Today, I delivered a one hour talk to members of the media unit of (name removed for privacy) Foundation, in Ota, Ogun State Nigeria. It was a small group. But no speaking event is EVER small. As such, I prepared for it like I was going to speak to members of a CEOs club.

It pays to always show up as represented…and I share a true story that confirms this, in the rest of this piece…

Here’s something that’s very useful to keep in mind.

When potential clients are considering your services they often have fears that influence their decision making.

Among other things, they want to make sure they get what they pay for. And they also want to see how they can pay a reasonable fee (read: as little as possible) to get everything they want.

To get chosen by profitable clients, you have to make yourself stand out from the crowd, by having a unique offering that’s hard to ignore.

Let me explain by sharing details of a discussion I had with a “friend” who referred me to a new client. He said the client had received enquiries from potential partner organizations about teaming up.

However, the latter wanted to learn more about the client’s organization, so they could be sure they were on the right track. Not surprisingly, they asked for a website – among other things.

The client told my “friend”, who happened to be a member of the board. The latter went out to speak with several website developers. But, according to him, each one he spoke with did not say anything like what he knew I always told my clients I would do for them.

For instance, I explain that what I deliver as a website will, if used as I advice it should, help the client make more profits by LOWERING cost of sales leads generation, while boosting marketing reach and impact.

That’s a 2-in-1 offer right there.

Either way, the client knows such a website is likely to leave him/her better off at any point in time. And s/he will not be willing to pass it up.

However, I don’t just say it with words. I actually offer real life examples, case studies and true personal stories, to back up my claims. This was what my friend knew, that made him struggle to accept what the website developers he spoke with told him.

He told me the enquiries from the prospective partners indicated only a website with the features I described would be best to present to them. So he told the client it would be best to contact me, and find out what it would take to have me build such a website for them.

We had a meeting, and the client upon speaking with me, decided he wanted me to handle development of what I told him would be a Web Marketing System.

Everything I have said above relates to the NGO I spoke in this afternoon. And the “friend” I mentioned is actually a relative (my uncle to be specific).

At the end of the talk, I began preparing the following files to burn on to the DVD I promised to leave for them to study:

1. The Power Point presentation file (which I never used) for my talk titled “Now That Your Website Is Up,. What Do You Do Next? Practical Ideas for Making Profitable Use of a Response Generating Website”.

2. Three MP3 audio files for my 3 part series titled “Why You Need a Web Marketing System(WMS)”

3. A PDF version of my article (on which the talk is based) titled “Now That Your Website Is Up,. What Do You Do Next?”

NB: To get copies of one or more of the above, click here to send me a request.

While I was burning the files on to the DVD using my laptop, the client walked up and said “What will you need to get started on building the website”…and I told him…

You will agree with me, that he would NOT have asked that question if I had failed to deliver a talk that convinced him going ahead would be okay.

And that’s what it means to show up as represented!

First, he was told about me by someone else. Then during a first meeting, I impressed him enough to make him ask how much it would cost to have a WMS developed and implemented for his organization.

What’s more, he was so enthused about the ideas I shared that he requested that I deliver a PAID talk to members of his team, so they could adopt the required mind set I told him was needed to make effective use of the WMS.

Then after I delivered that talk, he was satisfied enough with what he’d heard, that he went on to ask what I would need to start work on the website!

See how it began as a probable sale, and now it’s headed towards a full sale. At each stage I simply had to show up as represented.

If you want to be able to boost your chances of winning prospects over (even if you’re a NGO, this applies!), use this approach. It never fails.

Final Words: If you want to really do it right, you WILL need to develop and implement a WMS with which you will subtly “sell” yourself.

Most of what I said to my client at our first meeting, and the audience during my talk, was based on successes I achieved with my WMS.

I simply told one relevant story after another to reinforce the points I had to make at every stage. And it worked. It will always work. You just need to know how to use it.

If you’d like to learn HOW, click here to tell me.