Read the quote and respond:

“As we got out of Dick’s Acura, I noticed something strange. The only thing in Dick’s hand was a black leather portfolio. Without thinking, I asked, ‘Is that all you’re bringing?’ Dick looked surprised, ‘Yeah, why?’ ‘You’re not going to do a presentation? No proposal? Do you have any handouts?’ Dick shook his head. ‘Nope.’ He looked at the folder in his hands. ‘Heck, this thing is just a prop.’ He opened up the portfolio to reveal it held nothing but a pad of paper and a pen. ‘I’d feel strange if I weren’t carrying something.’”

Getting Naked, pg 79

Questions:

• What is your preparation look like for the average potential client?
• Do you think Pat is overstating or understating the idea of consulting instead of selling in the quote above? Explain your answer. 
• If a potential client asked you what you were really selling what would be your answer? Services? Intellectual property? An experience? Advice? Business results? How would you describe the value that you bring?

“At K&B I had spent as much as 60 percent of my time preparing for, delivering, and following up on sales calls. I had come to enjoy the gamesmanship of selling, but suddenly, I wasn’t missing it anymore. I also came to the realization that this lack of formal selling was the primary cause of the financial gap between Lighthouse and K&B, and it had a much bigger impact than fees or salaries did. Almost all the time and energy in Half Moon Bay was being directed toward consulting to paying clients. Those clients in turn became the sales engine for the firm, and even when we did an occasional cold call, it was the references from clients that shortened the sales cycle considerably. I’m not even sure I’d call it a sales cycle at all.”
Getting Naked, pg 103–104

“So, I’m curious,” I said, still trying to play it cool. “Why didn’t you try to wrap up the deal today? I think they’d have agreed to just about anything.”
Dick responds, “You know, I’m pretty sure they’re going to want to be a client. So I don’t really want them thinking about what we’re trying to get out of the arrangement. At this point, all I want to focus on is figuring out their issues.” He paused and again, just before I could ask a follow-up question, continued: “And we need to make sure that they’d be the right kind of client. We’ll have a better sense of that next week.”
“What do you mean?” I was confused. “What would make them the wrong kind of client?”
Dick didn’t hesitate. “Well, for all I know, the real problem is the CEO. If that’s the case, and he’s not willing to deal with that, then we don’t want to be in there wasting our time and energy and their money, rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.”
I laughed. “I’d be glad to waste their money rearranging the deck chairs, as long as they paid me enough.”
Dick laughed too. “We’ve learned over the years that having a bad client is worse than having none.”
Getting Naked, pg 84–85

“Well, most of their business comes from referrals and warm leads. And in the rare event that they do a cold call, they spend very little time doing research or writing up proposals or wordsmithing presentations.”
“What do they do then?” Marty demanded to know.
I smiled, but barely. “They just show up… It means that when they meet with a client they spend their time asking questions and doing primary research right there. It’s like they skip the entire sales process. And they’re remarkably successful… Listen, instead of trying to outsmart the companies they’re selling to, they just go in there and start consulting. I’ve watched this a half a dozen times now, and it’s really incredible.”
Getting Naked, pg 125–126

“Well, since you asked me to be honest, I’m just going to say it straight.” He paused. “It just felt like you guys were going to tell us how to run our business, and you were trying to convince us that you knew more than us, I guess. And you were telling us all the things you would do for us if we hired you.”
Getting Naked, pg 136

“Well, they’ll usually look at the company’s website and get a general sense of what business the client is in. But they do most of their research when they meet the client, by asking questions. And they certainly don’t come with a slideshow or marketing packet.”
Getting Naked, pg 155

What clients want more than anything is to know that we’re more interested in helping them than we are in maintaining our revenue source.
Naked Selling, pg 199

“Naked service providers transform every sales situation into an opportunity to demonstrate the value of what they do… instead they start serving them as though they were already a client.”
Getting Naked, pg 201