We have all been told that even though we are Private Investigators by trade we are also “in Sales”. We are selling ourselves, selling our expertise, and selling our services. So what does that mean and how do we do it? Well for most of us a sale starts when a potential client calls or emails for the first time. Our sales strategy for sometime has worked great for us, people make comments like “I would like to go with you” and going on to say they feel comfortable with us as opposed to the twelve other Private Investigators they called previously.
Half the battle is answering the phone. We derive a lot of business from online advertising and one great feature of online advertising is you can turn it off and on. We make sure to turn it off when we are unable to answer the phone. It is just a waste of advertising dollars if the potential client cannot get a hold of someone when they are looking at your ad or website. Once we answer the phone we let the caller tell us what their situation is and let them finish talking before we offer any response. If you have a private client who is nervous and may want something like infidelity surveillance you may have to nudge the caller a little bit to get them to open up. We will say something like “tell me about what is going on?” That usually does the trick, and they will often give us more information than we need, but that is ok. When we let a person talk it out they become comfortable with us. Then if they are a qualified client, meaning they have the money to pay they will most likely select the Private Investigator they feel most comfortable with regardless of the price.
Another sales technique that I was aware of but did not always practice was something I was reminded by when reading Dave Ramsey’s new book “Entreleader”. He called it the “assumed sale”. This is after the caller tells you their situation, you respond with “yes we can help” and our rates are…, and you then start to take the callers information and the details of the subject or case. Just go straight into filling out your case intake form, assume they are ready to assign you the case. Don’t make them say “ok how do we get started”.
Start with the caller’s first name if you don’t have it already, then their email address. Then ask about the subject of the investigation in detail like name, age, location etc… If the caller is not ready to commit to the Investigation they will let you know. Hopefully you have at least their first name and email address; that way if they say they would like to call you back you can tell them “no problem, and if you like I can send you some more details, my contact information, and the paperwork (contract) needed to get started” when they are ready. This is a non-pushy approach and you now have permission to email them. If you don’t hear back from them in a few days you can follow up by email. I would not follow up by phone for an Infidelity situation or Attorney client. They don’t like to receive calls; if they need you they will call you. Just make sure they remember your name and number and periodic emails and newsletters will take care of that.
For more details and techniques including email newsletters and other marketing tips visit http://paperlesspi.com
Chris Woodson, CPI
Director of Investigations | Newport P.I.
Vice President of Investigative Services at the
California Association of Licensed Investigators
CA PI LIC # 24455 | Direct Line (949) 735-3071