In the first 2 years consulting and coaching, I've helped clients learn to sell, or improve their sales. I've worked on my own sales skills, to "walk the talk." After all, you wouldn't hire a tennis coach who didn't know how to play, or a consultant that had never solved a problem like you have, right?
Yesterday Jay Niblick (Innermetrix) used an example in a webinar for Assn of Independent Business Consultants that got me thinking a little differently.
What if you got a cold call - from a doctor? Would you consider becoming a patient? If you did, what would you expect about competence, quality, or price?
People hire consultants when they believe the consultant can help them fix a problem (or realize a dream) that they really care a lot about, and have the resources and willingness to get help. They need the consultant to have expertise and be an authority in what they need, as well as the skills to help them make changes that work.
So what happens if a consultant starts to "close" - switching roles to a salesman to seal the deal? Do trust and confidence naturally and automatically sink?
That's why, in my practice, I never "close" but only ask the same question every time, when my prospective client has seen that I'm a trust-worthy expert who can help them improve something that matters a lot to them. That question is simply "What do you want to do now?"
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