• Describe what you think your prospect is trying to accomplish

It is not hard to get someone interested in hearing you talk about what you think they are trying to do. Start by asking:

“Do you want to know what I think you think is the most important thing you are trying to do?”

You can be assured of a positive response because it is human nature to want to know what someone else thinks they think. At the same time, no one expects you to be 100% correct. They might even chuckle inside at that thought that you could come close. They are interested nonetheless, even if just for the entertainment value!

This gives you a safe opening to lay out your best articulation of what you think they are trying to do. The beauty of this approach is that if you get it right then you gain credibility and even if you get it wrong, you get credit for having tried and you will almost always get helpful input to get it right!

• Describe what others who have done the same found difficult

Talking about others encourages the prospect to listen intently because they have to assume that you might just know what you are talking about and they may learn something important. This approach also makes it easier to engage openly on what might otherwise be a matter they would prefer not to discuss openly with you.Now is the chance for you to make a good impression with an organized and articulate summary of what you know about this subject. Sprinkle specific details about others with whom your prospect is likely to be familiar, and even better if the examples relate to their feared or hated competitors. While it doesn’t matter in general if what you share comes from first hand experience, from others you know or have worked with, or from case literature, it is always more genuine and adds to your credibility if it is clear that you have had personal involvement.

In addition to building credibility, the objective of this step is to confirm that your prospect does indeed have the problem you are prepared to solve. If you start by saying: “Do you have problem X?”You run the risk that the prospect is reluctant to share the truth. Instead, say: “Organization A had problem X”Thereby creating the opportunity for your prospect to volunteer: “That’s amazing…We have the same issue!”The net effect is to build your credibility while drawing out important information for you to use later.

• Describe how the best have succeeded

Lay out the approach that the best use to accomplish what the prospect is trying to do. Odds are that they will be all ears as you help them see what important things they do not already know but that they could know if you were on their team. On the other hand, if it turns out that they are already know, and are already doing, what the best do then they may not be a good customer after all.Here, too, mention how you have personally been involved in some of the “best” cases. There are only three things you have to sell: your company, your service or offering, and yourself. Selling yourself is the easiest and most important of the three and this is your chance to make that sale. Your competence, engaging approach, and evidence of your experience make or break the sale at this point.

• Describe alternative courses

Given what you know now about your client and what others have done, you are in position to share alternative courses of action that your prospect could follow. For example, they could continue as they were, they could try to figure out and follow best practices on their own, or they could work with a knowledgeable third party to navigate the course.If what they are trying to accomplish is truly important and the stakes are high, they would be foolish to continue as they were. If it is hard to get it right on their own, then it should be an obvious decision to get outside help assuming outside help is available at a price that makes sense relative to the value of accomplishing the objective and the cost of failure.

They could look around for others to work with or they could work with you. Since you are the one in front of them, you are the one who helped them discover this opportunity, and since you are now brimming with credibility, it is the perfect time to share your approach to addressing the problem.

• Recommend next steps

Use your best judgment to recommend which of the alternatives they should follow. Lay out what they should do, what they should have you do or provide, and what value.