Tag Archives: decision-making

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Your Brilliant Idea, the Set-up and the Pitch

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You envision a project concept that has the potential to significantly benefit both you and a particular organization.  You wrangle a meeting with either the decision-maker or one who has influence.  Convincingly,  you show that the proposed project will add money or prestige to the organization and that you are uniquely qualified to put the plan in motion and make it work.  You are invited to submit a formal proposal and you see dollar signs twinkling for all concerned.  Needless to say you are stunned when the proposal,  which you perceived to be a confirmation letter since you received the decision-maker’s unqualified invitation to submit,  is shot down.  What the heck happened?

Kimberly Elsbach,  associate professor of management at University of California / Davis,  has done research that shows it’s not only the perceived value of the project that is at issue,  but also the perceived value of the seller—you. According to Elsbach,  the decision-maker makes a judgment about your ability to generate a genuinely creative and beneficial idea and that prejudgment diminishes its perceived value.

Elsbach reached this conclusion when she studied the Hollywood film industry,  where filmmakers regularly  “pitch”  movie concepts to studio executives.  She also attended meetings where entrepreneurs pitch business concepts to venture capital investors,  yet another venue where brilliant ideas are proposed to those with the potential to fund them.

Elsbach emphasized that there are no reliable criteria on which to base creative potential,  so decision-makers rely on purely subjective and often inaccurate evaluation stereotypes,  which kick in very early in the pitch meeting.  From that point on the decision is made,  no matter what they tell you.

However,  Elsbach discovered that there is sometimes a way to redeem oneself.  The trick is to make the decision-maker feel that s/he is participating in an idea’s development.  In other words,  rather than bringing it in all wrapped up in a red ribbon,  showing that you’ve thought things through and you’re basically ready for the roll-out,  devise something for your decision-maker to do to feel needed and  important.  Make the decision-maker feel like a creative collaborator.

First,  set the stage and gain the decision-maker’s empathy by finding common ground or perspective.  If you’ve worked with this person before,  then mention some shared memory of mutual success.  “How is that program going these days?  I so enjoyed working on that project.  It is great to know that your customers have responded well…”  If you’ve not worked with this person previously,  go to their LinkedIn profile and look for common ground there.  After the greeting and other pleasantries,  slip into a shared experience or perspectives story,  whether it’s a project you did for him/her,  or an accidentally-on-purpose reference to a company that the two of you worked at  (“So you worked there, too? I remember the days…”)

Second,  when you segue into pitching your proposal,  show the proper level of excitement and passion.  Moreover,  resist the temptation of being so thorough that you don’t give your decision-maker,  who has an ego,  a chance to put their hands in it and impact the project.  As you are enthusing about the features of your proposal,  ask qualifying questions that will engage your decision-maker in a discussion of what the organization and its customers really need from the concept you are pitching and together with the decision-maker be willing to improvise and compromise on your original proposal.  If you can make the decision-maker feel some ownership,  s/he is much more likely to identify with and support you at the meeting where projects and proposals are reviewed and the executive team finalizes what gets funded and what doesn’t.

Coming up with a brilliant idea is the easy part.  Selling the idea to the organization with the means to fund that idea is the hard part.  Psychology is a sales resource and the successful sales professional makes expert use of it.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

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When the Sale Slips Away

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Whether we like it or not,  Freelance consultants are salespeople.  Before we are able to ply our given trade,  we must first sell prospective clients on the idea of hiring us to do what we do,  whether it’s web design or floral design.  Steve W. Martin,  professor of Sales Strategy at University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business,  says that those who sell should be cognizant of the lowest common denominator of decision-making: stress.

Martin observes that stress is the death of rational decision-making.  Stress shortens the attention span,  escalates mental exhaustion and typically results in analysis-paralysis.  Despite the  “buying signals”  that your prospective client may display,  more than likely s/he is experiencing fear and doubt when speaking with you about your product or services.

The stress this creates serves as the key factor in determining whether or not the deal gets done.  The most successful salespeople anticipate,  seek to identify and learn to counteract that stress and enable the sale.  Giving prospective clients information and diplomatically phrased and presented tactical advice that will help them fight against internal organization politics is a useful part of your sales strategy as well.  Here are a couple of more reasons that your sale dies on the vine.

Stalled sales cycle

Customers are more cautious than ever and moving them through the sales process can become an almost Sisyphean task.  Steve W. Martin correctly labels this common phenomenon as an internal problem that occurs when project sponsors do not know how to sell their concept to the senior executives who are able to give the  green light.   Further, certain sales cycles are prone to be lengthy in the best of circumstances.  It is too easy for your contact person/project sponsor to get distracted and turn attention toward developing issues and in the process push your sale to the back burner,  where it drifts into oblivion.  Then there is sometimes reluctance to take responsibility.  As a result,  project sponsors involve more of their co-workers in the decision process and you know what happens when there are too many cooks.

Product information and vendor selection

As we enthusiastically pitch our services,  prospective clients often wonder if we are telling the whole truth.  Compounding that is the reality  (or perception)  that differences between many products and services are almost insignificant.  Buyers are often skeptical because they may have been lied to by previous sales people.  The client may feel that 1). it is necessary to separate fact from fiction when talking with someone who is trying to sell something and 2). it’s pretty much all the same thing anyway.  Selling on service and operational efficiencies and the resulting benefits is the best antidote.  Avoid selling on price if at all possible, because it reduces you to a commodity.

When preparing for your next prospective client meeting,  keep in mind the inevitable presence of stress in your would-be client’s work environment.  They don’t quite know who or what to believe.  They’ve got co-workers,  subordinates and bosses judging them.  They are torn between acting in the best interest of the company and in the best interest of themselves.  There is also the now-prevalent belief that not spending money is best for the organization’s bottom line and no one’s reputation suffers for declining to spend money.  Making no decision just gets easier and easier.

Thanks for reading,

Kim

 

 

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Make the Right Decisions and Do the Right Thing

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I’m back with more on decision-making because in this perilous economic climate,  which shows no signs of abating,  the ability to make good decisions is so crucial.  Our survival depends upon being able to size up a situation or puzzle through a dilemma and make wise choices that will put us on the right path,  whether we are Freelancers,  business owners or employed/unemployed professionals.

But then again,  when in history has good decision-making not  been an important skill? The results of wise decisions made by the pharaohs in Egypt gave the world a magnificent civilization that thrived for 3000 years and the architectural wonders that are the Sphinx and the pyramids.  Doing business has always been about making decisions,  in ancient times and the present.

Often,  we must make decisions fast and on the fly.  Data available may be incomplete and possibly unreliable.  The ground shifts underfoot and the clock is ticking.  We’re anxious and stressed,  maybe borderline panicky.  Critical thinking is probably clouded by our biases,  born of preferences,  fears and past experiences that we pass off as intuition or gut feelings.  It’s disturbingly easy to be blind to the smart decision that is staring us in the face.

But if we intend to survive and maybe even thrive,  we have to learn to play the had that’s dealt and that means making the right decisions in a timely fashion because time is money.  We can get some much-needed assistance from author Guy Hale,  who provides useful guidance on how we can learn to make credible decisions in an imperfect world in his book  “Think Fast: Accurate Decision-Making, Problem-Solving and Planning” (2011).  Hale recommends the following:

I.  Figure things out
Analyze your situation and see the big picture.  Gain an understanding of how and why you are faced with this decision.  Did your actions,  or inaction,  bring you to this point,  or was it circumstance? Discover the root cause.

Maybe your decision is a positive one,  like you’ve been invited to work with a new client or form a strategic partnership with a colleague.  You’ll need to determine whether the arrangement is likely to be a good fit and that means weighing your options and making a decision. 

II.  Plan and act
Identify the time frame in which you must respond.  Identify potential obstacles and risks and the unknowns that may impact the outcome of the decision,  to the best of your ability.  Identify factors in your favor and how you can best employ and magnify them to your advantage.  Draw up a list of people who will become your allies,  willing to help you if needed and do the same to identify those likely to oppose you.

Use scenario planning to project possible outcomes for the decision: best-case scenario,  worse-case scenario and a couple more that split the difference.  Consider the short and long-term consequences of your choices and think also about who and what will be impacted by what you decide and how they are likely to react.

III.  Factor in Murphy’s Law
Do whatever you can to prevent events from turning sour by controlling everything that you can control,  while recognizing that some things may not go according to plan.  Have Plan B  (and maybe also Plan C)  ready to roll,  just in case.  Know that you’ve been thorough and diligent in your decision-making process and have faith.  Try to relax and roll with the punches and learn from any errors in judgment.

Thanks for reading,
Kim