When marketing pros talk about a sophisticated clientele, what they are really talking about is attracting high-paying clients.
Based on 15 years of research in the field, my definition of a high-paying client is a client that will pay more than $10,000 for a service. Many will pay that much and more for a service.
Novelist Ernest Hemingway is responsible for a famous misquotation of fellow novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald. According to Hemingway, a conversation between him and Fitzgerald went:
Fitzgerald: “The rich are different from you and me.”
Hemingway: “Yes, they have more money.”
High-paying clients have more money and are more discerning than someone who will pay less than $1,000 for a service. Author Neil Rackham, who analyzed more than 35,000 sales calls to write his classic book Spin Selling, called it the large, complex sale. Others term these people as sophisticated prospects.
“Sophisticated prospects make a series of decisions in buying services, but the first decision is to buy from those who can solve problems,” says business development thought leader Scott Love.
Recently I caught up with Love to get his thoughts on how the sophisticated prospect is different. Today Love is a high-stakes headhunter for international law firms and has a high-paying clientele. I know him as a professional speaker for business groups who speaks on recruiting, retention and client development.
For those who deal with sophisticated prospects, Love says there are four keys to keep in mind when discussing your services:
- Value leads to trust, which leads to relationship. “Many people try to build a relationship first without showing value and without building trust,” says Love. “Many people think they must build a relationship first, but this is incorrect. You must earn the right to build a relationship by showcasing your value to them, and at that point you have gained access to the path that leads to a relationship.”
- Understand that you are not the only provider with whom they are speaking. “Differentiate yourself by asking intelligent questions,” says Love. “Probe more than pitch. Listen first for the problem, then show your services as a solution. The very notion of asking questions is so unique that it will actually differentiate you from your competitors. Further, your own uniqueness is magnified as you do so.”
- Lead them forward. “Once you sense that they see you as a solution to their problem, then discuss where you are headed in the relationship,” says Love. “Discuss the next step and ask for their permission to go forward. I refer to this concept as the two magic questions. Explain how you will go forward, and then ask them this: ‘Does that make sense?’ Assume that they respond affirmatively, then gain agreement and permission to go forward by asking this: ‘Are you okay working this way?’ By them giving you a verbal response, it heightens their commitment to you.”
- Give them a way out. “When you squeeze a prospect, then the prospect usually disappears,” says Love. “Hard core closing skills are what sophisticated prospects fear most. They are either going to work with you or not. If they are, then you increase the odds of getting their trust by showing them the exit door. I recruit partner level attorneys and I tell all of them something like this: ‘As we go forward, and if you believe my client’s opportunity is not for you, then please be honest with me. The only thing that counts in this whole process is that you do what is clearly in your own best interests. All I ask is that you are honest with me about what that is.’ When they see that your motivation is clearly aligned with their own self-interests, then they will trust you.”
A final piece of advice from Love. “You do not know the buying motives of prospects until you ask. If you ask them, they will tell you.”
