The Sales Pitch: Just Because You Can, Should You?

OK so I'm getting old and there are some things that worked better 10 years . . .OK, OK, 15 years ago, than they do today. For instance, if I'm going to lift something heavy, head out on some air travel with heavy luggage or dig up my garden, then there are some steps I better take before I start. I'll need to stretch, warm up a bit, take an aleve and maybe sacrifice an innocent animal to the god of my choice in order to have any real physical functionality on the backside of the project. No doubt I can get the job done, but the on-going pain is a high price to pay.

Maybe this one makes it clearer: people fall in love (or lust or ?) and decide to get married. Clearly the vast majority who do (me included) often have no idea what they are getting themselves into. And the resulting consequences provide enough 'shake your head' moments to last a lifetime.

For those of us who's professional task is to make a difference in revenue, the question is similar. Just because we can get someone to sit down with us or our professionals to hear a pitch, does that mean we should do the pitch?

Often we need to take a minute and ask what the point is? Is it getting the next piece of business? Or is it building business relationships that will generate value on both sides for years to come?

I argue strongly that its critical that each new client relationship be built based on a personal knowledge of several basic questions:
>> What will make our client's company successful this year? How do they measure it?
>> What are the challenges that stand in the way of that success?
>> What are they doing to address those challenges?
>> Then ask the same questions for each contact personally (i.e. what will make the person successful this year? How will they measure it?)

Once we understand this information, we are in a position to address our client's most important professional issues. To the degree our solutions are set in that context, we build a solid relationship which can grow and which will be less vulnerable to competitive attacks.

There's no doubt that many of us can talk ourselves into getting a pitch heard. But for the vast majority of our client targets there are several steps which should occur before we have the presumption to even offer.

Otherwise the math is clear, there are many actions we can take and the consequences of those actions are often not what we intended.

Best Opportunity to Build Loyalty Occurs Around Problems

Interviewing a large key client a few years ago I ask him why they had become so loyal to our company.

Without hesitation he started, "Well you guys were handling a very important matter for us and it wasn't going well. I approached (the relationship partner) and let him know that I was displeased and that something had to be done. (The relationship partner) made the decision to replace one of your senior partners handling the matter with someone else. And the change worked and the matter's result was highly appreicated by us. In effect (the relationship partner) showed us that our relationship took first priority over any politics within your firm. From that time on we knew we would be taken care of and that we were partners with your firm."

I've seen this played out time and time again. When things get tough, we each have the opportunity to show what we are made of and develop a relationship with clients and teammates which speaks louder than all the good times.

The math says that Loyalty can be more a function of trust based on how we deal with problems than all the dinners and the wins . . .that client service is shown best in tough moments.