As Hogtown Consulting is a new business I have been concentrating heavily on business development. Yesterday I attended a seminar put on by the NewPath Network here in Toronto. The presentation was by Martin Obern on the subject ‘What’s in it for me’, that is why should a potential client care about what you’re trying to sell them.

I found the session useful, many of the suggestions that Martin made had me thinking ‘well that’s kind of obvious, I could have figured that out’ immediately followed by the realisation ‘it might be obvious, but I’m not doing it yet am I’.

Here are a few of the key points that stuck with me:

• Potential clients are interested in their own business, not yours. That is, you have got to talk to people about how you can help them, clients don’t care if I use PHP or ASP on the back end, they just care about communicating with their customers more effectively.
• Every piece of marketing collateral should offer a result and ask for an action. This is one I need to concentrate on too, from now on it will be ‘Hogtown Consulting can help your company improve its visibility in the market and communicate with your clients more effectively. Call Patrick for a no-obligation one hour consultation.’
• Do not assume that the people you are talking to know what you know. This seems very obvious, after all if my clients knew the same things I know then they wouldn’t need me. But the fact that it seems like an obvious trap doesn’t mean I don’t fall into it sometimes.

Martin’s clearly stated answer to ‘what’s in it for me?’ was ‘I help small businesses make more money’, I’d recommend you check out Martin’s services if they sound relevant to your business.