Build Trust to Win More Deals...

The consultant title tells clients you have been where they are, you have made some mistakes, and you have learned what really works. Clients know that consultants also have the benefit of seeing the mistakes and successes of other companies. This experience and perspective is what clients pay for when they hire a consultant.

When consulting a solutions consultant (sales engineer), the client is looking for the technical person on the sales team to keep the sales rep honest. Sales engineers must overcome clients' naturally defensive posture, and fear that they will be sold something that doesn't really work the way it was positioned. In short, the client must trust you.

One of the key skills that solutions consultants need to constantly work on is competency. However, developing competency takes time. As Stephen Covey teaches in "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People", we have to take time to "sharpen the saw". In part, this means consultants must spend time learning more about their subject matter (products, industry, integration, and so on).

Here are four things you can do to keep sharp:

1. Keep up with sales bulletins, solutions briefs, white papers and technical manuals for all of your products. If these resources don't exist, create them! You'll learn more by creating the content, and you will also help your peers.
2. Setup a web dashboard to proactively monitor current events related to your company, field, clients, and competition.
3. Read magazines (trade publications) to gain perspective on trends.
4. Read books related to your field. If you need some inspiration, go browse the aisles of your local book store.

TECHNICAL TIP: Setting up a web-based dashboard that monitors news feeds, and social media, is fast and easy. Some services even allow you to setup alerts. My personal preference is NetVibes, but some other good ones include: HootSuite and TweetDeck.

(For more on how consultants can build trust, watch my video on YouTube)

Copyright © 2013 | Howard Leary