We live in a world where perception is everything. I mean from the cars we drive to the clothes we wear, even down to what we eat or drink, people will judge us on that. It doesn’t matter if it’s right or wrong, it’s the nature of the world we reside in.
It’s no different when it comes to business.
How clients perceive you is the difference between trust and lack thereof, so it’s important that you look and act to part when it comes to running an auto transport broker business. But what exactly constitutes professionalism? Where is the line drawn?
More so, how can you make sure you look and sound professional all the time so clients trust you? That’s why almost every newbie broker has asked themselves this question at least once:
Should I get an office for my auto transport broker business?
Before I get into the logistics behind an office space and whether or not it’s a necessity in this industry, let’s talk about professionalism for a second.
The other day I was talking to one of my ReloAcademy students when they asked me, “Coach Ashley, I look up to you because you are so professional yet down to earth. How on earth did you strike that balance? I want that in my business.”
Believe it or not, I never looked at it as striking a balance. Once I realized that being someone you’re not does more harm than good, I immediately saw the importance of being who I am. The fact is, clients have two main ways of choosing who they do business with.
- Price
- How you make them feel
1. Price:
In every industry, clients will more than likely choose who they do business with based on these two factors. However as an auto transport broker, you’ll see them choose based on price more times than not. Why is this? As we’ve discussed in previous articles and videos, most auto transport brokers don’t differentiate themselves. They decide to become a broker, they pay someone to design a cheap website and that person because they have no experience designing sites like ours or at all, they will copy and paste content from other auto transport broker websites. Then you start buying leads and using what you learned through filling out fake quotes, to run your own business.
Guess what?
Now you look and sound the same as everyone else. And when that happens? Clients will choose based on the broker offering the best price.
2. How you make them feel:
If you make a client feel good, putting their needs before yours, you will win. They will feel like you genuine care about them and that you have their best interest at heart. Unfortunately not many auto transport brokers go this route. They are all about the money and that’s all they see is dollar signs with every potential client. And when they don’t convert their auto transport leads? They wonder why.
There’s a third way clients choose who they do business with and that is:
3. How much they like you as a person:
There are some auto transport brokers out there who get it. They get the importance of being who they are. Not looking to other brokers to emulate what they are doing. They do their own thing and when they do?
They win and they win big.
This is why I preach the importance of standing out through the power of being YOU. People will choose you as their auto transport broker if they like you.
Think of it this way. You are at the bar, and you see a beautiful girl/handsome guy. You approach them and ya’ll start talking. You start really liking them. A few months later, you’re a couple. Then one day, you find out they have this one flaw. It’s not detrimental but had you had it your way? They wouldn’t have it. So what do you do? You will probably look past that flaw and 25 years later you’re still married and you still love them just as much as you did when you saw them across the bar.
Clients are human beings too. Once a client loves you and trusts you, they choose you! Even when things go off course, they will still like and trust you especially if you take the principles I teach you in ReloAcademy to handle the problems with class.
In my business, I use a combination of both 2 and 3. Naturally I’m a caring person who puts EVERYONE’S needs before mine. But I also make sure that I am 100% me in everything I do. From talking on the phone to the emails I send to how I present myself on my site. My website is far from the typical auto transport broker’s website. Will I lose potential clients because of this? Probably. Do I care? No. I know that the clients who do choose me, do so because they like and and trust me. They are the one’s who willingly pay my $300 service fee and my high priced quotes.
Moral of the story? I don’t set out to be professional. I set out to be me and naturally, because I’m not a rude person, I’m viewed as professional. Which takes us back to the question:
Should you get an office for your auto transport broker business?
Will getting an office space make you look more professional? Will clients view you as unprofessional if you’re working from home?
After reading this article, you can pretty much see what my answer is to this question, but if not, check out this week’s ReloGeek TV episode where I answer this pressing question then leave your thoughts in the comments below:
One Response
Loved it when it came out… played the crap out of it on my radio show… now, I find at least half of it very hard to listen to. They’re just so damned earnest… about everything. Snotty, ‘I don’t give a fuck’ punk rock has aged so much better.