13 provocations for consultants who sell

I'm always capturing ideas my mentoring clients can benefit from. This list is just 'snippets' from my notebook. They've come from things I've read and listened to, and conversations.

You'll get value by reflecting on each statement and question. Consider how they apply to the way you sell your consultancy projects.

1. Remember consultancy projects need to be bought, not sold. Are you selling, or helping clients decide?
2. Prospects want to see the depth of your thinking about their opportunities. Are you focused on these, or selling your services?
3. If there's no urgency you're probably wasting your time. Have you asked the decision maker why this project needs to be done now?
4. Day rate and value-based are ends of a wide spectrum of different commercial models. How do you decide which model to use?
5. Find someone who already has a problem you can solve. Evangelism is for preachers. Better still can you find ways for your client to innovate?
6. Have a list of professional ways to get the client's attention. How do you engage the crazy busy decision maker?
7. Time based fees likely position you as a freelancer/contractor/employee. Where are you positioned right now?
8. Simplify your offer. Can you express your project's outcome in a single sentence?
9. Selling is not about your ideas, it's about how big the clients' 'hurt' is. Is this old-school sales statement still true?
10. Sales basics take considerable time to master. What are you doing to practice?
11. Without commitment at each stage there is no easy way to close a sale. How do you know when you've got commitment?
12. Always know the value clients place on the project outcome, before proposing a solution. Are you guilty of simply taking orders from clients who've specified their own low-value interventions?
13. Don't pitch solutions until the decision maker knows they have an issue. How often are you guilty of leading with process, or solutions, to try and engage clients?

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