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One Way to Build A Bond With A New Prospect

Written by: Michael Shays

Article Overview: Get us the client,” our senior management said. An $8 billion Regional Bell company had just calved off the AT&T glacier and my firm wanted its unfair share of the consulting business that was sure to come. I knew about the industry but had no substantive relationships in this new company. There were dark moments when I wondered if I had anything unique to offer. I had to identify something the company needed that it had not yet defined.

One Way to Build A Bond With A New Prospect

One Way to Build A Bond With A New Prospect
E. Michael Shays

“Get us the client,” our senior management said. An $8 billion Regional Bell company had just calved off the AT&T glacier and my firm wanted its unfair share of the consulting business that was sure to come. The telecommunications industry was going through a tremendous—almost traumatic—change and this company was right in the midst of it. Competition for this client’s attention was already intense.

I knew about the industry but had no substantive relationships in this new company. There were dark moments when I wondered if I had anything unique to offer. I had to identify something the company needed that it had not yet defined. As I was going over their public pronouncements, I came across the corporate magazine. It was a solid publication, containing some thoughtful articles by outside experts.

I dropped in on the editor. “I’m a writer,” I said, “and also a management consultant who is interested in what is happening in your industry. I know it is hard to find good material for publication. I would be willing to write an article for your magazine if you have a subject that I feel I can cover.”

The editor talked about managers not knowing how to operate as if they owned the company. I agreed to come back in a few days if I thought I could give focus to that subject. After conferring with some colleagues I knew through the Institute of Management Consulting, I offered to write the article at no obligation to the company, providing I could interview a cross-section of company management to make the article relevant to their readers. Her acceptance gave me the entrée to call on anyone in the company.

The temptation was to pop in on the CEO and declare a beachhead. Instead my beginning interviews were with first line supervisors. These people knew what was really happening to the company. They were willing to talk and it was low risk for me. I didn’t have to present myself as an expert. I just listened. With each interview I learned how to be more knowledgeable in the next discussion. After the interview I asked for the name of some “other thought-leader.” In this way I worked through 23 interviews up five levels of management to the CEO. By that 23rd interview I was able to discuss the problems facing the CEO intelligently and with empathy. It was the start of a mutually respectful relationship with the CEO and dozens of other buyers of consulting.

The editor published the article in the next issue. It was distributed to 23,000 members of management and reprinted in sister Regional Bells and a major telephone company in New Zealand. The exposure led to a continuing stream of concurrent consulting engagements for my firm at this client, and a unique role for me.

But even before the article was written, the interviews caught the attention of others in the company. By the eleventh interview I was invited to help the company with a 90 minute management training video, visibility that brought four assignments and many new friends in the company.

I learned from this rich experience the following:
• Don’t sit back and ruminate about the competition. Act. Take a risk. You’re better than you think you are.
• Do look for a problem the company hasn’t defined clearly and make yourself a part of their education.
• Don’t be afraid to ask consulting peers for their ideas. There are more colleagues out there than competitors.
• Give value by way of an article, a survey, or a speech, but use the event to get yourself in front of as many people as you can.
• Learn about a new prospect by starting with low risk interviews.
• Bring a gift of yourself to every interview. It may be only to listen and appreciate. It may be to challenge and stimulate thinking. Whatever it is, make it worth the time of the person you are interviewing.


* * *
E. MICHAEL SHAYS CMC (ems@emsnetwork.com) is President of EMS Network, International, an association of senior consultants helping clients faced with conflict, transition, stagnation, and management dilemmas.

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