How To Sell Your Data Consulting Services: 7 Tips to Make Sales Easier
If you have your own consulting company, congrats you’re a salesperson.
Because guess what, no matter how amazing your skills are, they not going to sell themselves!
The problem is selling doesn't come naturally for most people. Even the best salespersons weren't born knowing how to sell. It takes years of learning and practice to master the art of selling.
You must persuade people to buy based on how you truly feel about your service.
So, what works and doesn't work in selling?
What's the secret ingredient(s) top salespersons use?
This article will provide you with some tips and tricks to help get you in the right mind-set for selling, so let’s dive in.
Authenticity And Empathy
When selling a service, you might feel the pressure to put on an act and show exaggerated enthusiasm to convince prospects. Like that cheesy car salesperson, we all know.
However, this approach often backfires and pushes prospects away.
Most prospects can easily detect when someone is being disingenuous. Trust me, I have been on the other end of dozens if not perhaps over 100 sales calls. It’s no fun when the salesperson’s only goal is to sell for the sake of selling. For every problem or question we bring up, they have a solution and that solution is what they are selling. It just comes off as fake(and I am sure I have been that overselling individual on my share of calls).
It's important to be authentic instead. Connect with how you truly feel about the service (ensure it's a positive feeling).
What do you genuinely believe it can do for you and your prospect?
When you have the answer to these questions, convey it to your prospects.
Help them see what you see and feel about your service. You can do this by using real stories instead of made-up ones to support your claims. When you sincerely believe in the service you're selling, your passion naturally shines through, and your clients will feel they can trust you.
Don’t Forget To Sell!
On the flip side of being overly sales focused is not selling at all. This is actually something that came up about a year and half ago on a prospect call.
I had gone through most of my standard scoping questions, but perhaps my lack of discipline or in a moment of arrogance, I had forgotten to actually sell anything. At no point in the call had I clearly let the prospect know exactly how I could help them. I had understood the problem, and I had scoped out the project but I never said, “Here is what I can do for you”.
Do you know how I know I forgot to sell?
The prospect at the end of the call asked me point blank, “Hmm, it doesn’t really seem like you’re selling me a solution” or something like that. Basically, they had made it clear that I hadn’t provided a tangible solution that they could buy. It’s probably my own aversion to coming off as salesy.
Some of us need to up our salesy-ness while others need to turn it down a few notches. This is also why it’s not a bad idea to have a sales script ready.
Your sales script should outline your key 3-4 services that you can offer, that way as your going through your standard scoping questions you’re reminded to occasionally bring up where you believe you can provide value.
And in turn, you’ll actually be selling.
Focus on Them, Not You
Although you want your prospects to understand the value of your service from your perspective, it's best to make your sales calls more about them.
Your prospects don't care about how great your service is — what they care about most is how it will benefit them. Instead of using "our" or "my" in your pitch, shift the focus to "you."
For instance, will they get value for their money?
To achieve this, you must first understand their problems or pain points and determine if your service can address them.
Ask questions to pinpoint your client's challenges.
Are they spending too much money on their current solution?
Are they wasting too much time using their current solution?
Are they receiving sufficient support during and after purchasing the solution?
Once you understand your client's pain points, demonstrate how your service can solve them.
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No is Not Always Negative
Rejection is a part of life, especially in sales. Don't fear when prospects say they aren't interested in your service. It allows you to shift your focus to genuinely interested prospects. Moreover, each "no" can provide valuable insights. Was the pricing too high? Did the timing not align?
I spend every quarter or so going back to understand who said no and who said yes. This can help you as a consultant understand who you are selling to. Yes, it’s great to define your own niche. But sometimes the market defines your niche for you.
Now circling back to the fact that no is not negative. Imagine chasing after a prospect for an entire year, hoping they'll buy your service, only to have them finally reveal they're not interested.
In such cases, you would have wasted a significant amount of time and resources in pursuit of a rejection. A quick "no" would have been better than prolonged uncertainty, allowing you to concentrate on other prospects instead.
Don’t Negotiate Price Before You Have To
One of my biggest weaknesses is wanting to say a price that will make my prospect say yes 100% of the time. I’ll start negotiating with myself even before trying to understand my prospect's budget.
I think many of us that sell our services, whether you’re a data scientist a graphic designer, or some other role, under-value our services. More importantly, I think many of us have this desire to not “disappoint” the client by quoting a price we might think is too high.
But as I brought up in a prior tip, No is not always negative. I can recall several projects where I cut my price down to meet a client where they were, and I often regretted it. Sometimes I have started negotiating with myself even before quoting my price.
There is no need for that. If they say no, then they say no. If you keep getting nos then maybe you should re-visit your pricing but overall, your service isn’t for everyone so don’t bring down your price for everyone.
Guide with Questions to Create Value
Instead of overwhelming potential clients with all the various skills or services you can offer, consider taking a different approach.
Ask questions that lead them to realize how your service can solve their problems.
For example, you could ask, "What does solving this problem look like for you?" or "What is the maximum amount of money you're willing to invest in this project?"
This approach makes clients feel heard and shows that you genuinely care about their needs, rather than being solely focused on making a sale. By engaging in a conversation with them, you position yourself as a problem solver.
This demonstrates your impartiality and positions you as a trusted advisor rather than a pushy salesperson. Now some salespeople would say you should be careful in terms of outlining alternatives. After all, don’t you want to sell your service?
Personally, I don’t mind talking through possible solutions, even if it doesn’t involve working with me. I get that it could end the sale, I still like walking through options because most have pros and cons. So just because a client chooses a cheaper option doesn’t mean it’s better in terms of quality. It might just be a better fit for the client at the moment.
Overall, the goal from my perspective is to show how your services can answer their problems.
Be Transparent About Interest
As a salesperson of your own consulting service, you often have a good read on people. If you sense that your client isn't genuinely interested in making a purchase, it's best to address it early rather than holding onto false hope.
Or if you sense that perhaps now is not just not a good time, then bring it up. Again I think as many of us are more technical and perhaps focused on individual contributor-type work, we don’t always like being as direct. We like doing our work and not having to have what we may perceive as conflict.
But it’s far better to just say what you’re feeling. Perhaps it’s that you don’t think your service is a good fit for a prospect that you’ve been talking to for a while. Maybe you think their current direction or data migration project that they want to bring you on for is a mistake, but you don’t want to say that because you’ll lose the sale.
It’s honestly far better to say what you believe, rather than getting drawn into a sales cycle or project that you didn’t want to be part of anyway.
Sales Is Hard
I think for many software and data engineers as well as data scientists, the idea of trying to sell yourself feels bad.
Dirty almost.
But if you want to consult, you’ll need to sell your skills and what you can offer clients. So don’t view sales as a bad or dirty thing. Instead, understand that is a necessary step. It helps frame what you will offer and how you can provide value.
It frames why they should pay you.
Of course, these were just a few tips to help you get started.
Remember, what works for someone else may not work for you. So, it's best to experiment with different tactics and find the approach that resonates with you and your services. I prefer marketing and using content to show off who I am and what I believe I can offer.
But others might be pure salespeople selling via cold and warm outreaches or networking at different conferences. You won’t know which method of selling will work best for you until you try.
With that, I wanted to wish you all good luck, and thanks for reading!
