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Demonstrating value doesn’t end at the sale

by | Jul 31, 2021

Clients are usually the happiest with and most excited by your services when (and shortly after) they hire you. That’s when they’re most convinced that you can solve whatever problem or pain-point they’re currently facing and feel the relief of getting it off their plate. In that moment, they fully believe in the value of your services and truly think that whatever you’re charging is a fair fee to solve that issue for them. But, that excitement and trust slowly wane as they forget your wonderfully prepared sales pitch and the visceral pain of the original problem (because now you’re solving it).

The pain they hired you to solve will slowly be replaced by the pain of paying your invoices. And, if their perceived value of your services drops below what you’re charging, you’ll either have a very unhappy client (for project work) or get fired (for ongoing work). That is, unless you regularly demonstrate the value you’re providing and show that you’re better than the alternatives (eg, cheaper service providers, more glamorous service providers, DIYing it, not having anyone at all, etc).

Figure out what your value-add is: Before you can demonstrate your value to your clients, you need to know what they really value about your services. Your clients hired you for a reason and it’s usually slightly different than the services you provide. For example, you don’t hire a marketing agency because they really understand how to optimize Facebook ads, persuasive writing, and designing ad creative. You hire an agency to generate leads which increases your revenue. Optimization is important (spending less money is always better than spending more money), but the real value is the revenue marketing generates. Or, maybe they hired you because they value a specific aspect of your services like your speedy response time or niche industry expertise.

Highlight your service’s value: Connect the dots and explain to your clients howww you’re improving their life/business. Shine a light on it. That means recapping your advice, spotlighting progress (that you caused), reporting on your value-adds, and showing examples of how you’ve removed their previous problem from their life/business. For example, a marketing agency could take a basic marketing results report one step further by adding how much estimated revenue they created (eg an X number of leads * a Y% close rate * a Z average deal value).

Demonstrate your expertise: You can also highlight your expertise, knowledge, and authority by creating a lot of smart content (eg podcasts, blogs, a highly-reviewed small business newsletter 😉, etc), building a community that your clients can benefit from, or giving regular talks and winning awards. Highlighting your expertise indirectly increases your value, in comparison to your competition. It shows that you’re smart and were the right person to hire.

Communicate: Providing painless, unobtrusive service that your client is happy with doesn’t mean you should work in absolute radio silence. Unless you were specifically hired not to exist (kinda like James Bond), your client wants to know you exist because they’re paying for you to exist. Send regular, polite and useful updates. Keep them in the loop.

Managing expectations: If your client is expecting the moon and you’re only delivering Mount Everest, there’s going to be a perceived value mismatch. Set clear expectations and deliverables when you onboard a new client, but continue to keep them in check throughout the engagement. Just like there’s scope creep, there’s also expectation creep as your clients slowly expect more and more out of your services.

Action Item: Go thru your client list, figure out what each client values in your services, then briefly mention how you’re solving it on your next call with them.