Words
The Sunday Dispatches archive...
Consultants: Are you working in a proposal factory?
It's easy to become a proposal factory when you sell consultancy. And Invitation to Tenders (ITT) and Requests for Proposals (RFP) take you down this route. You'll know you’re on the production line when you write through the night, send out for pizza, and submit
Permission to fail
There’s a thing about failure in the air. Jerry Colonna just released a Podcast “Fail with Honour”. Seth Godin recommends buying Pema Chodren’s new book “Fail, Fail Again, Fail Better” on the basis that your failure narrative keeps you from succeeding. I find these perspectives inspiring and so
Are you a fact addict?
To sell consultancy you must influence how clients think, feel and act. In his brilliant book, Change or Die, Alan Deutschman writes about three popular strategies we misguidedly use to try and influence others to change. One of these is to lay out the facts, in the belief that once
Qualification is the secret sauce
A prospective client and I were talked about doubling sales without taking more time. They were sceptical until I told them about my clients and my own results. Finally they asked me, "What made the biggest difference to your sales performance?" I explained that I'd successfully
Sales prevention methods and techniques
Let's face it, you want clients to call asking for help. The idea of attracting new clients without direct outreach is appealing. That's why I was surprised by how poorly professional firms handled some recent enquiries I made. I'm in the process of buying
Sloping shoulders and Teflon underpants
To sell consultancy successfully you must find prospects with buying authority. In large organisations plenty of people claim they have this authority ... but in reality only a few do. Generally the people you'll meet are influential technical recommenders, not decision makers. So, the most important question you need
Five things you can do today to overcome buying inertia
Previously I wrote about buying decisions and what's going on in the client’s mind. Visionary thoughts - about results and value - create desire. Practical thoughts - about change, and the hassle and risks that brings - produce fear. This all happens inside the client's mind, not out in
Four fears that stop clients buying consultancy projects
If you sell consultancy you’ll know already that desirable project outcomes aren’t enough to seal the deal. You’ll have had those “interesting conversations” with clients that fizzle out when it comes down to committing to buy. So, what goes wrong? The client was so enthusiastic and positive,
Work is difficulty and drama.
“Work is difficulty and drama, a high-stakes game in which our identity, our self-esteem, and our ability to provide are mixed inside us in volatile, sometimes explosive ways… work is where we can make ourselves; work is where we can break ourselves.” – David Whyte
Empathy before problem solving
We all know how essential it is that we put ourselves in the clients shoes. So how come we don't do what we know? Related post: Four fears that stop clients buying consultancy projects.