…The company or person they do business with they know, think they understand, mostly agree with, respect and admire, and are interested in. Your job is to help them feel as though you’re that person!
The best way to gain trust with your clients & prospects is to tell your story.
Why it’s important to tell your story
The one thing you have that nobody else has is YOUR story. Everybody has a story; no two stories are the same. There is a lot you can leverage in your story and no, you don’t have to share the details; you shouldn’t.
People want to feel as though they know the people they’re doing business with, today more than ever. Hence, the outrageous popularity of reality shows. Personally, I don’t get it. I don’t have an interest in reality shows, but that’s not important. Even if you don’t get it or like it, that’s irrelevant because a ton of your prospects and clients do! That’s all that’s important.
You should share your story with your clients. It helps them feel more connected to you, it allows them to relate. Some of the most successful campaigns I’ve helped business owners develop and profit from have had to do with their business’ story or their personal story.
It doesn’t even have to be your story directly; we’ve had business owners’ talk about their kids’ accomplishments or story. One client in Texas let people know that he and his daughter went on a missionary trip to South America. Today, people still regularly ask about his daughter.
Another kept people up to date about the birth of his first child and when the baby arrived he received bunches of well wishes and even gifts for the new baby. It helps to humanize us as business owners, especially when many politicians are vilifying business owners as greedy and not wanting to “pay their fair share.”
If you talk about your pets, people will relate because you’re a dog lover or a cat lover or…
If you talk about grandkids, they’ll relate. If you like to fish, if you like to play golf, if you like to camp or hunt or…
Don’t get into a lot of detail, but give tidbits and a look into who you are and maybe how you got to where you are. Make it authentic, don’t make things up.
People love hearing your story; maybe tell them about how or why you got started in business. I have a client who is a printer; he often talks about how his dad started the business years ago in the basement of their home and describes it as a hobby that got out of hand. Today they have a highly successful printing business. Over the years I have uncovered some fascinating stories that people didn’t even realize they had.
One story I told to new prospects produced over $47,000 in my bricks and mortar business. The story came to light after a conversation I had with someone I was in a networking group with a number of years ago.
I’m currently working with a client whose company is celebrating their 100th year in business, that’s a huge story in any business especially when you look at how few businesses survive even 20 years in today’s environment.
Leverage your story
I have a friend who went from “broke and physically abused” to one of the most successful women in the fitness world today! (By the way, it’s not really an usual story; it’s one many women begin 
with.) She leveraged her story to create millions of dollars’ worth of business. I recently had her speak at an event that I hosted; you can get the Small Business Marketing and Sales Home Study Course from that event and Donna’s story so you can see firsthand one of the ways she is leveraging her story!
We all have stories. Use yours to improve your positioning with your customer base and even to put money into your bank account. Our Small Business Marketing and Sales Home Study Course will help you get started with finding and leveraging yours.
You don’t only have A story, you have many ongoing stories that you can leverage – as I mentioned, occasions that happen naturally. Changes in your business, such as new employees, location movement, new technology, etc. Things that happen in your personal life, things with your family, with your hobbies and so on. All you have to do is to take a few minutes to look and think about it. Think your life isn’t interesting to your clients? Think again, just look at the popularity of reality T.V. and some of the things millions of people spend hours watching.
Dan,
P.S. The Home Study Course is packed with a ton of great marketing and sales presentation by the top people in the world, check it out — 