Product companies spend big to motivate their sales forces.  They do it with cash commissions.  They also use non-cash rewards, perks and recognition. 

Every winter Florida fills up with top salespeople attending their companies’ annual sales conferences.   The best salespeople eat, drink and play golf with corporate executives and listen to lectures from professional motivators.

By itself, membership in the quota club, or whatever the groups who go on these yearly junkets are called, is a coveted form of recognition.  But there is even more for the best-of-the-best.  As the climactic event on these trips, the final banquet is followed by an awards ceremony. 

The CEO gives an uplifting harangue about the contribution of the sales force.  As he distributes his praise, the VP Sales standing next to him beams with pride.  The CEO then challenges all present to do even better next year, and the VP Sales stands tall, jaw forward, chin locked, the embodiment of strength and resolution. (Yes, it’s the same man who intentionally knocked his golf ball into a sand trap that very afternoon to avoid beating this same CEO.)

And then the lights dim, and the best-of-the-best come to the podium one at a time, squinting in the glare of a spotlight, to pick up tickets for their package trips to Hawaii.  They all assemble around the CEO.   And boom, on come the lights, down comes the confetti, up go the balloons, flash go the bulbs and all present stand to cheer the lords of the day.

Have you puked yet?
 
I don’t recommend such shenanigans to professional firms.  But it would be foolish to fluff off all this motivational expense by saying it is all very well for those who sell furniture wax, brass tacks, gunny sacks and auto jacks, but we professionals are called to our work and need no motivational help. 

Selling is emotionally demanding.  It is hard work and laden with risk.  The highs are glory-halleluiah high, but the lows are deep down Ol’ Man River lows.  To carry through the uncertainty and to rebound from the bad patches, some professional firms and some individual rainmakers use external motivators, too. 

The founder of one well-known consulting firm used to ask his partners what they were going to commit to buying each year, a yacht, a summer home or whatever.  But it had to be expensive.  The partners were all paid on a plan heavily weighted towards performance, and performance meant sales.

The head of a regional office of an infrastructure engineering company told his people that if they exceeded their revenue targets, the annual planning meeting would be in Key West or another glamour location.  If not, they would hold the meeting locally.

Here are a few examples of individual rainmakers using motivators:

• Several rainmakers would use major sales as an explicit reason to go to an expensive restaurant with their spouses.
• A cost reduction consultant and train buff would buy himself a miniature locomotive when he landed a big client.
• An attorney kept a collection of coffee cups embossed with the names of his clients and given to him at his request by each client that retained him.

This is small potatoes compared with the corporate world, but size isn’t so important.  Rather, it’s important to recognize the value of explicit motivators and, if your firm doesn’t provide them, promise them to yourself.  So, the next time you land a big client, how are you going to celebrate?

In earlier postings I have described a number of thinking fallacies that keep professionals from succeeding at rainmaking.  These have included:

All-or-Nothing Thinking
False Clairvoyance
Build it and They Will Come
Bit of Brilliance

Another is the Only-Room-for-One Fallacy.  I first came across it as a young consultant, when I had only recently discovered that writing articles was a good way to promote the firm and build my personal brand, as well.  I soon was producing articles at a prodigious rate, seeking to develop a reprint inventory that included an article for every industry we worked with (insurance, electronics, etc.) and every functional area (labor, environmental permitting, etc.).

I was surprised when one of my colleagues complained to my boss that he had wanted to write the article on Subject X.  My immediate reaction was less than sympathetic. “Why doesn’t he?” I asked.  Many articles had been written on the subject in the past and many would be in the future.  I had not reduced his opportunity by a fraction.

I let him pick a subject, which I then stayed away from to give him room.  Two years later, he had still to type out so much as a sentence.  No doubt several competitors published on the subject during that time.  I continued my writing, trying to be as sensitive to my colleagues desire to see their names in print by co-authoring many of them.

Since then I have found that Only-Room-For-One Thinking is common, usually as an excuse for inaction.

·         I wanted to build the relationship with that client.
·         I wanted to go to that event.
·         I wanted to give a speech on that subject.

Well, why the hell don’t you?

In business development the opportunities to do worthwhile things are limitless.  Don’t fall into this trap.  Congratulate your colleague on a job well done and then go out and do something yourself.

And if someone uses the I-wanted-to line with you, simply say that it’s a great idea; you agree that they should.  And if you can, help them do it.
 

To what extent can emails be used in place of phone calls and face-to-face meetings when maintaining and developing relationships with clients and other important network contacts?

This question is asked by someone in every group of aspiring rainmakers I work with.  Sometimes the speaker asks hopefully, wishing to avoid phone calls.  At others the speaker is trying to sort out mixed messages he is getting from different clients.  Or she may be wrestling with the perennial juggling of client work with business development and may see emails as a partial solution.

One way or another it is a question that every professional seeking to become a rainmaker must answer.

Nor is it as trivial a question as it might at first appear.  How you answer it affects the effectiveness and cost of your efforts to develop business.  Because the answer will vary from one network contact to another and even with the same contact over time, it is a question you must answer several times a day . . .for the rest of your career. There is good reason, then, for asking the question.

Four bloggers have all agreed to post their answers to the email question simultaneously, each offering a different perspective, with all responses linked.  They are:

• Brian Carroll, author and expert in lead generation on the complex sale.  His post can be found at  blog.startwithalead.com/

• Tom Kane, expert in marketing and selling legal services.  His post can be found at www.legalmarketingblog.com/

• Mark Buckshon, prodigious blogger and expert on the sale of design and construction services. His post can be found at www.constructionmarketingideas.blogspot.com/

• And me.  My post “Email, Call or Go See?” follows:

Email, Call or Go See?

What’s more effective, emails, phone calls or in-person meetings? Each time you contact a client or other member of your network, you are, in effect, assessing the desirability of these alternative forms of communication in terms of practical consideration, your objectives, and your and your contact’s preferences. Usually, this is a split-second decision. At other times, it requires consideration. Here are some guidelines to check you decisions against:

General Guidelines

1. You need to use a mix of communications channels with each person in your network. This means that if you have communicated largely by email over the past year, it’s probably time to get face to face or to talk by phone with her again.

2. A client’s preference for one channel over another should weigh heavily in your choice, but it is not the only consideration. Your needs count, too. For example, if you have largely respected the client’s preference for email over the past year, it may now be time to get face-to-face to warm up the relationship.

3. Telephone calls are the great compromise between the other two channels to your contacts. They provide most of the information obtained face to face, allow give and take and the shifting of subjects to redirect the conversation to subjects that are productive for all parties. But they cost a fraction of what a meeting does in time and money. You need to make lots of phone calls.

Face-to-face meetings are best when:

1. You want to establish relationships. Good relationships are based on trust. Trust travels better through the medium of broken bread than it does through the Ethernet.

2. You want to advance relationships. Relationships are based on frequency of contact, shared values and shared experiences. The last of these is provided most effectively face to face. A mechanical engineer participated in charities that large real estate owners and managers participated in, too. Working with them on these worthy causes greatly strengthened his relationship with them.

3. You want the contact to remember your involvement in a matter. If you introduce two people who are likely to receive high value from knowing each other, it would be wise to host the lunch when they first meet. Otherwise, they are likely to forget your involvement.

4. A client clearly intends to hire you to address a matter, but is always too busy to get around to it. Get in front of him, and, chances are, he will take advantage of the moment to get things started.

5. You can take advantage of trips and association meetings to reduce their cost. Meeting with people is time consuming and expensive, often prohibitively so, if the client is at a distance. If you have a meeting with one person at a client company, use the visit as an excuse to drop by to see other people you know in the building. Or take a late flight home so that you have a chance to meet with another contact in the same city. Use an association meeting to get face to face with dozens of people it would be impractical to go see.

6.You want to gather sensitive information. Phone calls are second best. Neither requires leaving a written record.

The telephone is best when:

1. It’s important to control the costs of maintaining a network and still get the benefit of give-and-take exchanges. A locally based contact from your A List might get three or four calls from you for every time you meet. One from you B List might get between six and eight calls for every meeting.

2. A lot of give-and-take is required. In such cases, phone calls and meetings are usually more efficient.

3. You want to make an indirect probe. If, for example, you want to ask if any progress has been made towards the approval of your proposal, but don’t want to disturb the client yet again for this purpose, you can call to give him information you have come across about a competitor or something else he would be interested in. Then at the end of the conversation, you can say, “By the way, as long as I have you on the phone, has any progress been . . . .”

Email is best when:

1. You want to remind clients of what you do and that you are thinking about them. One goal of frequent contact is to capture mindshare. Sending a client regular emails, as long as they have substance, is a way to that. As one rainmaker expressed it to me, regular mailings of articles and whitepapers demonstrating the firm’s intellectual capital are one way of saying, “PING! I’m still here. PING! I’m thinking about you. PING! This is what I do.” But avoid passing on what might be seen as spam.

2. You need to confirm meetings and to summarize their results. This is good professional practice and gets you two extra PINGs from the meeting.

3. Your message is long and complex. You can plan what you say more carefully and the reader can review your thoughts several times and contemplate on them.

4. When you want to create a record of a contact.

So, before you send an email, look deep into your heart and ask yourself if it is the right thing to do, or if your doing it because you are . . . , well, . . . chicken! And if you are agonizing over the choice between email and phone, get over it! Pick up the phone and dial!

The following review of Rain Making appeared in the Aspiring Solo blog, which is dedicated to those transitioning past law school, through the bar exam, and on to the practice of law. It is republished below with their kind permission.

Book Review: Rain Making 2nd Edition by Ford Harding

Rain Making–2nd Edition, by Ford Harding, arrived on my desk at a perfect time. I am developing a business and marketing plan for my own practice. It is chock-full of useful revenue-raising marketing tips. As I read through each chapter, I became motivated and inspired to get out there and market my own practice.

Harding describes selling, a.k.a rainmaking, as integral to all professions. To truly succeed in business, one must sell and bring in new business. Law firms are one such environment where selling occurs. The author outlines selling techniques and strategies throughout the book and argues that they apply across professions. Variables include industry peculiarities, geography and individual strengths.

To the extent the book is useful for lawyers… much advice applies to medium/large sized firms or law firms whose clients are other businesses. The book is less useful for solos whose clients are regular citizen-consumers.

The author’s chapters on article publishing, networking and developing leads were especially useful to me. Harding describes how to make full use of your contacts and how to give back to others as a way of expanding your network. He further dissects several industries to illustrate who the key players are.

Rain Making emphasizes the importance of patience in developing a lead. Not only can it take 20-30 tries to get a foot in the door, it can take years to turn a lead into a customer. The author takes his readers through the gamut of dealing with secretaries, making presentations (individually or as a team), follow-ups, sizing up the possibilities operating in most sales situations, and time cycles that occur in various industries.

The chapter on cold calls was not what I expected. I was ready to dismiss this chapter. The term “cold call” conjures up images of telemarketing. Here, cold calls are more like industry-relevant office visits. Harding gleams these visits like a veteran, describing the do’s and don’ts of such visits. Rain Making describes how to hold a conference or seminar (including how to structure it to hold an audience’s attention). The author advises incorporating media relations into your marketing strategy. Legal techies might be disappointed with the chapter on the internet – it is a helpful but sparse discussion on SEO and SEM.

The author, Ford Harding, speaks with authority (the book cover points out that his books are required reading for certification with the Society for Marketing Professionals). Though this is a business type book best used as a reference guide (and I tabbed it throughout for such purpose), I learned a lot from reading it from beginning to end.

Rainmaking is hard work and intimidating. Many people shy away, even run, from the tasks entailed in selling one’s services. Harding walks his readers through the practical, logistical and psychological. He addresses the shyness factor and how to overcome it using reason and common sense. Introverts can do it, too, argues Harding.

Half the battle, I think, is standing strong in the face of defeat or the prospect of defeat. I personally found some of the suggestions intimidating, but only because I am at the beginning of my career. Those of you who have developed proficiency in a single area will benefit from this book. Also standing to benefit, argues Harding, are those who excelled at marketing in their careers. I had a number of instances where I showed promise as a future marketer while still a teenager. There was the door-to-door sales job I had at age 17. Then there was the time I ran for a student body representative seat in college and devised several clever marketing strategies for my campaign (and I won in a close election).

Rain Making is indeed for those who aspire to be principals in their firms – not mere employees. Thus the book speaks to those readers who possess an entrepreneurial mindset. For example, there is a chapter on writing project proposals for clients and another chapter on “turning down small work.” Aspiring solo practitioners often measure their firm’s success this way. Associates rarely have these opportunities in law firms.

A question entered my mind as I was finishing up the book. Is marketing intuitive? So much of the articles and books pertaining to marketing are essentially common sense. Yet my reading of Rain Making was helpful and thought-provoking. Perhaps there is a 50/50 split between intuitive and non-intuitive marketing. I have no idea how this book stacks up against the work of the self-proclaimed law marketing gurus such as Ed Poll or Ben Glass, but as a novice marketer myself, I got a lot of useful tips out of it!

Andrew Dietz has devised an interesting way to type rainmakers.  He describes three primary typess; solvers, drivers and connectors.  Rainmakers with mixes of attributes of these major types fall into a number of subsidiary types.  His post is worth a scan.

Don’t underestimate the importance of your bio. This short summary of your professional credentials is often a client’s first introduction to you. When set alongside those received from competitors bidding on a project, it provides the client with an easy basis for comparing your experience and intellectual horsepower to theirs.

If you work for a big firm, colleagues will review it to determine your suitability to work on a project or receive a referral. It is also used by association program committees to assess your suitability as a speaker. In short, it is a critical marketing document.

In spite of the bio’s importance, it is often thrown together in a rush, seldom updated and delivered in one form to all parties, regardless of their reason for wanting it or yours for giving it. This cavalier treatment of your bio must stop. The time to update it is now. You can then review it annually and before each use to update and customize it.

You want your bio to make your case as compellingly as is consistent with honesty. You want it to be accessible, meaning that it must appear easy to look at and engaging to the reader. To the degree possible, you want to make it memorable. You want it to stand out, even while adhering to the format designated by your firm.

One format to accomplish these ends is provided below with content kindly donated by an old friend and master publicist for professional service firms, Meg Wildrick. We have created two versions of her bio, directed at her two major markets, professional service firms and financial institutions.

Immediately after her name, title and firm comes a short statement of the value she provides her clients. Here it is in the form of a quote—quite acceptable at a public relations firm. A tax, estate and trust attorney might do better with something more staid. Then there are brief summaries of work she has done, emphasizing the benefits the clients received from her efforts. She can develop many of these to plug in and out and so adapt her bio to different clients.

After that comes a client list, also adapted for the use of the bio. So, for example, knowing that the readers of this blog come from many professions, she chooses to emphasize the breadth of her experience with professional firms, rather than the depth. If you can’t identify a client by name use a description like, two large, New-York-based banks.

Because all of her former work history is relevant to financial institutions, each employer gets a single line in Version #2, but in Version #1 only McKinsey & Company gets this honor.

In contrast, she has done more publishing directed at professional firms than at financial institutions, so publications are noted in Version #1 but not in Version #2.

Note, finally, that both versions are dated, allowing readers to quickly determine its currency. One of those readers should be you, reviewing and adapting your bio each time it is used.

Each version creates a compelling case for Meg’s experience and competence. But this is only one format and there are many that work. Do any of you readers have suggestions for how to make a bio compelling?

Version #1

Bio: Meg Wildrick Title: Managing Director
Firm: Bliss PR Email: meg@blisspr.com

Quote: Professional service firms sell their services with stories, which is why they are among my favorite clients. Stories fascinate me – what makes them interesting? memorable? effective? After studying literary stories in school, I moved to the business world. There, I refined and adapted my storytelling skills. In 1998, I landed at BlissPR where I get to tell the greatest stories imaginable—such as stories about building new businesses or turning around troubled companies—to the people who need to hear them. I also help clients hone their storytelling skills through strategy sessions, messaging workshops and media training.

Sample experience:

Build Name Recognition: Helped a large consultancy expanding rapidly in North America increase firm-wide name recognition and build visibility for senior consultants in healthcare, financial services and new media.

Support Lead Generation & Increase Valuation: Helped a small firm develop a publicity-based lead generation system which substantially increased its value, captured by the partners when they sold it a few years later.

Attract Employees: Worked with the New York office of an executive search firm to help them attract mid-career professionals for their Board and Financial practices.

Increase Credibility: For an international accounting firm, worked to position key professionals as experts on business trends and accounting issues.

Representative
Clients:

Accounting: Deloitte & Touche
Consulting: Roland Berger & Partner, Strategic Decisions Group
Architecture & Engineering: RTKL
Executive Search: A leading firm

Prior
Experience:

Consultant at McKinsey & Company

Strategic Marketing Positions at Brown, Brothers Harriman, Bankers Trust, GE Capital’s Financial Guaranty Insurance Company

Speeches &
Publications:

Meg has spoken to Association of Management Consulting Firms and published in Consulting to Business.

Education:

University of Edinburgh, M.Litt. in Comparative Literature
(Marshall Scholar), Williams College, B.A. (Valedictorian)

September 17, 2008

Version #2

Bio: Meg Wildrick Title: Managing Director
Firm: Bliss PR Email: meg@blisspr.com

Quote: Stories are the real currency of financial services. Financial firms sell products (many of them quite technical), but what customers buy are results. Stories that demonstrate these results make complex products more tangible. I’m a born story-teller. After studying literary stories in school, I moved to the business world. There, I refined and adapted my storytelling skills. In 1998, I landed at BlissPR where I get to write tell the greatest stories imaginable—stories about retirement, health & wellness, savings/investment and philanthropy—to the people who need to hear them. I also help clients hone their storytelling skills through strategy sessions, messaging workshops and media training.

Sample experience:

Increased Name Recognition: Secured company and product profiles for an asset management firm, which has a solid reputation in the institutional markets but was relatively unknown among consumers.

Launched a New Service Area: Worked with an insurer to define a cross-company retirement strategy – and promote that strategy in the media.

Raised Credibility: Worked with a national network of financial advisors to position their estate planning and retirement experts as authorities on personal finance issues.

Attracted New Members/Clients: For an investment group of high net worth advisors, secured profile stories and national business coverage. Membership doubled as a direct result.

Positioned Company as Industry Leader: Helped a large benefits provider build and implement a thought leadership platform, establishing itself as the expert voice on workplace issues.

Representative
Clients:

New York Life MetLife
GE Capital Key Bank
Deloitte & Touche AIMR
Sentinel Capital Management

Prior experience:

Brown, Brothers Harriman, Strategic Marketing
Bankers Trust, Marketing
GE Capital’s Financial Guaranty Insurance Company, Business Development
McKinsey & Company, Financial Services Practice

Speeches:

Meg recently gave a speech on Marketing and PR at the Securities Industry and Financial Management Association (SIFMA)

Education:

University of Edinburgh, M.Litt. in Comparative Literature
(Marshall Scholar), Williams College, B.A. (Valedictorian)

September 17, 2008

During the first downturn I experienced as a management consultant, I almost took on a project ill-suited to our firm.

Had we taken it, the probability of failure would have been high.  But I was focused on keeping my team employed and had rationalized all problems away.

Fortunately, a boss, more worldly wise than I was, stopped me, saying, “Hunger spoils one’s judgment.  In tough times it’s especially important to remind yourself that the client’s best interests come first.”

Bad times have come again, and this week’s news makes a recovery look further away than ever.  So, I pass the caution on to you.  Don’t let hunger spoil your judgment.  True professionals always put the client’s interests first.

To what extent can you substitute emails for telephone calls and face-to-face meetings when maintaining and developing relationships with clients and other key market contacts?

The answer to this frequently-asked-question affects how you spend your precious business development time and money.  Getting it right will improve your sales effectiveness.  No wonder it’s so frequently asked.  But what is the answer?

On September 22, four bloggers will post their answers simultaneously.  They are:

1)  Brian Carroll, specialist and noted author on generating leads for the complex sale.

2)  Tom Kane, specialist on marketing and selling legal services.

3)  Mark Buckshon, prodigious blogger and special on marketing and selling design and construction services.

4)   Me

We hope this attention to the issue generates conversation on the subject with all of our readers.

An earlier posting, Do Rainmakers Leave Messages?, discussed the kinds of voicemail messages to leave and when to leave them.  This one covers the practicalities and etiquette for leaving a message that every professional should know.  Many obviously don’t.

If you leave five voicemail messages every working day, a low estimate, it totals to about 1,200 messages a year. Each message you leave serves as a small advertisement for what you would be like to work with.  Leaving a voicemail message is one of those small things you had best do right.

To start, think of the problem from the recipient’s point of view, an easy task because we all receive voicemail messages.  It is best to assume that at the time she picks up your message, the receiver is in a rush, squeezing the call to her voicemail box in between other urgent matters.  Assume that yours is one of a number of messages she must get through as quickly as she can.  Finally, assume that she is not in a location where she can write easily and that she must hear you over a bit of background noise.  Sound familiar?  If you make these assumptions, your voicemail messages will be better under all conditions.

Here are the steps you should follow:

1>     Leave your name first, stating it clearly and spelling it, if it is likely to be hard to understand. If needed provide the name of your company or other relevant affiliation.

2>     Immediately after your name and company, leave your phone number. Immediately after your name and company, leave your phone number! Got that? Doing this saves the recipient from having to replay your entire message again to get your number, if she doesn’t get it the first time through.  State the number slowly and clearly, so the recipient has at least a hope of getting it down the first time.

People who leave 20 minute voicemail messages and then blurt out a garbled phone number at machinegun speed at the end are a menace to the business world and should be forced to attend voicemail courtesy training the way bad drivers are forced to attend auto safety classes. Leave your number this way and people will come to dread your messages.

If you are not in the habit of leaving your number immediately after your name, you will have to work at it to retrain yourself.  Go to the trouble.  The delayed, garbled, fast-spoken phone number is the most common and most annoying breach of voicemail message etiquette.  Leaving it this way also marks you as an inconsiderate rube.

3>     Next, consider giving a short indication of the urgency of your call. This is not always desirable—sometimes you don’t want to emphasize your lack of urgency—but when it is, you can help your contact make a quick decision about whether to listen to your message now or leave it for later.  The exact wording depends on such factors as your relationship with the recipient.  (This isn’t urgent . . . It would be helpful if over the next couple of days … I’m in need of some quick help, if you can …)

4>     Next, provide the core of your message as concisely as you can. If it is bound to be lengthy or complicated, consider sending an email instead of leaving a message.  If you want something, make the request clear.

5>     Consider leaving a brief personal message at the end. (Give my best to Adam and the kids). You may also want to repeat your phone number slowly.

You have many opportunities to practice these guidelines. Use them.

To hire you, a client must trust you.  Yes, she must trust your honesty.  This involves your putting her interest above your own, not engaging in deceptive practices, and the like.  If you want to pursue that subject, I recommend you go to Charlie Green’s blog, Trust Matters.

In addition to your honesty, she must also trust your professional judgment.  Professional judgments are made by applying reasoning, often specialized reasoning called a methodology, and specialized knowledge to a specific problem.  An obvious example is a doctor’s diagnosis and recommendation for treatment.  Professional judgment is what professionals sell.

To win business, you must convince a client of your judgment.  This creates a tension between presenting yourself as a generalist or a specialist and is the source of some tough career decisions.  The more specialized you are, the less qualified you are to make judgments outside your area of expertise.  The more of a generalist you are, the less a client is likely to accept your judgment on the most important and cutting-edge matters she faces.  The broader someone’s knowledge, generally the more shallow it is; the deeper it is, the more narrow.

Age provides a third dimension to this tradeoff.  The less time you have spent in a profession, the narrower and shallower your knowledge is likely to be.  A client can accept that a young professional has gained a reasonable depth of expertise in a specific area.  She will find it much harder to accept him as a generalist able to “do it all,” as some young professionals want to claim.

Experts are more precise in their professional judgments and more likely to be right.  Clients know this: that’s why clients trust them.  So, you need to become an expert for clients to perceive your judgment as more trustworthy than someone more senior, but with less depth in the matter in question.

While doing so, be careful to avoid the kinds of errors in professional judgment that experts are prone to and which can ruin all of your hard work to be perceived as worthy of the client’s trust.  Experts can be:

Þ      Longwinded:  Some people become experts, because they get to learn all about subject and then get to tell people about it.  They forget that clients want to hear their professional judgments, not all their knowledge.  Keep focused on the client’s issues, not on your knowledge.

Þ      Stubborn: Experts are also likely to be adamant that they are right, much more so than the generalist, . . . even when they are wrong.  This is especially true of experts regularly expected to make firm recommendations, rather than explain alternatives.  (This is sufficient reason, by itself, to get a second opinion before undergoing any major surgery.)

Misplaced certainty in your own judgment will destroy a client’s trust, if your error becomes apparent.  I remember vividly several instances when experts challenged a client’s judgment, when the client proved better informed than they were.  This always resulted in a lost sale.  In most cases, when this mistake was brought to the expert’s attention during a debriefing, the expert rejected the client’s knowledge out of hand, in spite of evidence that the client was right.   Yes, experts can be stubborn.

So, as you become an expert, remember to keep your focus on the client.  Before you demonstrate your professional judgment, learn what the client knows already and what she needs to know.  Then, when you speak, your words will be relevant and your advice sound.

And she will trust you.