• First and foremost, there must be no financial gain for you or your company resulting from your offering.  Even a small reward for you makes it self-serving. The client’s benefit isn’t just the icing on the cake— it is the cake.
• Your gesture can be business-related, rather than personal; if so, make sure the client doesn’t confuse it with your formal business recommendations.  Frankly, it’s safer if your favor is disconnected from your on-going business transactions.
• Ironically, the higher its tangible value, the more problematical your offering can become. Costly gifts can look like you’re “buying” the relationship or trying to obligate the client; at the worst, ethical issues, company gift-giving restrictions and even legal prohibitions come into play. You’ll make a more powerful personal connection with your client by spending your time on him/her, rather than spending your (company’s) money.
• The more personalized the gesture is, the better. If your favor or gift is so tailor-made to this particular client that it wouldn’t work for almost anybody else, he/she will recognize that and be flattered and grateful.
• Do your best to eliminate or at least greatly limit any potential downside to your offering.  Are you sure that your personal advice or assistance will work out well or, at least, “do no harm?”  What if that landscaper you recommended somehow fails your client?  Now, every time he/she sees that withered Japanese maple in the front yard, your name comes to mind.

Here’s a hypothetical example that puts it all together.  Your client enjoys college lacrosse, so you prepare a list of appropriate websites you’ve searched and evaluated.  There’s nothing in it for you or your company; it has no monetary value, but it took your time and thought; it’s tailored to this client’s passion; and the worst downside is that he/she might already know or not particularly like the websites.

In summary, the old cliché, “it’s the thought that counts,” is absolutely on target here. Taking the time and making the effort to offer your client tailor-made assistance signals that he/she is more than just a mutually beneficial business transaction to you.  In other words, there’s a relationship there.

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Nurturing rapport is more of an attitude than a “skill.”  If the client perceives that your rapport-building is forced and contrived, it increases the gap between you instead of narrowing it— exactly the opposite of your desired result.  At best, the client discounts your effort as typical, self-interested business practice; at worst, he/she sees it as manipulative and demeaning.  Some tips on making connections:

•  Try not to compartmentalize or segment rapport-building.  Yes, it makes good sense to have some personal “chit chat” before getting down to the business at hand, but not always then and not only then.  Rapport-building sidebars during the “situation analysis” Q&A can help relax both of you and facilitate the dialog—  just don’t let them interfere with uncovering your client’s needs.  (Indeed, they could help!)  Rapport-building after the business has been transacted or in non-business situations is great, since it’s clearly not part of a sales pitch.  Beware of rapport-building during your presentation, where it could distract the client.

•  Rather than always listening or “fishing” for the client’s interests, try volunteering yours.  Watch the client closely (and objectively) for signs of a connection, then follow that path.  All genuine relationships start when one person has the courage to become a little vulnerable; why not you?

•  In your client dialogs, “stay in the moment” and trust your instincts.  Even a client who normally likes chatting may not be in the mood for it this time.  Keep your antennae out and react accordingly; no scripts allowed.  If you’re feeling uncomfortable, it’s almost certain that he/she is, too.

• Like trust-building, to which it’s closely related, rapport-building takes time, so have patience.  In this high-pressure, do-it-now business world, this could be your biggest challenge in growing a personal relationship.

•  Don’t worry if you can’t generate much rapport with certain clients.  If there’s little commonality in your interests and activities, a strong connection isn’t likely to form.  (This is a situation where forced efforts at rapport-building can greatly widen the gap between you.)  If it just isn’t happening, rely on your professionalism, expertise and integrity to help you make the sale.  At the least, your client will respect and trust you for that.

In summary, the essence of rapport is that it must be genuine.  If you want the client to believe that you care about him/her, find ways to make it true.  Always be seeking commonalities and connections, but then let it happen, more than making it happen.  What follows is much more than sales success— it’s liking your work more, too.

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Of course, sometimes other things must also be discussed, even though their potential harm far outweighs the good.  Examples of such elements include:  legal mandatories, compliance requirements, ethical and “full-disclosure” issues, and excellent product attributes that this particular client  doesn’t seem to care about (perhaps, surprisingly).  Pricing goes here, too (unless you’re low cost provider, and price is actually a selling point).

The challenge posed by this “other stuff” is complicated by your need to present the Specific Benefits early, before the client tunes out­— so you’ll have to deal with these elements near the end of your presentation.  Here are some tips on presenting the “other stuff”:

• “Less is more,” twice.  First, unless you feel compelled to include something, leave it out.  Second, be succinct; use the fewest words necessary to make your points.  Exercise great care in making these decisions.

• Introduce this section by down-playing it.  Note that the elements that follow are not central to the success of your program.  Use words like “boiler plate,” “housekeeping” or, better, jargon specific to your business which immediately signals mundane but necessary issues.

• Where appropriate, position an unattractive element as the inevitable but acceptable downside that goes with a powerful Specific Benefit your program offers—  a nuisance that the client will need to put up with in order to reach his/her objectives.

• Before introducing any positive product feature/benefit that doesn’t connect to a stated client need, you should be very confident that he/she will be enthusiastic about it.  It might be an added selling point, but it certainly risks being a turnoff, too.  Again, when in doubt, leave it out.

• Consider ending your presentation with a brief summary of the Specific Benefits.  You’ll finish on a high note, get a chance to repeat your best selling points, and remind the client that it’s well worth accepting the “other stuff” elements in a winning effort.

The sale is usually secured during the Specific Benefits presentation;  take special care that you don’t “snatch defeat from the jaws of victory” while discussing the “other stuff.”

• Your perfect solution to a need you’ve already heard may be totally inappropriate to another need that hasn’t yet been revealed.  (Example: your plan satisfies the client’s ease-of-implementation objective, but won’t meet his/her timeline, which your situation analysis dialog hadn’t yet shown.)  If you’d heard all of the needs first, you never would have offered this solution, but now you’ve “stubbed your toe.”

• Conversely, your perfect solution to a need you’ve already heard may actually also meet one or more other needs that have not yet been revealed.  Not realizing this, your recommendation will fail to take advantage of one of the most powerful appeals in selling:  “killing two (or more) birds with one stone.”  (Example: your plan is both easy to implement and timely, but you don’t feature its timeliness because you weren’t aware of that need.)  Indeed, stressing meaningful multiple benefits may be your best shot at successfully justifying your price.

• Worst of all, your perfect solution to a need you’ve already uncovered may stop short of completely solving the client’s problems or achieving his/her objectives.  Not realizing this, you may miss an opportunity to sell more solutions to your client.  (Example: you’ll need two separate services to meet all the client’s needs, several of which weren’t even initially apparent to the client.)  Now both of you lose out:  the client doesn’t get a complete set of solutions and you don’t make an appropriately larger sale.

A not unreasonable counter to all of the above might be this:  “No problem, if my first solution doesn’t fly, I’ll just double back to situation analysis and probe for more needs.”  Unfortunately, it’s very difficult to actually do this.  Once you offer your first solution, the dialog shifts away from discussing the client’s needs and becomes the client’s evaluation of your solution.  Now the client is asking the questions and you’re giving the answers, not vice versa.  Because of your zeal to sell your solution, you may not notice, or may even unwittingly support this premature change of direction.

The way to avoid all this is simple:  be as thorough and complete as possible in determining your client’s needs; then begin to offer your solutions.

Ironically, the most effective, possibly game-saving acknowledgements are invariably short, not at all memorable and virtually without substance.  This is because, unlike almost all of your other client communications, the acknowledgement is not intended to exchange information, reach agreement, or establish next steps.  (All of that will come later.)   Instead, the acknowledgement is a signal—  a reassuring signal about your attitude toward the objection, and the nature of the conversation to follow.

The objector is undoubtedly expecting you to respond with a rebuttal, perhaps even becoming aggressive or defensive in the process.  Your acknowledgement signals just the opposite:  you’re listening;  you respect his/her right to disagree and the importance of this issue.  Given that, the conversation to follow will be a collaborative dialog— not a debate or contest of wills.

By now it should be clear that acknowledging an objection is not the same as agreeing with it.  If you simply restate the client’s complaint, you validate it, and force yourself into an immediate rebuttal— derailing the entire collaborative process.

Two examples of typical objections and corresponding acknowledgements:

• “It costs too much” might be acknowledged with, “Certainly you have to be especially cost-conscious these days…”
• “I don’t have the time for this” might be acknowledged with, “Your busy schedule is necessarily a major factor in making this decision…”

If these examples seem a bit “lame,” it’s because, standing alone, they are;  remember, there’s little substance in the signal.  This leads directly into acknowledgement technique:

1-    Make it short and quick— a few words and a few seconds at most.  Anything longer than that becomes increasingly empty and patronizing.

2-    Don’t pause after the acknowledgement; segue directly into your first question, probing the specifics of the client’s objection.  Example: “Certainly you have to be especially cost-conscious these days, so tell me more about your cost concerns.”

3-    Try to avoid “generic” acknowledgements (although they’re better than nothing);  allude specifically to this objection, using some of the client’s words if possible.  Example:  “Your busy schedule is necessarily a major factor in making this decision…” is better than, “I’m disappointed that you’re not happy with our recommendation.”

In a nutshell:  an effective acknowledgement is any positive, supportive initial response which implicitly respects the client’s position, invites collaborative discussion and defers your answer  until you’ve fully explored the objection.  If whatever you say clearly signals, “I’m cool;  let’s talk,” you’ve set the stage for a successful objection resolution process.

Especially when it’s your agenda, the client is rarely as ready and buttoned-up for your meeting as you are.  The many other things he/she is doing—  even just the passage of time since your last communication—  cause the client to be less knowledgeable and focused than you, regarding the history, agreements and decisions that led to the current situation.  The last thing you want to do is spend valuable face time on distractions and misleads resulting from the client’s inappropriate (or largely undefined?) mindset.  The solution is simple;  the technique is a bit more challenging.

Always begin every meeting with a concise recap of the most relevant facts, events, agreements and decisions that set the stage for today’s next step.  Tell it as a story, a progression from problem/opportunity toward (future) solution and setting the context for what we need to accomplish today.  This concept underlies those typical weekly television series that begin each episode with flashbacks to (only) those significant past events that will make sense out of today’s episode.  Some recapping technique:

• Focus on those elements that directly relate to today’s agenda and your desired outcome.

• Sensitively  remind them of previous decisions and commitments (aimed at forestalling client confusion, misremembering and the unraveling of past agreements).

• “Allow” your recap to implicitly demonstrate your continuing efforts and contributions on the client’s behalf—  but tread lightly here!

• Reiterate the client’s needs that are driving this project and are the basis for all your actions and recommendations—  enhancing his/her sense of control and involvement at the outset.

By all means, make your recap tight, but don’t sacrifice clarifying the thread that leads, as directly as possible, from problem/opportunity toward solution.  Performed expertly, your recap does much more than minimize backsliding and make your meetings more efficient.  At best, it can establish a client mindset that is as close as possible to yours—  before you even begin to conduct today’s business.  Clearly,  that’s going to help you achieve your objectives for this meeting;  a better outcome fully justifies the time and effort that you invest in the recap.

For many, this isn’t a new awareness; it’s now widely accepted that the consultative salesperson must focus on benefits— the value that the product features provide and the client needs that they fulfill.  If features are the “what,” benefits are the “so what?” of the product offering.   (An example:  the chair’s stackability feature has the benefit of requiring very little storage area, thus saving space and money.)

A benefits orientation is a good start, but it doesn’t go far enough to greatly increase sales success.  Unlike features, benefits are usually intangible, variable and subjective.  Something that’s “simple,” “practical,” or “cost-effective” to one client may not seem that way at all to another.  Worse, some clients may find absolutely no value in one or more of your product’s benefits;  for example, that chair’s stackability provides no benefit to a client who never intends to remove or store the chairs.

A “generic” benefits sales presentation therefore carries many of the same hazards as a features presentation:  since it is not targeted toward this particular client, it risks:

•  boring him/her, if the benefits offered are perceived as irrelevant to this client’s needs.  (Also, research has shown that if the salesperson presents unneeded features and benefits, the client is more likely to raise cost objections.)

•  alienating him/her, if the benefits offered are perceived as contrary  to this client’s needs.

Either way, you don’t make the sale.

We refer to those benefits which meet the needs of this particular client as his/her “Specific Benefits.” It takes a thoughtful, needs-oriented situation analysis to be able to recognize which elements of your recommendation will become meaningful benefits to this particular client.  (The features of your product will be presented as the “reason why” it can actually deliver the Specific Benefits.)  Make sure you get to the Specific Benefits early in the presentation— before the client tunes out, gets bored, or gets scared that you won’t be able to meet his/her needs.

In summary, the consultative salesperson should never be satisfied with selling generic benefits;  focus your presentation on Specific Benefits, which directly address this particular client’s needs—  and the more personalized, the better.

In most consultative selling situations, the salesperson is presenting a true solution— i.e., a product or program that is practical and implementable now.  The selling strategy here usually involves two major elements:  persuasively showing how your (existing) offering genuinely meets this particular client’s needs, and working out the process of product customization, if necessary.

The game changes dramatically when “selling” an idea, e.g., suggesting new tactics or strategies; making clients aware of opportunistic business needs, etc.  Here, they’re far removed from immediately-feasible solutions— and they’ll likely inundate you with perceived flaws and gaps, even rejecting your idea out of hand.  Forestall this with these steps:

• Clearly define your offering as an idea, not a solution (yet).  Make sure the client understands that it’s work-in-progress, whose potential makes it worth the effort.

• Tell the client you’ll need his/her help to refine and evolve the idea into a workable solution.  Make this a partnership collaboration, not a seller/buyer transaction.

• Present the positives of the idea first; showing how it breaks new ground in meeting the clients needs.  Invite the client to add to the list of positives (thus acquiring a degree of “ownership” at the outset).

• Next, freely volunteer the idea’s negatives, if you perceive any.  Invite the client to add to the list of negatives, too.  Ask the client to prioritize his/her concerns.

•  Agree on the mechanics of the idea-evaluation meeting.  Can this group go to solution here and now, or should others also be involved, at another time and place, etc.?  Is this necessarily a series of steps?

• Idea Evaluation:  Starting with the most worrisome negative, redefine each obstacle as a task to be accomplished.  An example: “We don’t have the staffing to handle this” becomes, “Find ways to implement this without creating staffing problems.”  Use the group to generate ideas to accomplish each task.  (Lesser negatives tend to evaporate as the key concerns are resolved.)

• Be sure to agree on tangible next steps— specific actions assigned to individuals, with precise due dates.  Your idea has been successfully launched; now gather some inertia and move it forwardtogether.

Existing solutions can often be sold immediately; not so with innovative ideas.  Your initial “sales goal” is to generate client enthusiasm and commitment to partner with you in the process of going from idea to solution.

Yes, having an outside expert handle some aspect of a client’s business for him/her is, rationally, a very attractive proposition.   Emotionally, however, it’s always worrisome— even if the client is fully confident in the provider’s proficiency and dedication.  As discussed in Peter Block’s widely-acclaimed “Flawless Consulting,”  the issue here is what professional consultants refer to as “control and vulnerability.”

Every adult has a powerful need to feel in control and to reduce perceived vulnerability.  Ceding power to others always works against these needs— no matter what— and no matter how non-rational it may be.  (An example: fear of flying is largely a feeling of being out of control, even when the fearful passenger couldn’t possibly fly the airplane without crashing, if actually given control.)

Here are some things a consultative salesperson can do to counter the client’s concerns about control and vulnerability:

• When  discussing how a project will be handled, ask straightforwardly about the client’s feelings regarding his/her control.  Use open-ended questions that invite the client to fully disclose these (very personal) needs.  Your queries will also validate concerns which might otherwise be suppressed— setting you up for inexplicable objections to your recommendations later on).

• Try to build opportunities for client oversight and decision-making into the service you provide.  Seek a client-comfortable balance, wherein he/she is involved enough to feel in control, but not so much that you lose control, or that the client starts to feel overburdened.  Thoroughly and frankly talk this through!

• Remember that feelings of control and vulnerability are completely subjective and client-specific.  Some clients may require substantial (if superficial) decision-making.  Others may be satisfied by status reports with appropriate content and frequency.  Still others may feel in control just by hearing you frequently play back their needs and the elements of your program that will deliver on them.

• Be aware that the salesperson’s own ego and genuine desire to ‘add value’ can exacerbate this situation.  In your zeal to provide exemplary service and to display your capabilities, you may unnecessarily cut the client out of the process, routinely reject or ‘trump’ his/her opinions and suggestions, etc.  Always seize on clients’ useful ideas and remind them often of their contributions to your work (no matter how small).

Handle this challenge well, and your product benefits story will hold center stage— where it belongs.