Guiding Principles for Framing Your Selling Role (9)

i) Act only from positive intent (by only using persuasion, influence and selling; keep away from manipulation, etc)
ii) Only do what is right for the client (in all activities, situations, decisions, choices, etc; this ethical position sometimes makes you feel vulnerable)
iii) Encourage self-discovery (
"...help your clients better understand themselves by asking open-ended questions and help them to contextualise their ideas by creating diagrams, frameworks, and models during the conversation..."
CMR 2024)
iv) Encourage clients to identify and understand their challenges correctly (help them to solve their own problems by encouraging their thinking - coaching; only as a last resort suggest options for their consideration, which is consulting; encourage them to be curious)
v) Focus on positive results for your client and creating mutual goodwill (more important than monetary rewards are positive impacts and goodwill that flows on from a successful project which is likely to bring more work)
vi) Share successes (allow relevant stakeholders to take credit, and be recognised, for the successes that flow on from the change initiative; at the same time be willing to accept the blame for any mistakes; treat mistakes as learning experiences)
vii) Don't create dependency on yourself (ensure that the relevant stakeholders are empowered by developing the necessary capabilities to handle the change initiative, ie if necessary, use training; have a mindset of 'do yourself out of a job'
"... consultants need to step away from the need for seeking ego stroking and set the client up to stand on their own.....give the client the power..."
CMR, 2024)
viii) Timing (knowing when to push, pull back, etc with your involvement with the organisation is critical, eg
"...knowing when to gracefully recede from a conversation and leave them with a question plus a scheduled time to follow-up..."
CMR, 2024)
ix) Set the foundations for learning and empowerment (help them identify their challenges and explore solutions; build momentum; get them to understand that your role is to bring new expertise that their organisation is lacking)