How to Be an “Irresistible” Consultant
Some people seriously hate consultants. They hate working with consultants, they hate the WORD consultant. Consultants hate the word consultant, and try and use other words to not sound like they’re consultants…
In the end though, if you work at an agency, and your work is providing some sort of services for a client which they are choosing to not do in house… Congratulations, my friend… You are a consultant. Because even if you’re a web designer, or a developer, or a digital analyst, or a creative writer… they’re not just hiring you for the service you provide, but your expertise in that service. You might not be delivering garbled 200 page strategy docs full of nonsense, but they’re still consulting with you.
So how do you do that well? That’s a problem I’ve dealt with for years at multiple companies, but now here at Seer Interactive. How do you take a 22 year old fresh out of college and ‘teach’ them to be a good consultant. I’ve heard people before say that it was impossible, that being a good consultant was something you were born with or not. I don’t think that’s true. I think that people just need to be reminded that consulting isn’t just about being smart and providing a good “product” but it’s also about having a good EQ and dealing with people well. People might put up with you being an awkward jerk if your product/service is AMAZING, but if you’re not top shelf, and they don’t like you… Well client retention might become an issue.
So how do you teach people to be good in this way?
I recently read an article in Forbes Magazine called 11 Secrets of Irresistible People, by Travis Bradberry, Ph.D. which I thought was pretty insightful. So many of the 11 secrets I think can be swiveled towards behaving in a way that your clients will not only like working with you, but find YOU irresistible as well.
So first I recommend giving Dr. Bradberry a read above, then come back… It’s ok… I’ll wait…
Ok so here was his list, with my thoughts on how they apply to being a great “irresistible” consultant.
11. Treat Everyone With Respect
You have to respect everyone, but what does that mean. It means things like being aware of how you’re talking on a client call, and not talking over a client. Listening to what they have to say, letting them talk and drive the conversation, not belittling their ideas. Respect their authority, take their feedback and while addressing it do so respectfully. Respect their choices, when ultimately they disagree with you. Respect their time and show up for meetings early. Respect their culture, and adapt to whatever business or even personal culture your client has. Respect your relationship with them.
10. Follow the Platinum Rule
This is a good one. Don’t treat people like you expect to be treated… Treat people like THEY expect to be treated.
Good example: If you email something to someone, you might not expect an immediate acknowledgement that they got the message. You’re fine letting it sit for a few weeks and willing to trust the person you sent it to, to read it, and get back to you on their terms. Your client however, might expect you to respond within 24 hours to let them know you got the message, and to give them a timeline for completion.
Always try and understand your client’s expectations, and then fulfill them whenever possible, and if not respectfully explain why you won’t be able to. Maybe your client expects a monthly report within the first 3 days of the month. Maybe another one doesn’t expect it for up to 14 days. Understanding their expectations can help you triage what you need to be working on as well.
9. Ditch the Small Talk
There’s nothing that builds a relationship over a speakerphone conference call like small talk, or even dead silence when waiting for everyone to join a call… He said sarcastically. Sure sometimes there’s not much more to go on than “hey how’s the weather up in Canada, eh?” but if you know you’re going to be on a call with some people, take a few minutes (which also shows some respect) and look them up, their linkedin pages, or backgrounds. Maybe something they read. Then when you’re waiting on the call instead of sounding like you care about the weather in Toronto, you can say “hey I saw that you spoke at X conference last year, Paul, how was that? What did you talk about there?” and dig into them a little deeper.
Before you know it you’ll be starting all your calls with 5 minutes spent on personal catchup on what the kids have been up to. Those crazy kids.
8. Focus on Other People
I learned this when I was younger, but I forget exactly where. Basically ask more questions to get other people talking, than you talk about yourself. If you have two people in a conversation, the person who gets more questions asked of them will feel much more positive towards the person asking the questions. Show interest in other people.
For consulting don’t spend your entire meeting talking about yourself and how awesome you are. Don’t tell them just how you would be doing things. Ask questions of the client, ask follow up questions that show you were listening. Pay attention to them when they talk, don’t interrupt them, practice active listening, etc. The more you show that you are focused on your client, the more irresistible they will find you.
7. Don’t Try Too Hard
You can reference your experience when it’s applicable “If that topic interests you, i’ll forward you a blog post I wrote about that. I think you’ll find it interesting.” or “prior to that company I worked at Impressive Sounding Technical Firm for 6 years”, but don’t brag, don’t humble brag, don’t talk about how awesome you are. Let your resume/profile speak for itself, unless you have direct questions asked of you. If you try too hard to build yourself up, you’ll just look desperate.
6. Facts != Opinions
Understanding the difference between facts and opinions, and that perfectly intelligent people might come to a different conclusion than you is important. Are you SO certain that your way/idea/solution is really the best, only possible way? You hit on the ultimate perfect solution for your client that can’t ever possibly be bested? If so you’re irrational. Just because YOU think something is the best, doesn’t make it so. Be open to other ideas, even radically different ones, and you can stick by your opinion, but understand when it’s an opinion on something “That design is terrible, I hate the colors.” and when it’s a fact “We ran a user test and found with 99% certainty that the orange background just makes people think you’re a fruit company.”
5. Be Authentic
This is tough for some people because they get nervous and don’t really understand even what it means to be authentic.
Just be yourself. Don’t give a shit what people think about you. Spend your energy focusing on them (see above) rather than worrying about yourself, and be who you are. Well.. As long as that person is polite, communicative, friendly, etc… If yourself is kind of a jerk… don’t be yourself… Be “authentic” which is polite, communicative, friendly, etc… I think mostly it’s about being honest about who you are, what you like, what you don’t like, etc. Be honest, and be communicative. Generally people will like and respect you for it.
4. Have Integrity
“If you have integrity, nothing else matters. If you don’t have integrity, nothing else matters.” — Alan Simpson
Integrity can be another tough one for people, but really it’s pretty straightforward. Be honest, and do your best to keep your promises. If you can’t get something done by a certain date, tell them as soon as you know, and apologize, but communicate ahead of time. Tell people what you can do honestly, don’t lie about your strengths in order to get more work “sure we do branding…” If you have problems, let your client know, ask more questions, work with them to find more solutions. Honesty and Honoring your Commitments.
3. Smile!
This can seem dumb, but seriously just be friendly with people. If you’re cold and standoffish they’ll be too. If you’re smiling and friendly (most) people will return that favor.
2. Be presentable
I normally wear Vibram Five Fingers on most days. Yeah I’m one of those weirdos. I have really bad knees from multiple injuries when I was younger, and wearing them makes my knees feel better and hurt less. I don’t even care if it’s a placebo effect. I’ll take it.
Anyway, when I go to client meetings I put on nice black shoes, slacks, a collared shirt, etc. I don’t wear a tuxedo, but I try and look at least a little nice according to what the common culture considers appropriate. I NEVER wear collared shirts otherwise, and would wear my Vibrams, shorts/sweats, and t-shirts pretty much my whole life if I could get away with it… But for clients, taking the time to look nice shows that you respect them, and are willing to put an effort in.
- Be positive and love life.
I like what Travis Bradberry, Ph.D. says here for this one:
“ Irresistible people are positive and passionate. They’re never bored, because they see life as an amazing adventure and approach it with a joy that other people want to be a part of.”
If you hate what you’re doing, it’s going to shine through. If you love what you’re doing, if you get excited by it, if you love the challenges it provides and you display your enthusiasm for your area of expertise to your client, then you’re going to make them get excited about it as well.
All Together Now…
It’s funny, as I wrote this how I realized that much of the above I also boil down to four things I tell my kids every morning before they head off to school.
Pay Attention
(Listen to what others are saying, instead of thinking about what you’re going to say next)
Use Your Head
(Think about what you are going to do before you do it, and you’ll do it better)
Work Hard
(Always do your best, because otherwise you’re disrespecting people, and yourself)
Be Good
(None of the above matters if you’re a jerk to other people. People don’t like jerks.)
Those four thing could apply to being a good consultant as well.
