Beyond presentation skills!
Free eBook for AEC firms who want to win more work on a regular basis.
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Help Them Hire You!
Client Interviews That Stand Out, Win More Work and Won’t Make You Crazy in the Process
The Client Interview. It all boils down to this day, this appointment. Your make-or-break, do-or-die chance to go from being One-Of-Many on the short list to THE One-And-Only.
The winner who gets hired.
But let’s be honest: Client interviews can be a pain to pull together, let alone deliver.
Odds are you’ve got a mix of people making the presentation, many with their own opinion on what needs to be said to win the work, others who hope they can get away with uttering as few syllables as possible, and only if they’re asked a direct question.
You’ve also got a mix of people on the client side. Decision makers, influencers, number crunchers, poker players, creative types, frustrated designers and the proverbial “we just wanted to sit in because this is the ‘fun’ part” participants.
It gets worse: You have to stay within the allotted time, cover the points the client demands to know, anticipate the ones that’ll have the most impact on winning you the work, and, perhaps above all, do so in a way that clearly sets you apart from the competition… all of whom have been given the same parameters.
Lucky you. Herding cats must be child’s play compared to your job.
The client interview doesn’t have to be crazy-making. It doesn’t have to be chaotic. It doesn’t have to feel like a cross-functional fight every time, either.
In fact, after you read this book, client interviews might even be fun.
The magic is in the mix. Here’s what has to happen: Your team has to stop thinking they can logically convince someone to hire them. If only we could squeeze a few more bullet points on this slide!
Stay with me. Don’t panic. I’m not saying that the left-brained, logical people have to be re-programmed and become all touchy-feely, woo-woo creative in their next pitch. Nor do the right-brained folks have to convert their way of thinking to the dark side.
This book will show you how to use the right mix of facts, logic, emotion and feeling to influence choice in your favor. It’s packed with simple strategies and tangible tools you can use right away (and over and over) to:
- Simplify the process of creating your presentation so you can reduce stress, frustration and threats of bodily harm to yourself and others.
- Decide the right mix of information to include, based on who’s presenting and who’s making the decision, so that your message has maximum impact and influence on getting you hired.
- Bring out the best in your presentation team so they can be clear, confident and convincing without sacrificing their genuine selves – nor requiring you to become a licensed behavior modification expert or mafia enforcer.
- Understand and use the power of emotion to create a competitive advantage that sets you apart the way nothing else can – and in a way no one else can copy or imitate.
- Get buy-in up and down the ranks for this new, balanced approach and repeatable process so that you win more work on a regular basis… with the clients and projects you want and love.
Why listen to me? Here are three reasons:
1) I’m the former CEO of a $30 million national ad agency and marketing firm that I started from scratch and grew large and profitable enough to sell to publicly traded Big Boy. That means I know what it’s like to compete in a category where the client thinks everyone looks alike, does the same stuff, and mutters, “Just tell me your price.”
I know what it’s like to get an RFP that says they’re looking for innovation, creativity and the proverbial out-of-the-box thinking, yet in the next sentence they specify word count, type face, point size and a presentation agenda with fractions of a minute noted.
I know what it’s like to be the token minority-owned firm, the due-diligence local firm, the out-of-town hotshot firm, the incumbent in a don’t-worry-we’re-only-doing-this-because-we-have-to pitch and the naïve hopeful in a gee-I-thought-you-said-this-was-a-level-playing-field shoot-out.
I know how to win the pitch. I had to win a lot of them in order to grow the company way we did, and to be where I am today.
2) I know how to influence choice. It’s why people hired my firm—to help them attract more prospects and sell more products and services. And that we did, over and over, for the 20 years I’m willing to admit to.
3) I’m a Certified Speaking Professional—one of only 247 women in the world who have met the rigorous standards and five-year review process required by the National Speakers Association and the Global Federation of Professional Speakers to earn the credential.
That’s a long way of saying I know how to craft and present a powerful presentation that gets the results you’re looking for, and I make my living helping you do the same.
Download your free copy now. Before I decide I should be charging for it.
(714) 894-0423 will find me anywhere, if you’ d like to explore whether and how I might be of further help.
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