One of the pleasures of professional services is the chance to meet and work with people and businesses of many kinds.  I recently had the chance to work with a group of actors turned consultants and trainers.  First, they were clients of mine and then I of theirs, so I got to see them from two perspectives. Whatever the angle, they were different . . . decidedly so.

They understood little of the technicalities of business, be it of banking or of bankruptcy.  For all they knew a POS system had something to do with batteries, an NPV might get a ticket for driving in the wrong lane on the expressway, and SOX is a baseball team.  They understood little of the economic logic or organizational design of corporations.  This meant that they would miss some simple business facts that other professionals would grasp without being told.

You might wonder how consultants could make a go of it without this basic ability.  They did it with an uncanny ability to size up another human being almost instantaneously.  When a client talked, they might miss a business issue, but they heard every nuance of tone or pitch.  They noticed every change in expression and posture.  And through these lenses they captured what the speaker was all about as a person.   In this, they were far ahead of the other professionals I work with, and, for that matter, ahead of me.  It is a powerful skill.

I am accustomed to working with Type 1 Listeners, those who listen to a client’s technical needs, and helping them become Type 2 Listeners, those who seek to learn about the client’s business needs that dictate technical changes. 

For example, I might work with civil engineers to go beyond finding ways to increase the employment count and parking on a mature site to seeing that the client needs to add personnel to rapidly increase market share and seize dominance for a new product.  I also work with Type 2 Listeners, who listen to understand a client’s business needs, helping them to become Type 3 Listeners, those who seek to understand the client as a person.

It has always progressed in that order, Type 1 to Type 2 and Type 2 to Type 3.  What am I to do with people who start out as Type 3 Listeners who must move in the opposite order?  As I figure that out, I am learning a lot.

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Order your copy of Ford Harding’s new and revised edition of Rain Making, called ”…an essential guide for anyone responsible for business development in the professional services industry…” - Mark Mactas, Chairman and CEO Towers Perrin
 

Whether it is by cutting costs or increasing revenues, many professionals help their clients make more money. When selling to a client, it’s a good idea to determine how much money that will be, usually through a series of questions. Once the dollar amount is estimated, a rainmaker will sometimes go one step further, letting the client visualize what she would do with that money, if she had it. Doing so will remind the client of the urgency of getting the job done, so reducing the risk of a delay in hiring you. It will also help focus the client on the value of your services rather than on some preconceived idea of what they should cost. Here are two examples of such two-stepped series of questions.

Issue: Potential Real Estate Sale

Step One: Determine the Value

Q: How many acres did he donate to the college?
A: Ninety, but a third of that is wetlands.

Q: What is it worth per acre?
A: The developable acres have been appraised at $____________, the wetlands at $____________.

Q: How many acres would you be willing to sell?
A: We want to keep fifteen developable acres adjacent to the campus and all the wetlands. We will sell the rest.

Step Two: Letting Her Spend the Money

Q: Let’s see . . . That totals to about $ __________ and if you can acquire the old Peggoty farm, giving the site access to Dunmore Road, the value could as much as double. What would the college do with that money if you had it?

A: We badly need a new chemistry lab if we are to remain competitive in the recruitment of faculty and students.

Issue: Hiring the Right Talent

Step One: Determining the Value

Q: I can think of several reasons to get this position filled quickly. Which ones are you most concerned about?

A: I’m worried that some of the other research team members might jump ship. They all get offers from our competitors all the time, and if they sense the project is in trouble, they would be more open to accepting one.
Q: How would a loss of two or three of the researchers affect the project?

A: It could delay its completion by anywhere from four months to a year.

Q: What would a delay in the project cost the company in lost revenue for each month of delay?

A: We project sales of the A30 to build quickly to $____________ a month in the first six months.

Q: How much of a delay do you feel the recruitment and integration of three new team members in addition to the lead scientist would cause?

A: That would set us back eight months at the very least.

Step Two: Letting Her Spend the Money

Q: Ouch. If that could be reduced to a two-month delay, what would the additional funds be used for?

A: We cut dividends last year and want that money to restore them to previous levels.

A former client called me to discuss the loss to a competitor of an assignment she had set her heart on winning. She had been told that the competitor was seen as a better fit with the company’s collaborative culture. “It’s not true! I know those people,” she said. The presentation had seemed to go well and she had sensed that the selection committee had been favorably impressed.
There was one awkward moment. She had been asked how updates on progress would be handled. “I told them how we do it, and one of the committee members started pushing for more frequent updates. I said we could do that, though I wasn’t sure too many more were warranted, given the amount of information that we were likely to have to pass on.” She wasn’t sure who the man was.

There are several possible missteps in this description, but what I expect hurt her most was trying to answer a boomerang question. Beware of the boomerang questions. They can cost you the sale.

A boomerang question is one the speaker asks you, hoping that you will ask the same question of him. For example, imagine you are in a sales meeting with senior people from the client organization. One of them comes from the staff of that part of the organization you work with most closely, be that the finance, human resources, information technology, legal or some other department. This person is ten years older than you and will have day-to-day responsibility for the matter you hope to help with. We will call her the engagement manager. You are describing your team, when she asks, “Typically, what is the role of the engagement manager when you work on this kind of issue?”

Answer this question at your peril! A rainmaker will immidiately bass the question back to th client. The chances are high that the prospective client doesn’t want you to answer. Instead she wants to be heard on the subject. Give the wrong answer and you will find yourself in an argument or worse have created a silent enemy who will kill your chances of winning once you are out of the room. An appropriate response is, “That depends a lot on the engagement manager. Do you have any thoughts on the subject?”

Boomerang questions are a subset of a larger group, called recognition questions, used by speakers when they want to state an opinion. Other kinds of recognition questions are much easier to identify. Often they are statements introduced with a short phrase like, “Isn’t it true that . . .” Boomerang questions are a special case, because they are so much harder to recognize.

Here are two more examples:

1. During a discussion of how you will do the required work, someone says, “Have you ever tried . . .?” Look at the prospective client. Does his facial expression suggest that this is an inquiry or does it suggest he has something he wants to say?
2. After meeting the president and CFO of the prospective client, the young staff members who first called and screened you by telephone, asks, “How do you think the meeting went?” You have sensed all along that he wants you to win. Does he really want your opinions about how the meeting went or does he have something to tell you and is simply being polite by starting the discussion this way.

Boomerang questions are common. You probably use them, yourself. (Honey, do you have any plans for Friday evening?) But don’t . . . don’t ever . . . confuse them with a request for information.

I have been reviewing several books on selling.  Most advise us to ask clients for referrals, but that’s a thing more easily said than done.  There’s a lot more meaning packed into the word, “referral,” than its brevity suggests.  In most areas in the professions it means we are asking our clients to rember what we do well enough that they recognize opportunities for us when they are out in the market place, refer prospective clients to us, endorse us, and inform us of things that give us an edge over competitors.  That’s asking a lot of anyone. 
 

A few people will do these things without our asking.  But spontaneous giving of this type is rare.  Most of the time, we do have to ask.  And there’s the rub.
 

Asking favors of this kind makes us uncomfortable.  It’s asking a lot.  Our clients are busy people.  They have problems of their own and are paying us for the work we do, and so owe us nothing.  We don’t want to burden then with our problems.  Nor do we want to seem mercenary about our relationships with them. 

Succeeding at this delicate task requires good timing and technique. 
 

Let’s start with when.
 

An accountant, who is one of the biggest rainmakers in his firm, was the first to explain to me the best time to ask for a referral.  He advised me that whenever someone is happy with you, you are in a position to ask a favor.  Yes, you are being paid for the work you are doing, but clients who are really pleased with what you have done like to do something that will help you personally, too.
 

A recruiter was saying the same thing, when he told me that just after a search is completed, when everyone is happy with the candidate and your contribution is fresh in their minds, is the time to ask for a referral.
 

Now, let’s move to how.
 

The key to getting referrals from clients is to make the request clear, specific and easy to do.  Compare these vague and general requests to the clear and specific ones that follow.  Which would be the easiest for you to comply with, if someone were to ask you for referrals?
 

Group #1:  Vague and General
 

¨      “On the basis of the work we have done, would you be willing to refer us to some other people who might need our services?”
 

¨      “Do you know anyone who might be looking for the kinds of services we offer?”
 

Group #2:  Clear and Specific
 

¨      “I have always wanted to meet your counterparts in the Consumer and Health Care Divisions.  Would you be willing to introduce me?”
 

¨      “Here are the names of three firms in this area that we would like to do business with.  Do you know anyone in any of them whom you would be willing to introduce me to?”
 

¨      “I know you are active in the XYZ Association.  Would you be willing to bring me with you to a meeting, so I could spend a couple of hours with you meeting the people you know there?”
 

Pick a moment when they are happy with the work you’ve done, and make the request for a referral clear, specific and easy to do, and the chances of the client giving you that referral are pretty good!

Professional:  I was wondering if you could help me.  I’ve been told that I talk too much at sales meetings.  And I know it’s true.  I’ve tried to stop, but I always seem to be the one who’s doing most the talking?  Is this the kind of thing you can help with?
 

Coach:  Tell me more.
 

Professional:  Well, I always go into a sales meeting with the best intentions, but somehow I always end up talking and the prospective client ends up asking the questions.  I don’t know how it happens.  I feel I have to answer his questions and that means I have to talk.  I’ve been doing this work for many years, so I can size up most issues that a client is concerned about pretty quick.  That’s a part of the problem.  In some ways I know their problems better than they do, I’ve seen them so many times before.
 

Coach:  Can you give me an example?
 

Professional:  Sure.  Last week I met with an old client.  I asked him if he might need our help over the next few months, and he mentioned an issue his department was struggling with and asked if we had ever done any work in that area.  I only knew about one matter of that kind that we had ever worked on, so I described it. I could tell I had scored some points, because his level of interest picked up a lot, and before I knew it the hour was up, and I had done all the talking, and it was time for me to go.  He acted as if he was ready to hire us.
 

Coach:  Really?
 

Professional:  Oh yes.  We even talked about getting started next week.  He wants the work done fast, and he was particularly interested in how we had delivered on such a tight schedule for the other client. That hour went by in a blink. He was so interested in the example I gave, I thought for sure we had won.  But I was wrong.  He called this morning and told me he had hired someone else.  When I asked him why, he said that the other firm understood their problem better. It’s the third time in two months that I’ve had my head handed to me this way.  Have you seen this kind of problem before?
 

Coach:  Yes, but I have a few more questions.  Can you elaborate on what happened during the first part of the meeting?
 

Professional:  You mean right from the beginning? . . . .  Let’s see. . . . He met me in the lobby and we went into a small conference room.  I asked how things were going, and he talked for a bit.  I don’t remember exactly what he said.  But somehow he brought up their new operation in Minnesota.  That’s when he asked if we had done anything similar.  I guess that’s when I started talking.  But I’m not sure what choice I had.
 

Coach:  You sound pretty frustrated.
 

Professional:  I sure am.  I just don’t see how I can avoid talking so much.  I mean, when a prospective client asks you a question, you have to answer him, don’t you?
 

Coach:  What else?
 

Professional:  I’ve sometimes been criticized for talking too fast, too.  I always . . .  

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In a sales meeting do you act more like the professional in the preceding dialog or like the coach?  There are many short phrases that will keep a client talking:
 

Tell me more
Can you give me an example?
Really?
Can you elaborate?
You sound frustrated or That can’t be easy
What else?
I’m not sure I understand
And then?
And so?