Over recent weeks, I’ve seen a trend among my clients and colleagues that concerns me. When it comes to landing new business, they’re repeatedly committing three wrongs:
- Talking to the wrong person.
- Conducting the wrong conversation.
- Approaching the sale with the wrong mindset.
For instance, a buddy of mine often shares his great talks with potential clients. But the other day, I asked him when this project would pay off. He told me he was waiting for his contact’s Vice President.
That’s when it hit me; he was falling into the same traps! He committed all three wrongs!
- He was schmoozing the wrong person. He needed to talk to the economic buyer–the VP, who can say yes to your request on the spot.
- He’s having the wrong conversation. When I dug deeper, my colleague talked about how he would deliver a keynote. The proper discussion is about how you will help your client solve a problem and its economic impact on the organization.
- He had the wrong mindset. He was letting his contact sell for him, and that’s a rookie mistake. He’s approaching this sale as a peon rather than a peer.
Now, I must cut my buddy some slack. He’s not a sales professional.
Here’s the good news. You don’t have to be.
You can win your next high-stakes business opportunity by making a few adjustments.
For example, this one time, I got called up by a client, Vicky, for an emergency keynote because they’d just gone through some significant layoffs. It was such short notice that I had to do the presentation virtually.
After we agreed on objectives, when we discussed my fee, the client said, “Ed, we usually only pay $1500 for a virtual presentation.”
I responded, “Vicky, let’s crunch some numbers here.”
I reminded her of their client losses from the last year, which equaled between $1.4 to $1.7 million in revenue.
So, I proposed, “Vicky, if we average that out to $1.5 million, my fee is just 1% of that. And if I can help you prevent losing another client worth $200,000, that’s only a 7.5% investment.”
“Will you invest 7.5% to prevent a $200,000 loss?”
Vicky’s answer? “Send me an invoice.”
And here’s why I sealed the deal:
- I was talking to the right person – Vicky was the economic buyer who could immediately give my proposal the green light.
- I was having the right conversation, focusing on the return on investment, not just delivering a presentation. We were brainstorming ways to solve the company’s issue.
- I had the right mindset. Even though I’m not an executive team member, I approached the situation as if I were. I’m a peer, not a peon.
By avoiding the three wrongs, when it comes to your next opportunity, it will turn into a profitable win.
