What statement will derail the sales process?
One of my sons started off a conversation that involved his effort to get me to give him money by saying, “you’re going to love this idea.”
That statement rarely turns out well for the person who says it.
My initial thoughts were, in order, “I doubt it” and then “I wonder what this is going to cost me.” If it had been one of the other sons, the first thought probably would have been “wanna bet,” but that’s a result of past experience. This is an opening line that breeds skepticism. Better approaches to making the sale include:
- Help the prospect see your idea in full living color with story-telling and visual images. This idea, by the way, extends to presentation decks where you should avoid lots of bullets and standard clip art and use images that complement your storytelling. For example, I use a photo of a tiger peering out of a forest for slides about lurking danger, images of elevator doors to start a discussion about options, and a picture of Peter Falk as Columbo to illustrate a slide on asking lots of questions.
- Get rid of the handouts but use leave-behinds. But don’t hand out the leave-behinds at the beginning and say they’re leave-behinds. Wait until you’re actually leaving.
- Once you’ve made the sale, stop selling. How many times have you been in meetings where the salesperson was so intent on getting through his or her deck that the sale was lost by an errant or misplaced bullet point?
- Aim high. My friend, sports agent extraordinare Ron Shapiro, urges negotiators to Aim High. Do the same in your sales. While there are benefits to taking an incremental approach once you have the business and bringing about change, don’t play it safe during the sales process. Be logical and clear, but paint a greater vision. Bring the prospect along on a journey and encourage them to feel a part of figuring out the solution.
One thing that most consultants have in common is the need to constantly sell, particularly those who are trying to build a portfolio of projects or clients that provide consistent income. When selling yourself (your skills, experience, and value proposition), what approaches do you take?
Your technical skills will only take you so far…
Building a successful portfolio career requires you to have customers — a word I far prefer to clients — who speak well of you. In many cases, these happy customers will be your best source of new business.
LinkedIn is just one place where your references can sing your praises, a great place actually because you eliminate the reciprocal reference (“you recommend me and I’ll recommend you”) that can undermine the power of a positive recommendation.
But keep in mind that as important as a great reference is to you, it may quickly become an after-thought to the person with whom you worked. So it makes sense to ask for the reference at some point during or just after the project and then provide some specific direction, particularly if the reference is going to be in writing for your LinkedIn profile or in a specific place on your website. Think about the questions you’d ask if you were looking to hire someone like you:
- Was he easy to work with?
- How much supervision did he require?
- What makes him different from his competitors (i.e., from others who offer similar services, particularly those who might charge less)?
- Did he show up when he said he would?
- Did he deliver what he said he would (i.e., Did he meet expectations or exceed them)?
- How were his invoices (e.g., clear, detailed, and reasonable for the work delivered)?
- Would you recommend him to others (or, under what circumstances would you hire him again)?
The technical aspects of your skills are important, but successful consultants are trustworthy. They deliver something unexpected, and they build relationships. Your references should reflect those qualities.
What other questions would help a client provide you with a great reference?
Getting to know your prospective client will make for a great marriage later
Networking and sales prospecting will only get you so far. At some point, you need to convince a potential client that you will provide value that exceeds what they’re paying you (i.e., ROI). Whether you’re responding to an RFP or meeting with the prospective client to discuss their needs, you should be trying to figure out how to answer some or all of these questions:
- Can you add something worthwhile to the company’s total output?
- Can you help the company get closer to achieving its goals?
- Can you make the company more efficient (i.e., streamline processes, market more efficiently, save them time)?
- With the budget available, can you do a comprehesive and effective job?
- Do you have skills that don’t exist somewhere else in the company (or are resources so stretched that the person or people who do have them can’t be moved to this project)?
- Will this project be seen as a must-have or a nice-to-have (i.e., will you have executive support)?
Ask open-ended questions to get at the answer to these questions throughout the sales process and then ask yourself two questions:
- Are my skills a good match for their problems or needs?
The answer to this question will lead you to the next one:
- Is it worth spending additional business-development time on this prospect (i.e., developing proposals and presentations and attending meetings?
Focusing on this approach will help you sell more effectively, enabling you to focus your most precious asset — your time — on the right prospects and help you to tie your core competencies to the client’s most pressing needs.
