Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: Made in the UK for HR consultants worldwide. You're listening to the HR Marketing Guys podcast.
[00:00:14] Speaker B: Hello, James here and welcome to this week's podcast episode. Checking out to see how legit your consultancy looks is a process that most buyers are going to go through. And that's why in this week's main event, we're going to talk about what business owners are looking for and how you can make your consultancy look more legit. And in today's Thought of the week, I'm going to share with you a beautiful analogy for life that I've heard recently and for business that will melt your troubles away. So let's jump straight.
[00:00:42] Speaker A: In this week's main event, a consultant.
[00:00:47] Speaker B: In the US booked a discovery call in with me the other day. When we jumped on the call, I asked her how she had heard about me because she wasn't in any of my lists. She said to me that she was looking for help growing her consultancy, did a Google, found a few people and reached out to me because, I quote, I looked the most legit at the time. I was like, huh, that's clever. I'm going to use how legit do you look as a content idea in the future. And then my sister and I were looking for a ferry company to take us to one of the islands near Bali. The other day, Becky said to me, I quote, I've done some research and I think that this furry company looks the most legit. And I was like, huh, here it is again. Even though you would assume that all furry companies here would be legit, that was obviously something that Becky was looking for when filtering and making her decision. And then I was on the phone to a client a few days ago and we were talking about lead generation stuff and she said that she needed to spruce up her LinkedIn profile so that it, I quote, looked more legit to the people we were trying to contact. And now maybe because it's in my reticular activating system, I keep hearing this term everywhere and it's made me think the term looked the most. Legit is the term people use themselves to describe the process they go through when researching and making a purchasing decision. And I think it's a great shorthand way to describe how buyers behave because it's very much based on feeling. They don't just read your website, they then scan everything to get a sense of trust and they're stacking up clues as to decide whether you look legit or not. It's gut feel meets Google and in a noisy market, looking legit becomes the shortcut to being chosen. So if you want more clients who are consultancy, the question you really need to ask yourself is, how legit do you look to people who don't know you? And that is what this podcast episode is all about. I want us to take this opportunity to take a big step back, look at the way you're presenting yourself to the outside world, and objectively question how legit you look. Because as we've already discussed, this is probably one of the most effective ways to make yourself look more trustworthy and credible to prospective clients. Looking for a HR consultant. Okay, so what are the things we need to look at to see if you look legit or not? So when I was thinking about the best way to talk you through this, I thought that it would actually be better to follow the prospect journey. So to that end, let's imagine that you're a business owner and you're looking for a HR consultant in your area or chosen industry. First you'll go to Google and then you'll type in HR consultant near me or whatever and your website will come up. So the first thing we need to make sure is that you actually have a website. That kind of goes without saying, but you will be surprised at the amount of consultants just starting out that ask me if this is necessary or not. Okay, so there are two ways that your website will appear organically in Google. Either as an organic listing, which is just how your website shows normally, or within the local pack, which is kind of the maps. As a marketer, what we're looking to do here is increase click through rates to your website in Google for the organic listing. We can do this by making sure your metadata is as good as it possibly can be. So metadata is the kind of the text that's around your listings, that's the title, description, and other things that may show on Google when your website appears. Because I know sometimes Google lists the different pages as well. So it just depends what mood it's in that day. And then within the local pack, this is very much based upon location, but your SEO in general. But the most obvious thing Google are featuring here is how many Google reviews you have. So if we just summarize this step, in order to look more legit to people searching for a HR consultant on Google, you, you need to one, obviously have a website, two, have carefully written metadata, and three, have Google reviews. Okay, so let's imagine that the business owner has now clicked onto your website. The first thing they're going to get a feel for is your Branding. A lot of people underestimate the power of brand. For me, brand underpins pretty much everything you do. And there's a very famous brand book that describes brand and visual design as the language of feeling, which I think is very poignant and powerful. So to that end, we would need to ask ourselves, what feelings are we left with when looking at your brand and website for the very first time? This is all about shaping perception, making a strong first impression and emotionally connecting with your audience. Both you and I have gone onto a website before and we've clicked straight off it without really giving it the time it probably deserves. Why? Because something doesn't feel quite right and this is down to their branding. So in order to look more legit to business owners, you need to get your brand right first. Okay, so now the business owner is scrolling and scanning through your homepage. They're scanning your headlines, they're looking at the images, they're looking for evidence that you're a great HR consultant and they're looking for clear actions to do next. As a consultancy owner, you have to think about this and give them all of the information and answers they're looking for. In terms of content, your headlines need to grab their attention, poke the pain and provide a solution. In terms of images, they need to see real life photos of you and your team. And consultancy style photos are awesome for this. In terms of evidence that you are a great HR consultant, they want to see testimonials, five star ratings, case studies, and evidence that you work with lots of happy business owners. They also want to see industry stuff. So what software companies do you partner with? What are your accreditations, what thought leadership pieces are you doing? And then in terms of clear actions as to what to do next, they want to learn more about you from your About Us page. They want to learn more about your services from your services page. And then they want to know how they can contact you via the contact page. And if you look at loads of website analytics, this is the typical user journey that people go through. They land on your homepage, they go to your About Us page to check you out. On a more personal level, they check out your services page and then they contact you. And this is why I want you to feature these sections on your homepage too. Okay, so let's imagine that they've now gone onto your About Us page. They want to learn more about you, your history and what you stand for. They want to see lovely pictures of you. If you have a team, they want to see a team bio of Everyone too. They want to know what skills and experience you'll have and any other information that will help them to believe that you're a real, legit person. And it's crazy when you say it like that, isn't it? They're almost so distrusting that they don't believe that you're real. And it's your job as a marketer with your marketing hat on to actually make them believe that you're a real person. And then when they want to learn more about your services, you ideally want to have an individual service page for each of the services you provide. Each service page needs to have information about the service itself, how the services are delivered, examples of the services you have delivered, and evidence that you've done a great job at delivering those services. And then on your contact page they need to have clear and easy ways to contact you. I know so many consultants still operating off their Gmail or Outlook emails, so if you're offering email, create a company one. Why? Because this makes you look more legit and use a diary, booking system, et cetera. So on this page also reassure them that you can offer a free 30 minute chat without any obligation as they might be worried about getting an invoice too. You need to give them all of the reassurances they need. Take that leap of faith to booking a call with you. Okay, so what I've done here is whiz through the typical journey a new prospect would take. If they're looking for a HR consultant via Google and they're checking out to see how legit you are, a great action for you would be to open an incognito window, follow this journey yourself and objectively review how legit you look. This is something that I would love to help you with. If you would like to jump on a free 30 minute call to go through this together, I'd love to give you my perspective and advice. Advice. And together we can create a plan of action to help you appear more legit to business owners who might not know you. Get in touch and let's book in a call.
[00:08:49] Speaker A: James's Thought of the Week I went.
[00:08:53] Speaker B: To go get my tarot cards read by a lovely Balinese lady the other day. I've never had them read before and thought why not? While she was reading my cards she said something really lovely that her dad taught her and I think I'll always remember this. She said that life is like a wheel. Sometimes you're on top, but sometimes you're below the wheel and you just have to use the right energy to keep yourself going. And I thought that this was such a beautiful analogy for life and a great way to describe how business can sometimes feel. I speak to lots of consultants that are going through quiet or difficult patches, but then things always turn around for them. Of course, by marketing or consultancy you can plateau out these peak and troughs, but for the consultants who have lived through this cycle, they kind of wish that they hadn't worried so much and had actually enjoyed the downtime a little bit more. So this is your reminder today. Life is like a wheel. Sometimes you're up, sometimes you're down. So just flow with it and everything will be okay. And if you do need any help at all, please remember that I'm always here and only a phone call away.
[00:09:58] Speaker A: You've been listening to the HR Marketing Guys podcast, helping you to get new clients and create a life you love.
