BUSINESS COMMUNICATION PAPER

NAME                : PINTAULI SIPAYUNG
NPM                   : 17611869
CLASS               : 3SA03

Three Conversations That Can Make or Break of Business

One of the things He appreciates about the consulting business is that it’s full of surprises–like when a client sends the global consulting firm packing in favor of the upstart boutique firm or the client who chooses the premium-priced consultant, instead of a less expensive, competent competitor.

What’s intriguing is that the consultants whose businesses do well whether times are good or bad aren’t always the ones with the best price, top industry position, or the longest track record of success. Yet, they still thrive.

So what sets these consultants apart from the rest? What we will find is that winning consultants prevail because they have higher quality conversations with their clients than their competitors do.

Not the Usual Mindless Chit-Chat

Most of the successful consultants that know are good communicators. After all, at its core, the consulting business is about conversations–with clients, colleagues, competitors, partners, and others.

Part of that is schmoozing, which is not unimportant in this business. But if we really want to up your game as a consultant, find ways to elevate the quality of the three substantive conversations we have with clients on a regular basis: diagnostic, sales, and consultative conversations.

Those are the interactions that build your credibility with clients and matter most to your business.

Diagnostic Conversations: Seeking Mutual Gain

Any consultant can listen to a client’s description of the situation and offer up a potential service solution. It’s not hard, given that most clients qualify consultants before they talk to them. So clients know ahead of time who can help them with the defined issue. The result: the consultant talks to the client, hears a familiar problem, and offers a predictable solution.

This approach to a sales opportunity may fit the bill in some cases. But in most competitive situations, we’ll find at least one consultant who doesn’t suggest the obvious solution to the client’s self-diagnosed problem. That consultant will ask more diagnostic questions, delve into the matter more deeply, and resist the urge to “solve” the problem immediately. The inquisitive competitor withholds judgment, gets the facts, and identifies the client’s need–as opposed to just agreeing with what the client wants. Before it tries to sell anything, invest time and energy in diagnostic conversations to build trust, establish your credibility, and make sure that the client’s project would be mutually beneficial to you and the client.

Sales Conversations: Answering the Big Questions

Effective diagnostic conversations set the stage for productive sales conversations in three ways. First, they help you write a more compelling sales proposal that has greater clarity. You won’t have to rely on the typical boilerplate; you’ll have enough detailed information to write a highly-focused, thoughtful project plan.

Second, your sales discussions will include fewer assumptions and more certainty about how you would conduct the project. Assumption-free proposals and sales presentations inspire confidence and demonstrate your competence.

Finally, your client will experience what it’s like to work with you, providing an opportunity to answer the big questions about the personal chemistry between you and the client’s team, the rigor of your work style, and the depth of your expertise. Once the client can draw conclusions on those questions, the project should sell itself.

Our sales conversations, though, must follow this rule: clients want to hear about themselves, not us. So you have to answer the big questions about you by focusing on the client’s issue, the way you’ll approach that issue, and the value your client can expect. Sales presentations that are mostly a recitation of your qualifications won’t get or keep a client’s attention, and that puts our sale at risk.

Consultative Conversations: Staying Top of Mind

He once worked with a PR consultant who wanted to keep in touch after we finished our small project. Every now and then, He’d get an invitation to lunch or a request for a meeting to talk about an issue or two that he thought would interest me.These conversations always went the same way: He’d show me some interesting research or suggest an intriguing idea. We’d talk about its relevance, and then he’d pitch a project to me. Every idea he brought to my attention had a price tag attached, even though we never discussed any potential projects before our “keep in touch” meetings. That consultant never worked for me again.

For many clients, what you do when we’re not working on a project with them (and there isn’t one looming) defines the on-going relationship. But it can be a challenge to keep past relationships current when you are not actively engaged on a specific assignment for a client.

Most consultants know exactly what they should do to maintain contact with past clients, but something holds them back. Why not pick up the phone and call our client? Why don’t we send that email? The most is common concern. He hear is that the client will think it’s a self-serving sales call, not an honest attempt to help a valued client.

The best way to avoid that dilemma is to talk to your clients about staying in touch before you finish projects. Usually, they want to hear from you, especially if we’ve done a good job for them. Just be sure that what you have to offer is useful–a new way to think about an old problem, or a trend that could change how the client does business, for example:The point of keeping in touch isn’t to go for the client’s wallet each time we meet, as his former PR consultant did. Bring ideas without the expectation of gain. We want to stay top of mind, build our relationship, and demonstrate our commitment. Our client will remember that when it comes time to hire a consultant again.

Talk Is Cheap?

The saying “Talk is Cheap” may ring true for some businesses, but not consulting. To thrive, we need to master the basics, of course, including services marketing, sales, project delivery, and client relationship management. But our skills in these areas can’t be used to their best advantage unless you also master the three make or break conversations with clients.

Source

By Michael W. McLaughlin