Acquire Clients By Knowing How To Influence Behavior

When you realize
how perfect everything is
you will tilt your head back
and laugh at the sky.

-- Buddha

If we at least provisionally accept what the Buddha said -- that everything is perfect already – then it’s sensible to take things easy and just be aware of ‘what is.’ By these lights, easygoing observation and acceptance will move us forward in life. Even when we’re trying to set up a professional practice so we can use our training to help others while we create the life we want.

I look inside to find the beginning point. I come to what I believe about my own behavior and human behaviors in general, how they arise and unfold. In my experience, human actions arise in progressions through several distinct states. These are not necessarily sequential or discrete. There is usually some untidy overlap and looping. Any logic involved is ‘fuzzy logic.’

To complete an action, many if not most of the following states usually occur –

-- Perception – first, sensations arise in my body from external stimuli
-- Thought – then I process the sensations into awareness
-- Emotion – I feel something about what I think
-- Thought – I may consider different possible responses or skip this step
-- Action – I act on what I feel
-- Thought – I think about my action
-- Loopback – I may go around again through some of the states

Assuming others work like me, it goes like this -- you see, hear, smell, taste, or touch something. The sensation gives rise to thoughts, perhaps associating the sensation to stuff you already know. Some of the associations or thoughts are connected to feelings, so you enter an emotional state. The emotion drives you to do something. Or perhaps to inhibit a behavior. You see yourself responding and think about what you’re doing. You may have another response based on how you feel about what you just did. And so on.

A specific example of this sequence – you need something. You search the web and see a PPC ad. You think the ad is about what you want. You feel a twinge of desire. You click on the ad. You read the ad. Reading the ad induces more desire. You feel some small fulfillment for just clicking and reading.

Then you feel both fear and attraction about the offer. The ad copy builds the attraction and resolves your fears. You decide to buy the item. You think about the purchase you just made and you feel you did the right thing.

The item arrives after a few days and you love it. You’re glad you made the right decision. Now you’re inclined to repeat the purchase with this vendor. You tell folks you know about your item and experience and how happy you are with the purchase.

There it is, the whole progression – perception, thought, emotion, action, more thought, additional action. This ‘happy customer’ experience is what will build your practice into backlog.

Influence, in this case, is about stimulating your audience to move through their ‘action states’ and have a ‘happy customer’ experience. In client acquisition, the behaviors you seek are appointments, repeat business and word-of-mouth (WOM) recommendations.

To persuade folks to buy, present a message that’s designed to motivate sales. The more well-crafted the message the greater the chances of a sale. When reflected upon, a good purchase is understood and felt as positive and repeatable. And the client feels like sharing the good news.

What is true for me and you is probably generally true for clients as well. By looking inside for what we like to experience we can see just what to do.

The more noteworthy the value received, the more positive a buyer’s feeling response, and the more likely the buyer is to talk about the experience in their community. When they advertise for us, that’s the WOM to die for.

To build a busy practice, it’s practical to be aware of our prospective client’s ‘stages of action,’ and influence each of them as best we can. Always within ethical bounds, of course, which excludes manipulation and coercion.

We can reasonably conclude that if we want strong interest, a full calendar, repeat appointments, and powerful WOM, it’s best to craft an exceptionally pleasing service experience, and also craft a clear and compelling message about it, and assure the message is circulated in our preferred audience.

Well, OK, but how do you know what makes a service experience exceptionally pleasing, and a message about it clear and compelling? In other words, how do you assure your offerings are ready for market?

It doesn’t happen by accident. It takes involvement and participation. Details need your attention. And you may need to ask for some help.

You can apply a form of classic scientific method –

-- make observations,
-- form ideas about offerings,
-- design your offerings,
-- test what you designed,
-- evaluate the results,
-- go with the concept, or modify the design and go around again.

By employing this process systematically, to cover your complete spectrum of service offerings, you are assuring positive response in your market and healthy growth for your practice.

Now we’re getting an idea of how deeply we need to involve ourselves in mindfulness of our practices to make them work. The whole experience needs to be designed and checked out, and adopted only when you’re fairly assured of getting the actions desired.

By designing your clients’ experience, you indirectly design your own. Because what you get is totally dependent on what they get.

The most impressive business in my town is an auto repair shop run by a man who has this down cold. His whole operation is branded with excellence and customer focus through and through. His shop is clean and organized. His mechanics trained, experienced, and meticulous. His service writers listen and communicate well. Every car is washed before return. So his lot is constantly full of his customers’ cars. He knows it’s not about fixing cars.

It’s about creating an experience of fulfillment for customers.