What Do They Need?
Defining what you offer and to whom helps you focus on your prospective clients. Why should they buy any services from you? Because they need them. Part of your job in finding prospective clients is to help them recognize their legitimate need.
Prospective clients need solutions to specific problems. Your consulting business should be designed to offer and, if necessary, implement those solutions. Whether your clients want to build a retirement nest egg or lose twenty pounds by the holidays, the consultant's job is to identify and resolve a client's need.
Take a look at the high traffic in a shopping mall. Not everyone who shops buys. There are many reasons for this, including the fact that there is no current perceived need. In addition, the prospect may not have the authority or the money to buy. For example, a husband may love the new model television but, by agreement, won't buy until he and his wife are mutually committed to the purchase of a specific television.
What authority is required to make a purchase? The authority to decide on and pay for a selection. It may be implied authority: a young woman orders a hamburger. Or it may be deferred authority: a family lets Junior decide where they will have lunch. Or it could be cooperative authority: the couple must agree on a lunch location. Market research and analysis may not tell you much about the buying authority of your clients. You will need to do your own research with individuals to better understand how buyers buy.
How can you determine what level of buying authority a client has? Ask. Some of the questions that can help you discover buying authority include:
Is there anyone else who needs this information before a purchase can be made?
Does your manager/partner/lender need to help with this decision?
Would you like to discuss this purchase with anyone else before making a decision?
Similar questions, based on what you are selling and to whom, can help you identify buying authority and direct your selling efforts appropriately.
Whether you are selling your services to a person or to a corporation, you are actually selling to an individual. That individual may represent the need of hundreds or even thousands of other people, but your client is still an individual. Treat prospective clients as individual people who have specific and valuable problems and your consulting service will surpass that of your competitors.
In addition, you need to understand how people other than individual clients participate in the buying decision. Some are initiators who make the suggestion but don't make the purchase: I think those shoes would look lovely on you. Others are influencers: If you don't buy those shoes right now, I will. Still others are permitters: Buy those shoes if you like them. As you study individual clients, you will learn what authority they have and need to make buying decisions. Knowing how and why prospective clients may buy from you will help you in identifying and selling to them.
