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Why "Finding the Pain" is a bad strategy

Posted by

Ian Brodie on May 29th, 2011.

I've been a big fan of Alan Weiss's work for a number of years.

It was probably reading Million Dollar Consulting while on holiday in Hong Kong many years ago that inspired me to go solo.

I don't always agree with everything he says (I suspect Alan would say those are the times when I'm wrong). But his arguments are always well made and based on probably more experience of high level solo consulting than anyone else.

One of the thing's I've heard Alan say on a number of occassions is that “finding the pain” went out with the ark. That it's no way to sell your services.

That had always puzzled me. Finding the pain for me means diagnosing the client's problems and understanding which are the biggest priority (and so motivating them to buy).

I always wondered what he didn't like about it. Perhaps he considered it to be manipulative or something?

Thanks to the power of the web, these days we have a chance to interact with “superstars”, not just read their books. So when Alan repeated this statement on a blog post recently I asked him to elaborate.

His answer was incredibly significant.

His point was not that “finding the pain” was unethical – or even that it didn't work. But that it led to commoditisation. Problem solving to address clear areas of pain is something most organisations have got good at, and that a whole bunch of consultants and coaches can do pretty well.

Or put it this way, lots of car mechanics and engineers can fix a broken engine. But how many can design and build a new one?

Who is it that gets paid the big bucks? Not the guy down your local repair shop.

So by focusing on aspirations and innovation instead you set yourself ahead of the pack. You're not easily copied, and you're not doing work that the client finds difficult to justify paying high fees for because they could probably have done it themselves.

To my mind, this is more important today than it's ever been.

Whether we're talking about decreasing purchasing costs, writing a marketing plan, creating a website or improving your people management skills: 5 years ago if you needed to do it you had a very limited choice of people you could find to help who you were confident would do a good job.

These days you can go online and find decent free guidance, buy a training course, or hire one of a myriad of competent advisors willing to help at highly competitive rates.

So for consultants and coaches, the days of an easy six figure income just because you're skilled in something clients need are over. It's just too easy for clients to find competent help at low cost.

If you do want that six figures and more income then simply solving problems isn't going to be enough. You have to help them innovate. Achieve something they didn't even know was there. Deliver something remarkable the problem-solvers can't match.

Sure, you might have to start by fixing some core problems – find the pain and stop the bleeding in medical terms. But you then have to move on to something much bigger.

If that's making you feal uneasy, it's a good thing. It makes me feel uneasy too because the implications are big.

It means we have to constantly stay at the leading edge of our field. We can't just learn our trade then happily ply it for 20 years.

And it means we have to find the clients that need more than problem solving. That have the appetitie for something bigger.

But it also means we're going to have an interesting and rewarding time doing it.

——
Image by A Strakey

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Do You Really Need a New Sales Process?

Posted by

Ian Brodie on April 27th, 2011.

I read a thought-provoking blog post by Dan Waldschmidt today entitled The Lie of a “Better” Sales Process.

In it Dan argues that we spend far too much time looking for a shiny new way of selling that will improve our results – and far too little time getting better at using the perfectly adequate process we already have.

I'd agree with him up to a point.

If you've already got a decent sales process or methodology in place, then switching to a new one is going to have little impact on your success. Some methodologies are better suited for selling professional services than others (SPIN, Solution Selling and the ORDER process from Let's Get Real immediately spring to mind). But given a decent methodology, you're usually far better off getting better at using it than starting again from scratch.

However, there's an exception to this rule.

And it's one that, sadly, applies to many consultants, coaches, lawyers and other professionals.

If you don't use a methodology at all – then you need to find a decent one.

If you “just wing it”, you think you're a “natural salesperson” or you use what you've learned from your personal experience – the chances are your performance is way below what it could be.

Sales isn't just an art. It's been studied based on decades of experience and observation of thousands of sales meetings. And that includes large, complex professional services sales.

If you're using just your own experience or what you've learned from colleagues and you're up against a competitor using a process based on these decades of experience from thousands of people then you're going to be outgunned time and time again.

And before you invest in sales training focused on “tips and techniques” – make sure you have a solid process in place too. Otherwise most of what you learn will be pointless. Rather like trying to learn how to “fade” a golf ball when you haven't got your basic swing sorted.

——

How about you? Have you switched sales processes and had great success? Or has it just been a horrendous waste of time? Drop me a comment below, it would be great to share experiences.

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Why I’ve Changed The Way I Sell – And Why You Should Too

Posted by

Ian Brodie on March 17th, 2011.

An email I got last week from a fellow consultant made me think about how the way I sell has changed in some important ways over the last few years. I thought you might be interested and it might help you make some changes in the way you sell too.

What's triggered the change is a difference in clients.

What I'm finding is that more and more, clients approach me having done a much more thorough exploration of their problems and opportunities than before. And often they have a solution in mind already, even before they've spoken to me.

Perhaps you've found this with your clients too?

In the “good old days”, I found clients were aware of the symptoms they were seeing in their business. But they usually didn't have the knowledge or experience to know why they were happening, what the true depth of impact was, and what the solution might be.

So my sales process focused on diagnosing their problem, exploring the true impact, and suggesting some potential solutions. Basic consultative selling really.

This process did three critical things. Firstly it established what the real issue was so that I was proposing the right solution. Secondly, by exploring the true impact, we could see whether the problem was worth solving (and if it was, it motivated the client to hire me to solve it).

Thirdly, behind the scenes, it established me as an expert.

Because I was able to diagnose their problems – show them what the real issue and the true impact was when they had been looking primarily at the symptoms – it gave me credibility. It gave clients the confidence that I'd be able to solve those problems because I'd understood what they were when they hadn't.

But fast-forward to today and it's a different scenario.

Now they've done their research online. (I knew nothing good would come of that darned interweb thing).

And if they're coming to you believing they've already diagnosed their problems and have the solution then your relationship is very different.

You're no longer a trusted partner and advisor guiding them through the problem-solving process. You're a vendor they're telling what they want.

If all you can do in response to what they're asking for is to nod and say “yes, we can do that” then where's your value added?

In particular, you're not filling the client with confidence in your expertise. Worse still, you're not providing any differentiation from all the other vendors he's been to see who say “yes, we can do that”.

How's he going to choose if all you vendors look the same?

Price. Yuck.

So, how do we get out of this “vendor trap”?

Well, one great way is if they've educated themselves on your website and they see you as the leader in the field and the only one they want to work with. That's what I'm aiming for with my marketing and it's something I encourage you to aim for too.

But in many cases (even with all the effort I put into the web) that won't be the case. They'll have educated themselves via other sources. Maybe good ones, maybe bad ones. But either way they're coming with much more information about their issues already.

How do we handle that in a sales meeting?

Well, the good news is that you're still the real expert.

A few hours of research on the web may point them in the right direction – but it doesn't give them the depth of experience and knowledge that you have.

You just have to get that across to them.

Now telling them you're an expert isn't going to cut it. You know that.

Even testimonials, awards and all those articles you've had published in prestigious magazines don't cut it.

What works best is creating what I call “lightbulb” moments.

These are where, in your discussion with your potential clients, lightbulbs suddenly go off in their heads. Something you say helps them see things differently.

They get deeper insight into their problem. They suddenly see a much better solution. They realise they're looking at the wrong issue.

Anything that makes them take a mental step back.

And most importantly – anything that makes them realise there's a bit more to this that they first thought. And that you really know what you're talking about. And that you're different from those other guys who just nodded and said “yes, we can do that”.

So how do you get those wonderful lightbulb moments?

Well, you could do it by being a genius. By being so smart that on-the-fly you can spot new issues, ideas and insights that trigger the lightbulb moments for your clients. Personally, I don't rely on this method.

I use an approach I learned from the rather excellent book Escaping the Price Driven Sale

In essence, what you do is a mini audit of your services and the projects and other work you do for clients.

Normally what you'd do in these audits is think through what problems each service solves for your clients. The typical benefits they deliver and what they could be worth to your clients.

Here you go a bit further. You look for surprises. For each service you've delivered you look for what was new, insightful, unusual and surprising to the client you were working for. Try to find the things that are often “news”. The things that most clients didn't realise before they started working with you.

Let's say you're a supply chain consultant and you find that clients are often surprised that on inventory reduction projects, you usually get better results not by improving forecast accuracy, but by improving production flexibility. (I just made that up by the way – please don't email me if you're a supply chain expert and I'm talking nonsense).

Or you do sales training and you find that most sales training initiatives fail not because of the training itself – but because it's not followed up and reinforced by coaching and mentoring afterwards.

In fact, lightbulb moments related to implementation and making stuff work in practice are often the very best – because they show you don't just know the theory – you're really been there and done it.

Turn your most common examples into questions you can ask, and gentle responses you can give.

“Where do you believe most of the cost reductions are going to come from?”.

“Hmmmm. You know, with most of the clients I've worked with, they've found that in practice, …”

You mustn't upstage your client and make them look like an idiot. What you want to do is ask enough insightful questions that they come across the answers themselves – or at least begin to see a glimmer of them. Then you build on that and share some of your experience. They'll take much more ownership of ideas you seeded that they got to themselves (and they'll give you credit for them too).

I can't promise this will work every time. Sometimes the client really has come up with the right answer themselves already. Or they've got their mind set and they just don't want to listen. That's just the nature of the game these days.

But very often using this technique will help you change the game so that you're not just a vendor saying “yes, we can do that”. You're an insightful trusted partner that they'll want to do business with.

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What's Your Step #2?

Posted by

Ian Brodie on March 7th, 2011.

Keep Out! Would you like to grab a coffee some time to discuss how we might be able to help each other out?

No.

How about we meet up and we can talk about how we might be able to support your business?

No.

Could I schedule a short meeting with you where we can find out more about your business and see if some of our services might be valuable to you?

No.

Would you be open to a short meeting to explore your business challenges and how our solutions could help?

No, no, no.

Maybe I'm getting grumpier in my old age, but I just don't want to meet people for sales meetings any more. Nor do I want to have a coffee with potential partners who might be able to work with me some indeterminate time down the line. Nor do I want to discuss who I know that might be helpful for your business and vice versa, thank you very much.

Now I might say yes to some of these out of politeness to someone I know or as a favour.

But I don't really want to have these meetings.

Maybe you're a bit like me too. I'm desperately short of time. And my business is doing very well – so I have no desperate issue to solve that will spur me to have a meeting with someone who could help.

I don't want to have these meetings, because to be frank, I get no immediate value from them.

Telling you about my business so you can craft a solution to a problem I don't think I have doesn't do it for me. Nor does a plesant coffee where we discuss how we might help each other some time in the future.

I need value now. Instant gratification if you will.

If I'm going to give up my most precious and scarce asset, my time, then nowadays I'm only going to do it if I can see immediate benefit for me.

It doesn't have to be money in my pocket right now. In fact, I'm even willing to pay to go to events where I learn something important. And I'll spend an hour or longer on a webinar if I think it's going to teach me something valuable.

But an “initial meeting” where we just talk about my business in the hope you'll be able to come up with something that will help me (for a price, of course). No way.

And that's why I ask: “what's your step #2?”

Step #1 is easy. Step #1 is that initial connection with a potential client or referrer. You go networking and meet people. You send them a letter. You ask to connect on Linkedin. You get a referral from a mutual acquaintance. They visit your website.

We know how to do Step #1.

But what do you do next? How do you really engage with them?

What seems like a few short years ago, people were much more willing to have these exploratory initial meetings. If a consultant sounds sensible on the phone and they've done good work for similar companies to mine, it was worth spending an hour with them to see if they had anything of value.

I don't have that hour today. I need to know I'm going to get something of value in the actual meeting.

So Step #2s that work to get me engaged with you today are things like:

Inviting me to a seminar you're running on a topic of interest to me
Offering to share some benchmarking information on what my competitors are doing in a 1-1 meeting
Sending me a report or video with ideas I can immediatley apply to improve my business
Inviting me to a webinar where you show me how to do something I'm struggling with right now

In other words, you need a Step #2 that actually adds value to me right away.

I suspect it's the same for your clients. You need a Step #2 that adds value to them right away.

‘cos if all you have as Step #2 is an exploratory or sales meeting – we're not going to show up.

*** By the way – if you liked this post – do me a favour and tweet it or like it – or better still, add your comment

———-

Image via www.signgenerator.org.

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Reason #3 You’re Losing Sales

Posted by

Ian Brodie on February 5th, 2011.

Reason #1 is here, and reason #2 is here

So you've probed the client's issues and they're enthusiastic.

They've had an “aha” moment – you've shared new insights and thinking and they fully trust you're the expert in this field.

And you've explored the impact of the problem – you can see they feel the pain and they need to fix it urgently.

In short, they're sold.

What could possibly go wrong?

Reason 3: You're Selling to the Wrong Person.

This, of course, is particularly applicable when you're selling to large organisations.

Often, the person you speak to initially is either the person you found it easiest to get through to (if you initiated the communication) or the person most interested in solving the problem (if they reached out to you).

That's not the same as the real buyer.

If fact, these days, there's rarely one simple buyer for very large purchases – there's a group of people who all influence the decision in one way or another.

And it's your job to figure out who these people are and make sure you've got them “covered” – preferably by having met them face to face.

How do you find out who these people are? You ask.

Of course, you don't say “who's the real decision-maker around here?”. That's not going to make you any friends.

But during the process of your sales meeting – usually near the end when the potential client you're speaking to is enthusiastic and ready to roll, you need to ask them about their buying process:

-> Who here, apart from yourself, needs to be involved in this decision?

-> What's the process from here for important decisions like this? Who's involved?

If you don't know the answers to these questions you're “selling blind”. You could very well close the sale, but not win any work because behind the scenes, decisions made by people you don't know and have never met go against you.

Nowadays, of course, it's not always possible to meet all the key decision-makers and influencers.

Stricter procurement policies often bar you from speaking to anyone outside a small group if you're taking part in a formal bid process, for example.

If that's the case you have two options.

You can work with the clients you're allowed to speak to (and who are enthusiastic supporters) and coach them to make your case to the key decision-makers. Essentially teaching them to sell internally the way you would.

Or, you might want to consider whether it's worth investing in this bid.

Chances are the incumbent or one of the competitors on the bid already knows the key decision-makers and the odds will be stacked in their favour.

In this case, you may be better off investing your time in another opportunity.

Either way, you need to know who the decision-makers and influencers are and what their role is to make an informed decision on how to approach the sale.

‘Cos if you're not selling to the right person, your chances of winning are slim.

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Reason #2 You’re Losing Sales

Posted by

Ian Brodie on January 23rd, 2011.

Reason #1 is here, and reason #3 is here

I get excited by solving client problems.

Can't help it. It's in my DNA somehow.

I bet it's in yours too.

It's what makes us good consultants, coaches, lawyers or whatever our profession is.

But it can also let us down when it comes to selling.

Does this sales meeting scenario ring a bell?

You build rapport with your potential client. You ask insightful questions. They talk about some of the challenges they're facing.

Bam! Your problem-solving skills kick in. You identify the root cause of their issues. Their eyes light up as you hit the right hot buttons. You've got the perfect solution for them.

They get interested. You talk about how you might work together. They get enthusiastic. They really want to proceed…

…then they ask how much.

You tell them your very reasonable fees – a fraction of what the solution is worth to them…

…and for some reason, it all falls apart.

You see, the problem is that your problem-solving skills kicked in too soon.

It's great to solve client problems. I have no qualms about giving them great advice and insight as part of the sales process. In fact I try to do so whenever possible.

But what I've learnt through painful experience is that if you jump to solutions before the client realises just how big their problem is – how much of an impact it truly has on their business – then you don't sell.

What's happening is that since you're an expert, you see straight away just how much that little morale problem actually damages productivity, staff retention and customer satisfaction.

You can take one look at their marketing and see how much money they're throwing away.

You can tell from a brief discussion about how they train their senior staff that their lack of leadership is impacting the company from top to bottom.

But they can't.

They're not an expert like you. So they just see a small problem with morale. They just think they need to beef up their marketing copy a bit.

They can't see how their dysfunctional leadership is damaging every aspect of their company.

And because they can't see this your reasonable fees look huge to them.

Gigantic.

A sledgehammer to crack a nut.

You know the rest. Much gnashing of teeth and knotting of brows later they either do nothing, try to fix it themselves, or go with someone cheaper (who doesn't really understand the issue).

Two years later you bump into them and they still haven't fixed it.

So how do you avoid this lose-lose scenario?

Before you jump into problem-solving mode you must work with your potential client to explore the impact of the problem or opportunity they have.

Not just superficially – fully. The knock-on and contingent impacts too.

And you need to help them see the impact for themselves – not just tell them what it is. Ask them questions to help them figure it out.

In many ways, it's even more important than drilling into their problem. Once they've hired you, you can do further exploration of the problem. But if you don't fully explore the impact, you're not going to get hired.

Now I don't mean by this that you exaggerate or manipulate. If through your questioning you discover the problem isn't really a big issue then you say so and move on.

But since you're the expert and they're not, it's your duty to highlight when things are a bigger issue than they realise.

And it's crucial to getting the sale.

Next, I'll reveal reason #3. Or go here to jump ahead.

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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

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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.

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How To Differentiate Yourself When You’re Selling

Posted by

Ian Brodie on December 9th, 2010.

We talk a lot about differentiation in marketing. Differentiation is something that sets us apart. Unique attributes of our services that are valued by our clients but that can't be easily reproduced by our competitors.

At it's simplest level, it could be a service we can deliver that no one else can. Or perhaps we specialise in working with a particular sector so we have more experience and knowledge in that field.

Differentiation in marketing can make us the obvious “go to” person for a client who recognises they need our unique skills and capabilities.

We talk much less about differentiation in selling however. But it's just as important.

If we're face to face with a client trying to persuade them to choose us over a competitor then unless we're different in some way, the client will end up choosing on price.

Differentiation at this level is hard. By the time a client is talking to us face to face they've already discarded the firms and individuals who aren't specialised in their sector (if that's important to them) or who don't deliver the services they're looking for.

At this stage, the short list almost always comprises firms who can perfectly well help them address their problems or opportunities (or at least claim they can). They might do it in a different way to us. But at the end of the day, it's highly likely that they'll claim they can achieve the same end results.

If a client says they want to reduce their indirect procurement costs by 20% – all the consultants pitching to them will say that's what they'll deliver.

If a client says they want a smooth divorce that doesn't impact the kids, all the lawyers will say that's what they'll deliver.

If a client says they want their accounts done quickly and efficiently with minimum hassle – then pretty much every accountant they speak to will say that's exactly what they'll do.

And if everyone is saying they'll do the same thing – then the only thing that sets them apart in the client's mind is their price, right?

That's not good. Certainly not if, like me, you price at a premium because you believe you deliver a premium service.

So when it comes down to the crunch. When you're sitting 1-1 with a client and discussing what you'll do for them, how on earth do you differentiate yourself?

Well, the first thing you need to accept is that simply identifying the client's needs and then telling them you'll address them isn't enough. Everyone will do that.

Here are some ways you can differentiate yourself in these competitive selling situations:

The “Safe Pair of Hands” Strategy

You may all promise you'll deliver what the client wants. But from the client's perspective, there can be major differences in how confident they are that you'll make good on that promise. If you're able to prove through testimonials, references, or just how much you seem to understand their situation, then they'll feel more confident that you'll be able to deliver what they want. And so they'll pick you rather than selecting on price.

The “Relationship” Strategy

People choose to work with people they like and trust. They won't pick you if they don't think you can do the job. But once you've proven that, then they'll almost always choose someone they like and feel they can partner with over someone they don't.

The “Change the Game” Strategy

When you're interacting with a potential client and talking about their needs – if you can identify problems or opportunities that they haven't thought of themselves – then you can mark yourself out as being different. The quality of your diagnosis immediately marks you out as being an expert – and (rather fortuitously) can prompt the client to question the abilities of your competitors who didn't highlight these new ideas.

It can be a risky strategy if the client has fixed ideas about what they need and doesn't want to be challenged. But it can be a particularly powerful way of pulling the rug from under entrenched incumbents who have better relationships than you and are seen as safer pairs of hands.

What's Your Strategy?

These aren't the only strategies you can use in sales situations – but they're good ones. Ones which I've seen work time and time again.

Whenever you're in a competitive selling situation you absolutely must have a differentiation strategy in place. Just diagnosing the client's needs and saying you'll meet them is not enough. That's the baseline – everyone will do that.

Unless you want to end up competing on price you must have a compelling reason why they should choose you. It might be different for every client – but you need one for every client. And that means in every competitive sales situation you've got to put the time and effort into developing it.

So for those upcoming bids, pitches and sales meetings you've got: what's your strategy?

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Pencil Selling: A Powerful Technique for Building Engagement and Buy-In

Posted by

Ian Brodie on November 9th, 2010.

One of the most powerful techniques I've come across for building relationships with clients while you're selling to them is the concept of pencil selling.

It's also one that I've almost never seen anything written about.

In fact if you google “pencil selling” then 90% of the results you'll find are about awful, pushy, cheesy techniques used in answer to the powerplay command in an interview of “sell me this pencil”.

But pencil selling is completely different. It's about building engagement and trust with a potential client through the sales process.

The Wrong Way to Do a Sales Meeting

When most professionals meet with a potential client to discuss how they might be able to help they typically come armed with a brochure or a big pack of slides. We consultants are the worst with the latter – often seemingly trying to batter a client into submission with the sheer weight of our slides.

These presentation materials are a sort of comfort blanket. They provide certainty for us. We've had time in advance to think them through and perfect them. They look professional.

But in reality, they actually stand in the way of building a relationship with your potential client. Of really engaging with them.

And sometimes we get even worse – we take a laptop into the meeting and present slides from there – putting an actual physical barrier between ourselves and the client.

Now I've nothing against maybe leaving a brochure behind after you leave. And maybe the odd pertinent slide (if you've already discussed with the client something you're then presenting ideas on).

But in an early sales meeting, your key objective is to engage with the client. To get him or her to open up and share with you what their real challenges are. To delve into them and pull out the impact so they're motivated to do something about it. To get them to commit to moving forward to the next step with you.

You won't get there by presenting at them.

And that's what having pre-prepared slides inevitably does – you present them. And presenting means you talk and they listen. The exact opposite of the dialogue you want.

Now you'll know from my other blog posts on selling professional services that being able to ask smart questions is one of the absolute keys to engaging a potential client.

But at some point, as a professional, you need to start sharing your own ideas and tentative thoughts. You need to be opening up the client's thinking.

This is where pencil selling comes in.

The Pencil Selling Strategy

Simply put, pencil selling is where – in your meeting with a potential client – you sketch out ideas and concepts which illuminate and enhance your discussion with them.

And I mean that literally, not metaphorically. Getting out a pencil or pen and sketching out a concept on paper.

In practice, what it looks like is that you position a blank pad of paper between you and the client (you are sitting next to the client aren't you? Not opposite.)

Then depending on what you're discussing, you sketch out a diagram which pulls together some of the concepts you've been talking about. And you use it to illustrate your thinking.

So if you're talking about improving their product launch capabilities – maybe you sketch out a rocket and talk about how the product itself is the fuel in the rocket. But how you also need a guidance system – your segmentation and marketing so that the rocket hits its target. And then your performance measurement and management system is like the radar – spotting obstacles ahead and adjusting the flight.

Or the client is talking about building a stronger organisation – so you sketch out a greek temple with a series of pillars representing the major components (business functions, perhaps) supporting the roof (their goals). And of course, you sketch in the foundations and talk about what they need to be in an organisation (people, culture, technology, etc.).

Or maybe you sketch a simple 2 x 2 diagnostic and hand the pencil to the client – asking them to show where they are on the map.

The possibilities are endless. the key is that you use the diagram both to illustrate a point or concept – and as an engagement device to get the client interacting.

You want them to make their additions to the diagram. To “get their fingerprints on it” and begin to take ownership.

How much more effective is that than showing some pre-prepared slides about who you are and what you do which they know anyway because they looked at your website?

Mind you – it sounds difficult.

How do you make up all these different diagrams and diagnostics on the fly?

Of course, the secret is: you don't.

You have a repertoire of diagrams and diagnostics you can use repeatedly with minor tweaking.

Think back to recent client discussions. How many times have you been asked the same questions? How many times have you described the way you run projects, or what the three core components of a marketing plan are, or what makes organisations creative?

Most of us probably have half a dozen or so core concepts which we repeatedly use with clients in slightly modified form.

Rather than (or in addition to) turning those into bullets on powerpoint slides – spend some time figuring out how to draw them out as quick diagrams you can recreate with clients.

Then try it out next time you meet a client. You'll see how much more effective it is at building a relationship and getting the client energised and interacting with you than presenting a bunch of slides is.

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