Why Prospects Choose You

Our search

We recently decided to use Webflow instead of WordPress as our platform for redesigning websites and creating new ones. We’re attracted to Webflow because it has greater design freedom, excellent code quality, and permits edits on the page instead of using a dashboard. If you’re interested in other differences between Webflow and WordPress, they’re explained in this article.

Because we haven’t used Webflow before, we needed to interview agencies who specialized in it. We conducted a worldwide search and narrowed the finalists down to one firm in the U.K., one in Canada and one in the U.S.

While we will have the flexibility to use more than one firm on an ongoing basis, there are benefits to concentrating work with one firm:

• It’s more efficient;
• It reduces the learning curve for the vendor; and
• We can negotiate a better price and pass on the savings to our client.

Here’s what the winning firm did that set them apart.

Use of Zoom

I don’t complain about Zoom. Quite the contrary. Almost everyone knows how to use it. It has become ubiquitous. Used correctly, it can help you convert prospects.

The winning firm told me from the outset they preferred Zoom for all their interactions. Over time, I got to know them in a way that doesn’t happen with e-mail or even telephone conversations.

Often, our conversations veered from the topic at hand into areas of mutual interest, like the impact of the pandemic and what it’s like to run a boutique business.

I examined the reasons why I chose them. While their design portfolio is impressive, I couldn’t honestly say they were better designers than the other firms on my short list.

I realized that I liked them better.

Great negotiating skills

I asked all three firms if they would be willing to adjust their retail prices in consideration of the fact that we are an agency and a source of repeat business.

The winning firm proposed a sliding scale of discounts, starting with the first project and increasing as more projects were awarded to them.

The other two said they would consider a discount after we gave them a stated number of projects.

The way I viewed it, one firm trusted us and the other two wanted us to prove ourselves to them.

For advisors, the goal is to earn the trust of prospects.

But how many are willing to reciprocate? For example, if a prospect is balking at working with you because she doesn’t know if you will add value, what about offering a discounted fee for a stated time so they can test the relationship?

Did I make the right decision?

We’re starting out with a personal connection and mutual trust.

I like our chances.

Dan trains executives and employees in the lessons based on the research of his latest book, Ask: How to Relate to Anyone. His online video course, Ask: Increase Your Sales. Deepen Your Relationships, is in production.

Read more articles by Dan Solin