The other day, a good friend told my wife she doesn’t believe in immunizing children because of the risks associated with them. As an RN, my wife tried to highlight many of the positive results of immunization but to no avail. Apparently, our good friend’s mother doesn’t think they are a great idea and told her daughter that she has read many articles online that suggest that immunizations can cause problems in young children.

You may be wondering what this has to do with small business. Well, the lesson is that the thoughts of our trusted advisors – whoever they are – trump those of “industry experts.”

As a small business owner there are several things that can be done to utilize this to your advantage. Consider some of the following ideas:

1. Spend more time ensuring the satisfaction of your current clients. They are the trusted advisors of many potential customers.
2. Take someone you don’t know to lunch once a week in order to develop your network. You may become the trusted advisor.
3. Adjust your sales message to educate the potential customer. Create an opportunity for them to have their own epiphany of value about your product.
4. Don’t contradict a potential client’s trusted advisor.
5. Focus sales efforts on benchmark companies that are well respected and successful.

My wife and I believe that there are more positive than negative consequences associated with immunizations. But that’s really beside the point. What we believe is only applicable to us and to those that view us as trusted advisors. Being right or wrong is irrelevant; it’s your ability to influence opinion that matters.

Jake Lunt is the General Manager of Idaho Operations for A Plus Benefits Inc.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 8th, 2007 at 4:27 pm and is filed under Networking, Sales. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.