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The Top 3 Reasons You Lose Sales: #1

Posted by

Ian Brodie on January 17th, 2011.

Has this ever happened to you?

You have an initial meeting with a potential client. They asked to speak with you, or you were recommended to them – so you get off to a good start.

You ask them about their business. You talk about some of the problems they face and identify that there are things you can help them with.

You discuss what you can do and they seem pleased. They ask you to do them a proposal and you leave the meeting feeling rather pleased. It feels like this one is “in the bag”.

Then nothing happens.

Despite writing a very compelling proposal, they don't call you back. Eventually you get through to them and they explain that priorities have changed.

Budgets are tight and although they're still interested in working with you, it won't be for a while – they'll get back to you when things change.

Or perhaps they've chosen to go with a competitor. One you know won't do as good a job as you.

Sound familiar?

If it does, you're not alone. This scenario is played out time and time again for consultants, coaches and other professionals worldwide.

It happened to me again and again, until I learned three key lessons about why you lose sales. Not that it never happens now. But it happens an awful lot less.

The Top 3 Reasons You Lose Sales

Reason 1: Not Bringing Any New Insights.

These days many clients come to the table already having a clear picture in their minds of what they need and what kind of solution they want.

They may not be an expert like you – but they do their research on the web and come to you with some pretty clear needs laid out.

So you tell them about how you can meet their needs, and how you can deliver the solution they're looking for.

The trouble is, if all you're doing is telling the client that you can meet the needs they've explained to you and can provide the solution they already think they want – then you're a commodity.

Every service provider can tell the clients they'll meet their needs and provide the solution they're looking for. That means all the client has to go on to differentiate between you is price.

Of course, you'll tell them about your great service and people. Your brilliant testimonials and feedback. But everyone can say that.

You can list your USPs and differentiatiors. But the client's not interested in that. They just want to know whether you can meet their needs.

So how can you escape being painted into this corner?

You've got to bring new insights to the table. You've got to get them to change their minds about their needs or the solutions they want.

You've got to dig deeper than just asking the client what their needs are.

You've got to identify and highlight problems or opportunities they didn't know they had.

You've got to suggest different, better solutions than the ones they came up with.

If you can do this, then you're actually adding value. And you're differentiating yourself from your competitors in a real and meaningful way.

You're proposing different solutions to issues the client didn't initially specify. So your solution looks very different (and better) to your competitors.

Now doing this is not easy. You have to really know your stuff. You have to be able to challenge the client without insulting them. You have to be able to think on the spot.

But you must do it. Otherwise you're just competing on price.

(Reason #2 is here and reason #3 is here)

Speak soon,

Ian

Featured

Accelerating Expertise – Part 1

Posted by

Ian Brodie on January 16th, 2011.

Kid Playing Chess In my posts about Authority Marketing I talk about the power of establishing yourself as authority in your field.

It's common sense really: when you're viewed as an authority, you're the default “go to” person for the difficult, challenging problems your clients have. You're the benchmark. And you'll command the high fees that being the leader in your field delivers.

One of the key components (along with enhancing your influence) of Authority Marketing is positioning yourself as an expert.

But being recognised as an expert is no easy task.

Please don't believe all the “how to instantly become an expert in your field” hype you might read on the internet.

Doing a handful of interviews with real experts doesn't make you one yourself. That gives you a valuable product to sell and some useful knowledge. But it doesn't make you an expert. Not yet at least.

Nor does endless self promotion and chatter on social media sites.

According to Professor Anders Ericsson – probably the worlds leading researcher on expertise and elite performance – becoming a true expert in a field takes around 10,000 hours of deliberate (goal-directed, feedback guided) practice.

Wow. That's 5 hours of practice every working day for 10 years.

Is that really necessary to become an expert in your specialism in consulting, coaching or other profession.

The answer is both yes and no.

Ericsson's definition of expertise is based on elite performance. An international-level concert violinist, a chess grandmaster, or one of the top athletes in a sport.

If you want to achieve those levels of expertise in your own field then yes – you do have to put in 10,000 hours of practice.

But if you're not “competing” at that level. If you're a marketing consultant who wants to be seen as the go-to expert for retail businesses in California, for example. Or you're a leadership coach focused on the public sector in the UK. In those cases, the level of expertise needed is not quite so high.

Selecting The Right Niche is One of the Keys to Becoming an Expert Quickly

By focusing on a very specific sector, geographic area or other factor, you don't have to be the leader in your field globally. What you need as a minimum is to have the expertise needed to provide significant help to your clients. And expertise at a level which puts you well above your competitors.

If you focus on leadership in the public sector in the UK, you'll rarely be competing for work against a Warren Bennis or John Kotter, for example.

So by focusing on a very specific niche, it's easier to become the recognised expert. Of course, you have to find a niche where there is still strong demand for your services. There's no point in being the recognised expert in a field where no one is buying.

It's also easier to become the recognised expert in a relatively new field. Where few people have any expertise at all, you can steal a march and become a recognised expert fairly quickly. Rather than standing on the sidelines waiting to see if the new technology or trend becomes mainstream, taking a gamble and investing your time to learn and experience the field can put you well ahead of others. Of course, the risk is that the new field doesn't become mainstream and your investment is wasted.

And selecting a niche where you already have considerable expertise helps too. If you look below the surface of the sort of work you've done, you can often find common themes and threads which you can use as a foundation for your niche.

When I initially looked at professional services marketing and sales as a potential niche, for example, at first I thought I hadn't done that much work in the field. But then I realised that for over a decade I'd been marketing and selling my professional services and the services of the consulting firms I'd been working for. So do look beyond the obvious.

Finally, and in my view, most importantly of all, find a niche you're passionate about.

If you choose a niche that you're not really interested in – then no matter how lucrative it initially looks – you'll struggle to build the enthusiasm to really “get into” it.

If you're going to invest thousands of hours into continually building your expertise over the years and strengthening your expert positioning – then you really need to love what you do.

Think of the best and highest paid sportspeople and performers in their field. How often have we heard them say that they'd do what they do for free, they love it so much?

Time and time again.

Ironically, it's that love of their subject, that willingness to “do it for free”, that drives them do the hours and hours of practice when others fall by the wayside. And that's what's given them such a high degree of skill and has earnt them so much money.

Now sure, it's certainly possible to become an expert in a field you don't love. But it ain't easy. And it's certainly not a life I'd want to condemn myself to.

So in summary – if you want to accelerate your path to expertise – find a niche that you love, that you already have some experience in, and that isn't already filled with experts.

And stay tuned for the next article on Accelerating Expertise where I'm going to take a look at the practical steps you can take to build your expertise once you've defined your niche.

Featured

Selling

Expertise Driven Selling

Posted by

Ian Brodie on January 14th, 2011.

A while back I read Mike Schulz's excellent free report on the “New Rules of Selling Consulting Services”.

One of Mike's points was that to succeed in selling consulting (or other advisory services like coaching, training, accounting or law) you need to set the agenda. It's no longer enough to show up, ask the client “what keeps you up at night?”, then drop in a proposal to address the issues they raise.

Today's clients are looking for immediate advice and help.

In particular, the more complex and difficult their problem and the higher your fees the more risk they're taking in hiring you. If it's vital they get a real expert with experience to work with them then they simply can't take it on trust that you have those capabilities. Testimonials and references help, but nothing works better than them seeing your expertise in action with their own eyes.

If, as part of your sales meeting with them, you open their eyes to new insights on their problem and new solutions they'd never thought of before, then you're immediately elevated to pole position for working with them.

But this brings up a dilemma. Isn't there a risk you'll “give away the store” by sharing your expertise with them before you're hired?

Well, there's definitely a risk – but it's not that you'll “give away the store”.

Let's put that myth to bed.

If you think that in the course of a short sales meeting with a client it's possible for you to give away enough of your expertise that the client will then be able to go away and solve their problem themselves – well, you ought to have a serious think about how much expertise you actually have.

The sorts of high impact issues that high paid consultants and coaches work on are not the sort that can be solved simply by “knowing the secret” as if it had been revealed by the Masked Magician on Magic's Greatest Secrets Revealed.

And the sort of clients high paid consultants and coaches target aren't the sort of people who think that knowing the secret to a trick is the same as being able to do it.

If you want to make it to the top of the advisory professions, you have to be working on client issues that are tough and complex and require significant expertise, experience and judgement to solve. Those are the projects that earn the “big bucks”. If the client can solve the issue by himself simply by “knowing the secret” then you're working on the wrong issues.

By giving your advice and recommendations in a sales meeting you're helping your potential client to evaluate one of the key criteria they're going to use when deciding whether to go ahead with you: does this person know their stuff? Have they got the capabilities to do the job?

So what is the real risk that sharing your expertise creates?

The risk is inappropriate advice.

If you immediately jump into advising the client in a sales meeting on what they should be doing before you've thoroughly listened to and explored their issues – then your advice will most likely be inappropriate. And the client will feel you haven't really understood them.

If your advice-giving consists of telling the client what they need to do – rather than sharing what has worked for others in similar situations or what you would do in their place (but not knowing all the facts yet) – then you're giving inappropriate advice. And the client will feel you're being pushy and taking over.

If you're not softening your advice with phrases like “well, obviously I don't know all the details of the situation – but from what I can see, your best course of action is probably…” then the client will feel you think you know it all and don't respect them.

You see, the other key criteria clients will use in evaluating whether they want to work with you is interpersonal.

“Can I get on with this person? Would I enjoy working with them?”

Often these criteria are applied unconsciously – it's just a feeling. But often it's more powerful than the more rational criteria about your expertise.

After all, how would you feel about working with someone who didn't listen to you, who thought they knew everything, and told you what to do without getting your perspective?

You might put up with that for a little while.

But for a significant project where you're going to be working closely with your advisor, you absolutely have to get on with them.

That means that for consultants, coaches and other advisors you must learn how to give advice in ways that engage and enthuse potential clients. Not in ways that, to be blunt, piss them off.

Featured

News

Make 2011 a Breakthrough Year for Your Business

Posted by

Ian Brodie on January 11th, 2011.

2010 was a great year for me. And it was one where thanks to a lot of factors but particularly my regular email newsletter and free Client Breakthrough course, I got to know an awful lot of solo professionals and small firms.

I met, spoke to and swapped emails with a huge number of extremely talented people with an incredibly diverse range of businesses.

And it reconfirmed my belief that there is just such a vast, untapped talent pool of professionals out there. People who are great at what they do, but who don't yet have the confidence, the knowledge or the skills to find and win all the clients they deserve.

Week in, week out I see clients playing it safe by hiring big firms with well known brands, when they could get access to much deeper capabilities and experience – if only they knew where to find it and how to recognise it.

It's my firm belief that if small firms and solo professionals could learn how to market themselves better. To get their expertise and experience known by their ideal clients. To get hired more often and at better rates. Then not only will it benefit the professionals themselves – but it'll make a huge difference to the success of their clients too.

If you're an independent consultant or coach, or a small firm of professionals, and you're the “best kept secret” in your field – then not only are you not reaching your own potential but you're doing a huge disservice to your potential clients too.

You could be out there doing brilliant work for them – but instead they're having to settle for second best because they don't know about you and what you can do.

It's not just in your own interests to learn to market your business effectively – in many ways it's your duty.

And in 2011, that's going to be my primary focus: evening the playing field. Helping the little guy compete against the big firms. It's going to be my mission to share the strategies and tactics that will help solo professionals and small firms break away from being the “best kept secret” and get the success they deserve.

Not that I have anything against large professional firms – I spent over a decade working for large consulting firms and it's where I learnt the basics of how to market and sell effectively. And if you work for a large firm I'm sure you'll find lots of the ideas I share to be helpful.

But my main focus is going to be on what works for the little guy. What will help small firms and independents get a real breakthough and start to compete and win against the big firms.

I'd like to invite you to join me on that journey.

I'll be sharing what's worked for me personally. Some of my successes as a sole practitioner competing head to head against big firms. And some of my failures too.

I'll be interviewing independents and small firms that have punched above their weight. Businesses who've successfully played David to the big firms' Goliath. I'll be sharing what's made them successful and how you can replicate their success.

I'll be particularly focusing on what I've labelled Authority Marketing. The strategies and tactics you can use to establish yourself as the “go to” person in your field – even if you don't start out as a well known big business.

So stay tuned for an exciting and busy year. And if you've not done so already, sign up for my free report on 5 Simple marketing Tweaks That Will Get You More Clients by filling in the form below this post.

Featured

More Clients Memorandum

The starting point for all great marketing is…

Posted by

Ian Brodie on January 2nd, 2011.

…to build deep understanding of your clients.

The better you understand their hopes, fears, dreams, problems, issues, goals and aspirations; the better able you are to “speak to them” directly and meaningfully in their own language.

I wrote about this in a blog post a while back, using the lyrics of Lori Lieberman's song “Killing Me Softly” to illustrate the power of really speaking to your clients and prospects in ways that show deep empathy and understanding.

In many ways it's more important to showcase your understanding than anything to do with your expertise, credentials or other types of brilliance.

As leadership guru John C Maxwell said: “People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care”.

Sometimes it's expressed in the simple things. For example, I always talk about clients rather than customers. Since my clients are primarily consultants, coaches or people in the professions and that's the language they use – it makes me feel like an insider.

Sometimes building a deeper level of understanding can effect the whole way you do your marketing.

I certainly found that when I took the time to talk to clients personally, and survey them about their major frustrations a number of years ago. It turned out that many people wanted to know more about the way I market myself online and how they could do something similar.

I hadn't really put much thought into it back then. But it led to me to focus more in Momentum Club on online marketing and that's proved to be a winning formula that's helped members get great results themselves.

So how do you build up that deep understanding yourself?

The secret is to immerse yourself in your client's world. Talk to clients, ex-clients and prospects frequently about what they do and what gets in their way (in your field).

If you can, carve out the time spend a “day in the life” of your clients. Shadow them. Watch the challenges they face. You'll discover many things you can really help with that they didn't think of themselves.

You can also go a long way just by thinking in the right way. The trick is to get into specifics.

Build a “pen picture” of your ideal client. Who are they? What do they do? What motivates them? What frustrates them? What are their big problems and issues? What are their greatest hopes and ambitions?

My method for doing this in a systematic way is here:

Customer Insight Mapping

The more of these questions you're able to answer, the better you'll understand your clients, and the more effective your marketing will become.

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