Selling to People's Self-Interests to Get Consulting Clients

I was listening to a B2B 'expert' yesterday telling a group that:

"even though you sell to B2B you are really selling to people" - OK, I agree

"and people are self-interested so you have to sell the things that drive their self-interest" - Hmm, now I'm beginning to disagree.

For simple, 1 or 2 people decision-making unit deals you may be able to get away with that, but when you are talking about more complex group decision-making units this thinking will do more harm than good.

In the book 'the challenger customer', the authors looked at how companies buy. And more specifically how they buy and how you can overcome the single biggest reason a deal will fail...

And that is:

Because the PERCEIVED pain of change is greater than the status quo.

To help create an internal change impetus, there are 3 key profiles that star salespeople and consultants look to build relationships with:

1. The Go-Getter

2. The Teacher

3. The Sceptic

And the ones they either avoid or work with carefully managing the risks are:

1. The guide

2. The friend

3. The climber

The Climber: A Dangerous Ally

The self-professed expert ("and people are self-interested, so you have to sell the things that drive their self-interest") was naively telling people to focus on what the Challenger Customer calls The Climber.

The reality is, that this is one of the worst approaches you can take.

By only appealing to personal self-interest you'll attract The Climber.

Here's what a climber won't do for you:

Here's what they are likely to do:

Successfully selling large projects into multiple stakeholder groups can live or die by who is your advocate on the inside.

It is highly likely that if The Climber has been with the company a while then they have made enemies and/or people are sick and tired of their policy of sponsoring projects that serve only to make him look good.

A Climber being your main advocate for you can do you more damage than good and end up sinking your project before it starts.

So be careful about how you vet your sources of information. I hope the people on the call with me yesterday listening to the advice don't do them and their business too much damage by trying to field test what they were told.

You now have 3 choices ahead of you:

DECISION #1: Do nothing. Surely you wouldn't do that if you've read this entire post about decisions, actions and leadership?

DECISION #2: Take bold decisive action. If you want personal help to shortcut your time to revenue on the things I discuss in this post then schedule a call with me. I'll work out your 'shoot for the moon' position and give you some level of clarity on a challenge you are facing or a goal you want to attain.

DECISION #3: Dip your toe in the water. Sometimes small steps provide momentum. Upgrade to a paid membership and get instant access to training courses, support, and the huge value of having me on your team.