3 Steps to Consulting Sales Mastery (June 2024)

Many (most?) consultants find the idea of sales…distasteful. Awkward at best. We’re in our comfort zone helping people, solving problems, and convincing clients to take action.

Many are scared by the idea of asking for money or appearing to be pushy. Yet, BD is a critical part of the role.

So, let's break it down and take a practical look at what it means to be great at consulting BD...

The Honeycomb Consulting BD Pyramid structures the sales cycle into 3 phases:

1️⃣ Building Authority: Being known for something specific and starting conversations with the people you want to help,

2️⃣ Consulting: Framing the issue for your client, co-creating an approach to solve it, and writing a compelling story (in the form of a proposal) that helps them make a decision,

3️⃣ Selling: Pitching your solution, handling objections, agreeing commercials, and getting the green light to kick-off the work.

This month, on The Skilled Consultant, we have published three articles which explore each of these three phases. In this newsletter you will find some valuable nuggets from those articles, and links to each should you wish to dive in further.

Step 1: Building Authority

Building authority is about getting from a point where somebody doesn't know anything about you, what you do, or the problems you solve, to a point where they want to have a conversation with you about a potential project. This process takes time and involves several stages of pulling someone closer to you.

To build authority it is necessary to develop your personal brand. You could think of this as your public image within your industry. What you are known for.

For the purposes of selling, you want to cultivate a strong personal brand as someone your ideal prospects see as valuable. To do that, you need to define two things - who they are and what you help them with.

A great way of encapsulating this with a Fishing Line (taken from David A. Fields’ The Irresistible Consultant's Guide To Winning Clients). Your fishing line should be a maximum of 15 words following the structure, ‘I help (ideal customer) to (value proposition)’.

At Honeycomb, our fishing line is:

We help consulting team leaders develop exceptional teams.

Simple. Clear who we work with. Clear on the problem we solve.

Knowing your fishing line is your first step to guide the development of your personal brand. It tells you who you should be talking to, and what about.

In short, don't be this guy...

For more on fishing lines, personal branding, the value of habits, and how to use hooks read: Building Authority: Step 1 to Consulting Sales Mastery

Step 2: Consulting

Building authority involves providing value to others (for free) and developing strong relationships. But it’s easy to get stuck in the relationship game. Lots of nice chats that don’t lead to a concrete discussion about a proposal. That’s a safe space for many consultants, but unfortunately it doesn’t lead to paid work.

In this phase of the process you have 2 key aims:

1. You need to structure the problem so that the client sees it in a new light. They need to feel it’s now solvable when they've previously not been able to find a solution.
2. You need the client to feel confident that you are the right person or firm to help them and that their investment of time and money is going to bring significant benefits.

It can be useful to consider the four hurdles that buyers need to overcome during this process (as helping them do this will mean you achieve your aims).

1. Solution - they can see that their problem is solvable,
2. Effort - they understand and accept the amount of time and effort this is going to take them and their team,
3. Price - they’ve got the money to spend and believe they are going to see return on their investment,
4. Trust - they trust you are going to keep the promises you’ve made and deliver the solution for the agreed effort and price.

You need to ease your clients over those hurdles. You must understand what they are seeking to achieve and why they haven't already. You should co-develop a solution that they are properly bought into. And then codify that into a proposal that hits the mark.

This can be a pretty quick process if you get good at it. We recommend the STONES technique - developed by one of our expert sales trainers, Lars Tewes - to help step you through it.

For more on turning relationships to sales conversations, overcoming buying hurdles, and using the STONES technique read: From Hook to Proposal: Step 2 to Consulting Sales Mastery

Step 3: Selling

This phase of the process involves writing a compelling proposal, running a pitch meeting, and handling any objections.

Once you are familiar with the STONES technique, this can be used to structure your proposal writing. We recommend four sections to a proposal: key messages, benefits and how they'll be achieved, tailored proof points, and clarity on options and costs.

With this in hand, you will head into your pitch meeting.

I observe consultants being great at talking to the rational brain. The rational brain is analytical, it considers data, makes trade offs, and weighs up the pros and cons systematically. That's what we do.

But….the unfortunate reality is, people don't make decisions rationally.

Decision-making happens in the primal brain, which is driven by emotion and instinct. And people then post-rationalise the decision they’ve made. This means, if you are trying to persuade someone in a pitch meeting, you need to speak to their primal brain.

The psychological theory of persuasion suggests there are six stimuli that trigger the primal brain response:

Let’s run through how you may trigger each of those six.

Personal - focus on the individual and their needs. Talk about the benefits that they're going to get. The primal brain is concerned about the individual, their needs, and their protection.

Contrastable - make it very simple for them to see the differences between their today and the tomorrow you propose. This grabs attention and stimulates a fear response. The primal brain is alert to change and contrast as it operates in self-defence mode.

Tangible - deliver really simple messages and ensure the information can be processed with minimal energy. The primal brain is not sophisticated.

Memorable - Use repetition. It’s not boring, it’s what makes things stick. The primal brain can distort information and be selective, so repeat what you want to ensure it is remembered.

Visual - bring the benefits to life with visuals. The primal brain processes visual data much better than written or auditory data. Memories are also stored visually, so this helps your message stick.

Emotional - focus on the emotions of fear and desire. Perhaps they fear the outcome of their current trajectory. Perhaps they desire the opportunity they don’t currently have.

Get your head away from the rational and speak to the primal. And then layer in the data your client will need to post-rationalise the decision they made emotionally.

For more on writing compelling proposals. speaking to the primal brain, and handling objections using the reframing technique read: Proposals, pitches, and the primal brain: Step 3 to Consulting Sales Mastery

Session: AI in consulting in 2024 - the story so far & the skills you need

Guest: Prof Joe O'Mahoney, Professor of Consulting, Cardiff University

When: Friday 28 June, 11.30 - 12.30pm

Click here to register

Everyone is talking about AI and how it might impact the consulting industry.

Prof. Joe O'Mahoney is the UK's leading expert on this topic and I'm excited to welcome him to share his knowledge, research and insights with us all.

We've also been doing some research ourselves, in collaboration with Sreerag Raveendran, an MBA student from Cardiff University. In the session we'll be sharing some of our initial findings on how AI may impact the skills that consultants need in the short-term, medium-term and long-term.

As ever these are informal sessions with lots of open discussion - the idea is to share experiences across the group and give everyone who wants it opportunity to get help with their challenges and questions.

Register now to attend this session

👋 Thank you for reading. I’m Deri Hughes. I run a training business that helps consulting team leaders develop exceptional teams.

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