One of the most daunting challenges facing any service provider, especially consultants, is sales. In order to build a successful consulting practice you must have credibility and experience, in short you must be a domain expert in the areas where you are consulting. So how come it is so difficult for domain experts to sell their expertise? They are proven experts after all.It is difficult because “expertise” is an inherently intangible item. And the more expertise you have, the more difficult it can be to sell, as backwards as that may sound.
Selling the intangible is difficult because it is not readily apparent where the value is. Even if you clearly articulate your value proposition, not everyone will understand exactly how your expertise will benefit their business even if they recognize you as a subject matter expert. But that is only part of the problem. Even if you are successful at adequately explaining the value of your services, the act of selling your expertise can actually turn off many potential clients regardless of whether or not you could in fact help them.
For example, an expert in systems integration hears that the Universal Widget Company was just acquired by Widgets International. Everyone knows there is considerable overlap between these two companies and integration challenges abound. Since this is such a hot prospect, the integration expert contacts the CEO of Widgets International and offers her services, explaining how much experience and expertise she has with just this kind of project. The CEO politely listens to the pitch because he does in fact need help. However, our expert is surprised when she reads an announcement that Widgets International has just engaged a competitor with less experience to help with the integration.
Why did our expert lose the opportunity? The reason is that like many consultants her pitch was exclusively focused on her expertise and experience. The consultant was explaining why her background and experience would benefit Widgets International. At best, this approach did not focus enough on the value that could be reaped by Widgets International through an engagement and at worst turned the CEO off by indirectly implying that he and his team were not skilled or experienced enough to handle the integration on their own. Even if it is true, nobody likes to be made to feel inadequate.
Selling expertise is a delicate process. The best way to sell expertise is to not sell it at all. Instead of discussing past successes and track records the consultant should sell bundled service offerings that deliver specific values to clients. In short the consultant should sell a “product.”
If that product makes sense to the client and seems like it will deliver enough value, they will investigate the experience of the consultant and be pleasantly surprised to learn that he or she does in fact have a great track record and solid client list. If you cannot generate interest for your product at the beginning of the sales process then your background does not matter and you’ve quickly ruled out a prospect with minimal expenditure of time and effort.
One of the most important lessons to be learned here is that the process of productizing your services will ultimately convert an intangible offering (i.e. “expertise”) into a tangible product (i.e. “bundled integration services”).
Another advantage of productization is that is creates opportunities to up-sell other packaged services once you’ve established a relationship. The same consultant that is an expert in integration in the previous example probably has other skills, such as process improvement, change management and organizational development. Once a client has purchased one product from you they will be more likely to purchase others as their needs change because you already have established credibility.
For more information on productizing services please visit http://www.jlroy.com/JLROY_LearningCenter.htm.
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