Conversations And Commitments

To sell consulting services you will need to gain commitments from your prospects and clients.

It doesn't mean you are self-oriented. It doesn't imply the use of pushy tactics or trying to convince prospects to buy what you sell. You can still be a consultative professional while asking for the commitments needed to move the opportunity forward.

Here are some of the commitments that you must gain from your prospects if you are going to work together:

• Time: You can't generate opportunities unless your prospects dedicate some of their time to talking to you.
• Explore: You can't be sure if you can help them if your prospects don't agree to explore the ways you might work together.
• Change: If your prospects are not committed to change, they will keep doing what they're doing. You have leads, not opportunities.

These are just a few of them. You'll also need the commitments to collaborate, invest, resolve concerns. The very last one is the commitment to decide, when you will ask them to hire your proposed solution.

Here's the thing: To get commitments from your prospects, you must earn the right to ask for them.

You can't simply ask for their time, their information, or their business out of the blue. They're not going to give it to you. You need to earn trust first.

It's not about you, it's about them. If you have created value for your dream client and can explain how he benefits from moving forward together, then you have a right to ask for the next commitment.

When you see your sales process as a series of conversations and commitments, everything becomes easier. Your goal, in each meeting or interaction, is to offer enough value for your prospects to be in a better situation than they were before. Do this right, and you earn the right to ask for the next commitment.

More on gaining commitments on tomorrow's post.