How Clients Buy

The authors delve into the challenges of client acquisition in professional services, highlighting the need for better education in business development. They discuss the stigma around selling expertise and push for a client-centric approach. Emphasizing empathy and design thinking, they argue for a shift from manipulative sales tactics to helping clients make informed decisions. Their insights shed light on the innovative landscape of selling professional services, marking a refreshing take on a critical industry topic.

Keeping It Real: Why Clients Value Authenticity Nate Bennett is the real deal. A Professor and Associate Dean of Business at Georgia State’s Robinson College of Business, he is in demand as a consultant to companies like Accenture, McGladrey, Coca-Cola, Delta Airlines, and McKesson. Nate is smart, high energy, and interesting. Quick with a quip if he thinks something is absurd, he is an original. In an interview conducted by my colleague, Jacob Parks, Nate points out the importance of authenticity when pitching expert services to would-be clients. It’s as though he intuitively knows his success as a consultant is a function of how good he is at keeping it real. And Nate is not alone. When Doug Fletcher and I interviewed consulting pros about business development for our upcoming book, How Clients Buy, one of the things they said most often was, “It is important to be authentic.” But what is this thing we call authenticity? The Authenticity Debate The word itself means to be genuine and not copied or fake. In the case of people and not things, it means that a person’s action reflects their true nature, as in, “Matt Damon’s Boston accent in Good Will Hunting is authentic,” or “Ralph’s outrage at the prison reform was authentic, a function of him having been mugged.” That is the way Nate strikes me. He’s authentic because he seems completely unaffected, a person who is not trying to be something he’s not. Turns out this quality is magnetic in Nate and can be in others as well. Nate makes reference to a debate going on in academic circles around this notion of “authentic leadership.” On the one hand, Bill George, the former CEO of Medtronic who is now a professor at Harvard Business School and the author of Authentic Leadership, says, The debate over which form of leadership works seems settled, in my view. Most leading companies globally are focusing on developing “authentic leaders” within their ranks. Executive courses at Harvard Business School in authentic leadership development are oversubscribed and expanding every year. As the Harvard Business Review declared in January 2015, “Authenticity has emerged as the gold standard for leadership.” The essence of authentic leadership is emotional intelligence, or EQ, as articulated by Daniel Goleman. People with high IQs and low EQs can hardly be called authentic leaders. In contrast to IQ, which basically does not change in one’s adult lifetime, EQ can be developed. The first and most important step on this journey is gaining self-awareness. On the opposite coast, Jeffery Pfeffer, Stanford Graduate School of Business’ long-time professor and author of Leadership BS, takes the opposite position: The last thing a leader needs to be at crucial moments is authentic. One of the most important leadership skills is the ability to put on a show, to act like a leader, to act in a way that inspires confidence and garners support — even if the person doing the performance does not actually feel confident or powerful. Leaders need to be true to what the situation demands and what the people around them want and need. Each of us plays a number of different roles in our lives, and people behave and think differently in each of those roles, so demanding authenticity doesn’t make sense. So, is authenticity a critical attribute or not? And why is it that so many in the consulting and professional services field talk about how authenticity is a critical component of successful business development? A clue might lie within the definition and use of the word authenticity, which has a strange relationship with itself. Is Authenticity Defined by Its Absence? In the interview, Jacob mentions job applicants who “tout their authenticity” and Nate reacts violently. “The first thought that [comes to mind when I hear that] is how inauthentic they are.” It is almost as if this word doesn’t like itself. The mere mention of authenticity is proof positive you don’t have it. We’re a lot more comfortable with the concept in its negative form: “That guy was a fake.” “There was something about how she presented herself that seemed affected.” “It felt like he had an ulterior motive.” “She was telling us what she thought we wanted to hear.” “They seemed phony.” “Too slick by half.” “A poseur.” “Rehearsed.” Academic Jacob Golomb writes in his book, In Search of Authenticity, “Authenticity is a negative term… [best] discerned in its absence.” I agree. A better approach might be to look at the word functionally and ask why do clients so consistently say they look for authenticity in those with whom they are considering working? Why Clients Value Authenticity Clients value authenticity primarily because it is useful to them. Perceiving whether or not someone is authentic helps clients make better buying decisions. Here’s why: Credibility – Clients buy from those they respect and they think can do the job. If someone comes across as shifty-eyed and inauthentic, it makes would-be clients wonder if all the case studies, endorsing quotes, and talk of a track record might not be true. Inauthenticity feels like someone is presenting a face to us they want us to see and saying things we want to hear. That raises the hair on the back of our neck. As Kellie Crantz, EMC’s vice president of talent strategy and development says, “Everyone filters. As human beings, we’re wired to know when someone is being disingenuous.” Trust – Clients buy from those whom they believe have their best interests at heart. When someone seems overly affected or slick, it makes clients wonder if the expert might have an ulterior motive. Professional services are credence goods. Buyers have to have an extra measure of trust before engaging with would-be partners because the potential consultant is the only expert in the room and is charged with both diagnosing the problem inside a company and suggesting a fix. Because the prospect for self-dealing and conflicts of interest exist in this sort of arrangement, clients are desperate for clues on whether or not they can trust the consultant. Leadership – When clients engage with an expert, they’re looking for someone to tell them the truth. They’re surrounded sheep. They need someone who is unafraid to speak truth to power. But if someone seems inauthentic, will they have the guts to speak their mind even if it is unpopular? Clients register inauthenticity as a fundamental lack of confidence. If you are more concerned with how you are being perceived than being who you are, that suggests in the future, the tool you will reach for first will not be honest assessment. Interestingness – Originals are always more interesting than copies. As humans, we’re drawn to people who are interesting. Perhaps it is because we find interesting people entertaining but maybe it is also that we sense interesting is code for different and only in different is pressure put on orthodoxies and innovation produced. Or maybe it is even more elemental – that as humans we crave diversity as evolutionarily advantageous and our best defense against constantly evolving threats. The Seven Elements of Business Development Learn More Being Authentic Nate is right. Being authentic is an important way in which we can drive engagement with those with whom we can most help. But how do we increase our authenticity quotient? We know we need to be authentic when we meet with would-be clients, but we also know that the surest road to inauthenticity is to try too hard to be authentic. It feels like a Catch-22. A few tips to authentically be more authentic: Listen first. Actors are taught to not just memorize and deliver their lines but to react to the other actors on the stage. Not to memorize or rehearse these reactions, but to really listen to the other characters as they speak and then to really react. Listen to those with whom you are interacting. Be present. Don’t half listen as you think about what you are going to say next, but track the meaning they are trying to communicate as it is happening. Be real. If you call on a potential client and it is snowy and miserable out, it is okay to say, “Man, it is freezing out,” as you shudder to kick off the cold. We’re taught to keep the personal separate from the professional, but letting the personal bleed into the professional is better even if it doesn’t seem relevant. “How’s it going? Thanks for coming in.” “I’m actually doing great. My wife and I just celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary. Hard to believe!” Says, Andrea Procaccino, Chief Learning Officer of New York-Presbyterian Hospital, “An authentic leader shows you who they are as a person, and they focus on engaging others.” Don’t equivocate. If you think something is not true, don’t soften your delivery in an effort to avoid offense. “I have to tell you, I wouldn’t migrate from Dropbox to Office365. Microsoft doesn’t quite have their act together yet.” Show you are self-aware. Self-deprecating humor signals you know your limitations and aren’t in the business of presenting yourself (or your business case) as something it is not. “As you can see from my grey hair, I am no spring chicken, but I’ll tell you, I am clever enough to surround myself with smart young people and they tell me that Millennials prefer crowd-sourced recommendations.” Make your values transparent. We make decisions based on what we think is important. Don’t shy away from letting clients know how you think about right and wrong. “I’d love to help you on your go-to-market strategy, but I am working with Kroger right now and that feels like a conflict. Let me recommend another firm. I’ve worked with them before and know they are very good.” Authenticity Isn’t Free but It’s Worth It In the end, being authentic is critical to successfully engaging with would-be clients, but you can’t game it. You are who you are. Either you are comfortable in your own skin and don’t mind putting it out there, or you’d rather hide behind a heavy coat of who-you-think-they-want-you-to-be. It is your choice. Clients, though, are clear: They want to do business with partners who are the real deal. Which means that authenticity comes at a cost. Here is Nate on the subject. The issue of authenticity comes down to fit. If your authenticity is a square peg and the problem is a square hole, great. If the hole is instead a circle, as a consultant, do you change (fake the authenticity of being a circle), convince the client the hole is a circle (what most do), or take a pass on the gig and look for a square hole? What [consultants] need to understand is that authenticity will win you some relationships and those relationships have a much better chance of becoming deep and ongoing, but it will cost you some relationships, too, as people won’t warm up to you. I had a student evaluation say, “Nate will not be everyone’s cup of tea, but this was by far the best class I have taken in this program.” They are right. A certain percent of each class doesn’t really “get me.” There is a cost to [authenticity]. Do not let that deter you, though. As Nate says, “The benefits [of being authentic] far outweigh the costs. And being authentic is both easy and helps you sleep better at night.” Keeping It Real by Nate Bennett http://media.blubrry.com/how_clients_buy/content.blubrry.com/how_clients_buy/Keeping_It_Real.mp3 Get the Free Transcript of Nate Bennett's Insights Download PDF ← Can a Billboard Improve Your Sales? Why We Wrote "How Clients Buy" → The post Keeping It Real: Why Clients Value Authenticity appeared first on How Clients Buy.

Can a Billboard Improve Your Sales? Walking through the Detroit airport, I saw a billboard for Accenture and wondered: Does advertising drive business development for consulting and professional service firms? Someone thinks it does. Marketers spend $600 billion a year on ads. Of that, significant funds are spent building awareness for law firms, IT firms, and consulting firms. We spend money on advertising because we know that before clients can engage with us, they have to know who we are, what Doug Fletcher and I call Awareness in our new book, How Clients Buy. Does that mean that advertising is a pre-requisite to consulting and professional services success? The answer is, “No.” Walt Shill, Global Managing Partner for Client Services for ERM, helps us understand why. Walt has seen it all. He’s been a partner at McKinsey, run the management consulting business in North America for Accenture, built a successful start-up, founded an investment firm, and run a multi-billion environmental risk management practice. More importantly, though, he has been on both sides of the business development equation. He has sold consulting services to large firms and, as an operator, he has bought those services as well. When we sat down with Walt, he spoke about advertising. He remembers being surprised by how effective the Tiger Woods campaign was at building awareness for Accenture, especially in the early days. That said, he still believes that consulting and professional services are bought more than they are sold, and that trust and relationships drive that engagement. His view is that one-to-one marketing is both necessary and sufficient for building a consulting business. Advertising, on the other hand, is just the cherry on the cake – nice to have but not necessary. Walt reports that at McKinsey, the most important measure of engagement with a client was how they were affecting the client’s performance. The highest virtue was to have “impact” – impact on companies, impact on industries, and impact on the world. If a McKinsey team works with a chemical company on a more efficient pricing model, its goal should never be anything other than to create exponential increases in growth and shareholder value. Think of what Walt is saying in terms of quadrants where one axis is the mix between one-to-one marketing and mass marketing and the second axis is the object of that marketing – are you trying to build a brand or share stories of impact? In professional services, quadrant IV is where you want to be. Quadrant IV is best. We should always prefer to talk with clients about their problems and how we can (really) help. That said, mass marketing your brand is not all bad. It is just that mass marketing where the focus is on impact is better, and 1:1 marketing with a focus on impact is best. Accenture’s example is helpful. At first, they advertised using Tiger Woods to equate Accenture with performance in the clients’ mind, a brand message: In order to build awareness and an association with performance, Accenture ran advertisements featuring Tiger Woods. Over time, though, they moved away from Tiger, to a more (effective) use of mass marketing to drive home an impact message – telling stories about how they helped companies: Eventually, Accenture shifted the orientation of its advertising to emphasize results. Walt reminds us that we shouldn’t forget where the real action lies. Consulting and professional services are bought by real people who get to know and trust you, one relationship at a time. When relationships like these are married to a point of view about how you can meaningfully impact a business, the result is new business. What really strikes me about Walt’s perspective is the emphasis on substance. The goal is not to create “thought leadership” – content for content’s sake that can be pushed out to the world through social media or spam. The goal is to have an experience-informed perspective on a company’s challenges that is able to drive big, positive change for a client. And so, the answer to my Detroit airport question is that advertising can help consulting and professional services firms, but it is, on the whole, a poor investment. Much better is to spend time developing strategies and processes that can meaningfully move the needle for your clients. That’s what drives referral and grows your reputation. How to Help Clients Buy Professional Services by Walt Shill http://media.blubrry.com/how_clients_buy/content.blubrry.com/how_clients_buy/Helping_Clients_Buy_Professional_Services.mp3 Get the Free Transcript of Walt Shill's Insights Download PDF ← Allergic to Selling - A Conversation with Bert Martinez Keeping It Real: Why Clients Value Authenticity → The post Can a Billboard Improve Your Sales? appeared first on How Clients Buy.

Underwriting the Conversation Several years back, I attended an Accenture event where Don Tapscott, author of Wikinomics, headlined a lunch for senior executives from a cross-section of industries. He spoke compellingly on the subject of how blockchain technology was transforming business. After the event, a clump of executives huddled around Don, asking him questions. He spoke with each at length, handed out his contact information and agreed to six or seven follow up calls. It reminded me that professional services are sold from the front of the room. Sell from the Front of the Room Speaking before audiences is great because it gives you a chance to demonstrate your expertise and not just tout it. Providing insight into blockchain technology is stronger than saying you are expert at such things. Better to show your acumen and let others conclude you are an expert than to make the claim yourself. The effectiveness of this tactic is why, increasingly, conferences are monetizing the dais by charging professional service providers for the chance to speak to their audience – the so-called “pay to play” charge. The Power of the Peer Panel But what if you don’t have the budget or prominence to keynote? How do you harness this kind of “front of the room” power to drive your outreach and engagement? Paul Quigley, a project manager at PIE and a veteran of the live event circuit tells us how. He recommends the peer panel. He likes to invite between three and five leading executives to headline an event focused on best practices. Generally, Paul “levels up” for the panel. In other words, if he is focused on an audience of CFOs of $50 million companies, the panelists are CFOs of $500 million companies. Paul interviews each of the panelists beforehand on the topic to get a sense of where the gold lies and then moderates a conversation among the group before opening up to questions from the audience. When he sends out invitations, the invited “stars” help drive participation, which gives the event luster. Importantly, Paul (or his client) is well-positioned as the host of the conversation. There is a halo effect for the facilitator of the conversation. The moderator benefits because: They demonstrate their expertise by asking great questions. Their brand becomes associated with the success and status of their panelists. They communicate they care about the issues. They position themselves not as an expert with a point of view they are trying to hawk but as a “bee”, cross-pollinating best practices. Become a Partner in the Conversation Follow Paul’s lead, and the next time you write a prospect requesting time, they will warmly make time for you. Wouldn’t you want to sit down with an expert who is smart, connected, who cares deeply about the problems you face and who carry with them the latest in best practices? Hosted panel discussions position you as not just another subject matter expert but as a partner who cares enough the problems facing companies to underwrite the conversation that is inventing the future. Underwriting the Conversation by Paul Quigley http://media.blubrry.com/how_clients_buy/content.blubrry.com/how_clients_buy/Paul_Quigley-Underwriting_the_Conversation.mp3 ← Making Friends: The ABCs of an Introductory Call How to Build Trust with Potential Clients → The post Underwriting the Conversation appeared first on How Clients Buy.

Making Friends: The ABCs of an Introductory Call Cavin Segil has an easy laugh and long, unmanageable hair. It wasn’t always so. He used to have short hair, but he heard about a program that donates wigs to cancer victims made of real hair and decided he wanted to help out. Commendable to be sure, but the problem for all of us who count him as our friend is that the long hair looks good. We will miss his curly mane when it grows out and starts its second life on someone else’s head. I mention this because Cavin has great heart for others and that includes those whom he would like to help with his expertise. It shines through when he gets on a call with someone whom doesn’t know him but is interested in what our company does. Cavin has a good manner with them that is one part active listener, one part coach and knowledgeable guide. He knows that intent matters. A phrase can be spoken with happy, generous intent or it can come from a cloying, manipulative place. The difference is not in the words, but in the heart that Cavin brings to the call. I sat down with him and asked him to narrate a typical introductory call with a potential client. He says they always include a handful of key components. Call them the ABCs of an introductory call: A. Learn who they are B. Share what you do with an example C. Schedule a follow-up call Understanding the Client He starts by laying out the agenda. “I’d like to hear a little bit about your role and the work your team is doing. Then I thought I might share some of the work we have done with other consulting and professional services firms. Finally, I thought we might just open it up to questions and have a conversation.” This initial agenda-setting does a few things: It establishes you as the driver of the call. As a consequence, it relieves the potential client of that responsibility. It lets you obtain permission to ask them questions. We all know we shouldn’t be doing all of the talking, but sometimes it is hard to get a would-be client to open up. They’ll say something like, “Why don’t just tell me what you do.” By suggesting it makes sense that you both share and asking them to agree, “It makes it easy to then segue into a handful of questions about their objectives and challenges.” It lowers the temperature of the call. You are letting the client know that this is about information gathering and that they will not be pressured into making a decision. Once they agree, you can open things by asking an initial question. Cavin suggests asking about their role in the organization. In his experience, this question is less threatening than, “Tell me your goals.” When a person starts to talk about their place in the organization, they inevitably will tell you about their practice area and the place they are trying to head. Too often when introducing our consulting or professional services offerings we forget that clients have alternatives, including, importantly, not doing anything. Cavin then asks follow-up questions, including, “What activities are you doing right now to get where you want to go?” Too often when introducing our consulting or professional services offerings we forget that clients have alternatives, including, importantly, not doing anything. Cavin feels it is important to understand and respect efforts underway before talking about how he could complement existing work. He knows that ignoring projects that are already underway is a sure path to creating institutional detractors inside the organization. They may generally support what you’re doing, but if they perceive your services as being in competition for time and resources, you will be surprised by how creative they can be behind closed doors with reasons why what you are proposing is a terrible idea. Be their ally — their wingman — not their competition. Sharing What You Do Only after he has gotten a good sense of a client’s domain and where they would like it to go does Cavin begin to talk about PIE. This allows him to use an example which is relevant to the client and allows him to show, not just say, that he has been listening. The example is more important than the abstract description of what you do. In PIE’s case, we say, “We help connect experts with those they most want to serve,” but that is an abstraction. People have a hard time hearing those words. They have to climb up from the particulars of their situation to the remoteness of your words before lowering themselves back down to how you might help them. Easier is to relate to the story of how you helped others. “We were contacted by a practice head who was charged with building his book of business in the cybersecurity space. The problem was that he didn’t know any of the decision makers in the companies they thought they could help. Here is what we did for him….” Human beings are much more adept at seeing how parallel experiences relate to their situation than they are at inferring value from the world of big words. Answering Questions Quickly, though, he tries to stop talking. Hearing them out and sharing what he does shouldn’t take more than fifteen minutes, leaving plenty of time for questions and discussion. “How is that possible,” you ask? How can you be expected to make your pitch in only five minutes? The answer is you only need to get the headline of what you are offering out on the table and give an example of what you do. The temptation is to try and say too much. You have been on dozens of these calls before and know what the objections will be. Why not get the words out before the objections come? Let it go. Questions from a would-be client are not bad — they are not some admission that you failed to adequately present — they are the beginning of a conversation. People’s brains work better when they are engaged. If they are asking questions, it means their synapses are firing, making connections and they are thinking of possibilities. This is what you want. Setting Follow Up After you have had some back and forth, your time will start to draw to a close. Be aware of their time. Do not assume you are the only call on their calendar. Five minutes before your call is supposed to end, say, “I want to be mindful of your time. I am wondering if it makes sense for us to send you a short deck explaining our capabilities?” Your would-be client will always say yes. You have put yourself out on the call and they feel like they owe you something. Reciprocity demands they give you something in return. If you ask to send them some materials, they will agree because it is a low consequence way of fulfilling this obligation. Next say, “Sounds good. Why don’t we set some time in two weeks to follow up? If you have your calendar handy, maybe we could set some time right now?” It is highly unlikely — like the odds of an asteroid wiping you out on the way home — that you will sell a services contract in one thirty-minute call. As Cavin says, your goal is the next call. The key here is to take the pressure to “sell something” off of yourself. It is highly unlikely — like the odds of an asteroid wiping you out on the way home — that you will sell a services contract in one thirty-minute call. It just doesn’t happen. Knowing that, you can relax and realize your only goal is to start a conversation and clear a path to that conversation continuing at a later date. ABCs of Introductory Calls by Cavin Segil http://media.blubrry.com/how_clients_buy/content.blubrry.com/how_clients_buy/ABCs_of_Introductory_Calls.mp3 ← Following Up - How to Write a Compelling Deck Underwriting the Conversation → The post Making Friends: The ABCs of an Introductory Call appeared first on How Clients Buy.

Following Up – How to Write a Compelling Deck Carlie Auger has been on more than 500 introductory calls. She has a uniquely engaging way of speaking with those she does not know that makes her a natural at making new friends. One thing she has noticed is that as the thirty-minute introductory call comes to a close, there is always a pregnant pause when the prospective client knows that they should talk about next steps. But rare is the client that says, “Sounds good. How do we get started!” Much more likely is they push you off. “They seek to create space to consider what you have said to them,” says Carlie. Enter “The Deck.” “Do you have a short piece that describes what you do and perhaps what you have done for others?” This is the most common end to an introductory conversation with someone you think you might be able to help with your expert services. They ask you for what is essentially a brochure for your services. Your audience here is not the person you spoke with on the phone, it is the colleague or boss to whom the deck is forwarded. A strong deck includes four elements: a statement of capabilities, case studies, a credibility page, and contact information. “They want to talk to others on their team,” says Carlie. “But they also want to test you. How quickly do you turn something around? Is it high quality? We try and send out a deck by at least the next day.” A Statement of Capabilities Can you clearly explain what you do in a way your grandmother would understand yet is sharply enough focused that it positions you as one of the foremost leaders in your niche? Your audience here is not the person you spoke with on the phone, it is the colleague or boss to whom the deck is forwarded. You need to be able to explain your value proposition to them using a handful of printed words. Case Studies This is where you draw from your library of experiences to describe how you have helped others in similar situations. Make sure the examples are relevant. A small firm is going to wonder if the success you delivered on behalf of three very large firms can be duplicated for them if they are much less well known or command far fewer resources. Likewise, if all of your cases involve small clients, a large firm is going to wonder if you have the chops to play in the big game. Carlie suggests a good case study includes the task you were assigned by a client, what you did, and, finally, the resultant return on investment for the client. Credibility Page It is said, “No one was ever fired for hiring IBM.” Clients have problems which need to be solved, but when engaging you, they want air cover. They don’t want to be defending how they hired a firm with no track record and no references to tackle an important challenge. That would be a quick way to lose their job. The logo page in the deck is where you include logos of important present and past clients. Who you have worked with in the past helps build your credibility—the idea that you can be trusted with a task and that you will do what you say. Contact Information This may seem silly. You attached the deck in an email which has your contact information. But once sent, decks take on a life of their own. They get passed on to others you have never met. Make sure you leave your calling card. How to Write a Compelling Deck by Carlie Auger http://media.blubrry.com/how_clients_buy/content.blubrry.com/how_clients_buy/Following_Up-How_to_Write_a_Compelling_Deck.mp3 ← Seeking Assistance from Fellow Travelers Making Friends: The ABCs of an Introductory Call → The post Following Up – How to Write a Compelling Deck appeared first on How Clients Buy.

Seeking Assistance from Fellow Travelers I sat down with Andi Baldwin recently. Andi works with a number of consulting and professional services firms and is expert at facilitating conversations between the executives her clients most want to serve, teeing her clients up as trusted advisors to the group. Andi lights up the room with her energy and has the kind of focus and intelligence that makes you feel like she has set aside everything in the world to speak with you. It is not surprising she is great at interviewing clients. We naturally seek assistance from fellow travelers. Her interviewing happens within the context of a business development setting. She works for a client who has expertise. On behalf of those clients, she aggregates groups of executives who would benefit from that expertise. She moderates a best practices conversation between the executives, positioning her clients as a trusted advisor to the group. In that context, her clients tell stories and share examples of others who have struggled with the challenges being discussed. The consultant’s role is like a bee, cross-pollinating best practices among the executives. Andi doesn’t trust this conversation to serendipity, however. It is not improv. She does her homework and interviews each executive beforehand, asking questions like: “What’s top of mind for you?” “What are your biggest challenges? What gates you from progress?” And most importantly, “If you could ask a question of one of your peers, what would it be?” Using their answers, Andi constructs an agenda that cuts through the academic headlines of what an executive should be thinking about, say, “Business model disruption,” and instead gets to the juicy core of what the executives are really thinking about — “Is it better to start a corporate venture fund and seed new business models with an option to buy, or pay up to buy a company once the marketplace has already decided on the winners and losers?” By asking what an executive would ask of peers, she is really asking, “What keeps you up at night? What scares you.” That’s because, We rarely need help when we feel capable. It’s when we feel uncertain, we seek assistance. You may have heard that successful consultative selling starts by asking prospects to describe their “pain points.” Unfortunately, this approach rarely yields results. The problem is that when we ask people to describe their pain points, they rarely give you very much. Instead, they look at you with the kind of slightly pained expression that suggests their minds are being strafed by the nagging feeling that their entire jobs are a “pain point.” Here’s the theory of pain points articulated by software entrepreneur Mike Suster in Inc. magazine: Pain is a reminder that unless your prospect has a need to solve a problem, they are not going to buy a product. Customers sometimes buy things spontaneously without thinking through what they actually need. But, often, there is an underlying reason for a purchase, even if the buyer doesn’t bring it to the surface. The problem is not the theory. The theory makes sense. Better, though, is Andi’s approach of asking would-be clients, “What would you want to talk about with a peer if you had the chance?” That’s because we naturally seek assistance from those who are fellow travelers. Fellow travelers are people who have the same responsibilities and reporting relationships in similarly-sized companies. Their advice is the gold standard. They have walked in our shoes. They know the complexity and politics we face. They understand the world of constrained resources. These are not ivory tower, never-run-a-thing experts. They are us, only with more experience. That is why in front of peers, over drinks at the conference, that we confide and tell the truth. It’s only with peers that we talk about our strengths and talk about where we need help. And that is Andi’s secret. It is what makes her a higher-level interviewer. She isn’t just asking a series of compelling and artfully-worded questions. She is actively harnessing the power of peer trust and using it like a can opener to get at the good stuff — the gray, squishy, I’m-not-really-sure place that sales executives call “pain points” but executives call “need.” How to Interview Executives by Andi Baldwin http://media.blubrry.com/how_clients_buy/content.blubrry.com/how_clients_buy/How_to_Interview_Executives.mp3 ← The Seven Elements of Business Development Following Up - How to Write a Compelling Deck → The post Seeking Assistance from Fellow Travelers appeared first on How Clients Buy.

The Seven Elements of Business Development Clients aren’t sold services. They buy them based on their evaluation of need, resources, capability, and fit. Doug Fletcher, my co-author and fellow service sales geek, describes the seven elements that must be present in a client before they buy. You must satisfy the seven elements of business development before your prospective client will be ready to buy. 1 | Awareness — Have they heard of you? If clients are not aware of your firm, you can neither scope nor engage with them. The branding work done by our marketing colleagues is useful here. In the whitespace of corporate need, it is helpful to be known as an option. Think websites, social media, and airport signage. Being known in advance, of course, is not a necessity. Sometimes awareness first comes when you send an email or introduce yourself over the phone. 2 | Understanding — Do they know what you do? Potential clients need to have an understanding of your capabilities. This is not a trivial point in a world where many firms offer a wide range of capacity. We often ask firms “What are you selling?” only to have them offer up a slurry of undigested professional services pap. Here is the rule: Specificity attracts. For example, “We sift through retail register data and are able to pinpoint which customers and which offers will help you optimize your marketing spend” is more compelling than “We drive digital transformation and strategy in a full range of industries across the globe.” Boil down what you offer to no more than a handful of value propositions where you have a) some form of competitive advantage, b) a data-rich track record of success and c) a statement that is easily understood by a parent or a neighbor. This is your elevator pitch and is the definition of your niche. 3 | Interest — Do they have a problem for which you have an answer? In order to sell consulting services, your client must have a felt need, an interest. At least they should be open to the idea of improvement. Create distinctions which illuminate challenges or opportunities to which you are the answer. This is why practice leads write thought leadership, speak at conferences and more generally work to articulate the kind of “burning platforms” on which urgency and engagement are built. “Did you hear they changed Regulation 8b?” you whisper to a potential client. “We are seeing a variety of responses. How is your company prepared to act?” 4 | Belief — Do they think you can do the job? Potential clients might know you, know you are active in a vertical and have a problem they need to solve, but they need to have a belief that you can do the work effectively. The secret to creating “Belief” is to clearly describe the promise of your service (“we lower costs,” “we drive revenues,” “we position you for future success”), while at the same time highlighting your track record of doing “the same thing for companies in your similar situation.” Think case studies and references. How Do You Stack Up Compared to Your Professional Services Peers? Take the Assessment   5 | Trust — Do they trust you? For professional services business development, reputation is the Holy Grail. When you hear, “I’ve worked with her before; she’s a solid player,” you know someone is about to ink a new engagement. Here is the formula for creating trust: (Your effectiveness) x (Your “fit” with the client) x (The amount of time you have known the client) = trust. If you are super-smart and have been calling on a client for five years, you will not win an engagement if the client feels “she just doesn’t get us.” Ask yourself, “How can I demonstrate value to a potential client in advance of the sale, provide evidence of my fit with the buyer, and do this repeatedly over a long period of time?” Working shoulder-to-shoulder with executives builds trust, but so does staying continuously connected over time, so long as you add value when you do. This is why people travel, offer free audits, and distribute research. Abuse this imperative to repeatedly connected, however, and you risk being thought of as human spam. 6 | Ability — Does your target have the ability to pull the trigger? Is the company (or division or unit) big enough to afford you? Are you talking to a decision-maker? This is not about pining after those hard-to-get CFO appointments; it is about being thoughtful about where the preponderance of decision-making lies. Here is a clue: It is generally not the CEO and often not in the C-suite at all. Yes, your partner went to prep school with a CEO and that resulted in a new engagement, but mostly, you are selling to the “head of retail operations” or the “director of compliance.” These are the problem solvers in an organization. Seek to be in front of the right level — not too low, but not too high, either. Target those with budget, authority and for whom your services move the needle on their objectives. Understand their mandates and responsibilities. Do your homework. What does the world look like from their perspective, not yours? Care enough to walk a mile in their shoes. 7 | Readiness — Is the timing right? Often you have convinced the decision-maker but for reasons beyond their control, she cannot make it happen. Be patient. You are selling to large organizations with their own idiosyncratic biorhythms, including planning and budget cycles and the Byzantine politics of who is on the rise and who’s not. Be attuned to timing, and never write off a potential client. No one ever needs a consultant, until they do, and then, when they do, it is the professional who has invested in a relationship and who is most proximate to the opportunity who wins the day. Stay in touch. The Seven Elements of Business Development by Doug Fletcher http://media.blubrry.com/how_clients_buy/content.blubrry.com/how_clients_buy/The_Seven_Elements_of_Business_Development.mp3 ← The Customer Journey Seeking Assistance from Fellow Travelers → The post The Seven Elements of Business Development appeared first on How Clients Buy.

The Customer Journey Doug Fletcher has a long list of fans, brought close by his easy laugh, charming tidewater drawl, and a razor-sharp intellect. After meeting when our kids were still young, I too came to quickly admire his simple way of boiling down the complicated into cornerstone statements — the kind on which you can build a stable structure. The Client’s Perspective Recently, Doug has been hammering on me about client empathy, design thinking, and the customer journey. He says whenever we offer something for purchase, the temptation is to start from ourselves and then build a bridge to those whom we think we can help. Start from the customer you most want to serve. Work from there. We build a phone that is light, fast, takes great pictures, and serves as a platform for a variety of powerful apps. Now our job is to market the phone. Marketing 101 tells us to segment the market — to figure out who would most likely buy the phone — then to communicate with them. We push focus group-tested hot buttons and, if we do it often enough to cut through the noise, the would-be customer is powerless to resist our pitch. We have a gizmo with certain features. Our job is to shout those attributes from the rooftop: It’s lightning fast! More pixels! Effortlessly manages ten different streams of communication! Lighter than air! Cheaper than dirt! If we hit the customer with an average of 12.7 impressions, they will march like zombies down to Verizon and buy the phone. Doug co-teaches a design course with a member of the architecture school. He argues this kind of marketing is crazy. “Start from the customer you most want to serve. Work from there.” What are their needs? Maybe they don’t want infinite complexity in a phone but rather one that simply pulls in emails, texts and allows for quick phone calls. Maybe they intend to use the phone for gaming, and power and a large screen are paramount but weight and price are secondary. Observing How Our Clients Buy Armed with something that is designed to solve a set of specific problems as opposed to be the fullest manifestation of technological prowess, ask yourself, how does your customer buy? What are the stages they go through before pull the trigger on a purchase? The idea is not to “drive” them to your site but rather, to go where they naturally congregate. In Why We Buy, Paco Underhill taught us that retailers who position their most seductive offers at the front of the store don’t understand how customers buy. Buyers walk into a store and use the front of the store to orient themselves. They can’t help it. They need to know the place is safe. Where and how many people are inside. Is it hot or cold? Are they supposed to grab a cart like when they go to the grocery store, or should they be prepared to say, “Hi,” to a greeter? Only after they have taken a few steps inside can they turn their focus to what the retailer is offering. Underhill filmed hundreds of customers and learned that most retail customers swing right as they begin to browse. They aren’t drawn to a colorful display to the left. They naturally move to the right. The lesson for the retailer? Position your best offers just to the right a half dozen steps into the store. That’s where and when customers start to pay attention. Next time you enter Target, check out the rack of magnetically placed items on the right a few strides past the double set of doors. You look at the hats and purses and seasonal baskets because that is where you want to look not because Target caused you to look there. Doug says this is because Target has empathy for their customers. They have sought to walk a mile in their shoes before trying to sell to them. First, they sought to understand the problems customers are trying to solve and then they observed how the customer naturally shops. They started from the customer and built a bridge to their offerings. Not vice versa. Show, Don’t Tell Nowhere is thinking about your customer more important than when you are selling consulting or professional services. Covering up your potential clients with the features and attributes of your services just doesn’t work. “Smartest accountant in the tri-county region!” “Fastest attorney according to independent speed trials (we’re often wrong, but we’ll get you an answer in 30 minutes or less or your money back)!” “Cheapest logo designs on the internet. Pennies will get you a brand you will have to live with for the rest of your life! And more impressions (Is it 7, 20, 12.4? No one really knows), only adds injury to insult. That is because consulting and professional services are sold on the three R’s: Relationships — “I’ve worked with Jamel before. He never disappoints.” Referrals — “I’d recommend Carolyn. She helped set up my folks’ trust and was great — smart and sensitive.” Reputation — “I heard a cyber-security talk at the CPA convention from this guy who audits all the mid-sized firms. I think we should give him a call.” None of this starts from the consultant or professional services provider. No one is talking about how cheap or fast someone is. All the statements start from the customer saying, “I.” They start from where the customer is when they ask one of three core questions which drive all consulting and professional services sales: Who have I worked with or know who might give me a hand with this? Who do I know who would be able to recommend someone good? Who is the best at this? Doug is right when he says that no one likes to be sold to. This is doubly true in consulting and professional services. Consider the following, which I have heard from large company executives in the last twelve months: “It used to be all I had to read was the Harvard Business Review and the McKinsey Quarterly. Now I receive a dozen white papers each week from consulting firms. It’s overwhelming.” “I get invited to Fortune 500 CFO summits all the time, but it’s false advertising. It’s never CFO of companies my size. It is filled with CFO wanna-be’s, controllers or the fourth person down in the finance function at much smaller companies.” Each of these efforts to attract clients have something in common, they start with the consultant or professional services expert at the center of their thinking. The supply chain expert decides to share a case study of their success in a white paper, thinking of it as a ten-page brochure for their services. The finance consultancy aspires to serve big company CFOs but welcomes all because, in the end, they need to justify their marketing spend on the conference. The IT consultant wants to walk prospective clients through her capabilities and turns to a webinar to make the sales pitch efficiently to a number of prospects. Not one of these efforts starts from the place of where the client is in their effort to achieve their goals. They start by asking “What can I do to get the word out to the people who are best positioned to buy my services?” Not, “Who might my experience help, and how can I better understand how they perceive their challenges so I can begin to offer genuine value in advance of a sale?” The Customer Journey by Doug Fletcher http://media.blubrry.com/how_clients_buy/content.blubrry.com/how_clients_buy/The_Customer_Journey.mp3 ← Everything You've Ever Been Taught About Sales is Wrong The Seven Elements of Business Development → The post The Customer Journey appeared first on How Clients Buy.

Outrageous Success Ann Kieffaber recently retired from the healthcare practice at Accenture as a Managing Director working out of the Hartford, Connecticut office. Before that, she worked for IBM. In both roles, she was charged with helping the largest healthcare organizations transform how they collect, understand and use data. Whenever she started an engagement, she asked herself one powerful question: How do I create outrageous success for my clients? Create outrageous success by understanding what your customer wants. I love that. Ann doesn’t just look to create success but looks instead to create outrageous success—the kind of success that clients shout from the rooftops (recommending Ann’s team to peers across the industry). It got me thinking. What would be my formula be for creating success? Under Promise and Over Deliver The alpha and omega of consulting is the quality delivery of services. Does that mean working nights and weekends to deliver the best possible solution? Yes. But it also means being mindful of how a project is defined at its start. I have a friend who says client satisfaction is all about putting time into the scope. He will write up a statement of work and review it with the client, taking notes on their input. Then he will sit down with the client (no passive emails — “revised Statement of Work attached”) and go over the scope a second time, saying, “I want to understand this. The project will feel like a success to you if we do the following three things? If those three things happen, you will feel like this was money well spent?” A client whisperer, he is embedding the language of success in his clients’ heads. Then he checks in with the clients periodically over the course of the engagement and reiterates how they have defined success and the progress that is being made. Finally, and this is the crucial part, he does more than promised. That is what makes clients say, ‘Wow!’” Move the Needle Consultants get “A’s” for results, not for effort. Clients hire expert service providers to do a job, and that job is always tied to an operational result whether or not they make this second goal explicit. The client might hire you to launch a social strategy around content or ask you to install a point of sale system in all of their retail locations, but in either case, they are really hiring you to boost revenues or increase efficiencies. While some companies are explicitly driven by managers’ ability to “make the business case” for an expense while other companies are less focused on demonstrating a return on every investment, ROI is never far from the door. Is this project going to drive revenues in the short or long term, or is it going to save the company money and therefore drive greater profits? Be Mindful If Clients Are Managing the Upside or the Downside Ann makes an important point: Some clients define success as being “on time and under budget.” Others want a project to drive differentiation and are looking for leading-edge solutions. The ability to understand the personality of those you hope to serve is important not just for landing the assignment, but also for driving success. Live and Die for Your Client Clients will not give you an “A” for effort if you do not drive results in their organization. That said, they do want to see you bust your tail on their behalf. No one wants to think their project is easy, high margin work for which they are, perhaps, overpaying. They want to see you work. That is because work is a proxy for your commitment — that you are “all in.” Why is that important? Because they’re all in. Their careers are on the line, and they want to see that you are acting like your career is on the line as well. How about you? How do you create outrageous success for your clients? Outrageous Success by Ann Kieffaber http://media.blubrry.com/how_clients_buy/content.blubrry.com/how_clients_buy/Outrageous_Success.mp3 ← The Lost Art of the Cold Call The Obstacles to Selling Services → The post Outrageous Success appeared first on How Clients Buy.