Solution Selling Falls Short for Professional Services

San Francisco, CA – September 6, 2005 – You may be hard-pressed to get them to admit it, but many consultants are wasting their time when they try to sell their services. In fact, according to The Prime Solution author, Jeff Thull, most consultants’ approach to business development is like doctors requiring patients to diagnose their ailments.

Part of the problem is an overdose of “solution-based” selling, which Thull believes is a losing approach to differentiation.

Thull’s antidote for this problem includes closing the “value gap” that is created before the sale when consultants focus on their solution rather than the client’s problem, and after the sale when client expectations are unfulfilled. Consultants need to develop a deep knowledge of the industries into which they sell, their clients, and the problems they face. By working with client to diagnose problems, consultants help their clients make rational, well-informed decisions.

Identifying the client’s problem is the first step in the prime solution, the subject of Thull’s new book. The second and third steps are guiding and supporting the client’s change process and maximizing the value of the solution.

“Recognize that your clients often don’t understand as much about their situations as you think,” says Thull. “It’s your job to figure out how capable a client is of self-diagnosis. The flawed assumption is that clients understand their problems and we just need to ask them to explain the problems to us and then show them the solution.”

The complete interview with Jeff Thull can be read for free in the September issue of Management Consulting News. Also in this issue: client executives’ biggest concerns, a survey on the culture of consulting, how to beat the blogging blues, upcoming events, and more.

The September 2005 issue of Management Consulting News with these articles and the Jeff Thull interview may be read online at http://www.managementconsultingnews.com/2005/newsletter_sep_05.htm. Subscriptions are complimentary.

About Management Consulting News – published since 2002, Management Consulting News is a monthly online newsletter with interviews, articles, and news for consultants worldwide. The editor of Management Consulting News, Michael W. McLaughlin, is a principal with Deloitte Consulting LLP and co-author of the book Guerrilla Marketing for Consultants (Wiley, 2005). For more information see http://www.managementconsultingnews.com.