ consulting until the goal was realized. This was his results guarantee.
We were not able to reach the goal during the time I consulted with him (I later achieved it on my own!) but he reneged on his guarantee, saying it didn’t apply. In reality, it was an unrealistic goal for the timeframe, but his guarantee really did apply to the situation. I was left with a somewhat soured feeling and my confidence in his “expertise” was compromised since quite honestly, I felt he should have known what it would have taken to reach the goal if he was the “expert” he claimed to be.
Now the good news – I like the feeling behind your third idea because it is more realistic, and it could be used to position you as more than a bookkeeper. It shows that you will give support over and above a typical bookkeeper, acting more as a partner / consultant who really cares and helps the client USE the bookkeeping information. You are also leaving the responsibility for success on the business owner’s shoulders (where it should be). That is actually what is needed for so many small businesses (and they desperately want someone to talk to about their business). Many CPAs are not filling this need.
Business owners often view bookkeeping as a necessary evil that they don’t understand or don’t want to be bothered with, but if we can show them the HUGE opportunities on how to use their financial information to reach their financial goals and manage business better, we will get life-long clients.
Bottom line, whatever promise you (all of us) come up with, we’ve got to make 100% sure you can deliver on it.
Thanks for your input, and let’s keep THIS discussion going.
Ely Delaney on August 11, 2010
Gabrielle,
This is an awesome article. I can’t count the times someone comes to me trying to sell me their services and just rattles off what is easily seen as a script.
(Notice the mention of the word “trying”)
Thanks so much for a great share!
Ely
Robb Pryor on September 17, 2010
Gabrielle,
This was a really thought provoking article. I am still in the early phases of getting my business off the ground, so articles like this are really useful.
I am doing business as ‘Priority Tax & Bookkeeping’. The tag line that I have been thinking of using is:
“Your business is our priority.”
But after reading your article, I think something like:
“Helping you with your business is our priority”
Might have more punch to it. What do you think?
-Robb
Gabrielle on September 19, 2010
That’s a little better, Robb, but something with a clearer benefit that actually speaks to what your clients (specific to your ideal client, preferably) wants most would be better. They don’t really care what your priority is, but that you will solve their biggest problem. Maybe something like, “Avoiding costly tax audits is Priority #1″
That’s just off the top of my head, and you should spend a little time with it, but you can always improve it as you go along too.
If you can really understand what your clients want most and then give it to them, you will be miles ahead of your competition!
Lily Chambers on September 24, 2010
When someone asks me what I do I tell them “I handle the necessary bookkeeping and admin tasks for entrepreneurs so they can focus on growing their business instead of running it.”
Gabrielle on September 26, 2010
Yes, Lily. I’ve seen many tag lines that have a similar sentiment. I think it is a good one, since the focus is on benefiting for your clients. But something more specific would make it even more powerful. Maybe…”so they can focus on growing revenue and boosting their bottom line” If you can add a unique benefit that they might not get from other bookkeepers, that is best of all.
Karen on October 26, 2010
I like that Lily! I just might use that myself. This is a great article Gabrielle. I appreciate all the seemingly little details you give us that are truly important to growing ourselves and our services. Loved the webinar last week too. I totally appreciate that you give us steps we can take to move forward with the info. you provide. Making sure we listed to what the client really needs is SO important, otherwise, they probably don’t care what else we can do for them if we can’t accomplish what their #1 concern is. Thanks again for your help!
Gabrielle on October 28, 2010
You are very welcome, Karen! I’m glad the “call to action” is helpful. I’m a firm believer that nothing happens until we DO something. And for us, it’s easy to get caught up on the learning and the knowing, but not getting around to the doing, which is what brings the results. So I’m glad that you have sprung into action! Can’t wait to hear about your next adventure in freelance bookkeeping.