We all know that if people don’t trust you, they won’t hire you. And trust is not automatic. You have to earn it.Â
Many people will give you the benefit of the doubt, at first, especially if you were referred to them. But their trust can be lost in a heartbeat.
My wife used a referral service she likes to have some roofers come out for an inspection. First one, great. On time, friendly, plain spoken. He showed her photos of some minor issues that need work and gave her an estimate. She liked what he said and he’s in the running.
Yesterday, the second one showed up (from the same referral service), but there was a problem. He couldn’t get up on the roof. It seems he had a short, fold-up ladder, which he transported in the trunk of his car, and it wouldn’t reach. When my wife asked why he didn’t bring a longer ladder, he explained that he would need to drive a truck and the gas would be too expensive.
Done. My wife instantly knew this guy wouldn’t get the job.
He said he could send someone with the truck later in the week. Right, after waiting for this guy to show up and experiencing his bewildering lack of preparedness, my wife will happily sit around waiting for one of his guys to show up. Guess again.
“I don’t trust him,” she told me. And I don’t blame her.
So now, he’s not getting the job and he’ll get a bad review on the referral service website.
Booyah.
Prospective clients aren’t looking for a reason to hire you so much as they are looking for a reason to disqualify you. And it doesn’t take much. If you are unprepared, if you squawk about your costs of doing business (build the gas money into your fees, bub), if you do anything that says “unprofessional,” that’s it. You’re off the list.
Anything can knock you out of the running. Someone doesn’t like your photo on your website because you look mean, or there is no photo on your website so they can’t look at your eyes, or you didn’t call them back right away, or you yawned on the phone and sounded like you didn’t care.
Anything.
Am I saying you have to meet certain minimum standards to even be in the running? Yes. Getting the basics right only gets you in the game. If you want to get the job, you have to do even more.
Yes, it’s hard. You have to be ever vigilant and pay attention to detail. When you are in a service business or a profession, it’s not just the quality of your work, it’s about the entire client experience.
But hey, you’re lucky. At least you don’t have to schlep a ladder.
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