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Meet
the MasterMinds: Jeff Thull on Mastering the Complex
Sale
 For
more than two decades, Jeff Thull, CEO and founder of
Prime Resource
Group, has taught cutting-edge marketing strategies
to professionals. He's a sought-after speaker and the
author of Mastering the Complex Sale: How to Compete
and Win When the Stakes Are High!
MCNews got Thull's take on the state of selling professional
services and gleaned some practical tips on how consultants
can develop a winning sales process.
MCNews: Do you think the process of selling services
has changed over the years?
Thull: The process hasn't changed much for the
top performing professionals because they have always
approached selling the way it should be done. The results
obtained by people in the top 5% are often written off
as exceptions or freaks of the business--their colleagues
can't figure out how they do it, but they always seem
to rack up the sales.
The book presents a model to explain that what looks
unusual for the top salespeople is actually based on
common sense--there's a method to their madness.
Their method may have been refined over the years, but
it hasn't changed significantly.
MCNews: What about for the rest of us?
Thull: For the rest of the people who sell,
the picture has changed quite a bit. John Sullivan,
who wrote the foreword to the book, researched how the
process has changed through three "eras" of
selling.
First was the era of the presentation, which started
in the early 1950's and continued through mid-1970.
That was when we began to approach and teach selling
in a formal way, including presenting and closing skills
and handling objections. To sell, often you just had
to show up, present, convince and away you went.
The second era, which began in the 1970's, was the
era of the needs analysis. The idea was to start listening
to clients, understand their problems and develop solutions.
I would say that consultants led that charge and differentiated
themselves from others because they were asking questions
and actually listening to their clients.
In the current, or third era, the role of the consultant
or salesperson is that of a business analyst. The selling
process of era three debunks many of the assumptions
of traditional selling, for example, that buying is
a pleasurable experience, that the purchase of your
services won't disrupt a client's operation, and that
clients have a good decision process for selecting consultants.
MCNews: How would you characterize the decision
process used by those who buy consulting services?
Thull: The reality is that a high quality process
for making such decisions does not exist for many clients.
Let's say you meet with a client's CFO to talk about
a consulting project to revamp the company's financial
systems. The CFO may never have bought that service
before and certainly does not buy it every day.
The company probably has a buying script for other
business needs and will try to fit the decision on consulting
services to that script. That is, I will buy consulting
services the same way I buy computer hardware or staples.
The essence of that client's buying system is this:
tell me all about you and your company, the product
or service you offer, give me your lowest possible price,
and I will get back to you.
Clients have learned to distrust salespeople. Therefore,
the reaction is, "We don't want you here helping
with this; just give us the data and get out of here.
We will sort through it."
A key point is that, in the absence of a quality
decision process, the decision will degenerate to the
lowest common denominator, which is price. A client
may be talking to three consulting firms who have the
relevant expertise and feel they can't really go wrong
with any one of the three. So it's a low-risk decision
to go with the one that brings in the lowest price.
Salespeople frequently mistake a client's approval
process for a decision process. The approval process
is about "whom shall we buy this from?" The
decision process is about "why should we change,
what do we want things to be like after we change, and
how do we get there?" The majority of salespeople
don't recognize this distinction; they assume the client
has made those underlying decisions, and so they focus
on winning the approval contest.
MCNews: How well prepared do you think most consultants
are to sell in that environment?
Thull: Not well prepared at all from what I
have seen. I would temper that by pointing out that
those who call us for help are having problems. But
even in conversations with potential clients who are
getting good results, a ticking time bomb is evident.
They are approaching sales in the old style and the
world hasn't caught up with their little niche yet.
MCNews: So what can consultants do to sell more
effectively is this era?
Thull: If you consider the old, standard process--target,
qualify, propose, and overcome objections--consultants
can start by improving how they target and qualify clients.
A potential client has both an external and an internal
profile. The external profile is what the prospects
looks like from the outside--what you can see and learn
without formal interaction with them. Too often, the
traditional selling process stops right there.
Let's say a potential client is a manufacturing company
that does not use just-in-time (JIT) manufacturing and
that's your consulting expertise. For you to consider
that company a qualified target just because they don't
have what you offer would be like saying any 55-year
old male is a good candidate for open-heart surgery.
You have to dig deeper into the internal profile. Does
the client have the symptoms of the absence of JIT?
What does the client think about the symptoms you see?
There could be interest in your capabilities and solutions,
but that doesn't mean the client is experiencing enough
pain to hire you and make the required changes.
Prospective clients might gladly sit and listen
for an hour or two while you talk about an interesting
area of the business, and have no intention whatsoever
of taking any action. You have to separate what
we call the intellectually curious from the economically
serious. And if you don't do that, we call it "unpaid
consulting."
MCNews: How do you make that bridge between the
external and the internal?
Thull: Well, take what you consider to be the
value outcome, or benefit, of your service and reverse-engineer
it by asking yourself, "What would be the physical
manifestation of the absence of my solution?"
Focus on that manifestation can quickly turn the conversation
with the prospect to, "Have you noticed a downward
trend with labor productivity? What are your thoughts
on that trend?" Right away you are talking about
a real issue that could drive a decision to hire you.
You want to verify the existence of the physical symptoms
to know that the client really has the disease. Once
that is confirmed, the next step is to determine how
severe the impact is on their business. That's the cost
of the problem. You look at the list of elements on
each side of the equation, and if the cost of the problem
is greater than the cost of the solution, change will
take place.
MCNews: Is it your experience that most clients
will sit still for that kind of collaborative sales
process?
Thull: A prospect might say, "I really
don't have time to answer those questions. It's quite
straightforward. We are looking for someone who can
help us institute a new XYZ system and you have come
highly recommended. I would like to understand more
about your practice and your areas of expertise."
That's where you have to draw the line. You are either
going to hold firm to your process, or you are going
to drop into presentation mode. If you go along, you
get stuck in the client's program, which is, "Tell
me about your offerings." And then you run the
risk of becoming a commodity, which, again, means competing
primarily on price.
Instead of talking about how you will solve the problem,
walk the client through the decision process you will
use and show how it will help them make a high quality
decision. You'll find that the client's interest quickly
shifts to your diagnostic capabilities.
MCNews: Some consultants are quick to agree to write
a proposal as soon as a prospective client asks. When
do you think a consultant should write a proposal?
Thull: Now, this might sound like a flippant
answer, but I believe you should write a proposal
after the client has decided to go ahead with the project.
These days, you should collaborate with the client
through the diagnosis of the problem and reach mutual
agreement on each critical element. You verify symptoms,
to what degree they exist, how much it's costing the
client to live with the problem, and agree on the need
to take action.
Then, you move into the design phase, which is another
collaboration on what both parties want the outcomes
to be, how they should go about achieving those outcomes,
investment and timing. That leads to a discussion document,
which is like a pencil sketch that an architect might
draw after initial discussions about what a client wants
in a home. It's in pencil, so you can erase and make
changes as necessary.
When the discussion document is completed, there is
essential agreement. Then you write the proposal--the
ink drawing. Using this collaborative, diagnostic approach
the decision to take action and the decision to buy
happen during the diagnosis, prior to any presentation
of the solution.
MCNews: When you help a client diagnose a problem,
there is a fine line between trying to sell the project
and the free consulting you mentioned earlier. How do
you know if you have crossed that line?
Thull: That's a critical issue and we spend
a lot of time working with professionals specifically
on where the line is between proper diagnosis and unpaid
consulting.
In the 1960's and 1970's, you sat down with a client,
got an understanding of their problem, and you literally
laid out the solution. There was a high probability
that the client would say, "This is great, let's
go ahead with the project."
Over the years, that has changed. Now if you do free
consulting up front it certainly doesn't guarantee you
are going to win the work.
The point is that doing some free work wasn't a
bad strategy when we first started doing it, but it
has grown progressively weaker. So where's the line
and how do you know when you have crossed it? The obvious
answer is that if you are explaining anything about
the solution, you are doing unpaid consulting.
I'd advise consultants to do a preliminary diagnosis
to verify symptoms. I use the doctor-patient analogy:
we just did this quick blood test and the results indicate
that you have a potential impact in this range. We have
to do some more sophisticated tests to determine the
appropriate treatment, and here is the fee for that.
In other words, if the complete diagnosis, identification
and clarification provide real value to the client in
terms of getting the problem solved, you need to charge
for that.
Another interesting point here is that, if you are
charging for something that someone else isn't, there
is a fundamental belief that it's better than the free
thing. Of course, you may also encounter clients
who don't agree with that, but it's best to begin on
a paying basis with the client, rather than working
for free.
MCNews: When you work with consultants to help them
improve sales, what's the most common area that you
see for improvement?
Thull: I try to get consultants to think about
what their clients tend to overlook or oversimplify
when they try to self-diagnose, design or implement
a solution by themselves. That analysis helps consultants
build a high quality decision process for their industry,
their specialty and their clients. Also, you have to
introduce that process in a way that is not insulting
or threatening to the client.
To return to the doctor-patient analogy, when you go
in for your annual physical, you expect the doctor to
have a process to guide you through decisions and support
you during treatment. Your verbal input and physical
data are vital to the process, and you will take ownership
of the outcome because you controlled the input. In
the same way, clients should be able to trust the logical
creditability of the decision process you present to
them.
As the consultant guides a client through that process,
the attitude should be that a quality decision could
mean my firm is not the best fit for you. Walk the
client through the process and let the chips fall where
they may. That's a shift in mind-set that consultants
and other salespeople need to make, and both clients
and consultants have to buy into that concept.
MCNews: Last question--if you were to give consultants
just one piece of advice to improve their sales process
or their ability to win work what would it be?
Thull: At the risk of repeating myself, you
have to bring your system or methodology to the table
for guiding your clients through a quality decision
process. The real key is having the mind-set
and the discipline to stick to your system and not fall
back into another mode of selling.
Too often, salespeople, and particularly consultants,
emphasize that it's all about how good I am and what
a miserable failure you, the client, are because you
don't have my expertise. You have to get over that ego
thing and shift your attention to the client and the
diagnosis.
MCNews: Thanks for your insights.
Find out more about Jeff Thull, his book and the services
of the Prime
Resource Group
* * * *
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From
the Bookshelf
In the last few months, some books have
come across my desk that you might want to check out.
Guerrilla
Marketing for Free, by Jay Conrad Levinson
The genius behind the Guerrilla
Marketing series has a new book out that shows
how to improve your bottom line without spending money.
In his trademark straightforward style, Levinson proves
that effective marketing doesn't have to be expensive.
Double-Digit
Growth, by Michael Treacy
In his new book, Treacy reveals why slow-growth
companies are doomed, and offers a strategy for achieving
long-term, double-digit growth. Treacy, formerly a professor
at MIT's Sloan School of Management, is the co-author
of the 1995 bestseller The
Discipline of Market Leaders.
Leading
Out Loud, by Terry Pearce
In this revised edition of his 1995 book,
Pearce presents a philosophy, rationale and a framework
for leadership communication. Pearce contends that before
leaders communicate anything at all, they must examine
their own core beliefs and understand how their words
and actions impact others.
Presenting
to Win, by Jerry Weissman
One of the leading speech coaches imparts
techniques to transform dry, lifeless speeches into
vibrant stories that compel your audience to action.
Weissman's approach has helped nearly 400 client firms
prepare IPO road-show presentations.
Accountability,
by Rob Lebow and Randy Spitzer
In the tradition of the "journey"
genre, this story follows five business people as they
travel by train from Denver to Los Angeles during a
snowstorm. Through their interactions, the book addresses
how organizations can encourage employees to be more
accountable--and therefore more valuable.
Play
to Your Strengths, by Haig Nalbantian, Richard
Guzzo, Dave Kieffer, and Jay Doherty
The book shows companies how to direct
resources to optimize the power of their people for
lasting competitive advantage. The authors explain the
new science of workforce management and how managers
can accurately assess the impact of current and future
workforce practices.
The
Support Economy, by Shoshana Zuboff and
James Maxmin
In a blend of history, social psychology
and economics, Zuboff and Maxmin show how the alienation
of people from the corporations upon which their well-being
depends will lead to a new era of economic growth.
Was this useful? Send a quick email
with your thoughts.
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