How do you do that?

This page discusses how we work, which is quite different from most marketing and sales training sites.  Most of those sites are focused on theories that come from the outside.  On this site, we teach you to turn that focus inward -- at least at the beginning -- to discover just what your clients really value about what you do.

After all, who knows your "value proposition" better than the people who are willing to pay you for your services?  If that concept makes sense to you, then you will love this approach.

Imagine really talking with your clients (or having someone else do that for you) to discover your true Unique Selling Proposition.

 

How we work.   We grow your business by leveraging the power of your Raving Fan clients.

Are your Best Clients Holding You Back?

            While most marketing programs focus on what you do, and then try to

               present this image to your prospects . . .

            We focus on your best clients to discover — from their point of view

               — what THEY think is valuable about what you do . .

            Then we take it two steps further to help your clients put a dollar

               value on the results they get — and to discover how you can provide

               even more value in the future.

            Ironically, your best clients might actually be holding you back from

              getting to the next level and growing your business.

How is that possible, if they are your best clients? Aren't they the ones who love you after all? Aren't they the ones who have gotten the most from your services? Don't they tell you all the time that you are the greatest?

While all that is no doubt true about your best clients, not to mention that they also pay you well and on time and don't nickel-and-dime you to death, your clients may not be doing all they can to build your business.

Here are some reasons why your clients might not be helping you:

             Because you asked them for a testimonial. Asking for a "testimonial" is literally,

               "The Kiss of Death." You will find an article on that in your free Raving Fan Starter Kit.

             Because you never asked them! Not for a referral nor for a testimonial. You have relied 

               on them coming forward on their own. Why don't you ask?

             Because it is awkward. And, if truth be told, you are afraid what they will tell you.

                Ask yourself this questions. "How many referrals have I gotten this year?"

                Then look at all of your clients and determine the ratio of referrals to customers.

                Sad isn't it?

             They have not "Done the Math,"  when it comes to your work with them. While they

                love what you do and have an inkling that is provides real value, until they actually say the

                words themselves they do not really own the fact that your services contribute to their

                bottom line.

             They do not know how to tell your story. Think about it. Would you expect your own

                salespeople to "wing it" when they made sales calls? No, you would train them as to

                what to say, when to say it, and how to say it. You have to train your evangelists by

                helping them develop their success story.

             They actually tell the wrong story! Have you ever given the name of one of your best

                clients to a prospect to call? Have you ever lost that sale that you thought was clearly "in

                the bag?" Your best client might have sabotaged your sale even though they had the best

                intentions of helping you. Giving a prospect over to your best "untrained" client is a little

                like playing with a loose canon, sometimes it blows up in your face.

             They don't want to share your story. Have you ever had a client who wants to

                keep you a secret from their competition? They see you as a competitive edge and they

                don't want anyone to know about you. Hmmm, hard to get referrals here, eh?

             They can't tell your story! Unfortunately, this often happens with larger corporations,

                especially if they have big fat legal departments. What is the easiest thing for a legal

                department to say to your testimonial request? "No!"  But there are ways around this

                prohibition. Sometimes they don't work, but if you sell in this kind of marketplace you had

                better find one that works!

             They are embarrassed to tell their story.  This happens a great deal with personal or

               even business coaching clients. Maybe what you helped a client with something that was

               deeply personal. Again, there are ways to make your client very comfortable and even

               eager to share their story, but it requires some delicate handling.

             You have not made it easy to tell your story. Do you LOVE to write? I think you will

               find that most people would rather have teeth pulled, than have to sit down and write your

               story. Yet we continually ask -- no beg -- clients to write out a testimonial for us. We

               finally give up and write it ourselves for them to sign. Have you ever wondered why your

               testimonials all sound the same?

             You have not given them a way to tell your story to LOTS of people with ease.

               Most of your top clients are very networked individuals. They have business, professional,

               social, political, neighborhood, hobbyist, sports, and family networks of people who could

               hear your story. But you must give them a really easy way to share the story with others,

               without it looking like they are "selling themselves" and intruding on their network.

             Most importantly, and this is the real essence of what you will study

               here, you have not figured out an honest-to-God win-win-win for your clients to tell

               YOUR story to others. Why a win-win-win? Because your story needs to show how you

               won, how they won, and how the people they are connected to won. So in a business

               situation, it is not just your customer's results that are important, it is your customer's

               customers' results. Get it? If you are a personal coach, don't think this does not apply to

               you. If you helped someone personally, how did they, in turn, benefit others?

 

Ok, I didn't not list all these issues to depress you.  

There is most certainly hope to turn all this around. And you can do so without pain, embarrassment, manipulation, or deceit. That is what this site is dedicated to. You can and will get good at this, if you apply yourself here. And if you are not up to the task yourself, you can have someone else do it for you! (But you will get ever so much more from this, if you learn the techniques yourself!)

A new way of talking with your customers:
 

What you will learn on this site comes from the Real World.  I have spent over 25 years of interviewing customers, so the techniques you will learn on this site were developed "in the trenches," talking with real customers in the real world. I have interviewed well over 1,000 customers in my career, and I continue to do so each week. This is not THEORY. This is reality.

"Oh yeah?  Well let's see this HOT SHOT in action!"

The best way to understand this process is to simply listen to some interviews If you click on our Showcase Page, you can see, hear or read examples of real interviews done personally by Bill Metcalf.  From powerful celebrity business interviews — like the CEO of AOL Europe, Philip Rowley to a touching working mother — you will hear how different these kinds of stories can be.  And you will experience the real power of being able to hear clients express their thoughts in their own voices.

But Remember!
This site is not just about getting testimonials!

The techniques you learn on this site will help you with ALL of the following:

• Raise your fees.

• Close more new sales.

• Sell more to current clients.

• Stop wasting time on proposals.

• Find your Unique Selling Proposition.

• Create an endless stream of referrals.

• Turn your customers into Raving Fan Evangelists.

• Develop co-marketing opportunities with clients.

For those of you who are ready to dig in and start working, we have 2 ways to help you:

1. Have Bill Do It For You (Click Here!) Don't have the time nor the desire to learn to do this yourself? No worries. Bill still does consulting work with clients every week to conduct interviews. He has several "packages" available to meet most any budget.

2. Private Coaching (Click Here!) Once you have some interviews under your belt, whether you do them yourself or with help, you may want some help in deploying and sharing these stories. Bill can help guide you and develop specific strategies to dominate the vertical markets of your choosing. He can also help you set up and sell co-marketing opportunities with your best Raving Fans.

Where to next?
I know Bill has helped others, but Bill help me?

Check out the "Is This You?" Page and you will discover all the different folks Bill has been able to serve. Click here to find out.

 

What have Bill's clients learned about themselves and their customers from these client conversations?

 

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John Lafferty
Outsourced Chief
Financial Officer
"When I work with a client my focus is solely on them.  I didn't have a good handle on what my clients truly value from my work. These interviews have been a real eye-opener for me. They have mentioned things about me that I would never have thought of.
 

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John Corr
International High Level Management Consultant
"I compete against the Accenture's and McKinsey's of the world.  And I often think, "Hell on Earth, how can I convince CEOs
of billion dollar companies, like Time Warner, to hire me over them?" These interviews fly low to the ground and capture what's underneath the superficial and mundane.  They reveal the real value of what I offer clients.""
 

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Click Here watch full length success stories of Bill's own Raving Fans!