How to Pre-Condition Prospects to Hire You Before They Meet with You – In Just 7 Minutes with Michael DeLon

Check out episode
  • Discover how to establish, market, and monetize your credibility get ready and avoid making a premature proposition
  • Find out how authenticity can get you more and promising prospects in the market
  • Learn how by increasing your credibility, you’ll increase your sales, because prospects will see you differently

Resources/Links:

Summary

How do your prospects see you? Do they look at you as a credible expert…or do you look just like your competitors?

Prospects “look” at you before they hire you. If you “look” like everyone else, there’s no reason for them to hire you, so you lose the sale.

Michael DeLon is the ‘credibility creator’. He helps business professionals transform into recognized experts by helping them establish, market, and monetize their credibility.

In this episode, Michael shares his insights on how credibility is important in pre-conditioning prospects in the market. He also shares how understanding your prospects and seeing your authenticity can lead you to more promising prospects and business growth.

Check out these episode highlights:

  • 01:29 – Michael’s ideal client: “My ideal client is a professional service provider. So, think financial advisor, attorney, chiropractor or coach, someone who sells through a consultative approach, and really wants to influence prospects to hire them before they ever have that first meeting.”
  • 02:05 – Problem Michael helps solve: “So the problem we solve is that most business professionals look like all of their competition, right? They have a similar message; they have similar offerings. And from the prospect’s perspective, well, they all look the same! It’s a lot like the “Where’s Waldo?” puzzles, right? When your prospect doesn’t have a compelling reason to choose you over your competition, they hire someone else, and you don’t gain a client.”
  • 03:25 – Typical symptoms that clients do before reaching out to Michael: “Yeah, well, they’re losing sales that they know they should be making. they’re having a lot of initial conversations with prospects, but they aren’t closing the sale, and they’re not sure why.”
  • 04:34 – Common mistakes that people make before they find Michael’s solution: “They look for answers in all the wrong places. Okay, so when you think the answer to your problems out there in the marketplace, so a new social media platform, a new funnel, a new website, you’re going to be disappointed, okay? Because the answer is found by looking into the mind of your prospect and understanding how they see you and when you can influence how they see you versus your competition, your business is going to grow.”
  • 06:51 – Michael’s Valuable Free Action (VFA): “Just remember people buy who you are more or so than what you do, so discover your core story. Why do you do what you do? And tell that through all of your marketing.”
  • 07:07 – Michael’s Valuable Free Resource (VFR): Check out Michael’s Credibility Calculator: www.thecredibilitycalculator.com
  • 07:54 – Q: What’s the biggest thing I’ve learned in marketing? A: The biggest thing I’ve learned in marketing is that the marketing battleground is not out there. It’s in the mind of the prospect. And when you learn how to influence how people think about you, everything changes.

Tweetable Takeaways from this Episode:

“The marketing battleground is not out there. It's in the mind of the prospect. And when you learn how to influence how people think about you, everything changes.” -Michael DeLon Click To Tweet

Transcript
(Note, this was transcribed using a transcription software and may not reflect the exact words used in the podcast)

Tom Poland 00:09
Greetings everyone and a very warm welcome to Marketing The Invisible. My name is Tom Poland, beaming out to you from Little Castaways Beach in Queensland, Australia, joined today by Michael DeLon. Michael, good day, sir, a very warm welcome. Where are you hanging out?

Michael DeLon 00:22
Hey. Thanks, Tom. I’m in Little Rock, Arkansas today.

Tom Poland 00:26
Little Rock, Arkansas. Alright, so how’s the-

Michael DeLon 00:29
Brusly 32 degrees here, by the way.

Tom Poland 00:32
Oh, that’s brisk. Yeah, well, we got 32 degrees here today too, but it’s Celsius, not Fahrenheit, so that’s quite a difference! For those of you who don’t know Michael, he helps business professionals create credibility, and he preconditions prospects to hire those professionals before the first meeting.

Michael DeLon 00:54
Well said.

Tom Poland 00:55
Which is, I have to say that, Michael, this is a common failure that I see time and time again, is a premature proposition. People reaching out and suggesting they have a talk or they want services or lose sight of others before the precondition, so this is going to be absolute gold to listeners! Folks, Michael’s passion and energy have surpassed only by his love for his family. And our title today is, “How to Pre-Condition Prospects to Hire You Before They Meet with You”. Michael, our seven minutes starts now. Question number one, sir, is who is your ideal client?

Michael DeLon 01:29
Well, Tom, my ideal client is a professional service provider. So, think financial advisor, attorney, chiropractor, or coach, someone who sells through a consultative approach, and really wants to influence prospects to hire them before they ever have that first meeting.

Tom Poland 01:47
Brilliant, thank you. So there has this- the prospect is contemplating, entering into a trusted relationship for professional advice, so that trust has got to be really high. So, tell us more- you’ve described part of the problem you solve, but tell us more about that. Six and a half minutes left. Question two, what’s the problem you solve for them?

Michael DeLon 02:05
So, the problem we solve is that most business professionals look like all of their competition, right? They have a similar message; they have similar offerings. And from the prospect’s perspective, well, they all look the same! It’s a lot like the “Where’s Waldo?” puzzles, right? When your prospect doesn’t have a compelling reason to choose you over your competition, they hire someone else, and you don’t gain a client. So, we solve that problem by changing how people think about you. And we do that by helping our clients- we develop a personal brand, help them publish a best-selling book, and then we launch a profitable podcast for them. And when those work together to establish their credibility, and to establish our clients as the expert in the mind of that audience, when you stand out like that, your audience, your prospects, they’re preconditioned to hire you before you ever meet with them.

Tom Poland 03:01
Because not only are you going to stand out from all your competitors, because of the credibility assets, but you’re also going to be completely differentiated. So, let’s talk about- so question three is what are some of the typical symptoms that the folks are going to be experiencing in their business before they find your solution? So, what’s going on in someone’s business? How would they know they need to talk with you?

Michael DeLon 03:25
Yeah, well, they’re losing sales that they know they should be making.

Tom Poland 03:30
Right?

Michael DeLon 03:30
Okay, they’re having a lot of initial conversations with prospects, but they aren’t closing the sale, and they’re not sure why. So, they spend their days chasing after prospects, making those endless calls, sending countless follow-up emails, trying to schedule that next follow up appointment, and quite often they’re frustrated, they’re stressed out, they’re discouraged, because they know they can help somebody, but they need to find a way to convince the prospect that they are the one who has the answer and the solution for them. It’s, I mean, it can get maddening at times!

Tom Poland 04:06
Probably they’re feeling like that they’re the world’s best kept secret and wondering why some of their competitors appear to be doing better when the quality of their service and the product, their advice is top-notch. So, these folks were talking about, they’re smart people, question number four, and four minutes left, the smart people are going to try to fix that, but they’re probably going to make some mistakes before they find your solution, so what, in your experience of the clients that you’ve worked with, what are some of the mistakes they’ve told you they made, prior to working with you?

Michael DeLon 04:34
Yeah, well, they look for answers in all the wrong places. Okay, so when you think the answer to your problems out there in the marketplace, so a new social media platform, a new funnel, a new website, you’re going to be disappointed, okay? Because the answer is found by looking into the mind of your prospect and understanding how they see you and when you can influence how they see you versus your competition, your business is going to grow. So, think about, I mean, Tony Robbins, Seth Godin, Dave Ramsey, on and on, they’re all really ordinary people who’ve done a masterful job at influencing how we think about them, and business owners can do exactly the same thing with their audience. The second mistake I see is not telling your story. We’ve been told forever to put personality into your marketing. Few people follow that advice. As humans, we make decisions emotionally, then we find all the logic to back up why we want to do what we want to do. But it’s your story, that bond with your ideal prospect in such a way that they know that you’re the right person for them. And that’s why we always begin with the personal brand. It’s a story that, Tom, only you can tell, and it’s that story that’s going to help differentiate you powerfully to attract that right client. It’s unique to you and to each individual. So, it’s not rocket science to position yourself differently. It’s your story that most of them you’re scared to tell, right? And that leads to the third mistake that I see everybody make is they market like the masses. Most business people market like everybody else in their industry, and they use cookie-cutter websites and corporate sounding emails, and weak calls to action. I tell people all the time, “It’s as bland as butter.” So instead, you’ve got to be leveraging the power of your voice, speaking to your audience in very personal, personable language, and allowing prospects to bond with you through a variety of mediums, including emails and books and podcasts and videos and yes, Tom, even webinars!

Tom Poland 06:38
Yep, sounds like a plan to me. So, we got 90 seconds left, three questions. Thank you, sir. Question five, what’s one valuable free action, like a quick tip, you could give someone, not going to solve the whole problem, but might take them a step in the right direction?

Michael DeLon 06:51
Yeah. Just remember people buy who you are more or so than what you do, so discover your core story. Why do you do what you do? And tell that through all of your marketing.

Tom Poland 07:01
Authentically and naturally without trying to smoke mirrors, copy someone else’s template.

Michael DeLon 07:06
Absolutely.

Tom Poland 07:07
Question six, and one minute left. Let’s direct folks to a free resource where they could get some more help with this, and I’m going to, just for the sake of time, give it to everyone now. It’s www.thecredibilitycalculator.com. What are folks going to find there, Michael?

Michael DeLon 07:25
They’re going to find a series of questions, less than 20 questions in under five minutes. We’re going to give a credibility score because credibility is great, but nobody can really define it. We’ve been able to define it so that in under five minutes, you’ll get your credibility score and know how to improve your credibility!

Tom Poland 07:42
This is going to be like a blueprint of where you’re at now and what you need to do to get to where you want to go. Question number seven, thank you, sir, just 15 seconds left, so real fast, what’s the one question I should have asked you, but didn’t and the answer?

Michael DeLon 07:54
What’s the biggest thing I’ve learned in marketing? And the biggest thing I’ve learned in marketing is that the marketing battleground is not out there. It’s in the mind of the prospect. And when you learn how to influence how people think about you, everything changes.

Tom Poland 08:09
Brilliant. Michael DeLon, thank you so much.

Michael DeLon 08:11
Thank you, Tom.

Tom Poland 08:13
Thanks for checking out our Marketing The Invisible podcast. If you like what we’re doing here please head over to iTunes to subscribe, rate us, and leave us a review. It’s very much appreciated. And if you want to generate five fresh leads in just five hours then check out www.fivehourchallenge.com.

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