Some people have heard me tell this story, but I know most of you haven’t. When I set out, 31 years ago (almost to the day) to start a sales consulting business, I intended to travel light. That was my euphemism for being a sole practitioner, an expert who would and could be fully accountable to his clients because he, and only he, would be serving them. I’d have my grip solidly on the quality-control knob because I’d be the only employee of my sales consulting firm.
When I semi-retired in 2008 and passed control and leadership of the business along to the next “generation,” it was clear I had failed in my mission to travel light. We were 32 employees strong (and today, we have 42 people!), and the success we built over that quarter-century was largely due, not to me, but to those other 31. Consider that my Lesson #1.
1. You can do it alone, but you can do it far better with a team.
I don’t mean simply that you can grow faster and grow larger if there’s more than one of you. You knew that already. I’m talking about doing it better, about serving clients with a broader range of solutions, greater depth, stronger strategic thinking, more ears to the ground, more eyes on client problems and opportunities, and on and on. If all you do is deliver rah-rah speeches, you don’t need a team. But if you’re serious about operating a real B2B sales consulting practice, it won’t realize its potential until you surround yourself with fellow consultants and specialists. I operated by myself for 8 years, under the false impression that no one else could do this work the way I can. As soon as I brought aboard Jim Hopes (he’s our CEO now), I found out how right I had been. But not in the way I thought. Others not only could do the work as well as I could, in many ways they could do it better. That experience was replicated again and again as the organization grew.
2. It matters who you hire.
Why had I been so off-base in my thinking that I could keep quality up by simply doing all the work myself? (Some who know me well are thinking, or shouting at their screen, “Arrogance!” and I will admit that was a piece of it.) But the lesson I learned is one that applies universally, whether you suffer from hubris or not. It’s entirely true that most people could never do the job as well as you can. But a few can. And a few others can do parts of the job that you can’t or won’t do. And yet others are so talented that they can do almost every part of that job better than you can. And that basic observation holds, not just for your sales consulting work, but for any job above the level of working the counter at a fast-food franchise. Most can’t do the job—but a few can, and they can do it exceedingly well. The key is talent. Select people who have that specific range of inherent talents needed to be a B2B sales consultant and you will have beefed up your organization with peers, not people you need to make excuses for.
3. You need intellectual property.
An incisive mind, a sharp wit, a winning personality, keen insights, and an easy patter may get you in the door (although less frequently than when I started up 31 years ago)… but it won’t keep you inside that client company. There needs to be some there there. And not just while you’re presenting, training, consulting, helping, analyzing, etc. When you leave for the day, or complete that scheduled Skype call, value and substance need to be left behind, so your client has more to work with than the notes they hurriedly took during your session. I’m talking about systems, processes, sales training resources, reference materials, research capabilities, programmed reminders… whatever the things are that make it easier and more likely that your wisdom, your recommendations will be implemented successfully. This one was relatively easy for me (although I had underestimated how highly developed that material needed to be), and it’s a good thing because winning personality and an easy patter weren’t advantages with which I was especially blessed. If developing that intellectual property doesn’t play to your strengths, then license it.
4. Lock on to your Number One Objective.
I was fortunate to read Flawless Consulting by Peter Block right at the very inception of my company. The book was quite new at the time; today, it’s an absolute classic, into the umpteenth edition and the zillionth printing, and it’s still selling like umbrellas during a sudden downpour. I recommend the book to you for many reasons, but you don’t need to buy it to take away this morsel: Your Number One Objective as a consultant is to get your expertise utilized by the client. Surprised? Took me some time to wrap my head around it, too. It’s not to deliver “value,” whatever that means. Or ROI, over which you have relatively little control. (Or to get great evaluations after a training workshop, but you already knew that.) You’re doing your job so long as the client is continuing to utilize your expertise, that is, so long as the client keeps implementing your recommendations. As long as you’re seeing that, you know you’re delivering value, meeting expectations, delighting the client, and certain of a renewal or a subsequent engagement. As soon as that indicator starts to weaken, you’re in trouble. Keep asking yourself what can I do to get my expertise more extensively utilized by my client?
5. Structure your services to be sustaining.
This worked like crazy for me as my little one-man act grew into a small cadre of consultants and eventually a diversified, multi-specialty, mid-size consulting firm. You will always have project work, and that’s good, but challenge yourself to develop a set of services that clients will want to continue to avail themselves of indefinitely. For each client, assemble the essential services they need, price them, and turn that sum into a flat monthly retainer (a retainer makes it clear who is a client and who isn’t). Then make the balance of your services available on demand. Each client may have a different retainer and a different set of services based on their needs, but strive for that level of commitment. It strengthens the business relationship to a remarkable degree, keeps you closer to the client and able to recognize new needs, makes staffing easier, and lowers your firm’s marketing and selling expenses.
What are the lessons you learned in building your sales consulting practice?
