By Michael W. McLaughlin
I’m always amazed when consultants tell me that they don’t like (or want) to sell. Some seem to think that the whole sales thing is completely beneath them. Then there are others who believe they aren’t any good at selling. My reaction to both views is, you’re kidding, right?
Both of these perspectives are missing the point: Consultants, just by virtual of their profession, can and should be top performing sellers.
Now, the topic of selling services evokes the whole range of emotions. Some consultants love selling their services and themselves. For them, every part of the sales process offers a thrilling challenge, whether it’s nailing down the problem, offering up a solution, or negotiating the final arrangements for the work.
It’s just as easy to find people who don’t like to sell at all. These people dread the process of promoting themselves and their services. They’d rather endure a two-day timeshare pitch than roll up their sleeves and try to sell to clients.
Wherever you fall on this spectrum–and most people aren’t on either extreme–here’s the truth about selling services: Consultants all sell, all the time. You sell and re-sell every project you’re working on every day. You sell yourself, your ideas and, if you do it right, your services. This is a sales business, no matter how you look at it.
You may be the guru in your field, but that won’t put a dime in the bank if you can’t sell.
Friendly Persuasion
If you ask any client to define a great consultant, you’ll likely hear about the consultant’s ability to effectively convert ideas into action, among other things. What that client’s really saying is that the consultant did a good job of influencing the actions and behaviors of others.
As an outside advocate for change, your job is to help clients alter people’s behavior. Complicating matters, you usually have to do that in an unfamiliar environment, working under tight deadlines, and facing resistance from the very people who need to change.
| No matter how good an idea is, or how receptive clients are to it, you have to marshal powerful motivating forces to spur action. |
To overcome those odds, you have to spend plenty of time selling ideas and proposed actions to those who don’t want to change–or worse, to those who are indifferent. No matter how good an idea is, or how receptive clients are to it, you have to marshal powerful motivating forces to spur action.
The point is that if you can’t sell your great ideas to others, your projects (and career) will flounder. That’s why you won’t find the best consultants using cheesy sales tactics to bring a client around to their point of view. Instead, they use facts, stories, and rational arguments to make the case for change.
And that’s selling.
The Story’s the Thing
When you try to influence the thinking and actions of others, a compelling story is likely to be at the center of that effort. Facts and arguments are much more effective when you weave them into a coherent story of why things need to be different.
| Facts and arguments are much more effective when you weave them into a coherent story of why things need to be different. |
The best stories make an airtight case for change by drawing a stark contrast between the unacceptable present state and the future as it could be. Using every method available, including presentations, podcasts, video interviews, customized web sites, and others, your story should highlight the real-life implications of maintaining the status quo.
The goal is to get across the idea that it’s essential to move to a new future, instead of standing pat. You use the same approach when you’re selling a service: You build a platform for change using a story–your proposal. Through interactions with your client, you inspire the client to take action–hopefully with your help.
Enter the Negotiator
Every client initiative has supporters and detractors. One predictable outcome of client work is that someone isn’t going to like what you’re doing. And you will usually hear about it. When you run into the inevitable naysayers, especially those who object to doing the project at all, you must draw on your skills as a facilitator and negotiator.
Most consultants I know are quite capable of negotiating resolutions for the thorniest problems. They know how to find common ground between opposing positions and bring a tough discussion to a productive close while preserving the client relationship. They know exactly when to stand their ground, but keep an open mind to new ideas.
| Just about any client discussion you have is a negotiation. |
Just about any client discussion you have is a negotiation. So it surprises me when consultants say they are lousy negotiators and, therefore, aren’t as effective in the sales process as they could be. Maybe you’re not ready to negotiate world peace with experienced diplomats, but you have the fundamental skills to reach a mutually agreeable conclusion to any sale. Without those skills, you would fail as a consultant.
Keeping It Together
Of course, your skills as a negotiator, communicator, and influencer won’t do you much good if you’re not also an outstanding project manager. Guiding a project from start to finish, while delivering the value you promised, is what keeps your client asking for more of your help.
Those same project management skills are as important to closing a sale as any other skill you have. A potential sale is, after all, a project. It has an objective, scope, approach, and a schedule. If you cannot manage every detail of the sale, in a timely way, expect to lose the sale to someone who can.
The Buyer’s Three Questions
To sell services, you must be able to answer the three (sometimes unspoken) questions every buyer has, which are, ultimately, about trust:
Your skills as a communicator, storyteller, problem solver, and project manager help you create an environment of mutual trust and collaboration with your clients, which is the key to your sales success.
It’s always helpful to keep learning, but sometimes we already have the answers to our toughest problems, and don’t even know it. For consultants, the answer to the sales challenge often lies far more in our skills as professionals than in our mastery of specific sales techniques.
So if you feel like you need improvement as a seller, maybe you don’t have far to look to boost your win rate. And if you really don’t like to sell, you’re probably not satisfied as a consultant either. You can’t be a great consultant unless you are a great seller. And to be a great seller–at least of professional services–you need to be a great consultant.
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