Selling By Doing And Not By Telling

By Charles H. Green, Contributing Editor

I found myself on the dais at a law firm offsite with the chief counsel of a Fortune 50 company, who told this story:

"We were going outside for some specialized counsel. We had reviewed the specs of a dozen firms, and really wanted top-notch capabilities. We narrowed it to three, and invited them in for 90-minute presentations.

The first one was excellent; great expertise, clearly knew our industry, and had done some homework that even gave us a few free answers. I thought it was over right there.

Then the second firm came in. They were, if anything, even better, greater expertise, more experienced, more value-added. Now we had a tough decision.

Then came firm three. They said, "We have 90 minutes with you. We can either do the march of a thousand slides, which we're happy to do, or we can get started right now and begin to work with you. After 85 minutes, we'll stop, and you'll have first-hand experience of exactly how it feels to work with us."

You know, I think they had me right there. But we did the 85, and sure enough they were very competent. There was no question about our decision. They had focused on us, not themselves. We got to know them better. Instead of making great guesses, they asked us. They came to listen and to work, and to show their smarts in real-time, on our issues. You just felt you could trust them."

What this firm did was simple and sensible, but just what did they do? Was it listening? Client focus? A sense of theater and willingness to take risks? A shrewd way to differentiate?