The 3 A’s of Client Attraction.

I was listening to the radio the other day and came across a discussion about how, people choose their doctors.

And this is where the 3 A’s come in.

Affability, Availability and Ability.

When a doctor is affable, that means he or she is friendly, empathetic and appears genuinely caring.

Availability is about how long the patient will have to wait to get an appointment.

And ability speaks to the patient’s sense of just how good or bad the doctor is at his or her job.

What interested me was that the expert being interviewed on that radio program was saying that these 3 A’s are listed according to their importance to the patient.

In other words, patients care most about their doctor being affable, then about their availability, and finally about their ability.

Yes, ability was listed last.

Of course, this doesn’t mean people don’t care about how good or bad their doctors are. And maybe people place it last in part because it is very hard for us to make a judgement as to how good a doctor might be.

That’s how it works with doctors and patients. And maybe we can learn from this when figuring out what a client is looking for when he or she mulls over whether or not to hire us.

I think many of us assume that clients are most interested in determining our ability. How good are we? Are we good enough to do the job? So as freelancers we put a lot of effort into providing proof of our ability, using testimonials, case studies and the like.

I think what we do less well when prospecting for clients is to display our affability and our availability.

To make it clear that we are available and ready to start work on their project today is easily done. To demonstrate our affability is a little harder, and takes more time.

Let’s look at the topic of affability in a little more detail.

Why? Because I suspect it is a lot more important than we think when it comes to securing a client.

As with the doctors, being affable simply means being friendly, empathetic and caring about a clien’t business.

My own research with client companies tells me that clients really like it when a freelancer displays genuine interest in their business and their goals. They don’t like it when freelancers give the impression they are in it just for the money. What they want is a partner who really cares about helping the client company succeed.

This means giving more of yourself. It means being likeable. It means making a few phone calls that aren’t strictly necessary, or billable, but indicate you are genuinely interested and committed.

Affability is the number one reason for patients choosing a particular doctor.

And I bet it’s the number one reason for clients choosing you as a freelancer.

Sure, cover the bases by proving your ability, and let them know you are available.

But if you want to beat competing freelancers who may have equal proof of ability, your secret weapon is to be affable.

About the author: Nick Usborne is an online writer, copywriter, author and coach. Read more…