By David A. Fields
In the legend of King Arthur, men from across the realm try in vain to pull the sword Excalibur from its stony sheath. Only young Wart, the most improbable of heroes, innocently frees the mighty weapon, signaling his place as a king among men.
As consultants, we dream of being King Arthurs, possessing some unique, innate gifts that lift us visibly above all competition. Female consultants are not immune to this desire. Of all the hopeful belles in the kingdom, only Cinderella could slip her foot into the glass, Christian Louboutin sandal. Throughout the land, boutique firms pour their intellect and their research dollars into finding a unique selling proposition, with the emphasis on unique. That's a huge waste of time, energy and money.
As a consultant, you do not need to differentiate yourself with a unique selling proposition or a recognizable point of difference versus your competition. Marketers who insist you need to establish a unique brand are pedaling poppycock. One book for aspiring solo consultants goes so far as to say your point of difference is the most important part of your brand as a consultant.
If book burning ever comes back into style, I'm nominating that volume for the bonfire. In the meantime, the misguided admonitions to stress your difference versus competition sticks like cooked spaghetti to a kitchen wall. In the resulting mess consultants across the country engage in a Sisyphean pursuit of a point of difference that wins more business.
The quest for differentiation in our industry stems from a combination of insecurity and the misguided belief that consultants are like consumer products. Shoppers at a Wal-Mart or Kroger believe the choices crowding store shelves will satisfy their basic needs and, therefore, people look for the item that also satisfies some ancillary need.
Rolaids and Tums will both dampen the hot dog-induced fire in your gut but, until Rolaids reformulated, only Tums would magically inject your bones with calcium. Preventing osteoporosis was not the primary goal of most beer-guzzling, pretzel munching baseball fans, yet twice as many of them treated their post-game pain with Tums because calcium added that little extra benefit. When basic requirements are satisfied, unique points of difference becomes paramount.
Consulting is a different scenario altogether because our customers don't believe their basic needs will be fulfilled. In fact, executives' No. 1 fear when they turn to an outside expert for assistance is that the hired gun will not deliver on the project's objectives. In other words, when clients shop the consulting aisle, they seriously question whether any of the products on display will douse their burning issue.
The unique point of difference, therefore, is a moot point. Most clients aren't looking for different; they're simply looking for good! They eschew your unique, branded, acronym-rich, five-step process and open their pocketbooks to tried-and-true approaches with boring names.
You want to know why companies go with McKinsey, BCG, Accenture and Deloitte rather than boutique firms? It's not because those firms have better ideas (they don't) or their employees are smarter (they're not). No, prospects go to big-name consultancies for the same reason millions of hungry people on the run go to McDonald's: there are goofy clowns inside.
No, that's not it. It's trust that the product will be acceptably tasty and meet the minimum standards for subsistence. Plus, the packaging's good and you have to admit, those big firms know how to package their products.
As opposed to McDonald's, however, even the big consultancies don't reliably deliver against client expectations, and that means there's room for you to win the big engagement. Drop the unique-point-of-difference arrow from your bow and reach back into your quiver for the targeted messages that will persuade prospects you can be trusted to deliver. Your best communication bets are:
1. A highly targeted value proposition
It's easier to believe you'll deliver a workable poultry-health recommendation if your business touts you as a poultry health specialist (I just happened to see such a card this morning) than if you present yourself as a farm-improvement consultant. Specialists are trusted to be good at their business; generalists are generally mistrusted. Clients may take their minor ailments and small co-pays to a general practitioner, but when faced with a serious threat to corporate longevity they fork over the big bucks to specialists.
2. Testimonials
This is the "come on in, the water's warm" effect. No one wants to be first into the pool, but if others are already frolicking in the deep end, you're more likely to jump in. When's the last time you bought something on Amazon without reading the reviews? Never, of course. Make your testimonials numerous, relevant, ubiquitous and easy to access.
3. Case studies
The dowdy older cousin to the testimonial is the case study. Since case studies are longer than testimonials, they are less likely to be read; however, a spot-on example that mirrors the prospect's situation can engender trust. Good case studies succinctly cover the following points: client's situation (answers, "Is this similar to what I am facing?"), what you delivered (not how you did it), and the actual results enjoyed by the client.
4. Referrals
Like testimonials on steroids, only they're legal, sanctioned, and you can't be stripped of your client wins. When your co-worker gushes over the tasty fare at a restaurant twenty miles away, soon you and your spouse make reservations there and happily travel out of your way to enjoy the gastronomic delights. Such is the power of referrals and they work just as well in the consulting world. Eighty percent of the participants in my Irresistible Consultant Program join because another consultant they know and trust speaks effusively of the program's merits.
5. Listening
When you are face to face with a prospect, the fastest way to build her trust in you is to listen carefully then demonstrate that you heard her well. Disappointed clients discussing why their projects failed to live up to expectations often point to communications breakdowns and misunderstandings. Older and wiser now, these prospects look for consultants who pay attention to what is being said and articulate thoughts with precision.
Unless you actually have developed a breakthrough method that generates meaningfully better results than any other approach, leave the differentiating statements to consumer products marketers. As a consultant, you might not be able to pull a sword from a stone, but if you persuasively demonstrate you meet your clients' objectives you can have legendary sales success.
David A. Fields is a consultant, founder and managing director of The Ascendant Consortium. In addition, Field is the author of the forthcoming The Executive's Guide to Consultants. Please e-mail your story comments to edit@consultingmag.com. The author can be reached at david@davidafields.com.
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