What Four-Letter Do You Use When Your Best Prospects Become Your Competitors' Best Clients?

Dear Colleague,

Have you ever spent an inordinate amount of time and some pretty penny to court some great prospects that then ended up your competitor's great clients?

Have you ever written proposals for prospects who took your ideas and implemented them in-house?

I reckon, at one point in your career you too, have travelled on this bumpy road, and may have even collected some painful cuts, bruises and blisters.

Many service professionals have negative feelings about marketing and selling their services, and instead of finding out how to do it in an ethical way by honouring their values and integrity, they make the greatest mistake a professional service firm can ever make: They hire some salespeople off the streets on commission and tell them to go out and beat the pavement for new business.

And this is where trust gets broken. That is building trust is not even initiated. After the Enron, Worldcom and Arthur Andersen scandals, service professionals have to work harder than ever to build and maintain trust with their existing and prospective clients. Clients are cynical and sceptical and very often for a good reason.

And Here Is Where the Problem Lies.

In the 90's it became fashionable for so many service firms to hire commission-based sales and business development folks, who would sell the firm's services. There was one problem. Now the firm's reputation was put in the hands of some mercenaries who did not care about the long-term success of the firm and its relationships with clients because they were paid for instant gratification - commissions.

Just imagine going to an home entertainment store wanting to buy a small TV to watch the news in the tent while you are camping, but Joe, the salesperson tries to sell you the largest home theatre system. He couldn't care less about what you want. He knows what he wants: Higher commissions. He is actually a good and ethical guy but he is working in an unethical culture, so he is pushed to sell more with no regard for what you actually want.

Service professionals have always prided themselves on the quality of their client relationships, but now these relationships are in jeopardy. The relationship part of the equation is in the hands of a group of people who are not even part of the firm's culture and do not really care about the firm's future. Management expects them to operate as whores: "You give me clients and I give you money".

They have been hired as a necessary evil, but they are not in the game for the long run. The average attrition rate of these salespeople is 43%. Is it surprising that clients have a hard time to perceive these firms as trusted advisors? So, what is the end result?

These firms are perceived as vendors and compete on price just like sacks of potatoes. They blame everyone including the weather, but are not willing to look at their own stupidity. Can you imagine? Marketing consulting firm is so allergic to marketing its own services that it hires a bunch of street kids on commission to sell premium-calibre consulting services.

Financial services firm hires a minimum wage person straight out of the unemployment lines to do telemarketing. Yes, selling financial security and peace of mind the same way as newspaper subscriptions. That's retarded, although very common.

How can you build trust with prospects if all your salespeople can do is set a second appointment with someone who knows what s/he is talking about?

One thing is certain and history has proved it over and over again. Your sales force can get you some one-shot sales, but you will never gain loyal clients that way.

Outsourcing your client acquisition function will advance your firm's chance of success just about as much as outsourcing your lovemaking responsibilities will contribute to the advancement of your marriage.

Why?

Because, in case you have missed it, the relationship between you and your clients is based on the same pillars as the relationship between you and your spouse: Mutual trust, respect and peer-level candour.

And building these pillars cannot be outsourced.

The length of your buying cycles depends both on you and your prospects. Very often more on you than on them. The more skilfully you can guide your prospects through the buying cycle, the shorter you will take to turned prospects into clients.

So, you may ask what the difference is between working with clients and the traditional working for clients? Huge difference.

Or...

What is the difference between a task based and a value-based advisor?

Task-based (transactional) advisors match their prospects' needs (higher sales, lower talent turnover, lower computer downtime, etc.) with products (sales workshops, motivational speeches, new servers, etc.). These advisors are interested in the external change they create, that is, exchanging money for deliverables: "Give me $5,000 and I'll run a sales workshop for your company." They view their specialities (law, accounting, IT, etc.) as the end.

Value-based advisors base their work on the process of their collaborations and the transparency of their relationships. They don't merely meet needs, but help their clients to fulfil their deepest values. These advisors are concerned about lasting change and improvement. They know external change in circumstances (hands - behaviour) must be preceded by internal change inside people's heads (thoughts) and hearts (feelings).

They view their specialities (law, accounting, IT, etc.) as means to the end, which is fulfilling their greatest and deepest values. Value-based advisors focus on enabling their clients to build their legacies, and legacies are deeper and more meaningful then increasing shareholder value.

By the way, by advisor, I mean anyone and everyone who sells expertise in intangible form, such as lawyers, accountants, health, fitness and medical professionals, IT professionals, and many others.

Now you may ask, "What is the difference here?"

Let's say I am a task-based personal trainer. If you want to lose weight, I will drag your unwilling arse through some fitness sessions in the gym, so you lose weight. But the problem is that you're likely to get back to your normal exercise-free lifestyle when our engagement ends. Hence the almost 100 million overweight North Americans.

Now let us say I am a value-based personal trainer. If you want to lose weight, we discover what truly inspires you and why it is truly important to you.

In the former case you want to lose weight, so you can look great on the beach. Your goal is vanity-driven. You look great, so your ego is satisfied.

In the latter case though you want to lose weight, so you can be healthy and vibrant, being able avoid the typical illnesses related to obesity, so you can have a better quality of life with your spouse and can live long enough to teach your grandkids how to hike, fish and hunt, so they develop great appreciation for the beauty of nature, making our planet a better place every day, which gives you a sense of purpose.

The Inherent Lunacies and Fallacies of Selling Benefits

This title may surprise you but it is true. Do you remember what Roy Disney once said? In case you do not, he said, "Decisions are easy when values are clear". With this fact in mind, what is the logic in peddling professional services through features and benefits?

Here you learn an alternative that is less known, less used, but I dare to say, is much more effective that features and benefits.

A long time ago Abraham Maslow established the hierarchy of needs in relation to how humans are motivated to take action. Unlike other researchers, Maslow studied high achievers, like Einstein and Eleanor Roosevelt.

This is important if we consider that Freud and most other experts studied defunct people (mentally retarded, cripples, etc.). Maslow believed that we are emotional beings. He also believed in studying successful people in relation to positive emotions. Almost everyone else was busy studying how people react to fear, greed, guilt and other negative emotions. So, with this in mind, Maslow established his hierarchy of needs as follows:

Physiological Needs: These are the basics, such as water, food, shelter, sleep, sex. Etc. At this level we are the same as animals.

Safety Needs: These are the needs that help us to find our ways in a chaos-driven world. These are psychological needs.

Love Needs: As humans we have feel that we belong, we are loved and accepted. Artists need appreciation for their work. Musicians, singers, actors and actresses need applause from their audiences. Employees need praise from their bosses. As humans, we need to be needed.

Esteem Needs: These self-esteem needs and mastery needs. These needs come from others, but unlike with love needs, here we talk about need for power. They often prove their power with expensive possessions, like expensive cars.

Self-Actualisation: This is about becoming your best, to be all you can be. This is about reaching one's full potential. Some examples are inner peace, aesthetic experiences, self-fulfilment, oneness with God, etc.

So, can you see what I mean here?

When you sell benefits, you are selling to the second lowest need of a normal healthy person (Although it may be the highest need for some clinically mentally deranged people). Inspiration to act is very low. There may be motivation, an external push inflicted upon you by other people or society, but the internal pulling force is missing.

As you up on the hierarchy, there is more and more inspiration, and there is no need for motivation.

Everything we discuss in this booklet hinges around helping clients to fulfil their greatest values, that is, to achieve self-actualisation.

Just think about it. Traditional need-based selling is about matching a need with a service. For instance, if your sales are low, I give you a sales workshop for $5,000. Will it help? Probably not. Why? Because low sales is probably just the symptom, not the cause.

This booklet is essentially a blueprint for service professionals to guide their prospects through the sales cycle.

Here are a few things you discover from this booklet

• How to set the first appointment
• How to disqualify tyre-kickers
• How to collect the first payment after the first interview
• How to have prospects come to you with their relevant documents
• What to say after you said "Hello"
• How to handle the "You have a very odd process" problem
• Learn several scripts for different situations (Yes, pros don't wing it)
• How to match prospects' values with the values of your services (Forget benefits)
• Sample questions and statements for each situation
• Engagement template for short projects

Every time when you start a relationship with new prospects, they will perceive you in two different ways: Either they see you as a service peddler or a service professional, and regardless how nicely you are dressed, it is not your dress but your behaviour and interviewing process that count.

You may say this is a rather bold approach, and I say, yes, it is. Or let me correct myself. This is a very high criteria approach, but my contention is that if you don't value yourself, no one else will. Paraphrasing the saying "No one gets fired for buying IBM", service professionals don't go bankrupt for setting their standards very high with clear-cut boundaries.

Order your copy now and learn how to take prospects through your sales funnel' in a non-manipulative yet firm manner, while projecting the image of the successful trusted advisor, while keeping your funnel and calendar free of freeloaders, tyre-kickers and plate-lickers.

So, if your firm wrestles with this problem, then order "From First Contact To Signed Contract." You receive the product as soon as your payment is verified and accepted. The product is a PDF file and you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to open it. Buy it at ClickBank. Your investment is $29.95US. Clickbank now handles Paypal payments as well.