Stop Selling Deliverables: How Jonathan Stark Uncovers What Clients Really Want On Sales Calls
By getting to the bottom of what our clients REALLY value, we can offer any product or service that will help them achieve that outcome... whether that’s a deliverable, or consulting, or strategy.
-
A note from Melinda: One thing that I've noticed after working with hundreds of brand strategists, is that they constantly struggle with how to actually communicate the value of strategy when they’re trying to move away from selling deliverables into selling their thinking.
That's why, when I saw Jonathan touch on this topic in his newsletter, I had to share it with you.
If you’ve ever wondered how to explain the value in consulting services like brand strategy, then this guest post is for you.
Clients don’t actually want deliverables, but something else altogether...
—
How to uncover what your client really wants on a sales call
By Jonathan Stark
Buyers who are working with limited knowledge will often self-diagnose and prescribe the only solution that they are aware of.
Then, they reach out to sellers who provide this solution and ask for it directly.
Example:
“Hey doc! My chest has been hurting. I Googled around and apparently I need a triple bypass. When can we start?”
The issue here is not that there is actually only one solution to the client’s problem, it’s that the client is only aware of one solution and is asking for it directly.
A doctor would never accept a client’s self-diagnosis and neither should you.
Here’s the thing...they don’t really want deliverables.
Your clients don’t really want hours or logos, or colors, or fonts, or websites, photos, or videos, or copy, or illustrations, or social media graphics, or marketing materials, or fancy proposals, or revisions, or messaging, or any other sort of inputs or deliverables from you.
What clients REALLY want are benefits.
Outcomes.
Results.
Unfortunately, prospective clients almost never spontaneously share their desired business outcomes with you in a sales interview.
So how do you find out what your clients REALLY want?
First, let them talk.
At some point in your initial meeting with a prospective client, they will brain dump about the proposed project for about 20 minutes.
There might not be much useful information in this monologue, but you have to let them get it off their chest before you can get down to the heart of the matter, which is this:
Then, ask them why?
Ask why they want to do the project at all?
Questioning the premise of the project before they do the dump will frustrate or confuse them. They will gloss over the answer so they can jump to the dump.
So... you have to let them get it out of their system. Keep your mouth shut and let them vent. When they finally come up for air, you say:
“Thanks for that. Lots of helpful information here. Can we back up for a sec?”
Good clients will say, “Sure!”
And then you ask some variation of this:
“Why is this project becoming a priority now? Has something changed?”
Typically, they’ll have shared something in the dump that you can use to make this question more specific, like:
“You said your branding feels dated. Why is it becoming a priority now?”
“You mentioned you’ve had a lot of new competitors pop-up recently, Why not wait a month to see if they’re adopted by the market before rushing to change things?”
Once you’ve started asking these sorts of “Why” questions, you keep doing it...
“Why do this now? Wouldn’t it be better to keep an eye on the issue for a few months?”
“Why invest in someone like me? Couldn’t you save a lot of time and money by going somewhere like 99 designs or Fiver?”
“Why not use a pre-made template? Wouldn’t that be cheaper than paying for a custom design?”
“Why focus on the branding now? Wouldn’t it make more sense to prioritize other marketing investments?”
“There are a lot of talented designers/ strategists out there, why did you want to reach out to me in particular?”
“Why hire someone like me? Wouldn’t it be cheaper to handle this in-house?”
etc etc etc
Don’t stop asking Why questions until you are convinced that you are - or are not - a good fit for the project.
The power behind the“Why Conversation”
For obvious reasons, I refer to this as the “Why Conversation”. Having a Why Conversation sort of feels like trying to talk the prospect out of hiring you, because... well, you kind of are trying to talk the prospect out of hiring you.
If you CAN talk them out of hiring you, then they didn’t need you that badly (i.e., the perceived value of your engagement was low, which means you couldn’t have charged much).
If you CAN NOT talk them out of hiring you, then as they answer each Why question, one by one, they’ll be convincing themselves that you are the best option.
By the end of a successful Why conversation, you’ll have something to base your fee on because you’ll have learned:
Why the project is urgent to the client
What they think will happen if they don’t do the project
The feared business impact of failing to act now
Why they think you’re a good fit for the project
Why they don’t want to do with a cheaper option
Once you have this info, you can start to wrap the meeting and go write a proposal that is focused on what the client REALLY cares about.
Yours,
—J
Join the Fun! 🦄
These are the types of conversations we love having in the Brand Strategy Bootcamp. If you nerd out on this stuff too, we’d love for you to join us.
About the author:
Jonathan Stark is a former software developer who is on a mission to rid the world of hourly billing. He is the author of Hourly Billing Is Nuts, the host of Ditching Hourly, and writes a daily newsletter on pricing for independent professionals. Learn more from Jonathan here.