How to Recognize an Outstanding Prospect
He or she:
• Clearly has both the budget and authority to use it (or to find it).
• Is genuinely interested in improvement and has used external help before.
• Answers honestly and directly, without obviously withholding information or being coy.
• Smiles, laughs, is confident, and seems to be having a good day.
• Asks questions about you, your business, and your experiences.
• Is ego-free, and focuses on company improvement, not personal aggrandizement.
• Doesn’t require validation from others and doesn’t request that you meet with others.
• Responds to phone calls and emails promptly, and keeps appointments on time.
• Doesn’t ask about costs, fees, prices, days and so on, but focuses on results.
• Is willing to take prudent risk and understands there are no guarantees.
• Readily accepts the role of partner in the project, not merely as “payer” for the project.
• Uses time well, accepts “pushback,” and readily debates.
• Doesn’t ask inane and banal questions, such as, “What if you die during the project?”
• Appears to honestly care for the company, the people, the customers, and the relationships.
In general, the higher up the hierarchy you climb, the MORE likely it is you will find people with these traits. By definition, you will not find them in training or HR. Hint: Once someone says they’ve been “tasked” with a project or they begin quoting the latest book or mantra, get out of the office, even if it means aimlessly wandering the streets (which, ultimately, will be more fulfilling).
© Alan Weiss 2010. All rights reserved.
Mark Richman
I had a brief 15 minute phone conversation with a prospect today, and several hours later he came back to me with his idea on paper.
This project is typical of what I encounter, where the prospect wishes to engage in some speculative web application development. In this case, he is unable (or unwilling) to articulate any value for the project, save his desire for riches. In typical fashion, he is presenting me with requirements and demands a response with a firm quote. In a nutshell, he wants to hire me to build this thing that he hopes makes him some unspecified degree of wealth.
I did ask him if he had budget allocated, and he said yes and indicated that he understands this is not an inexpensive endeavor. He inquired about the typical size project I work on, and I pulled an answer out of thin air and said “I typically do several projects a year like this, averaging $50,000 each”, which may have been a mistake – or not!
That said, how do you get a prospect like this who is ready and willing to accept a quote, but not participate in any discussion about value? I can easily throw a proposal back at him for $50,000 (or whatever) or potentially risk losing the opportunity by probing about value, where the upside could be worth much more money. Am I overthinking the process? Should I push him harder to assign value to his project?
Jenn McGroary
Excellent list. If find that if prospects adhere to about 80% of these traits, the project runs especially smoothly.
“Readily accepts the role of partner in the project, not merely as “payer” for the project.”
This is key to a successful project.
Alan Weiss
Mark, no offense to anyone in the room, but people who request IT help are usually as bad as the consultants who are attempting to provide it. If he can’t articulate the worth of an outcome, then he’s an idiot. Assuming he’s not an idiot, but just uneducated, then the consultant should be able to educate him and find the value.
Here’s a start: Why are you doing this? What will be better as a result that wasn’t present before?
Mark Richman
Alan, I agree 100% with your assessment of the IT industry. We lag far behind even the legal profession in the adoption of value pricing.
As Jen indicated, this prospect clearly fails to meet the “Readily accepts the role of partner in the project, not merely as “payer” for the project” criteria.
When I probe the prospect for “why are you doing this?”, I suspect I will get a response along the lines of “because it may be the next big thing and make me rich”. The best response I can think of, aside from rudely hanging up on him, is that he should have some reasonable assumption of ROI otherwise he’s just blindly throwing money at a project. If he’s willing to spend blindly, I don’t think I can ethically accept his business, nor can I share in any success because there will likely be none.
Alan Weiss
I’ve had people like this approach me (“I have a breakthrough idea!—one wouldn’t even share it, afraid that I’d steal it), and I tell them that unless they can return to earth, I have no intention of going into orbit with them.
Avonelle Lovhaug
Mark and Alan –
It seems to me that since the guy can’t articulate the value (and is therefore an idiot as Alan suggested), we have the benefit of knowing in advance the drawbacks to working with him. In my experience, working with idiots is an unhappy and unproductive experience. So the fact that he has helpfully allowed us to identify his lack of intelligence BEFORE you are in business with him is a huge plus.
With regard to value-based pricing in IT, I completely agree that we are completely behind the curve. I’ve lost business when I wouldn’t talk hourly rates, and I’ve seen a few others in the industry run into similar problems. Again, that is okay by me – keeps me from wasting time on the clueless. (And most IT workers prefer hourly. So sad.)
Alan Weiss
Great post, Avonelle!
Mark Richman
Avonelle & Alan,
Perhaps he is not an idiot, but just used to working with the 99.999% of IT consultants who do not practice value pricing. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, what would be the best next step in trying to explain to him why I can’t just pull a quote (fixed, not hourly) out of thin air, even if his requirements are detailed and comprehensive?
This is a great thread, by the way 😉
Thanks,
Mark
Alan Weiss
“I can only help you as a client if you answer some simple questions which ALL clients can answer, and then prepare for you a proposal with options for you to review. I’d be doing you an injustice if I merely guessed or cited something arbitrarily, since I might well overcharge you.”
Jenn McGroary
Excellent reply. Useful in any industry where a proposal/quote is requested. Thanks Alan.
Rob Novak
I am proud to be in the .0001% with Marc and Avonelle, with Alan validating that approach for me repeatedly over the last five years!
-Rob