Don’t pitch, listen
Have you noticed that a funny thing happens in professional services the moment a client describes a problem?
We pitch.
Not always in an obvious way. Sometimes it’s subtle. Sometimes it’s dressed up as “sharing experience”. But the instinct is almost universal. A client mentions an issue… and before they’ve finished the sentence we’re explaining how we solved something vaguely similar in 2018.
It’s understandable. Expertise is literally what we’re selling. However, the best salespeople we’ve worked with know something slightly uncomfortable: pitch too early and you usually start guessing.
You don’t yet know the real problem.
You don’t yet understand the stakes.
And you certainly don’t know what success looks like.
This week’s Three Things is about resisting the professional services pitch reflex. Enjoy.
#1. Ask one more question than feels comfortable. And then ask another.
Most professionals ask a couple of sensible questions and then jump to explaining how they can help. Unfortunately, that’s usually when the real information is about to arrive.
The first answer clients give you is often the surface version of the problem. The useful detail appears two or three questions later.
Instead, try and get into this habit.
When you think you’ve asked enough questions… ask one more. And then one more after that. See the sidebar below for a list of examples.
You’ll often discover the problem isn’t quite the one you thought it was.
And, usually, that’s where the interesting conversations start.
#2. Replace your credentials dump with curiosity
The classic professional services response to a client problem sounds like this:
“We’ve done a lot of work in this space…”
Cue five minutes of deals, cases and tombstones. The issue isn’t that credentials are bad. They matter. They build credibility.
The issue is timing.
If you reach for credentials too early, you stop the client talking. The conversation flips from exploration to presentation and chest beating.
Instead, stay curious for longer. Here’s a couple of tactics for how to achieve that.
Don’t give everything away in the first meeting. The temptation is to demonstrate value immediately by explaining exactly how you would solve the problem. But that often shuts down the conversation too quickly. Sometimes it’s better to say:
“Let me think about that properly and come back to you.”
A follow-up note the next day might say something like:
“I really enjoyed the conversation yesterday. Thinking about the discussion afterwards, I realised I had a couple of follow-up questions just to make sure I’ve understood the situation properly…”
Now the conversation continues. And you signal that you’re thinking about their problem, not just pitching your solution.
Introduce people facing similar challenges. Another way to stay curious is to connect clients who are dealing with similar issues. Rather than positioning yourself as the immediate answer, you become the nexus of a useful conversation.
“Interestingly, another client is wrestling with something very similar. Would it be useful if I introduced you both for a short conversation?”
Now you’re not just solving problems. You’re connecting insight across your network.
Clients remember that.
#3. Don’t solve the problem too quickly
Professionals love solving problems. It’s why clients hire us. But solving too quickly can create two unintended problems. First, you might solve the wrong issue.
Second, you miss the opportunity to understand the context around the problem, which is often where the real value sits.
We saw a version of this ourselves when we started building Legal Engine.
Originally, we thought we were solving the legal directories problem. Anyone who has worked in a law firm knows the pain of submission season.
But once we started speaking with firms and asking better questions, it became clear the issue was much bigger.
The real challenge wasn’t directory submissions at all. It was their broken end-to-end credentials management process.
Firms weren’t struggling because they couldn’t write submissions. They were struggling because the underlying information didn’t exist in a structured and accessible way.
Key matter details were stuck in lawyers’ heads. Credentials weren’t being captured during the year. And, by the time submission season arrived, everyone was trying to remember matters from months ago.
Once you see the problem through that lens, something interesting happens.
Directory submissions become just one output of a much bigger system.
Better credentials management supports pitches, client conversations, marketing, internal knowledge sharing and identifying opportunities across the firm.
In other words, the original problem we thought we were solving turned out to be only a small part of the picture.
The lesson?
If you pitch too early, you risk solving the wrong problem.
Listen properly, stay curious for longer, and the real opportunity usually reveals itself.
Chat to Tina by voice, when you’re between meetings, on the commute to/from work, or heading into something you’d rather avoid.
Ten curiosity questions worth stealing
- What’s driving this issue internally right now?
- How long has this been a problem?
- What have you tried already?
- What happens if nothing changes?
- Who else inside the organisation is affected?
- What does success look like from your perspective?
- What’s the biggest risk if this goes wrong?
- How urgent is this compared to other priorities?
- What would a perfect outcome look like in six months?
- Is there anything about the situation that people often misunderstand?
You don’t need all ten.
But two or three of them will usually take the conversation somewhere much more interesting.
We’re building a team of voice enabled AI assistants to support you with BD activities and allow you to spend more time being human. Interested? We’d love to chat.
