not a case study… yet.
Run in with a potential client at lunch. Latest story – maybe not a case study… yet.
When I (PM) met a prospective client (PC) at an informal lunch with a mate when his buddies decided to join us. This is an excerpt from what happened. I know no quotation marks – sorry.
PC: So, what do you do Pete?
PM: I help founders and leaders of small business and small not for profits.
PC: Oh so, what are you an accountant or something?
PM: I work with the leaders to understand why and how they started the business and where they are now and try to work out what the strategic direction for the business is and see if they and the frontline professionals as well as their customers are on the same page. I sometimes bring in new, or work with their existing accountants and solicitors, as and when required.
PC: So, what do you exactly do? I don’t have time for the ‘warm and fuzzy consultant (expletive)’.
PM: Unless you are an online widget seller competing purely on price. You need to differentiate yourself not just from your competitors, but also from who you were last year. I help the founders or CEOs to take a step back and look at the business from an outside perspective if that makes sense?
That conversation was going south quickly, so I changed the topic asking one of the others about something else. They (others) didn’t join in the “taking me apart” exercise started by this PC person who then tried to come back with “lets get this straight you are trying to tell me that you know more about my business and industry that I have been part of for 15 years?” I replied that if he needed more answers, we should schedule a meeting and I would have to charge him an hourly rate. We ate the rest of the lunch in a rather tense silence, although some instrumental music played softly in the background partly drowned out by chatter and laughter from the other tables.
Two days later I got a call from ‘one of the others’, wanting to know more about how I worked as he was having trouble keeping some good clients. That didn’t go anywhere, as he was just looking for ‘some tips’ as he said.
The original bloke who didn’t want the warm and fuzzy, just contacted me to see if he could come in for a chat and that he was happy to pay for my time. I feel a bit torn, as he might end up being a very good client or he might just be coming in to have an argument or to tell me how much he knows. Hmm. Brings back memories from my previous profession. 😊
Update: I have now had that ‘dreaded’ meeting, and the bloke turned out to be very different in a ‘one to one’ situation, and he mentioned significant issues with one senior member of his team. His reaction at that lunch I now think may have been a cry for help, as he might have been desperate to solve the problem. We have a deep dive meeting scheduled, and I have given him a set of questions he needs to reflect on and fill in a confidential workbook (he actually took a few minutes to read the questions and nodded his head as it seemed to make sense to him).
(Names of businesses and people are not mentioned or have been changed for confidentiality reasons).
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