| | By Malcolm Sleath
Question: At a
recent networking event,
I met someone with whom
I had dealings a few
years ago. Back then, he
seemed very keen to
pursue a business
relationship and then
surprised me by
switching to a different
option at the last
minute.
Now, when we meet he
seems to spend all the
time asking about my
work, in which he takes
an intelligent interest.
The reason he gives is
that he will be in a
better position to
recommend me to other
people but I also know
he is starting a new
venture.
This is taking him
into territory which is
unfamiliar to him, but
where we both know I
have particular skill
and experience that he
could find useful.
Despite the fact that
the new venture is not
secret and needs all the
exposure it can get,
when we get together
one-to-one he seems very
reluctant to talk about
it and always deflects
attention back to me.
We have a lunch
meeting coming up and I
want to get to the
bottom of why he is so
reluctant to move the
conversation on to areas
of mutual interest. How
can I do this without
sounding impatient and
confronting?
Answer: There
are a number of
possibilities here. One
is that he feels a
little guilty about the
way your previous
encounter turned out,
and is looking for ways
to help you to make up
for it by being
genuinely helpful in
putting you in touch
with new business.
But you seem to sense
that his interest
amounts to more than
that, and that he has a
genuine need that he is
reluctant to make
explicit. Before your
next conversation, try
this test which will
help you to firm up your
hunch that your skill
and experience are
needed.
1. Your belief
suggests there is a gap
between what would be
going on in the new
venture without your
help and what could
happen with it. Ask
yourself, “What is
likely to be going on
now?” and, “What should
be happening instead?”
For example, what is
going on now could be
that a client is
continuing to use the
marketing approaches
they have always used.
What should be going on
is that they modify
their approach in the
light of understanding
who their most
profitable customers are
and where they come | |
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2. Next, you need to
distance yourself from
your skill and
experience and think in
terms of a client
requirement to resolve
the gap you have
identified. Express your
skill and experience as,
“A way of doing
something, so that
something happens.” Be
specific about the
‘something’. For
example, a client might
need, ‘a way of
profiling their most
valuable customers’ so
that ‘marketing effort
can be focused on
attracting more of
them’.
3. Now you need to
undertake a quick and
dirty risk assessment on
their behalf. Think
about the worst case
scenario if the client
does not address the
requirement by
implementing your
solution or something
very like it. This will
‘qualify’ the
requirement against the
likely cost of your
input. The outcome might
be, ‘the client could
fail to secure the most
profitable sector of the
market, and allow
someone else to do
capture it’.
Answering these three
questions will enable
you to clarify the hunch
that your skills and
experience are needed.
If you find the case is
obvious, and from the
sound of it you will,
this gives rise to the
fourth question:
4. If the need is
this obvious to me, why
is the client not
actively addressing it,
or at least expressing
the desire to change
their situation in some
way?
Try to think in terms
of a dilemma the client
is facing. In other
words, assume that at
some level the client
wants to resolve the
issue, but at another,
there is something
inhibiting them from
doing so.
Let me give a recent
example. Forgive me if
what follows sounds like
algebra, but I don’t
want to give the
slightest clue as to the
actual client
circumstances I was
dealing with.
A potential client
appeared to be embarking
on a challenging venture
that we will call
‘Course B’. He was
very familiar with the
technical aspects of the
project, but there were
certain commercial and
other features that were
quite daunting. It
seemed reasonable to
suppose that he would
need help with these,
and we began to talk to
him with a view to
supporting him as he
pursued Course B.
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But then he started
to procrastinate. He
showed a great deal of
interest in our
expertise, but never got
to the point where we
had a conversation about
how it expertise could
be applied to Course
B. Like you, we were
beginning to feel a
little frustrated.
But, instead of
pushing at the issue, we
used the conversation to
explore a little history
– ‘How did this
opportunity come about?’
and so forth. The answer
was interesting. In the
course of the story, the
client revealed that he
had previously been
pursuing another
opportunity. Let’s call
it ‘Course A’.
Of the two, Course
A was by far the most
attractive. But the
project had been
aborted, and left the
client feeling let down
and very disappointed.
In fact, he was living
in hope that a similar
opportunity to Course
A would present
itself.
The dilemma turned
out to be that in
actively pursuing
Course B, the client
was convinced that he
would be sabotaging any
future chance of another
Course A. Fortunately,
we were able to find a
way of allowing the
client to have his cake
and eat it. We devised a
way of going about
Course B that would
not get in the way of
another Course A
emerging, and might even
encourage it to happen.
The fear of losing
another Course A was a
restraining force on
the client asking for
change. Once we were
able to modify the
requirement, the dilemma
was resolved.
Whenever clients
appear to be evasive, in
the first instance it’s
always best to assume
that, from their point
of view, there must be a
good reason for it.
A gentle approach,
focusing on events in
the past, often reveals
experiences that have
lead the client to
experience a dilemma in
the present. Sometimes
this can be resolved at
an early stage by
modifying the
requirement (Question 2,
above) to take them into
account.
Regarding ‘irrational
doubts and fears’ as
irrelevant is dangerous.
In the case of Course
B, if the client had
gone ahead despite his
concerns, we would have
been leaving ourselves
open to all kinds of
frustration later in the
project when he failed
to follow through on
necessary action. | |
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