The Accepted Authority

In this week’s episode we talk about how to approach the all-important opening conversation with non-referral based leads. By taking an approach that allows them to help explore and identify their own problems, you are able to build a position of trust and reduce the feel of the ‘pressure sale’ that leads to sales resistance.

Most consultants are very good at communicating who they are and what they do, but most potential clients aren't interested in that, until they know it's relevant. Being able to frame the answer to the question, "What do you do?" in terms of an offer, is much more engaging, much more relevant to the right prospect and much more effective in extending the conversation.
In this episode, I discuss the value of the offer and how to construct an offer in a way that captures your ideal clients' interest and gets them to want to know more. In consulting services, we have to focus on building a relationship that lasts, rather than making a sale. Using an offer, or a series of offers, in your marketing is a highly effective way to start a relationship and extend the conversation strategically, so that your ideal clients are drawn towards you and towards buying your services in a way that builds trust and credibility before ever getting to a sales meeting.
Discover more at https://businessflightpath.com

In many consulting firms, marketing is an activity that is often delegated to a junior person, or someone whose job it is to publish content to increase the visibility of the firm. In this episode, I expose the futility of that approach and reveal from my personal experience, how I was able to overcome my own ineptitude around marketing and ultimately take responsibility for marketing so that it achieve the result of being the catalyst for our firm attracting premium clients consistently and predictably.
Taking personal responsibility for marketing in your consulting practice is a must, if you ever want it to be an activity that gets real results instead of an activity you are ticking the box on, because it's something you think needs to be done. In this episode, I discuss why most of us, as leaders in our firm, would rather abdicate our responsibility for marketing our consulting services. But also, I tell you about my journey out of the mire and show you how you can become responsible for marketing in a way that makes sense, as well as dollars from new premium clients.
Learn more at https://businessflightpath.com

There is a lot said about branding for your consultancy practice, so that buyers can be made aware that you exist when they need you. You want top-of-mind awareness so that when they have a need, they will come to you. And that’s a good thing.
Brand awareness is great when our clients have a need for what we do. We hope all the brand awareness activities we have engaged in will bring those clients to us.
But, one of the biggest mistakes I see owners of consultancy firms making is to focus all their marketing on brand awareness. What they should be doing instead is focusing on buyer awareness.
Brand awareness activities – focusing on what we do, the services we provide and the name recognition we try to achieve, mostly fall on deaf ears, because they have no relevance to our buyers, even though we know that most of them really need what we do.
Buyer awareness is about being the authority. As the authority, you influence the buyer’s journey to:
o Create buyer awareness
- Show you understand their situation
- Educate them about their problem and what happens if not attended to
- Show them your unique solution, based on your knowledge of what is best for them
- Highlight the outcome they will enjoy as a result.
o Build connection, trust, value and belief.

Slow down the sale – it’s about a relationship, not a transaction.
o Selling creates pressure which is responded to with resistance
o Relationship building creates trust and openness
Build a sales and marketing system that positions your firm as the authority for them, eliminates their resistance and has them trying to sell you on taking them on as a client.

Many consultancy firms suffer from inconsistent workloads which are the result of inconsistent lead flow. Inconsistent lead flow comes about because of the manual labour involved in the way most consultants attend to the activities required to generate new leads.
What if you could reduce the time and effort required to create lead flow?
In this episode of the Accepted Authority podcast, I reveal the process I have developed that has enabled me and my clients to create consistent and predictable lead flow and client sales flow.
One of the biggest factors involved in generating leads from marketing. compared to referral generated leads, is the lack of trust that is not there from the start like it is with referrals. That lack of trust is a major barrier to not only getting more leads, but to being able to convert those leads when they turn into sales meetings. In this episode, I reveal the six step system to building trust and authority with potential clients during their buying journey and how to influence them to want to buy your services, even before they come to your sales meeting.
Get more information on this process by downloading a free ebook, Strategic Authority Marketing at https://members.businessflightpath.com/sam-offer
Book a complimentary strategy session call with me to unpack your current sales and marketing processes and let me show you how to make improvements that enable you to gain more premium clients consistently and predictably at https://businessflightpath.com/ss