20 Hats: Thinking Cap

Relationship or Transaction: What do you want from your outside consultants?

At 20 Hats, we've spent a lot of time during the past few months discussing the attributes of our firm's "ideal" client. One of the biggest things we've discovered is that we want to work with clients who view our engagement with them as a relationship and not a transaction or one-night stand.

What's the difference?

When a transaction happens, you have two parties involved. One provides a product or service, and the other pays for it. End of story.

According to David Maister, building a relationship with clients leads to many benefits: less fee resistance, more future work, more referrals to new clients, and more effective and harmonious work relationships with the clients.

My guess is that most clients would also say they want a relationship with their vendors and consultants. However, many of them seem to make their buying decisions based on project cost and short term impacts - the very essence a of one-night stand.

Hmmmm, does that mean that many organizations have been burned in the past and are no longer willing to commit to more than a quickie with their outside consultants? Probably.

If we as consultants (or even as clients) want to be treated with the respect, we better start treating each other with the love and respect you gave your spouse while you were dating (before you got too comfortable). Be on your best behavior. Be honest. Be supportive. And most importantly, be trustworthy. According to Maister, you must do something for the other person to give them the evidence on which they can base their decision to choose to trust you. You must be willing to give in order to get.

Posted by Danielle Ezell, APR

Brochure Burnout

One of the most frequent requests we get from clients is that they need a new brochure. Sure a brochure is an appropriate form of communication for some circumstances, but many people, especially sales people, attribute way too much power to this multi-colored, tri-folded, sheet of paper.

If a member of your team is telling you that they need a brochure in order to do their job, they may not be the right person for the poosition! People, not a sheet of paper, make sales. If they can’t close a deal without marketing collateral, they won’t be able to make a sale with it either.

So when do you need a brochure?

Trade shows and other events when you won’t have time to talk to each prospect individually.

As a leave behind. Provide marketing collateral to a prospect at the end of an appointment AFTER they are already interested in your service or product. The piece gives your contact the opportunity to learn more about you while also giving them something to show their boss when they go to him/her asking for money for your product or service.

As reference material. This is especially important if you’re selling products or services that may have a lot of different options to chose from and the buyer needs to time to ogle over the various options. Remember the last time you bought a car? I bet you took the brochure home first and repeatedly looked at the colors and options that were available.

by Danielle Ezell, APR