Stop for a moment. Think about a recent engagement that you didn't win. Pick a BIG one. Consider one that still eats at you - where you knew you should have won, but the client rejected your proposal. Pick one that still hurts.

Now… let's go to anatomy class, dissect this potential sale and figure out where things got off track.

We will be using our SAGE Consulting Pipeline as a guide:

STEP 1: Generating "Pre-Sold" Leads:

Now, in your lost engagement, consider how you got in front of the client. Was it a past client? Did you get introduced? Why did the client agree to meet with your firm? And with you personally?

Was the prospective client in dire "pain" and facing a trauma? How would your service alleviate their personal hurts? How much of their pain was reflected in the marketing set up and initial conversation?

Here are a few of the common mistakes? Which ones applied to your lost sale?

Mistake # 1: Failing to market into your prospect's individual trauma.

Much of the marketing that consultants do is intellectual and high minded. The best marketers know that people buy to alleviate their personal "pain". People buy your services; not companies.

Best Practice #1: Always market the trauma, fear and hurt that surround your services. Know the personal urgency of the client to solve their problem.

Mistake #2: Assuming prospects care about your expertise

Consultants love to promote their credentials and their firm… and go on and on in their marketing materials. Remember, your clients and prospects don't care about you… they care about themselves. Research proves that the consultants who get the business are the ones who get to the point and find the pain quickly.

Best Practice #2: The less you say about your qualifications the better. May it brief and relevant to the individual situation. Keep the spotlight on the client, their problem and how it creates trauma for the individual decision-makers.

Mistake #3: Not getting "introduced" to your prospects by someone they trust and respect.

You always want to be an invited guest not a salesperson. The best leads are INTRODUCTIONS; NOT REFERRALS. Get someone that the prospect respects to "vouch" for you … and attach their reputation to you.

Best Practice #3: Always get introduced - either directly by a client or ally - or indirectly through case studies and marketing materials with testimonials.

Mistake #4: Having too few high quality leads

Was this potential sale just one of many good leads? Or was it an only child? Because many consultants don't market when they are busy - they sometimes over-focus on a few opportunities - without regard to the quality of those opportunities. And they desperately pursue it.

Don't focus on the wrong end of the pipeline and count on proposals to come through!

Best Practice #4: Always be marketing … especially when you are busiest. Marketing is a process not an event.

Now look back on the lost sale. Consider the quality of the lead. Did you hit the right point of "pain"? Was the prospect introduced to you? Was there immediate personal chemistry and eagerness to work together? Could you feel the trauma coming through on your initial phone call or personal meeting?

STEP 2: Did The Prospective Client Qualify To Do Business With You?

The essence of "selling" is qualification, systematic questioning and listening.

Look at the equation below. There are two ways you can increase your win rate. You can increase the numerator (win more sales). Or, you can reduce the denominator through qualification. This means pursuing the best or most qualified sales opportunities. Sometimes less is more.

Your Win Rate =

# and size of engagements you sell PLUS
# and size of engagements that you pursue

Most consultants and technical professionals get this step wrong … because they start selling instead of qualifying.

Now, think about the lost sale. How did you qualify the prospect? Did they have an immediate, dire problem? Why was it urgent to solve the problem right now? Did you get a thorough understanding of how the problem was hurting the decision-makers? Did you explicitly know how a decision was going to be made? Did you know their budget and willingness to spend money right now? Did you build chemistry with all of the critical decision-makers?

Consider these specific mistakes and assess how they may have impacted you.

Mistake #5: Begging To Propose

Consultants and technical professionals think getting a chance to propose is a "win" - even if the client isn't ready or able to buy. Or you feel that another competitor is locked in, but maybe a brilliant proposal will win the day.

Best Practice #5: Hold yourself back and don't look to propose… look to diagnose. Be a doctor: Ask questions, listen and find out the nature of the clients trauma. Decide if the client earned a proposal. Act as if you already had more business than you can handle.

Mistake #6: Failing To Have Strict Qualification Standards and Systematic Qualifying Methods

Consultants and technical professionals thrive on work plans, checklists and procedures to deliver their technical work. Yet. They wing it when marketing, selling and managing relationships.

Best Practice #6: Have a qualification scoring system for all opportunities. Know why the client must hire you and how they will choose to do so.

Mistake #7: Putting Yourself At Center Stage In The Sales Process

The reason that many consultants and technical professionals fail to qualify is that they are spending too much of their time talking and selling - instead of asking questions, listening and drilling down on the prospect trauma.

Best Practice #7: Spend 90% of your time with prospects listening and asking qualifying questions. No mindreading! Only talk about yourself and your firm if the prospect asks. But, be brief.

Mistake # 8: Playing By The Rules When Pursuing RFP's and Beauty Pageants

Sometime you can't avoid pursuing RFP's or bake offs with other firms. But, make sure you get the access and qualifying time with the decision-makers. Ask for interviewing time to customize the proposal. It only makes sense.

Best Practice #8: If you don't interview decision-makers, you can't solve their personal "trauma" and win their business. Get an edge by asking for it.

STEP #3: Winning More Than Your Fair Share

Let's look at what we have done so far. As you reflected on your recent lost sale, you now know how "pre-sold" the prospect was on working with you. And you have assessed the degree to which you qualified the prospect by understanding their trauma, knowing how the decision process will work and confirming their commitment and willingness to spend money immediately to solve the problem.

Now let's assess how the conversion process went. Did you personalize the process or expect a proposal to "sell" for you? Did the client tell you specifically what must be in the proposal for you to win? Did your selling behavior distinguish you from your competition or were you using generic "me-too" selling methods?

Mistake # 9 Assuming that a proposal can sell for you

A proposal should really be the documentation of a personalized selling process. Yet, many consultants expect a proposal to do the selling for them … and invest the bulk of their time writing or creating. And presuming that the client will carefully consider the document.

Best Practice #9: Ask for ways to stay connected to the client in the proposal creation process. Can you ask clarifying questions? Talk to more people who will be impacted by the process, etc.

Mistake # 10: Forcing YOUR proposal on the client

Most consultants have a standard proposal template that they re-sue time and time again. And they often create a proposal that appeals to them and their colleagues rather than the busy senior executive who they are trying to land as a client.

Best Practice #10: They client must tell you what they need to see, hear and read for them to hire you … and in what form.

Mistake # 11: Emphasizing process rather that "trauma"

Clients only care about the delivery process for 3 reasons:

1) Does it solve their "pain"

2) Does it reduce their risk because it looks like you know what you are talking about and the resource commitments look reasonable? And...

3) Do they know what deliverables and performance guarantees that will receive when the project is completed?

Best Practice #11: Always link the scope, project approach and deliverables to the alleviation of trauma and reducing the project risk to the buyer.

Mistake # 12: Looking, acting and sounding like your competition

If you look, act and sound like your competition, how might the client make a decision? The cheapest alternative? The firm he knows the best? His safest choice? Most "sales" training that focuses on "features/benefits selling" simply makes everybody sound the same.

Don't be a "me-too"; generic consultant or technical professional when you are selling.

Best Practice #12: Stand out and create chemistry by your selling behavior.

Take a second to reflect. Did any of these conversion problems do you in on that lost sale? How involved were you with the client decision-makers in the conversion process? Did you put too much emphasis on the proposal?

Digest all the work that you've done to this point - because we are going to shift gears a bit right now.

STEP 4: World Class Relationship Management

We now want to have you think about a client relationship that either never took off after the first engagement - or a client where the relationship declined severely. Now, see if any of these mistakes may apply:

Mistake # 13: Failing to create "follow on" pain

The purpose of the first engagement is to build chemistry and relationships that will help you sell the next one. Be looking for the "pain" that is beyond the scope of the current engagement and that you can solve. Make sure the current client knows and appreciates these "points of pain"

Best Practice #13: Use the current project to build the relationships and frame the future client trauma that you can prevent.

Mistake # 14 Not Selling The Client On What You Have Already Sold Them

Many consultants finish the work and never talk to the client again - until they have something else to sell or the client calls them. You have to keep the romance alive … and continue to sell your value after the work is done.

Best Practice #14: Build in post engagement "sales calls" into your scope of work.

Mistake # 15: No action plan, continuity or management system to grow the relationship

Relationships don't grow by themselves. Left to their own devices, relationships naturally decay. It takes a plan, hard work and constant attention.

Best Practice #15: Develop an entrepreneurial game plan (not a grand strategy) to expand your relationships.

Mistake # 16: Not Asking Your Current Client To Help You To Expand Your Relationships Throughout The Organization

Who knows the client organization best? Who has a web of relationships within the company? Who could make introductions for you? Who knows all the "hot issues"? It's the current client that you are working with! Did you ask them for help?

Best Practice #16: Turn your clients into your sales coaches.

So, What Is Next

Congratulations. If you made it this far, you care about business development. Now, are you committed to doing things differently?

Do you want to build your skills? Do you want to improve your organizations capability to win business, grow relationships, increase your marketing ROI and sales performance.

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