Making cold-calls nice and warm

  

I recently spoke to a very successful cold-caller who last year had helped sell some multi-million $ projects. A genial, warm,  quietly spoken man, he was probably the last person you might imagine to be a star cold-caller. So I asked him what he thought made him so successful and he replied:

I work with the prospects, not against them. I don't push too hard and I try and make it pleasant for them.

Seems to work!

Failure as a sales tool?

Most people don't like to talk about their failures, especially when they are trying to sell consulting services. And nobody wants to hear about failure either.

Or do they?

A good reason for buying from you is to help them avoid the mistakes that others have made, They DON'T want to fail! And so talking through failures can be extremely valuable and doesn't reduce your credibility - it actually adds to it!

(Sneaky tip: if you really don't feel comfortable about it being your failure, you can always couch it in things like: I knew a situation once where... It works pretty well too!)

Storytelling

Once upon a time....
..... Storytelling and selling consulting.





Like so may other areas of business life, storytelling is a key part of selling. Its also invaluable in selling consulting.

The client wants to buy your story "... you used to be xxx at yyy and, after zzz, you became..."
and the client also wants to hear your stories.

Sadly, the stories don't actually have to be true (ask any brand management expert) but its risky. As, if and when you get found out you not only lose this client for ever, but also anyone else she talks to about you.

Stories with a sad end are, however, a different matter! It doesn't hurt at all to tell prospective clients of where things went wrong - it actually adds to your credibility. Particularly if you now have the experience and expertise to prevent them having the same problem.

The Price is Right... or is it?

I was reading up on the reasons why clients buy from consultants. So far, I have seen 6 main reasons - and there may be more:

Specialist expertise - we have special know-how

Experience - we have fixed the problem before

Efficiency - we can do it quicker/cheaper than the client

Validate - we can assess/review client's performance

Health-check - we can check where a client might be going wrong

Alibi - so the client can claim to be doing something (rare!)

Interestingly, price is only mentioned in 1 of these. Whilst price is an issue in the others, it is secondary. 

Well worth thinking about when pricing and pitching our work!

5 things you shouldn't do if you're starting out in consulting

1. Kid yourself you want to be a consultant, when all you really want is a job...

2. Spend lots of cash on pretending you are an "established company"

3. Fail to plan in the time - and effort - to sell your services

4. Get really busy doing the sexy stuff on your current contracts - without taking the time to secure the next ones

5. Assume that just because you are great at what you do then people will buy your services

Here's a link to a good article from Karen E Klein in Bloomberg Businessweek:

 Why self-employed consultants fail

Call the plumber! Why referrals are important

Getting a client referral is the most powerful way of getting new business as a consultant.
However ...

If you need a plumber, and you don't already have one, you rarely just pick up the phone book (or go online) to find one...What do we do? We ask someone we know to make a recommendation...

And it's just the same with our clients. When they have a problem that they want fixing with outside help, they don't just go onto google and type in "consultant"....

So how do you make sure that your potential clients - ones that don't even know you - get to be told about you...?

And how do you do this if your clients are spread across different industries and different countries?

Ask for referrals : ask your client for a quote (at the same time as asking for feedback)

Ask your client who else they know who might benefit from this ( they may need some prompting here, so do so homework beforehand)

Ask the client to introduce you ...

Industries and sectors are often quite interconnected and can be like a small community so it's worth tapping into that network....

No cold-calling?

 Should you love or hate cold calling?

First of all: don't read this if you are one of those rare people that actually enjoy it!. You are a breed apart...!

And for the rest of us....

I have mixed feelings about it. I have done it, and had some significant successes with it too but like most people I find it hard to do - particularly if its your own service you're selling.

So here are a few do's and don'ts from my own experience.

• Don't have it is a your main channel to market - it should be one of your tools
• Don't expect to sell your service there and then - use it to get an introduction, a meeting or relationship
• Always be polite and always be sympathetic to a frosty reception at the other end - everybody hates being cold-called
• Ask permission - I find it works quite well if you ask permission to send them an email or some info
• Make it interesting and relevant to their situation - send some data
• Be patient - it takes time to establish a relationship

It may feel like its just a numbers game - which to some extent it is - but its more than that. It is better to have fewer, better quality targets than just do loads and hope for the best. Research them , find out what their current issues are likely to be and call with something interesting to say.