In one of my blogs, I suggested how to respond to a call from a tyre kicker in order to position yourself. The second mistake the bookkeeper made was not positioning herself in the first meeting.
Positioning means you’ve set up the expectation that the prospect is going to be empowered around his finances. You come prepared with a fabulous PowerPoint presentation, but before you explain who you are, what your experience and qualifications are, what systems you use to guarantee the quality of the work and what reports you will provide, you need to find out about his business. So you ask questions and gather information.
You spend about 20 minutes discussing his bookkeeping needs, issues and priorities. All the while assessing what the solution is. You spend 20 minutes doing a Health Check of the data file diagnosing the problems and how you’re going to correct them. It doesn’t occur to him to tell you what the problem is and how to fix it. Because you have positioned yourself as the expert, he is guided by you.
You’re like a nurse in triage. You’re the expert. Imagine if you had a patient rushed to emergency with a gaping wound and bleeding profusely. You do what you’re trained for. You ask pertinent questions and assesses the injury to determine the level of the emergency and treatment. It’s absurd to think that the patient would tell you what the problem is, how to fix it, how long it should take for the treatment, how much it will cost and when he will pay!
Why do you allow your clients do that to you? Bookkeeping is a skill like any other. You’re the expert. Not the client. Positioning yourself from the first phone call will give the client confidence in your skills and he will, therefore, pay you what you’re worth and according to your terms.
Article by Debbie Roberts
