The Big Question
Questions I get from consultants. And my answers.
In my last webinar on January 12, I presented my top 10 learnings from 2021. I got several emails from fellow followers/subscribers, so I decided to summarize them.
In edition #42 of the newsletter, I presented my learnings 1 to 5.
Here’s part 2, learnings 6 to 10.
Learning #6: Sharing expertise: trust!
Business development in consulting has changed forever. I’ve been talking a lot about it in the past year. Consulting is a 100% trust-based business. Buyers of consulting services have access to an abundance of information that empowers them to navigate (confirmed by research) 70-80% of the decision-making process before they contact a consultancy.
So, you’d better get included in ‘the buyers’ homework’. There’s still tremendous opportunity in consulting, but you will need a robust reputation footprint to win in a crowded, highly competitive consulting market with risk-avoiding, impatient buyers who can find anything in seconds.
So, you’d better have a bold point of view and a fundamentally new way to solve the problem(s) of your target audience. Your main goal is to inspire them with the transformational potential of your expertise, picture them ‘The Promised Land’, and educate them to move away from their status quo. Business development in consulting is all about building and growing trust at scale.
In the new world, you no longer have a choice: you will need to develop and share the best possible educational content consistently. If you don’t, you’ll belong to the loser's camp sooner or later. Seriously. Solo consultant, a boutique consultancy, or big firm? There’s no difference! It’s the buyer, stupid. Experts write and share.
Learning #7: The evil RFP? Maybe!
It has been another year of discussions about the evil RFP. I get that. But, believe it or not, I know a whole range of consultancies and consultants who get invited without any RFP process. I even know a few who refuse to play the RFP game, and in 70-80% of the cases, they successfully push back. Why is that? These consultancies are known for their unparalleled expertise and reputation. They get invited because the prospect wants them.
I enjoyed most of the RFP’s I was involved in because it was effortless to demonstrate expertise if the client had done the homework (in 95% of the cases). Evil procurement people? I don’t know. I’m seeing that experts who get invited seem to get ‘air cover’ from the client.
And yes, there are nasty gatekeepers. They exist. But ask yourself: is it about your (still missing) expertise and reputation level or is it about ‘the ugly others’? Take a deep breath.
Learning #8: Help, we have bad clients!
Another returning discussion in my working with consultants/consultancies: the so-called difficult clients. Suppose you are a thru follower of my writings. In that case, you probably already know my pushback: all those bad clients just don’t exist, you have made them bad by selling your unlimited availability, by allowing bad behaviors and processes, by accepting the gatekeepers, by authorizing big discounts, and many more reasons (I wrote a LinkedIn post).
And the reason why you are doing this is that you are afraid of losing the client. Fearful of losing income, of losing revenue, of losing your incentive. So, even unconsciously, you quickly slide into one of the most toxic consulting illnesses: overservicing and undercharging.
And it all starts with ‘being like all other consultancies’: not having the power in the collaboration because you lack authority, visibility, and reputation. The client is buying your availability and is not (yet) inviting you for your robust transformational expertise and impact.
Suppose you don’t fanatically tackle your very own underlying fear of losing the client. In that case, you will unfortunately never achieve an unambiguous authority positioning to stand out in a competitive consulting market, and your mental health will be at stake in the long run.
Learning #9: OMG, we don’t have time!
Another stubborn discussion: not having time to build the necessary reputation footprint (visibility x expertise x trust).
Suppose you don’t build a solid reputational footprint. In that case, you will have to sell your availability at a low hourly rate, you will have to work and sell like crazy to protect income/revenue, and you won’t have the critical time to grow the business. It’s what I call the vicious loop to hell (and burnout).
Your consulting business will never grow if you don’t dedicate 20-30% of your time to deepening your expertise, boosting your reputation, and getting invited at premium rates to compensate for the 20-30% business development.
However, finding the time to build your reputation as a consultant is NOT BY THE CLOCK! It’s by reverse-engineering the fundamentals of your consulting business: focus/expertise, reputation, pipeline by invitation, premium pricing, 20-30% biz-dev. The glorious loop to heaven (and quality of life).
Learning #10: Outbound in consulting doesn’t work
I am still getting confronted with consultancies trying to make stupid outbound sales. I even crossed paths with two mid-sized consultancy firms, both using a call center making cold calling sales.
I was flabbergasted. Cold calling in consulting? Wow, that doesn’t work. Why not? In 99% of the cases, prospects - if the call agent can reach the right decision-makers at all (likely NEVER) - are not in need to buy consulting services. And potential buyers cannot be inspired by a call agent who has no clue (with all due respect).
Cold calling? Cold outbound? Forget it. Such a waste of time and money. What should you be doing instead as a consultancy? If you know me: it’s easy to understand. The consultants will need to become a magnet of their expertise. How?
Here’s the thing: effective selling in consulting requires YOU to build TRUST in YOUR expertise. Share, teach, share, teach. Build and grow your reputation as a consultancy with your consultants. Inspire your prospects with an abundance of ‘trust stuff’. Nurture them with the latest insights, trends, research, lessons learned, use cases. Consistently.
Once you get in the trust-building flow, your ‘sales life’ will radically change. You won’t need call centers again. Unfortunately, there are no trust-building hacks. It takes time. A year, two years, maybe even more. It’s a long-haul play. Ooh, I almost forgot to say: and it never stops! But I am damn sure you’ll start getting a flood of prospects coming through. It happened to me twice. Starting from scratch. Stop your stupid consulting call center practice! You can’t delegate trust-building to a call center.
Sleazy sales hacks in consulting don’t work! You are fooling yourself. And you will be destroying your reputation.
