Are You Speaking To Your Ideal Client’s Tipping Points – When Money Goes In Motion?

Originally published on Forbes.com. Most service firms today have a blog, usually as part of their website. In 2018, The Shattuck Group conducted empirical market research on the way mid-size service firms use blog messages on their primary website and in social media. What we found was surprising. 

Our research profiled more than 100 mid-size service firms that have 20-100 staff. These firms are in multiple industries including financial services, accounting, technology consulting, management consulting, AEC (architecture, engineering and construction) and a smattering of other consulting services. Based on all visible indicators, these are all successful firms.

But nearly all of these firms made the same mistake when it came to their blog messages. These firms talked shop instead of talking about what matters to their ideal client. How so?

• Financial advisors talked about the markets.
• CPAs talked about taxes.
• AEC people talked about building and land-use.
• Technologists talked about technology. 
• Management consultants talked about management practices.

Why is this a mistake? Have you heard the old saying – no one cares how much you know until they know how much you care? Nothing proves to others that you care about them more than talking about what matters to them. If you only talk about the things that matter to you, it’s very likely that your message will fall on deaf ears, that you’ll miss out on the single greatest opportunity you have to grow your business. 

So here is my advice. Stop talking about those things that matter to your industry and start talking about those things that matter to your ideal clients. What things should you talk about? My recommendation is that you begin to speak to tipping points, when money goes in motion. 

How Tipping Points Influence The Sales Funnel

Most service firms will need to manage either the B2B or B2HEC (high-end consumer) sales funnels, depending on who they do business with. Both funnels are comprised of these stages: awareness, consideration, interest, evaluation and selection. In the B2B sales funnel, a team of people make the decision, usually in distinct stages. In the B2HEC sales funnel, one or two people make the decision, often quickly and based on gut instinct. 

But here is the important thing to note. For either the B2B or B2HEC sales funnels, the service buyer probably already has a professional advisor serving them. This means something has to change in the minds of the service buyer for them to walk away from that relationship. This is a tipping point.

After having analyzed the movement of thousands of prospects through sales funnels in numerous service industries, we believe there are three key tipping points that service firms should speak to in their blog content:

1. Life events: births, deaths, marriages, divorces, graduations, retirements, etc.
2. Provider trips: when an existing service provider strikes a sour note.
3. Recognition moments: when someone realizes that the way they’ve always done things in the past won’t work in the future. 

Service buyers who encounter one of these tipping points are usually highly motivated to make a change to their service-provider relationships. Tipping points put money in motion and you want that money. If you speak to tipping points, you put yourself in the best position to accelerate prospects through your sales funnel.

Example Tipping Points

Let me give you some examples of tipping points for specific industries. I’ll use sample headlines for articles because headlines determine whether or not someone even looks at an article.

1. (for RIA firms) You Just Had Your First Grandchild – Now What?
2. (for CPA firms) What To Do When The TCJA Doesn’t Deliver That Big Tax Break
3. (management consulting) How To Respond When Bad Advice Costs Your Company
4. (tech consulting) Lost Customer Data? Here Is What You Should Do Next
5.  (AEC) Finally Got Funding To Build? Five Things To Watch Out For Now

All of these titles address specific tipping points: a life event, a provider trip or a recognition moment. If someone just entered one of these tipping points, it would be very difficult for them to resist looking at your ideas. After all, you’re the expert. This makes you irresistible and that’s a very good thing. 

How To Talk About Tipping Points

I believe there are a few key things you should do in speaking to tipping points:

1. Describe the tipping point and why it matters to your clients, based on your experiences.
2. Become a trusted advisor before the sale by offering great advice to people who are grappling with the tipping point.
3. Use strawman constructs to say, “if you are facing this situation, have these resources or these limits and want to accomplish these goals, here is our best advice.” This is how you get around the problem of offering advice when you don’t know all the details.
4. Make your advice as concrete and simple as possible by using “how to” content.

If you want ideal prospects to find you and quickly move through your sales funnel, speak to tipping points. You won’t regret it. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Randy Shattuck is a seasoned entrepreneur who works hand-in-hand with senior leaders of mid-size professional service firms to grow revenues, acquire clients, open new markets, increase profits and effectively position their brands.