‘People buy people’ is a phrase you’ve probably heard more times than you need to, but when you sell a service it really is important. I’d like to share a story with you, to show you how important it is to develop a good reputation in business.

A few months ago my friend Mandy moved to a new job. She went to a different industry but within the same town, so kept going to the same networking meetings. Because she’d been networking in the local area for some time, it was easy for her to stand up and talk about the new job and business, because people already knew her. She might have changed jobs but she hadn’t changed – she was still the same reliant, efficient, well connected person. She was doing a great job of raising the profile of a local business that many people didn’t know about, because no one from the business went networking.

After being in her new job for just a couple of months, Mandy told me that she had smashed the sales targets she’d been given. Her job is mainly about handling enquiries that come into the business and converting them into sales. How did she manage to do this, having been in the job for such a short time? Mandy is a people person, so instead of just sending a standard reply to email enquiries, she picks up the phone and speaks to people. She talks them through the options, to help them decide on the best service for them. She’s converted a lot of small jobs – ones that her customers tell her they could have got cheaper elsewhere – because she takes the time to speak to her customers and get to know them. They tell her that they’re giving her company the work because she’s put in the effort. Making a quick phone call doesn’t take up much more time than sending an email and doesn’t cost much more – and it has much better results for Mandy.

So do people really buy people? When you’re selling a service, rather than a product, then yes they do. You need build up your reputation – in your industry or local area – and really get to know your potential customers. When you can do that, you’ll find it much easier to find new clients.

What can you do to improve your reputation and help people buy ‘you’?