Are We Fighting Our Client?

The difference between success and failure is one degree.

In baseball, that’s the difference between a home run, where a player rounds the bases to the cheers of the crowd, and a collective groan from a pop fly. A baseball player has to hit the ball with a launch angle of 25 degrees to 30 degrees in order to get it roughly 400 feet over the outfield wall. If any one of the multiple mechanical, and mental, processes required is not properly adjusted when the player swings the bat, and he is outside that range by one degree, he will fail.

The ability to make small adjustments impacts our success in business as well. And the most fundamental and impactful adjustment we can make is our attitude.

William James, the philosopher, educator and scientist, considered the father of American psychology, wrote: “The greatest revolution of our generation is the discovery that human beings, by challenging the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives.”

That’s a fancy-pants way of saying, “You change your attitude, you change your life.”

When selling services to a client, that shift in attitude can be as simple as asking yourself, “What are we trying to do in this pursuit?” Win? Sell? Persuade? How do you talk to your team about your mission as you craft your proposal?

Try “help.”

When you change your attitude that your goal is to help the client solve its problems, rather than sell the client your product or service, it changes your discussions from “you and us” to “we.” You start to focus on collaboration, and what both of you can do together. The client gets the sense that you have their best interests in mind first, and yours second. And that builds trust. And trust sells deals.

Here’s a great example of a small shift to start: stop calling it the “war room.” Almost every deal team I work with refers to the conference room where everyone on the team gathers to work on the deal as the “war room.” And I always challenge that term. “Why is this a ‘war’ room? Are we fighting with our client?” Change the team’s attitude: it’s the “deal” room, the “value generation” room, or maybe the “solution” room.

Yes, it’s a minor change. And there are so many more to discuss. But to be successful selling in this highly-competitive world, we constantly have to self-assess and adjust. The small changes, when you’re getting ready to swing, will impact your ability to achieve success 400 feet away.