When selling, professionals have an annoying habit of trying to show how smart they are.  Instead of letting the client talk uninterrupted about her problem, the over-eager professional interjects ideas, anecdotes and other commentary designed to show off his intelligence.  Instead of trying to look so smart, he would be better served by appearing wise.
 

Think about the words associated with “smart:”
 

• Sharp—Ouch!
  Bright—Light draws attention to the source (and away from the client)
  Clever—Too clever by half!
  Quick—Perhaps even quicker than the client.
   

There is a competitive aspect to smartness not associated with wise and which is not appropriate.  We see people compete on the basis of their smarts in school and on game shows.  (The thought of a game show to see who is wisest is almost comical.)  To show how smart they are, professionals, at the very least, compete with the client for air space.
 

It’s not that brilliance is unwanted.  As a client I certainly want smart professionals working on my matters, but I want them working for someone who is wise.  I need smarts every day to get work done quickly and well, but at critical moments I need wisdom to make sure the right things get done.  I don’t want my business to end up like Enron; built with smarts and then brought down by lack of wisdom.  I want to work with smart people, but I might be willing to bare my soul to a wise one.  And that is the person I am most likely to hire.
 

Words associated with “wise” are reassuring in a tentative ally.  They show the traits we need to appear wise:
 

• Disinterested:  A wise person gives me advice that is based on my needs rather than hers.
  Prudent:  By being discreet and by avoiding undesirable consequences during the sale, she shows me what it would be like to work with her.  For example, she asks in preference to telling.
  Patient:  She listens patiently and attentively, so that when she does talk, she says just the right things.
   

From rainmakers and other senior professionals, clients expect wisdom, and rightly so!
 

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 13th, 2007 at 9:46 am and is filed under Rain making, Professional Development, Rainmaker. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.