Part 20 (1/2)
-Mike Sheehan, CEO, Hil Hol iday WHERE DO ASPIRATIONS FIT IN?
I, financial, and business advisory fir scheduled with the owner of a medium-sized business because he is not happy with the tax services he has been receiving froh a series of questions, you have uncovered several proble fir missed deadlines, i ful y up to date on the latest tax regulations He's nervous that any one of these three issues e firms
Because you know your firm specializes in his industry and because of your dedication to exceptional client service, you know you can stack up wel against his current fir the business You ask hiht answer about his afflictions, and now you kno you can help You continue the conversation, proposing next steps on how to move forith a potential new relationshi+p
You feel fairly confident in how you ed the sales conversation and believe that a new client wil be in your future
You are just about to say good-bye when he says, ”I' my company's attorney for lunch You two don't know each other Want to join us?” Not wanting to pass up an opportunity to further the relationshi+p (and because he eats at expensive French restaurants), you are happy to oblige
You get to lunch, exchange pleasantries al around, and sit down to eat A few minutes into the conversation, the lawyer asks your potential client, ”So what's going on at your company lately?”
Other questions folow, such as, ”What do you want to get done in the next year or so?What are your stretch goals for the businesses?
What do you think you need to do to get these things done?What don't you know yet that you need to find out?”
These questions are focused on future seeking (aspirations), not problee of possibilities You are amazed by some of your potential client's answers The client has opened up, going on for good chunks of time about the major initiatives at his company, and some initiatives he has not yet even launched
As you listen, you realize there are at least three areas within these strategic initiatives for which your expertise is a perfect fit and your fir a niche co-is your personal expertise and passion! And the fees in these areas are usual y three ti with the prospect an hour before
You ood answers But if you also think of questions in the positive context, you wil find yourself asking ”Where do you want to go?”
and ”What are the possibilities?” By asking questions in a positive light, you wil find that, instead of just negating proble a need, you can paint a vision of a new reality (more on this later) for the clients that takes the and into new possibilities and innovation
I-Impact After you uncover the potential client's aspirations and afflictions, the question then becoet solved, il or won't happen? Wil they get worse? How do they affect the bottom line of the client's company, division, or department?
If your aspirations don't become reality, so what? In a business-to-business scenario, these questions et ahead of you if you don't innovate? Wil you lose y?”
The exact ”so what?” questions wil vary depending on the situation, but your ability to quantify and paint the ”so what?” picture is the foundation for just how i your services is to the prospective buyer This is of paramount importance to you because, as we have discussed previously, when it co professional services, your competition is often the indifference of your client, not another organization or service provider So creating urgency for buying your services hinges on hoel you help your client answer the ”so what?” questions
”It real y gets down to the people at your firht questions to uncover what the prospective clients' issues are and to see if you can help the, Grant Thornton BALANCING ADVOCACY AND INQUIRY
Wil y: I don't knohy-I can't stop hta co about Charley He's a man of feords, and they respect him
Linda: You don't talk too much, you're just lively
-Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman We al have sympathy for poor Wil y Loman in Death of a Salesure out why and he couldn't stop talking too h he wanted to be like Charley-a man of feords-as respected by al
When business developers talk too enerate too few clients So why do those of us trying to develop business constantly find ourselves in a similar position? Perhaps because, like Wil y Loman, we do not understand e talk toothe business development process, on the other side of the spectruood business developers ask great questions They then take the advice to an extre no advice andthe third degree So instead of talking tootooeach in the right a) and inquiry (asking questions, finding outthe client have the airtime)
In RAIN, you no the ”A” stands for aspirations and afflictions and the ”I” stands for i us to remember advocacy and inquiry
”To your point about balancing advocacy and inquiry, when I first started with Accenture, a technology partner and I had ato win a job with the CEO of the bank that is now JPMorgan Chase We had 60 aps Solid content, solid talking I wanted no more than five slides We needed a conversation if anted to make a connection”
-Mike May, Professor at Babson Col ege, for Partner of the strategy business for Accenture N-New Reality One of the greatest difficulties in rain potential clients to understand exactly what they get when they ith you and then co this benefit to other people involved in the buying decision At the end of a wel -ed sales process, your job is to create a new reality that wil be the best for your client, given the client's specific aspirations and afflictions and the i about theed your co process Ask prospects what they want the world to look like once your work is done Broad questions that start theet the creative juices flowing
At the end of this engage with us for six ?
What is your current service provider delivering in ter short?
What do you want to have happen as a result of our work together?
What would a Wal Street Journal article say about you (your coroup) three years from now?
Don't be surprised if the prospect's first answer to these questions is, ”I don't know” More than likely she also wil say, ”That's a good question” If this happens, do not juht in Silence wil indicate you expect an answer, and with soive you one Prompt her if need be
As much as possible, you should present this new reality in both qualitative (descriptive) terms and quantitative (financialRAIN Like any good conceptual oes a lot deeper than how it looks on its face The power of RAIN Sel ing is that you can apply it right away and have itdeep intrinsic value, are also easy to understand and apply
Thus, the best way to get you started is to si professional services (ie, rain) requires that you connect with a potential client (rapport), because professional services buyers often choose who they like the best; that you get a sense of where you cantheir problerow (aspirations); that you help everyone involved in the buying process to understand the ”so what?” (iible how the world wil be different by painting a picture of a better future (new reality)
22
Networking, Relationshi+ps, Trust, and Value For it is mutual trust, even ether Our friends seldom profit us, but they make us feel safe
-H L Mencken Life Before BlackBerry
Years ago, heading out of the office for a leisurely three-hour, three-ues wasn't so out of the ordinary With no Internet, no e-mail, no cel phones, no fax machines, no BlackBerry, no video conferences, no webinars, and less co not only was common, it was necessary
In those days, especialy sincefor professional services was virtualy unheard-of (or, in soal), the core way to build a client base was by constructing a professional network comprised of either potential clients or potential referral sources It was relatively easy to network in the old days, as there were significantly fewer distractions You knehere to go, you an business relationshi+ps, which, for better or worse, in, just a touch of dry vermouth, and a few olives
Fast-forward to today We have:Hundredsoptions with conferences, associations, trade shows, sey communications methods, and the like
Greater awareness of both our markets and our competition This increases our potential for professional networking because we can identify new people to meet, but it intimidates us because we feel like se pond
Many more deer hours, and contribute more to our offices than ever before and with fewer resources It seeo that everyone had a secretary (before the term administrative assistant even e calendars
Seely less e because we can now, of course, find just the professional we need by typing a few key terowith people Conversations that used to happen face-to-face, even on the sa or e-o out and interact, less time to maintain relationshi+ps if we start them, and more ability to find people and services quickly anyway Why bother with the pain of networking at al ?
The Outcoht see of the past, a dinosaur, a convention of slower times when relationshi+ps were more important than the ability to le to produce deliverables on time, keep our tea is often the first item that fal s off the to-do list