[FLASHBACK]

“I did it.  I started a business.  I have business cards, a logo and the incorporation papers to prove it!”

[END FLASHBACK]

Unfortunately, a business card does not a business make.

In 2004 I started my first company and thought I was in business.  I had all of the above and more to prove that I was for real.

For most of the life of my first attempt at self-employment, I didn’t have the one thing that separates a business from a time and money consuming charade.

Customers.

It was a service business and there was no shortage of competitors to choose over me (the new guy )

Sure I had a few clients here and there – but nothing worth writing home about.

I learned valuable lessons from this first attempt at a business.

Lesson 1:  It is tough to get the ball rolling in the sales department.

My Prospects Were Skeptical

As an unknown and unproven business — potential clients were simply not willing to take a chance on me.

Here are the questions that potential clients were asking themselves when I was giving my sales pitch:

• Is this guy going to be in business in six months?
• Does this guy really know what he is talking about?
• Has this guy done business with anyone else or am I the guinea pig?
• What is the quality of his work?

These are difficult problems to overcome because the potential client will rarely ask these questions.  They will rarely say — “can you give me some references of prior work you have done. “

They won’t ask — they will simply NOT do business with you.

I Learned My Lesson

I have been much more successful in my second attempt at running a business and I owe it all to my Content Marketing strategy.

Let’s go back through the above questions and discuss how creating excellent and helpful content will keep these questions from being a deal breaker.

• Is this guy going to be in business in six months? By using a content marketing strategy most of the people that you will be attempting to sell to will have been consuming your content for weeks, months, maybe even years before they sit down with you.  Because they have been exposed to your content — they know you are not a fly-by-night operation.
• Does this guy really know what he is talking about? Uhhh…. Hello Mr. Prospect!  Have you been reading, watching or listening to the rock solid information that I have been creating about topics in this industry?
• Has this guy done business with anyone else or am I the guinea pig? Your content could/should include discussions of former wins you have had in your industry.  If you have truly never done this work for someone else you should offer your services for free and do a bang-up job in exchange for a good testimonial from the client.
• What is the quality of his work? Uhhh… this won’t be an issue either.  If the content that you have been distributing is of high quality —- your prospect will assume that your work will be as well.

Now that I have dealt with the credibility issue by building great content I have greatly improved my chances of winning sales.  Too bad my content can’t warn me when I have a big piece of lettuce between my teeth during a sales presentation.

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