The Weekly Brief
Memos written for consultants Aug 2014 - June 2024.
Do it right
I am constantly amazed how many consultants still go into client meetings and ‘wing it’. Even when they are seeing senior executives, or looking to win major contracts. In order to excel as consultants we must plan, practice, and perform in our sales meetings. Plan To plan a client meeting,
Be selective. Be directive.
Expert consultants often give clients too much information at the pre-sales stage. This can result in overwhelm and procrastination, because clients aren’t experts and they find it hard to wade through the subtle nuances. Look through a recent project proposal and you’ll see exactly what I mean. Are
First Seven Jobs
I’m following the Twitter meme #firstsevenjobs. I started working at 12 years old, so I thought it might be fun to share mine with you ... and the sales lessons I learnt from each. 1. Car valet. Ok it’s a very grand title for cleaning cars when you'
Getting it
As consultants, we sometimes have prospects who just don’t ‘get it’. They struggle to see, or believe, the benefits of our propositions. When this happens I’ve found consultants adopt one of three different mindsets, with supporting internal dialogues. 1. The blame mindset. "It’s the clients fault
How permissive are your clients?
Gaining permission is the first step to getting clients talking openly about project value and decision making. Permission is the client’s explicit agreement to work with you in a particular way, at a particular level. And, in my experience, consultants often mistake this with having rapport, which is an
Leave things behind
As the renovation of our Victorian house continues I've noticed is that my builder leaves things behind. A small collection of Acrow props, a 110 volt transformer and cables, a table saw, excess materials, and so on. The builder isn’t disorganised. The things left behind are for
Step out of the content
Experts have deep knowledge about a specific subject. Their expertise may be in digital security, business administration, human resources, public relations, or any number of other fields. When it comes to selling their consultancy, I’ve noticed these expert are inclined to focus on what I call content conversations. It’
Why objection handing doesn't work. And what to do about it.
Objections arise when the client puts up some sort of barrier to whatever it is you're proposing. The most widely taught objection handling method is to 'agree with then outweigh' the client's concerns. I think the idea is to maintain rapport, while proving to
Are you helping your client look good?
All clients want to look good. Nobody says it openly, but ultimately that's the driving ROI for lots of business decisions. According to David McClelland's human motivation theory people are primarily driven by one of three needs. 1. Need for affiliation, which is about collaboration, keeping
What wine & zombies teach us about using 'cred-decks' to sell
Prospects might ask you for your ‘cred-deck’. They want to see what you’ve done and who you work with. So you dutifully send them the slides in the hope they’ll see you as a good potential supplier. Then – with increasing frustration – you wait, and wait, and wait, for