By Eric Shaffer

Being, thinking, and communicating in the positive take time and effort and are an absolute must for all leaders.

Imagine you are the captain leading your troops into a battle to overtake a beach. Your troops are on the landing craft protected by a metal bow that soon will lower as a ramp so they can storm the heavily fortified beach. As they get closer to the beach, they can hear the metallic ping of bullets. They can hear the cries of their comrades already in battle. In their chests, they can feel the percussive thud of explosions and they smell burning oil and sulfur. Many are nauseated from the smell and the constant undulations and spiked surges of the waves. They are petrified with fear knowing that at any moment, the ramp will drop and a hail of bullets will shower them with probable death. Do you think your troops would want to follow you if you are complaining about the dangers and whining about the difficulty and the probable lack of success?

In battle, a leader’s pessimism, negativity, and lack of confidence and vision usually produce one result – death. But as powerful as the negative is, and even if there is an insurmountable amount of negative, a positive can defeat it all. A powerful and inspiring leader, who speaks using positive words and vision, can be the light that overtakes the entire negative.

The same can be said for leading your team in business. The business world is a battlefield, and your employees—your troops—are looking for you to guide and lead them to victory. No matter what adversity or obstacles they face, it is your job to be positive and inspire them to achieve success.

For most people, talking in the positive is very difficult. In fact, a study done by Schrauf and Sanchez from Northwestern University found that the ‘working emotion vocabulary’ is typically weighted with words for negative emotions (50%) over positive (30%) and neutral (20%) emotions.

Inherently, the human psyche has the propensity to drift towards the negative. A March 2012 New York Times article reported that negative emotions require more thinking and so the information is more thoroughly processed than positive information. Roy F. Baumeister, a professor of social psychology at Florida State University, says that negative memories take longer to wear off and suggests it is an evolutionary factor writing, “Survival requires urgent attention to possible bad outcomes but less urgent with regard to good ones.”

People want to follow positive leaders. They want a leader to take a negative situation and shine the light on the positive.

It is your job as a leader to invigorate and lead with a positive vision, attitude and communications. Your team listens to your every word and action; they are looking for you to show them the light at the end of the tunnel.

1. Schrauf, Robert W. and Sanchez, Julia (2004). The Preponderance of Negative Emotion Words in the Emotion Lexicon: A Cross-generational and Cross-linguistic Study. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development. 25(2&3), 266-284

2. The New York Times Business Day (March 23, 2012) Praise Is Fleeting, but Brickbats We Recall

 By Eric Shaffer

Your heart is pounding with a deep thud of a warrior beating a large drum while leading troops into battle. A small bead of sweat is forming at the top of your brow; you lick your dry lips as you begin your presentation in front of the people that could pay your salary for the next six months. 

The economy is tough and consultant work is anemic at best. You need this business and you know if you don’t get it the only thing that will pay your bills is a loan. You have to sell these potential clients on your ability to fix their problems. And you know the competition; they have a lot of experience and come from a big firm. 

Sound familiar? Maybe you are a consultant trying to make a living in one of the toughest economies since the Great Depression, or you are a working for a company and trying to sell an idea that can save your job and make the organization more profitable.  Either way, you are trying to sell the idea that your experience and abilities are what the organization needs to move forward. 

I’ve had the opportunity to observe over 60 vendor/consultant presentations in the last 10 years. Sometimes I was the decision maker and sometimes I was an advisor helping someone else decide which consultant would most help the organization.

These consultants were being asked to build, fix or run something, and they were competing with each other. Most times, there was a clear winner, a consultant who would just knock the ball out of the park. 

I started to study the dichotomy between the consultants who won bids versus those who didn’t. I observed and took notes to understand what made successful consultants stand out from the competition. Soon it became quite apparent, and I broke it down into the six simple strategies of an effective consultant sales pitch. 

1. Be Present

What do I mean by be present? I literally mean be there—in the room.I’ve observed consultants try to sell their services while on a conference call or an interactive web meeting.We are in a technological age where meetings can be held virtually over long distances, but nothing takes the place of an in-person presentation. Being present also shows the customer that you are interested in their business.Not being there in person suggests you may not be enthusiastic and you miss the opportunity to build trust and rapport.

2. Use the “6 P’s of Persuasion”

1. Prepare - Do your homework. Well before you present to your customers, find out their needs and possible objections. What is their pain? How can you relieve the pain? What are their motivations? Who will be attending the meeting and what are their titles?

2. Probe – During your presentation ask questions. Make it an interactive environment. Ask questions to further understand your customer’s needs. Too many times I’ve observed consultants assuming they knew the customer’s issues. The meeting then becomes a one-way communicative process with the consultant doing all the talking. If a consultant is doing all the talking, they are not selling; they are just talking at the customer.

3. Problem Solve – Resolve the objections by acknowledging, questioning and providing or eliciting ideas to solve them.  

4. Pitch & Influence - Identify the features, “what makes your service great”.  Then relay how the features will benefit the customer. 

5. Petition – Ask for the business. You don’t get unless you ask.

6. Post Evaluation - What did you do well? What could have been improved? What and who do you need to follow up with?

3. Pay Attention

Be aware of who is in the room and look for their reactions as you are presenting or answering questions. Observe their posture and facial reactions. Monitor their response after you answer a question or concern. If a customer asks you a question and there is a long pause after your answer, investigate. Don’t ignore it and move on. I have observed several occasions where the consultant was asked a question and the answer was either lacking substance or evasive. This was usually followed by silence and then the consultant would move on as if the customer was satisfied with the answer. Pay attention to these pauses, and if you don’t have an answer, let them know you will follow up.

I have also seen instances where a customer would actually feed the answers to a consultant. The customer would ask a question. The consultant’s answer was anemic and the customer would try to help out by answering the question. If this happens, you are in trouble.

4. Give Examples of Your Work

Have high level examples of your work and the benefit you have brought to other customers. Use positive examples of how your services were instrumental in helping an organization grow or achieve its goals. Do not use examples of negative outcomes when a client did not use your service or your products. Generally when a customer is evaluating your service they will focus on what benefits you brought other organizations. I have never been in a post evaluation meeting where anyone reviewed or was moved by examples of organizations not using a specific consultant.

Also have letters of recommendation with you and prior customers that can be called for a reference.

5. Don’t Be a Bobble Head

Bobble heads are great giveaways at sporting events, but they do not make for good attendees during a sales pitch. Bobble heads are those extra individuals that a consultant brings with them to show the size of their team and to basically smile and nod their head in agreement to anything the lead consultant is saying. Bobble heads usually do not add any value or answer any questions. They are there to agree with the presenter. I think the objective of a bobble head is to shake their head in agreement so much that the potential client also starts to unconsciously nod their head in agreement. If you are bringing your team with you, make sure they have something to add to the meeting. 

Awhile back I was at a presentation where three bobble heads were in attendance while the lead consultant gave a monologue. The lead consultant was asked who was going to be on the team that directly interacted with us. We assumed it was one of the bobble heads. However, the lead consultant explained it would be a junior person and did not give a name or background of the individual. Instead he described the person in generalities. It is important to have the person who will be working with the client at the initial meeting. It gives the client a sense of who they are going to work with and is the genesis of a trusting relationship.

6. Be a Partner

Organizations want more than a project manager; they want a partner, someone to help the organization define strategies and tactics. They are looking for a long term win-win relationship. It is always nice to hear examples of long-term relationships consultants have developed with their clients.

It doesn’t matter how good or talented you are, if you cannot sell yourself nobody will ever know. Following these six simple strategies can help you during those first encounters with a potential client or when presenting an idea to your executive leaders.