In July 2008, Spanish cyclist, Carlos Sastre, cruised to victory in the grueling, 23-day Tour de France race. Sastre won the 2,200 mile race in 87 hours, 52 minutes, and 52 seconds. The second place finisher, Cadel Evans of Australia, rode in 58 seconds behind the leader.
It's common for athletes to win events by razor-thin margins, and we're used to hearing and reading about such dramatic finishes. But the fact that many consulting sales are also won by a hair is not so well known.
If you ask consultants how they win the most competitive sales, often they will point to the small stuff like doing that extra client interview, verifying the facts two or even three times, and anticipating every possible client question. Sure, the overall project strategy must be solid, but what often makes the difference in a win is how you manage both the big and small stuff.
So when you're in the middle of a competitive sales process, ask yourself three simple questions:
- What don't I understand about this project yet?
- What's missing from my proposal as it stands right now?
- If I was the client, what would make me buy this proposal over the others?
Your answers to these questions will help uncover big and small issues. If you want to win consistently, ignore the common advice that tells us not to sweat the small stuff. Those details could just be your own 58-second lead.
You make 3 strong points, the best is that of placing yourself in the mind of your potential client.
Posted by: john gallagher | January 13, 2009 at 02:56 AM
This is solid advice for any business. Any good marketer will tell you that even making minor changes to your site can dramatically boost conversions. Very informative post.
Posted by: Josh | October 31, 2008 at 01:04 PM
I sweat alot!
This small stuff for a small company fighting with some of the big boys causes - my firm to work hard to offer greater customer involvement an customization.
Posted by: michael cardus | September 05, 2008 at 01:48 PM