Pure Bookkeeping Co-Founder, Debbie Roberts was exactly like you.
But, before I explain why, it's important to know fear is holding you back.
From what you ask?
Well, everything.
Whether it's your marketing, cutting bad clients from your bookkeeping business or in your overall life, fear is paralyzing you from experiencing the true success and pleasure you deserve.
How do you get past that?
Well, one remedy is having confidence in yourself.
Debbie didn't have much of that at all.
That's why she was exactly like you.
But, she got better. Here's her take:
When I started my bookkeeping business I was like most other bookkeepers and lacked confidence in so many areas, particularly when it came to marketing myself.
Of all the bookkeepers I’ve spoken to over the years, there is a tiny percentage who actually enjoy it. In order to create momentum around the marketing and to grow my business more systematically,
I had to face those fears, create systems and fake confidence until I felt confident.
I understand how difficult it can be when you’re starting up, to walk into a prospect meeting and talk confidently about your value proposition and what that’s worth to the client. Working with Pete (her business coach), I began to appreciate the difference between the cost of a bookkeeping service and the value that has to the clients. I loved being in the business of empowering business owners around their finances and I understood the tool we use to do that is bookkeeping.
And it doesn’t matter if a task takes you 30 minutes or 3 hours.
What matters is the perceived value to the client.
There are a couple of things I did to build confidence when talking to a prospect.
Firstly, I had to create a document that would describe me, my mission and the value to the client.
Because I lacked confidence, without a document, I found that I often forgot to say the important things so the conversion rate was not as high as it could have been.
So we created the PowerPoint presentation that’s in the Pure Bookkeeping System (PBS).
The second thing I needed to do was fake confidence.
That meant facing my fears.
My confidence grew with each presentation. And because I was prepared, I didn’t have to think about what I was about to say next so I could focus more on the prospect and think about ways I was going to be able to solve their problems. As my confidence grew, so did the conversion rate.
So be prepared for your prospect meetings.
Think about and create your vision and mission statement and core values.
It’s really important to be clear about the reason you are growing your business and to develop a presentation which inspires you. If you are inspired, the prospect will see that. And your enthusiasm is infectious.
Clients will want to have you on their team. Once you’re prepared, you may also need to face your fears and fake confidence until you feel it.
The more presentations you deliver, the more confidence you will get and the more clients will feel confident that you know your stuff and they can trust you.
And by the way, if you lack confidence in other areas of your business, the process is the same.
Be prepared, use the PBS or create your own system, fake confidence and take action to face your fears.
Then confidence will come.
Well said Debbie. Thank you for the insight.
What are you going to do about your lack of confidence?
Are you going to let it rule your bookkeeping business?
The choice is yours.
If you'd like to learn more about the PBS, click here.
To your success,
Michael
