Friday, May 17, 2013

Getting to 'Yes', Part 3

Getting to 'yes' in a proposal requires more than clarifying the client’s situation and objectives, offering solutions and providing evidence of the value of your recommendations. While this basic structure for a presentation can be successful, often it is not enough to get the client to say 'yes'. Getting to 'yes' is a conversational art which uses the principles of leverage to facilitate a path toward a positive outcome for the pitch.

This is the third in a three part series.


3. Never Bundle, Always Unbundle

An opportunity to present capabilities to a client is not a request to learn about every practice in the firm. Nonetheless, many attorneys sneak additional practice areas into the materials or presentation ‘just in case they have needs’. But pitching to win a bundled set of services complicates the decision process unnecessarily. A focused proposal offering a viable solution to a specific problem is much more powerful than a broad statement of capabilities, no matter how strong those capabilities are. For one, multiple practice presentations require the buyer to make multiple decisions. In this case, it is much easier to decline all than agree to only one. Conversely, a strong pitch focusing on one practice area makes the decision simpler and lowers the risk to the client should only one practice area not work out.

As always, if I can help you get to 'yes', don't hesitate to call Eric at 502-693-4731. You'll find that I am an eager resource and that it costs nothing to talk.

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