In our last discussion, we were talking about how clients hire expert firms to reduce their risk. They want a job done promptly with the expected benefit. For that certainty, they are willing to pay money! 2020 has undermined our ability to offer assurance to our clients, making it harder for them to decide to work with us!

To reduce your client’s perception of risk, you need to demonstrate that you have a deep and thorough understanding of the risks that they face. You need to know their business generally, but also understand what might be impacting their client’s businesses. (Their client’s businesses are going to have a considerable impact on the success of your efforts, right?)

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If you don’t feel like you have the expertise for that right now, one option would be to do some original research.

Think through what questions you want to ask, questions that would help you reduce the risk for your clients, and their clients. Structure a survey and do outreach through LinkedIn, or through Google Survey to find respondents.

Another option would be to stay thoroughly up-to-date on the relevant news sources that impact your client and their client’s markets.

One of my clients publishes a weekly email that outlines the ten articles that she found that week most impactful and relevant to her target market. It keeps her reading and establishes her authority in that market place. Her clients and prospects love that she’s curating this list for them!

These tactics take time and investment. You just can’t do that for 20 different markets (it would be hard to do it well even for 2 or 3 markets), which is why we need to narrow our focus even in riskier times!

How are you going to immerse yourself in your prospect’s world so that you can reduce their risks of hiring you?