How to separate yourself from the dominant crowd

Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect — Mark Twain

That would be my current LinkedIn status: pausing & reflecting.

Since we set up our new business, I would give ourselves an A-. We have developed a fresh, modern approach to recruiting middle managers and qualified professionals, embracing the dynamics of today´s work environment, with the right combination of technology and human touch; we are already helping successful organizations to find and engage the best possible talent. We are building a good, meaningful place to work. We have full support from our experienced partners. We are going in the right direction and taking the right steps. Those are things to be proud of.

Nevertheless, within the last few weeks, when conducting our pitches or submitting our collaboration proposals, we have faced some disappointing “It is not the right time” or simply “ No, thanks”, based on the fact that “this is not the way the market operates.” Another situation is the absolute rejection to work with outside firms, based on awful previous experiences when outsourcing search & selection services. It seems that the worst enemy to gain business is our own industry! You are down to your knees and beg…”Hear me out, please… We are different! We are not going to let you down!”

Not gaining every business we pitch for should not stop us from insisting, but… uhmmmm… does it mean that we should adjust your playbook to the way the crowd conducts business? Is that the way to please prospective clients? Should we betray our principles and the foundations we set up just to gain access to new accounts? If we accept and adjust, will we be able to re-educate clients and move them to a model we are convinced is better for everybody?

The great news is that all our counterparts see the enormous benefits of our approach and business proposal. The vast majority of HR Managers or Hiring Managers we’ve met with have very positive thoughts about our partnership, non-transactional, methodical, emphatic way of doing things. That’s quite rewarding and encouraging; but if the service is well designed, how do we effectively move from receiving compliments to closing more business?

To those prospective clients sticking to the traditional way of doing things, we are offering pilots under their terms, for them to feel comfortable enough to try and for us to proof our concept, hoping they will be convinced of the benefits of our approach and repeat. Is that sufficient? Probably not.

We have to be smarter. Customers don’t need us the way they used to. Understanding their needs and selling them “solutions” is not compelling enough, even when your product & processes seem to be superior. As the CEB elaborated in a great paper published in HBR back in 2012, it is not just about selling solutions but insights. We have to engage organizations that are in a state of flux before they pinpoint a problem, helping them to discover unrecognized needs and offering provocative insights about what they should do. But first, we need to find the right audience — those skeptic individuals receptive to new ideas, able to mobilize organizations. B2B has clearly become P2P.

I’m sure we are not the only ones thinking along these lines. But rest assure next term we will get an A+

Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com on May 25, 2015.