So I had an enquiry from a client. They were working with another consultant who wasn't really doing what they wanted and had lost a lot of time on a project. They outlined what they were looking for and I made a few guesses about their requirements and sent them a quote. They were modestly interested but wanted to both lower the price and speed things up. Sometimes it is best to just pull the plug on an unpromising opportunity and spend the time looking for a better one. I tried to do this by turning down their request for a meeting at their premises. That I thought would be the end of it.
But to my surprise, and initial annoyance, they came back and offered to visit me. I had left myself open to this by citing lack of time for travelling as my reason for not going to them. I am not a ruthless hard nosed businessman so rather than doing what I should have done and saying no I agreed to a one hour meeting.
In the event, the meeting went really well. Face to face I was able to probe what the real problems were. I could see what they needed, analyse what exactly I could offer and come up with a package that was a lower cost to them, more profitable to me and which might well generate as a side effect some material I can sell to other customers in the future.
The lesson is quite a neat one. Listen carefully and analyse to see if there is a better solution.
- Look for what the real problem is.
- Identify areas you can offer value.
- Don't give up just because things look hopeless.
The other lesson is it doesn't do any harm to oblige your customer to respect your time, and there are ways of cutting their costs without cutting your margins.
Photo credit: MarkMoz12 via photopin cc
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