Be able to tell your customers WHY they are better off using your services than your competitors. Do you have more experience? Are you faster and more dependable? Do you offer a guarantee? Do you have excellent testimonials? Do you have a history of delivering high quality? Customers like to work with top-notch professionals, and it’s your job to position yourself as an expert.

Always tell the truth about what you can and can’t do:

Sell only what you can deliver. If you wish to grow, grow on your own dime and not your customer’s. Do not promise to deliver a service if you do not have a well-defined history of success.

Expand your expertise to meet related demands from your customers:

You should not promise what you can’t deliver; however, there is nothing stopping you from learning and expanding your expertise. You will watch your business grow to all new levels of success.

It’s about the deliverables:

When making a buying decision, your potential customer should understand what the outcome would be for them. They want to know exactly what they are buying, so be clear about the services you provide. Always provide a contract that outlines exactly what services you will provide and the fee. If you have fine print because you are trying to hide something, deal with the problem, and eliminate the need for fine print. You’ll find you will create a much stronger product with a better and more powerful deliverable.

What’s in it for me?

Be sure your customer knows how they benefit in terms of how they can use your services. Use case studies from other customers about how they benefited from your products or services. Educate your customer on the return-on-investment they will receive if they invest their money in you.

Customers want certainty:

Customers like to know that the service or product they are purchasing delivers the results they are looking for. They like to know, based on the experience of the provider, what are the likely results for them.

Make a guarantee:

Be sure to guarantee your work. That is, either the customer gets what they pay for, or they don’t pay. You will naturally create products and services that deliver a measurable outcome for the customer.

Annie Jennings is CEO of the PR firm, Annie Jennings PR (www.anniejenningspr.com), she advises CEO’s and their management teams on how to build stronger businesses and position themselves as thought leaders in their fields.