The potential client doesn’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.
Unfortunately, many consultants want to share:
How much they know
How good they are
What they have done for clients in the past
The great things they can do for the prospective client
The challenge is to be able to do that BUT establish a relationship with the potential client first in which you establish that you are genuinely concerned about their issues and problems. Key word: Genuinely.
Get yourself out of the way, it’s not about you, it’s about them. Can I beg of you one more thing? Please, please, please don’t sell negatively against your competition. Don’t start your process with them by telling them all the things the people they work with are doing wrong, it just makes you look like a cheap carnival, back of the wagon, pitch-man. Some people even start out by telling the prospective client all they do wrong. Yes, I’m serious.
Ask the right questions about them as human beings, about their business, get an overall well rounded sense of who they are and what they need help with.
Build a well-rounded relationship as a trusted advisor with peer-level respect, that’s a true win.