Selling Projects
Defining and selling consulting projects while operating in a consulting firm environment can be tough for PMs. Pulled apart by the client on one side and the sales person on the other, a consultant can feel like his project scope development is completely out of control. Having been a consulting project manager, and now a seller of project management services, I’m completely empathetic with consultants who become nervous “nay sayers” in aggressive sales situations. This sales-consultant conflict can clearly lead to a client perception that the consultant won’t do anything once a project is started and that the sales person is promising the world.
One of my best sales cycles started when I asked a consultant to call a client who he hadn’t worked with for 3-4 years. He simply asked for an update meeting- no assessment or solution development on the phone or expected in the meeting. I tagged along and was initially given a lot of “what are you doing here?” looks. Once the initial intro-nervousness was out of the way, I slowly started to add value by structuring the conversation and asking guiding questions- basically facilitating the conversation. The client fondly remembered previous experiences with this consultant, which rubbed off on me, and all the things that they didn’t get done the first time around. By the time the meeting was over we had identified a potential project plan starting with a small assessment project. Some sales guys would say that we didn’t get enough business. I would argue that we got exactly what the client wanted, with a lot more to follow, from a client that would not have returned my phone call in the first place.
PMs take note: collaborative selling and teaming skills are just as important to you who are defining and scoping projects and approaches internally.
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