Читать книгу Never Say Sell - Tom McMakin - Страница 51

Andi Baldwin is on Delta's Minneapolis-to-Seattle flight, thinking the only benefit of traveling as much as she does is that she inevitably gets Platinum status every year (frustratingly, not quite to Diamond). Her seatmate leans over just as the plane starts its descent and says, “What takes you to Seattle?”

That's the courtesy, isn't it? Begin the conversation as the wheels are about to go down. If you start the conversation at lift off, then everyone's faced with that awkward moment-of-disengagement just as the chime sounds at 10,000 feet, letting you know you can use your laptop.

“I'm in consulting,” says Andi, stowing her noise-canceling headphones in her bag.

Anyone in consulting knows this fact: Saying you are in consulting is an easy conversation killer. No one knows what consultants do. Andi is a partner at PIE and sometimes she wonders if her closest friends know what she does.

But Andi's seatmate persists. He's downed two Dewar's on ice and his mood is expansive.

“What kind of consulting?”

“My company helps expert services firms drive business development, primarily through sponsored peer-exchange discussions.”

“Oh, so you kind of help consultants build relationships in the c-suite to sell more work. Kind of like a BD wingman?”

“Exactly.” Andi laughs, having heard this analogy before. “How about you?” she says, trying to pivot away from herself. “What do you do?”

“I’m a sales trainer. I contract with the big ERP software companies.”

This piques Andi's interest. Suddenly she starts thinking time will run short before she gets to ask a few questions. Then she remembers that when Delta lands in Seattle, it feels like you are driving to Canada as they make their way across the tarmac to the terminal. There will be plenty of time.

“I've got a question for you, since you're probably an expert on this.”

“Shoot.”

“In professional services, we always think about the importance of expanding existing client relationships, not just finding new clients. But for some reason, farming existing clients is never as easy as it seems – why do you think that is?”

“Great question. We think what we know about how to win new clients applies to getting more work inside an existing client. But it's not true. It's like that Steve Martin joke, ‘It is so hard to understand the French. They have a different word for everything.’ It's that way when you are trying to do more work for a client. It's a completely different language of selling than you use to bring on new logos.”

We agree with Andi's seatmate. There are, indeed, two different “languages” – or at least two different ways of approaching how we think about our ability to offer our breadths of services to various buyers – and this is the first obstacle. What we know about attracting new clients has little overlap with what helps us expand client relationships.

In our earlier book, How Clients Buy, we discussed the seven elements that lead to success in landing new clients in expert services. Let's find out where there are cognates – and stumbling blocks – as we learn this new language of farming.