When was the last time you audited your marketing efforts to make sure they’re in-tune with how your ideal client buys? If it’s been awhile (or your first time!) this blog post will walk through some of the factors you consider when making a purchase, to help give you a good understanding of places across your branding you need to improve.

When was the last time you purchased from a service-based business?

Maybe you recently hired a business coach, an accountant, maybe you needed to find a new doctor, or did renovations on your house.

Whatever the service, you likely did research first to make sure that your money would be well spent, and you’d be happy with the results that person or company provided.

When it comes to purchasing decisions, we all have certain things we look for, that either reinforce that we’re making the right decision or give you that gut reaction that it’s not someone you’d want to work with.

And I love talking to servicepreneurs about how they make these decisions, because more often than not, there’s a disconnect between what they look for in other businesses, and the way they’re marketing their own services to get clients.

Most of the time they have a pretty extensive checklist of what they require, but when we take that same checklist and look objectively at how they’re showing up in their business, there are some significant gaps.

As servicepreneurs, we don’t have physical products to help promote our business, so focusing on the results we provide is huge. But there are so many other factors that go into someone’s decision to work with you, so I want to walk through 3 of the biggest factors that go into making a purchase decision, help you identify the gaps in your business, and how to start tackling them so you build trust and credibility.

The first factor: your website

The first factor is your website, the second is your social media presence, and the third is the experience you provide.

When you’re ready to invest in a service, most people start by Googling the service and the city you live in.

If a bunch pop up, one of the first ways you might do to vet a company is look at the Google reviews. How many stars does it have? What are people saying? You’ll then take a couple of the best ones to start with, and click through to their websites.

From here, there’s 3 things you might evaluate the company against.

The first: Does the website look professional? Does it look legitimate or feel like they’re a professional company you’d want to do business with? This threshold will look different for everyone, but for me, I know I want to see a well-designed website for anyone I work with. This is the home base for their digital presence, and if it looks outdated, has broken links, or not a whole lot of information for me to read through, I lose trust pretty quickly.

Being objective with your own website can be tough, but imagine you’re visiting your website for the first time. Does it reflect the image you want it to? Is it easy to navigate to find information about your services and how to work with you? If it looks like you threw it together quickly, people might not take you seriously or want to work with you.

Another way to look at it is, if you were your ideal client, coming to your site for the first time, would you truly want to do business with you?

Next, you might look to see if the company specializes in the thing you need.

Is this service front and center when you land on their site? Do they have certifications or skills that prove they’re experienced enough to help you? Does the site speak to the pain points you have, and showcase how they solve for them?

To use a personal example here, a couple years back I hired someone to swap out the carpets on my stairs for hardwood flooring. Rather than hire a general contractor or a handyman, I wanted someone who specialized in staircase remodels because they do it around the clock and it reassured me the job would be done well. While it cost me a little more, I was so happy with the end result that the price I paid didn’t bother me.

So after you’ve reviewed the look and feel of your site, take a look at the content itself. Are you using a lot of buzzwords, or speaking directly to what your ideal client needs in layman terms? Are you positioning your expertise and services to directly solve the pain points they have? Does your About page include your professional background, certifications you have, courses you’ve taken?

The copy on your site should educate visitors on who you are, what you offer, and how you differentiate from your competitors, so they say “yes, this is who I want to work with”

The other piece to the puzzle is showing examples of the results, which could be imagery, written or video testimonials from clients, or success stories – ideally, a combination of all of them. Not only does this build trust, it shows what prospective clients can expect.

When vetting a company, you want to make sure you like the work they’ve done. You might check to see if they work with a lot of clients who have similar challenges or needs as you do. You might check the testimonials to see if they sound genuine, instead of forced.

Just as you would think these things about other companies, you should make sure you’re getting before and after photos or testimonials from your clients.

These could be on their website, but they could also be on their social media channels, which is where you’ll want to go next if you like what you saw and read on their website.

The second factor: social media

So the first thing to look at, is if they’re active on social media. I’d much rather see consistent content on one channel, vs multiple accounts that are super outdated or posting sporadically.

If you setup all your accounts but aren’t active on all of them, I’d recommend you remove the icons from your website and only keep the ones you want your clients to follow. You own your website and get to control their experience, and while sure, they could search for your accounts outside of your site, it just makes it a little easier to send them where you want them to find you.

Next is the content they’re sharing. This could be information about their services, or educating their followers on important topics related to their industry, or again showing their results or testimonials. People go to social media to go deeper into what it’s like to work with you, and to validate that you have the expertise and knowledge to solve whatever problems they’re experiencing.

When you look at your social media accounts, would someone know what services you offer? That you’re an expert in your industry? The results you can help them achieve? Or how to get started? All of this is great information to share on social media to give them more visibility into your business than your website can provide.

And if you’re struggling to come up with topic ideas, I’ll link my Topic Map Template in the show notes, which I use with my Content Blueprint clients to help translate your expertise into marketable topics to promote your business.

And then the other important thing to look for on social media, is their personality. Is this someone you respect? Someone you’d vibe with. Do they speak confidently or with authority? Are they light-hearted and fun? What you look for could vary based on the type of services you need, but feel drawn to them and like what they’re posting, then they could be a great fit for you.

To reverse engineer this one, first think about how you want people to describe your brand, then go back through your content to see if what you’re posting reflects that personality style. And if you don’t think your brand has a personality yet, this is the perfect time to start thinking through how you want to show up online, and what that delivery looks like.

The third factor: the experience

The third and final factor is all about the experience you provide, from the moment a prospective client starts interacting with you, through the sale, and afterward.

You want to have a frictionless experience, meaning everything happens the way it should. So here’s a potential workflow:

Someone visits your site and fills out your contact form

Do they receive an auto-generated response thanking them? Do you reply to them directly via email? Do you call them? And how quickly do you respond?

The faster you respond, the better your chances of converting them to a client. Plus they see you’re prompt, professional, and prioritizing their needs.

Or you could offer a Calendly link so they can bypass the contact form and directly book a call with you, OR buy directly from your site. I love this option because it saves time and feels like I’m making progress toward solving the challenge I have.

Next, think about your marketing materials. Do you have additional information you can email them about your services? Does this look professional and answer their questions? This could also be information on your website that gets repackaged, but gives a more professional feel that adds to the trust and credibility you’re building with that person.

Say that person isn’t ready to buy yet, and they subscribe to your emails. Do you have a welcome sequence setup, or a cadence for how frequently you’ll email them?

This is a great way to share valuable information, tips, or insights that showcase your expertise, promote your services, and help them until they’re ready to work with you.

Thinking through every point in your sales, onboarding, and client process and how you engage with them is a surefire way to provide a great experience.

So let’s do a quick recap, since we covered a lot of info here:

First, your website:

Does it look professional?
Do you highlight your services, certifications, and expertise front and center so visitors know you can solve their problem?
Are you showcasing your results, sharing testimonials, or success stories?

Next, your social media presence:

Are your accounts active? If not, remove those icons from your website.
Are you sharing content on what it’s like to work with you, promoting your services, educating your followers, or sharing results? Download the Topic Map Template in the show notes if you need some help here
And finally, are you letting your personality shine, to connect on a deeper level?

And now the experience:

Is your lead response time hurting your conversion rate?
Do you have ways to expedite the purchase process, by scheduling a call or buying directly on your site?
Are you nurturing your contacts with regular interaction, information, and tips to help them until they’re ready to buy?

Once you answer these objectively, you can start tackling the gaps where potential clients might be falling out of the purchasing process with you. Now, the order you tackle these in is completely up to you, but I typically recommend starting with your website and making sure at least your contact form communication workflow is solid. This does take a little bit of time, so posting consistently on social media, even if it’s just 1-2 times a week if you’re doing everything yourself, keeps you active and in front of your current followers.

Then once the basics are in a good place, you can start working through a more comprehensive content strategy for social media, email, etc.

And if you need a little more help along the way, let’s set up a call to talk through how I might be able to help you inside The Servicepreneur Network.