Читать книгу Value-Based Fees - Alan Weiss - Страница 35

An inherent problem in the lunacy of time-and-materials billing is that we educate the client incorrectly from the first meeting. Buyers are willing to believe that we operate in certain ways—just as the client does—and that those methods of operating will somehow have to be accommodated.

Yet we often show up as supplicants and fawners, obsequious in our determination to get the business. We position ourselves as vendors and “salespeople” from the outset, not as credible peers of the buyer with our own valuable trove of expertise.

Hear this: In true client-consultant partnerships, neither party wants to put the other at a disadvantage. Partners simply don't do that to each other. But in superior-subordinate relationships, the superior usually doesn't care, either out of callousness, noblesse oblige, or indifference.

Our job is to educate prospects from the outset about how we operate. That means that certain steps are important to take and others important to avoid. Use the following as a checklist to assess your own effectiveness in educating buyers.