Consulting Tips: BTFS

If anyone ever develops a Vlad wind-up doll it better be able to say “Bring the f… solution!”; So pardon me if I repeat this again. One of my partners wrote in today to say the following:

“When we talked Friday I was on my way to meet with a potential new client.  I had a very good meeting with and have a very good chance to win their business for a managed services contract.  I included Exchange Defender in my proposed services and they seemed very impressed with the services.  I got the impression that Exchange Defender set me apart from the other consultants they have talked to”

Most people doing IT consulting are not businessmen by training. They are engineers or technicians, trained to spot and isolate a problem and design a solution to that specific problem. A Dilbert if you please.

In IT consulting, however, engagements are not about spotting problems and isolating solutions to those specific problems. The objective is to understand what the PHB (Pointy Haired Boss) is saying and to keep him talking as long as humanly possible. Get the big picture of whats going on, not the bullet points for your proposal. If you’ve bit Microsoft’s Bullshit Assessment Kit hook, line and sinker you should just go shoot yourself. Really. Go get a job with H&R Block. If you sat in front of a business owner and asked 500 questions to be entered into some Proposalator 5000 you’re more qualified to be a data entry person for people that can’t figure out Turbotax than an IT consultant.

The only question the business owner has is why they should do business with you? All you know the rest of the Computer Help section of the Yellow Pages is meeting with this person today so what sets you apart? What is it that you can provide above and beyond the Geek Squad and Jimmy Joe Bob Bait & Tackle, LLC?

Bring the entire solution. What do you do? If your answer or marketing collateral can be summed up in 10 seconds you’re dead meat. This isn’t an elevator pitch, you’re not screaming into the girls ear at a dance club, you’re not paying per minute.. you better answer why someone ought to be working with you. Listen, most people would rather not be talking to you. They look at IT as an expense, they do not like dealing with computer problems and you’re there to make that problem go away. They are taking the time away from something else they would rather be doing and interviewing people to take care of annoying problems. If they could avoid having to go through this process ever again, they would.

So tell them all the problems you are able to help them address, even if they don’t have them  right now. Why? Because down the road they may, and if you look like you’re more than “we install and support SBS networks” dime-a-dozen laid-off-IT-guy, you get the client. Offer solutions, not products.