I've never been much of a conventional sales person. That is, I don't do well talking about features, or benefits, or making assumptive closes, or generally doing a verbal tap dance. In fact, because that's what I believed selling to be early in my career, I convinced myself I would never be very good at what I perceived to be an adversarial relationship: I make a sale, or the prospect does (refusing to buy).

Once I "unlearned" that kind of nonsense through the necessity of being the sole sales source in my solo practice, I realized that what I had to do was to allow the buyer to buy. (This requires a real buyer, not someone "tasked" to evaluate proposals or fishing for quotes.) The breakthrough for me was to understand I merely had to ask intelligent questions and then listen to the silence for a while.

Clients Are Not Damaged

You and I are generally working with excellent companies and smart people. Otherwise, they wouldn't be where they are, organizationally or individually. I never assume the client is "damaged," and that I'm the healer. I do believe that smart clients are usually so close to their own issues that they lose perspective, and therefore need fresh questions to revitalize their thinking. (My buyer at Hewlett-Packard once told me that "We hire consultants like you so that we don't solely breathe our own exhaust.")

The provocative questions aren't rocket science, but sufficient to provoke the buyer into thought. For example:

• Why are you addressing this issue now, and in this manner?
• Why are you talking to me?
• What is the trajectory of this issue?
• What happens if you do nothing?
• What is the window of opportunity?
• What is the lost opportunity cost?

You get the idea. Reactive questions which demand thought and narrative response.

Once you ask these and related questions, you shut up. That's simple for some of us, especially us introverts! But it's very hard for consultants who believe they must constantly "sell" and "close" and prove their expertise. (I've always felt that a client who suffers with a problem or challenge for months may be somewhat skeptical of a consultant who tells them the "solution" in a 30-minute meeting.)

You listen to the silence. You allow the buyer to toss the question around and reflect, or ask you a question, or just ponder. Don't move into the silence like a latecomer to the theater asking loudly where the right seat is.

The Relationship Is More Important Than A "Solution"

Consultants feel as if they are under the gun in front of the buyer because they believe they have one "take it or leave it" chance to "make a sale."

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