This is a complaint I hear on a regular basis, either from people who are new to running their own business, or from people who are looking to change direction in their business.

But does it really matter? Why is your business reputation important and do you really need to have one? Let’s look at this in more detail.

New in Town?

If you’ve recently set up your business – and by recently I mean within the last 12-18 months – then you may not yet have developed a strong reputation. You might have been doing a lot of networking, or writing blogs. You’ve obviously set up a great website and perhaps you’re on social media. But is anyone buying from you yet? Are the new clients queuing up to work with you? Chances are that you’re not yet flooded with work and there’s a very high chance that this is because you don’t yet have an established reputation. You could be doing a great deal of very effective marketing, but without a good reputation, that marketing isn’t going to work.

Why not? Because when you provide a service such as coaching, consulting or training, your clients are really buying you, your experience and your expertise. Until someone trusts you, they’re not going to buy from you. They will buy from someone they’ve heard of, or who has been recommended by someone else they trust. They will buy from someone who has a track record of getting the results they’re looking for. They will buy from someone with a solid reputation in business.

A couple of years ago one of the people I met at a networking event introduced himself to me as a ‘social media expert’. When I asked how long he had been providing his social media service to his clients he answered “About a year.” Not yet an expert, in my humble opinion!

Changing Direction?

One of my clients has been earning a very good living from public speaking for a number of years now. He has a great reputation in his field and is often asked to speak to large audiences on his subject, being paid well for doing it. The problem is that he now wants to speak about a different topic. He is a brilliant, inspiring speaker, but everyone knows him for his first subject. He doesn’t yet have a solid reputation in the field into which he wants to move. He has plenty of experience in this new area and has already developed a good talk about it. His big challenge will be building up his new reputation, because without it, no one is going to book and pay him to speak about his new topic.

The real trick to winning all the work and the clients you want is by demonstrating your expertise and experience. When people realise how good you really are at what you do, they will be more likely to buy from you, than your competitors. In next week’s blog, we’ll look at how you can go about proving your expertise and experience, to help you build your reputation and win those new clients. If you can’t wait that long and need some help now, get in touch by calling 01635 578 500 or clicking here to email us.

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