Another aspect to consider is that of championing. Again, understanding this concept will challenge you to think about how you approach prospective clients. You are offering a service by which you will be actively promoting the goods and/or services of another. So you are in fact, championing. The client, or business owner is doing the same thing, they are championing their own goods and/or services. It’s very important to establish this role as it will be the platform upon which all your content is created as well as the focal point of the business marketing efforts.
Why the word “champion”? Because a champion is someone who is focused, someone who takes on a single cause and develops it, markets it, cares about it, there is a human element, one of trust, loyalty, passion. These are all traits that support your efforts to assist business owners in achieving their goal of customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, and customer retention. The goal of a champion is to not only to win alone, but to win for the team.
So when you meet your next client, ask yourself if you believe they are a champion. If during your discovery, they indeed do not possess the quality of character necessary to be a champion, you may want to bow out, or refer them to someone who doesn’t care who they service. A true champion will inspire you, for they aspire to be the very best people they can be; and isn’t the highest quality of life just that; getting behind great causes, believing in great people and aligning ourselves with role models and community pillars?
cham·pi·on
ˈCHampēən/
noun
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a person who has defeated or surpassed all rivals in a competition, esp. in sports.“a champion hurdler”
synonyms: winner, titleholder, defending champion, gold medalist, titlist, record holder;
verb
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support the cause of; defend.“priests who championed human rights”
synonyms: advocate, promote, defend, uphold, support, back, stand up for, take someone’s part; campaign for, lobby for, fight for, crusade for, stick up for“championing the rights of refugees”Another factor to consider is that if you are going to champion a client’s cause/business/idea, you most likely will not be supportive of their competition. I lost a client to Yellow Pages once, and I told the client, “Just as soon as Yellow Pages cashes your cheque, they are going to offer the exact same services to your competition.” I was right, and as soon as he left us as a client, I called up his competition and offered my services for twice the normal rate. Now he is my competition because I can only champion one cause per vertical, geographic market.Practical Tip: Let your prospective client know that you will not offer your services to his competitors, and that if another similar company approaches you in another region you’ll first run it by the client. Since you are offering a free software package, make sure you place value on your loyalty and genuine concern for them as people.
