Sales 101 for Engineering (and Other) Consultants

My first real sales training came from John (ruff and gruff) Huff. John was already an institution at EDN when I joined. He sold ad space for EDN—naturally—and for the long and nearly forgotten Mini Micro Systems magazine. (In fact, John is the reason EDN is called EDN, but that’s another story.) John taught sales technique to other ad-space salespeople in the Cahners/Reed organization. John and I were very different in many ways but my wife and I became good friends with John and his wife Dorothy because they were terrific and generous people. John’s emphasis on selling was confidence in yourself (always spoken loudly: CONFIDENCE). That’s an essential component to sales. Yesterday, I experienced the next level of that philosophy in a class titled “Stop Selling and Start Closing.” The class was taught by master salesman and trainer Mike Johnson under the auspices of CNSV, the Consultants’ Network of Silicon Valley, which is affiliated with the local IEEE chapter.

Every consultant needs to know how to sell. As John Huff said, “Everything is selling.” Without sales, nothing happens in your business. Any business. Many engineers are allergic to this philosophy. Some even think that a really good product sells itself. I’m here to tell you, that’s just not true. Everything is selling. I’ve experienced this many times over and am experiencing it now in my own marketing consulting business. Sell or die.

Johnson spoke for four hours yesterday, so I cannot begin to capture the richness of his talk in one blog post. I can however give you the top-line basis for his presentation based on just one of his slides, titled “4 Secrets of Success.” Learn and use the ideas on this one slide, and you’ll be light years ahead of the pack.

The first secret of success is “Strong Self Concept.” This is John Huff’s CONFIDENCE concept, embellished a bit. Johnson suggested this confidence-building mantra: “I’m independently wealthy and I don’t need this business.” Now the funny thing about your subconscious is that it will believe anything you affirm over and over again. You’ll begin to behave as though you do believe it. Eventually, it becomes true—first in mind, then in reality. The purpose of this mantra is to prevent you from visibly looking like the truly sorry wretch you feel like inside, desperate for work. Would you not look a lot more hirable as a CONFIDENT, independently wealthy, successful consultant? Isn’t that who you’d prefer to hire? Try it. What have you got to lose?

The second secret of success, according to Johnson, is “Intention.” Your intent ought not to be to “sell” your services. Your intent should be to find out everything you can about the problem to see if you can help the prospective client. If you internalize this attitude, your conversation will automatically steer in the right direction as though it was on rails. Face it, you would not like going to a doctor whose chief intent was to sell you medical services. You want to see a doctor who can help you with whatever ails you. Johnson suggested, through a little skit, that you should be emulating the bedside manner of the doctor you’d prefer to see. If you clearly show that intent, one of sussing out the problem and finding an appropriate path to a solution—but not the solution itself, not yet—the prospective client cannot help but see that you’re not “selling,” you’re trying to help. That puts you light years ahead of your competitors.

Note that “trying to help” doesn’t mean you’re trying to fit the prospect’s problem into a convenient mold that fits what you have to offer. You need the CONFIDENCE to be able to say “I don’t think I can help you” and you need to tell the prospect up front that you just might have to say exactly that, if it’s true. Again, if the prospect believes you will tell it straight, you’re light years ahead of your competitors. If you do need to tell the prospect that you can’t help, because the problem’s beyond your real expertise or you’re otherwise not a good fit for the job, it’s helpful if you can refer the prospect to a specialist who can help. (Maybe that’s another reason to join your local equivalent of the Consultants’ Network of Silicon Valley.)

Johnson’ third secret of success is “Balanced participation.” By that, he means that the effort you put into finding a mutually agreeable approach to solving the prospect’s problem should be matched by an equal amount of effort in problem solving by the prospect. In other words, don’t listen for five minutes or less and then deliver your complete prescription for solving the problem over the next 30 minutes. Many engineers love to do this, to prove they’re smart, and to the detriment of their consulting practice. Two points to remember here. You have two ears and one mouth, so spend about twice as much time listening as you spend on talking. Be sure you engage the prospect in advancing the process of reaching an agreement. That’s your purpose in early meetings. Solve the problem too soon, before inking a contract, and you’ve destroyed the possibility of inking the contract. After all, if the problem’s solved, why does the prospect need you? So, you can prove how smart you are by solving the problem for free or you can get the job. Pick one. Preferably, you’ll pick the one that’s really smart and not the one that just makes you look smart.

The fourth secret of success, says Johnson, is to always be aware of a prospective client’s ROI—to you. Is the job you’re discussing really a good use of your time? For example, if you’ve got several good clients and you’re busy, you really don’t need a client that’s primarily interested in a low-ball price. Even if jobs are scarce and you’re scrambling for work, a minimally profitable job or a high-maintenance client will consume big chunks of your valuable time; that’s time you could be using prospecting for more profitable work. So always be aware of your time’s value. Guard it jealously and do not let low-ROI clients fritter it away.

The CNSV will be running two more sales classes by Mike Johnson sometime in the future. Get on their mailing list to see when that will be. If you want help now, you can find contact information for Mike Johnson here.