EthicalFactorInterview

A 10-Minute Close and Personal Picture of Your Value

For the past twenty-one years, we have worked with businesses and professionals in developing their "perceived" differentiation and have found the following to be true regarding new-client acquisition:

Generally speaking, prospective clients become clients because they feel a "connectivity" with the professional.
Connectivity turns more on prospective clients perceiving the professional is about the ethicalfactor^SM (trust, credibility, partnership) -- than the fact that the professional is experienced or educated. (Having experience and education have become merely tickets of entry; they are seldom differentiators.)
Connectivity is, for the most part, a product of in-person meetings.
Conventional marketing tools (web sites, e-mails, mailings) are not in-expensive and are lacking in their ability to establish the degree of "connectivity" necessary to yield significant in-person meetings.

If the preceding resonates, perhaps we have a solution. The EthicalFactor^SM Interview is an audio marketing tool that takes the form of an "NPR-type, let us find out about you" five to ten-minute conversation that will engage and connect with prospective clients. It is designed to convey to listeners that you are all about the ethicalfactor^SM components of trust (genuineness), credibility (believability) and partnership (customer focus and accountability). (Article that sets forth our ethicalfactor^SM differentiator philosophy: PullingAhead of the Competition: Developing and Selling Your Competitive Advantage.)

The result of the "close and personal" Interview will be more in-person meetings, the essential pre-requisite in transitioning prospective clients to clients. It can be a link on your web site, sent with introductory or follow-up e-mails or in hard disk form.

What makes the EthicalFactor^SM Interview so effective as a marketing tool (a vehicle that moves prospective clients to becoming clients)? Our formula: The interview questions that elicit your EthicalFactor^SM differentiators; how the questions are designed and positioned; the relationship between you and the interviewer; the ability of the interviewer to connect with the listeners; the EthicalFactor^SM Interview brand integrated as part of your brand (if desired); as well as your answers to the very questions your prospective clients want asked and answered. The end result will yield the following perception: (1) you "get" the issues/concerns prospects wrestle with in deciding which professional to retain and that (2) you are the best person to deal with these issues.

Quite simply, the EthicalFactor^SM Interview works because it pursues a direct agenda of conveying your value and integrity in a way that is not the least "self-touting" or un-professional.

We recommend that additional EthicalFactor^SM Interviews be done with your satisfied clients. Prospective clients will connect with your existing clients.

The process is a one-hour phone consultation, followed up by a twenty-minute phone interview. The final product will be a professionally produced audio file. The phone consultation will take the following form:

We will clarify your unique competitive advantage. Specifically, we need to know which components of the ethicalfactor^SM have successfully differentiated you.
We will develop a clear/concise and compelling way to communicate your competitive advantage.
We will develop questions and answers that will convey to your targets that you understand the issues and concerns they deal with in deciding which direction to go.
We will develop questions that will convey to targets that they can relate to the interviewer. Through the words the interviewer uses and the emotionality s/he conveys, we want your targets to perceive it is them asking the questions of you. This will help in establishing the perception that our interview is anything but a slick marketing piece; it is "close and personal."

Listen to a recent interview, Randy Joseph, CPA:

Click Here

Call us for a complimentary consultation at (314)863-4000.

About the Ethical Selling Institute

The Ethical Selling Institute is a subsidiary of Sempact, Inc. In addition to the EthicalFactor^SM Interview, we provide training, speaking (keynotes, breakouts) and coaching to businesses and organizations on how to add significant perceived value by building more of the EthicalFactor^SM components into their services: trust (genuineness) credibility (believability) and partnership (customer focus and accountability). We believe that doing so is not just the right thing to do; it is the ultimate differentiator. Our "EthicalFactor^SM differentiator" clients include Anheuser-Busch, DuPont, Hewlett-Packard, 3M, AT&T, the United States Postal Service as well as professional service firms. We offer the following customized workshop: The EthicalFactor -- How Professional Service Providers Can Significantly Enhance Their Value And Their Practices.

Letters from Professional Service Clients

Attorney (Peter Sloan, Partner, Blackwell, Sanders, Peper, Martin)
Chiropractic College (Kim Ownbey, Director of Marketing and Human Relations, Logan Health Centers)
Business Consultants (Bob Serben, Director, Center for Business, Industry and Labor)
Non-Profit Executive Director (Robin Feder, Executive Director, Central Institute for the Deaf)
Engineer (Matthew Houser, PE, CONTECH)
Banker (Lisa Frick, Vice President, Royal Banks)
Association of Technical Consultants (Martha Ludewig, Vice President, Association of Information Technology Professionals)

About EthicalFactor^SM Interviewer, Fred Firestone, J.D., M.Ed.

In 1988, Fred drew upon his experience as an attorney and counselor and founded Sempact, Inc., the parent company of the Ethical Selling Institute. For the past twenty-one years he has traveled the country speaking with businesses and organizations about improving their performance using the EthicalFactor^SM. He has interviewed business leaders for print, radio, television and video. 2001 article: Consultant Helps Businesses To Differentiate Service From Competitors