A few days ago Ford Harding received a unique email from a professional, Ivan Hernandez.  It was unique and interesting because it was our firm’s first and unsolicited YouTube video referencing his book, Rainmaking: Attract New Clients No Matter What Your Field.  As I watched it for the first time I was so pleased for Ford that a virtual stranger would be so moved and inspired by the book’s teachings.  As I watched it the second time I chuckled at how this video, made much like those that I have of my kids at their birthday parties can capture my attention and entertain me in an odd way.  As I watched it the third, and so far, last time, I recalled the business trend moving towards video and YouTube mentioned in a recent AMCF social media workshop that I attended with the who’s who in consulting and led by gurus of McKinsey & Company and Bliss PR.  I guess the world is moving beyond email, in concert with LinkedIn, with Twitter and towards YouTube?  I needed more convincing, so I quickly searched the internet for data on YouTube to convince myself that YouTube has gone beyond being able to showcase music videos and personal teenage snip-its.  It has. 

I found a study by Burson-Marsteller that collected social media data from 100 of the largest Fortune 500 global companies.  Here are some of their statistics:  50% of the Fortune Global 100 use YouTube to reach their audience.  Of those, 68% posted 10 videos on YouTube in the past month.  69% of the Fortune Global 100 have YouTube Channels.  What amazed me was the statistics on the channels!  They tracked an average of 38,950 views per channel!  452 average subscribers per channel! And more than half of those with YouTube channels said they get comments from viewers! 

That’s inspired me to try an experiment and ask that anyone who is willing to step up to the plate as a YouTuber, share with us another point of view about the book or our Rainmaking programs please do so via a YouTube video and send it to me.  My request has two purposes, first, it will help me answer the question, “Will sharing these videos with you make a difference for us?”  We’ll track it with metrics and share the results with you.  Secondly I’m wading in to YouTube and would love to see a few more relevant ones before I do my own video clips in the market.  Stay tuned for more on YouTube!

For those of you that are curious, here is the YouTube video that Ivan sent to Ford:   

http://ivanhernandezonline.wordpress.com/2010/04/16/the-great-book-series-rain-making/

By Mimi Spangler, Partner, Harding & Company  (mspangler@hardingco.com)

Many consultants are uncomfortable asking for the sale.  They have a fear of rejection or say it feels pushy to ask and courteous to wait.  By waiting, what they don’t realize is that they could lose the sale! 

Asking for the sale is a consultant’s right.  You have spent time and energy crafting and presenting a solution to address a client’s need.  You have also flushed out and succinctly addressed specific client concerns.  Your question to the client, “Do you have any other questions?” is answered by the client with, ‘No.”  Now is the time to ask.

You’re on, so here are some approaches for your LAST question: 

·             Needs based: “Since you have agreed that our capabilities and approach meet your needs, can we work with you on this project? 

·             Relationship based: “Since we have worked well on past projects together, are you comfortable proceeding with us for this project?

·             Fee based: “If we drop our fees 15% do we have a deal?” 

·             Assumption based (Assumes that you are starting the project) “Can we schedule the first round of leadership interviews next week?” 

·            Next Steps: “Where do we go from here? “

After you ask for the business, you must follow these two sales rules to get a successful outcome:

1. When giving concessions, each additional concession should be smaller so that the client can see the end of the negotiation is near. 

2.      After you ask for the business be quiet and listen. Do not say a single word until the client responds – even if it feels like eternity! 

Silence can be golden!

Author:  Gary Pines   (gpines@hardingco.com)

After you “tweet”, “friend”, “link”, email, or mass mail to gently ease into reconnecting with an old client having some canned conversation initiators can make Step 2 – “The Call” much easier.  Here are five tried and true approaches that have worked for the reluctant caller.  When it’s time to pick up the phone and talk to your contact try these words.  Don’t fake it, find one that’s true to you. 

1.        “I was pleased to reconnect with you via LinkedIn; it made me realize that we haven’t talked in a while.  How are you?”  (My earlier blog post titled “Bag LinkedIn. . .” may have been a bit harsh because it certainly has a place like here to break the ice with old contacts!) – - if they accepted your invitation to join your network, they are now anticipating your call.  Don’t let them down!

2.        “I just reconnected with (person’s name that you both know) and realized that we haven’t talked in a while.  How are things going for you? “– this is a great reason to call lots of contacts from a past client organization who all worked together at one time!

3.       “I just read an article on your firm in (publication) and thought of you.  (Elaborate a bit on the article). . . Just wanted to touch base to say hello and see how you were doing.” – if you read the business press, you know you have thought about individuals from your past when you read articles about their companies, so it’s something you’ve kept to yourself but now you can share!

4.       “I’m going to the (organization) conference in May and was wondering if you planned on attending.  I thought it might be nice to reconnect with you there for dinner.  Do you plan on going?”- This is one of the best because you are being considerate, thoughtful and may end up with an excuse to avoid the rubber chicken dinner! 

5.       “I’m considering writing an article on (topic) and thought of you because I knew you would be a great person to give me a valuable perspective on it.  Could I trouble you to arrange a call to get your point of view on (topic)?” For those of you who have thought about publishing an article, this approach is gold because people are flattered that you think of them to give you advice.  You can collect your research, get valuable market insights and reconnect with an old client!