When your expertise gets in the way

The following is based on one of The Covenant Group’s clients. All of the names and telling details have been changed.

Jerry Rey, widely recognized as a leading expert in the business market, couldn’t figure out why his productivity had slipped over the past two years.

Earlier this year, I met Jerry at a conference where we were both speakers. Over lunch, Jerry said, “I’ve reached a level of status in our industry that I’d always aspired to. I get asked to speak all over the place. If people knew how much my revenue has fallen off …. It’s like I’m leading a double life — a sought after advisor who can’t sell.”

I suggested to Jerry that perhaps he’d been spending too much energy speaking and not enough prospecting or working on cases.

He shook his head. “Actually, there’s been no shortage of cases to work on — it’s just that I’ve lost too many of them.”

When I asked Jerry to walk me through a case he recently lost, he told me about Albert.

A CPA referred Jerry to Albert, the wealthy owner of an advertising firm. The CPA had briefed Jerry on the case and told him that Albert should be a slam-dunk for him. “Albert was looking for a way to retain his key people,” Jerry said. “Nobody knows that area like I do.”

Jerry’s appointment with Albert had started well. Albert had set aside an hour and asked his assistant not to disturb him. Jerry knew he had his undivided attention. Plus, Albert had said that the CPA had spoken highly of Jerry and he was really looking forward to hearing what Jerry had to say.

“I was in my element,” Jerry said. “I outlined the perfect solution for him. I explained how I would set up an employee stock option plan for his company. It was a fairly complex deal. I knew he’d have trouble finding another advisor who understood these plans like I do. In fact, when we shook hands at the end of our appointment, Albert said he was impressed by my expertise.”

But when Jerry called Albert the week after to follow up, Albert told him he was too busy with other things to give the plan much thought. He asked Jerry to contact him in three months.

Jerry called the CPA to see if he knew what was going on. Jerry was shocked to hear the CPA tell him Albert had started working with another advisor.

I asked Jerry if he had any idea why he lost the case.

“I think there’s more to the story,” Jerry said. “Perhaps the CPA hasn’t told me everything. Maybe Albert feels obligated to give the business to this other advisor for some reason. They could be related for all I know.”

“I think there’s a much more obvious reason,” I said. “Your story reminds me of the time my wife and I went looking for a new car. At one dealership, we met Sal, a nice guy who spent a lot of time showing us various vehicles. Of all the car people I’ve met, I’d put Sal at the top in terms of expertise. He took us through an extensive tour of each car, going into great depth on the features and how they worked. I learned a lot. But—”

Jerry interrupted me, “—But you didn’t buy from him, right?”

“Right, and do you know why?”

“Because he was selling you on the features, not the benefits.” 

“Actually, I wouldn’t frame the problem in terms of the difference between selling benefits and features. Instead, I would say the problem is Sal failed to make a connection with my wife and me. I never felt that Sal understood why my wife and I were looking for a car. He never asked what we were going to use it for. He didn’t know that two of my kids drive, and would sometimes need to borrow the car. He didn’t know the type of cars I’d owned in the past, nor how I felt about cars in general. Ultimately, he never knew what problem we were trying to solve by buying a car. And because of that, I didn’t feel that Sal could possibly come up with the right solution for us.

“Jerry,” I continued, “I believe that’s how Albert felt about you. You never made a connection with him.”
I asked Jerry if he knew what problem Albert was hoping Jerry could solve for him.

“Sure I do,” Jerry said. “He was looking for an employee retention strategy, and I outlined the best solution for him.”

“But do you know why he was looking such a strategy? What prompted him to start thinking about it? He’d been in business for years without a retention plan? Something must have happened to make him want to do something. Had he lost one of his top people recently? Had he found out a competitor was trying to steal people away?”

Jerry looked at me blankly.

“If you want to be Albert’s advisor, you have to know the answer to these questions. You have to explore these issues with Albert. Albert wants someone to solve a problem for him and he’s going to choose an advisor who he feels really understands what that problem is — not just on an intellectual level, but an emotional level.”

Jerry started nodding. He agreed he’d failed to connect with Albert.

“Dick Leider, a friend of mine, puts it wonderfully. He said advisors need to be two things — wisdom keepers and deep listeners. Jerry, you epitomize the wisdom keeper, but you haven’t been demonstrating deep listening. In fact, advisors like yourself, who have lots of expertise, tend to run the risk of failing to listen deeply enough. They recognize the problem and the solution right away and get ahead of the prospect. Effective advisors hold onto their knowledge and, by listening and through dialogue, lead the prospect toward the right solution.

“If you had listened to Albert, you would have uncovered the concerns and fears he has about his business. You might have found out that his daughter aspired to take over the business one day, and that his current VP was someone Albert saw as instrumental to the transition. Someone who could help develop the skills his daughter would need. Someone who would be a strong ally in the succession planning. Something like this might explain Albert’s fear of losing his key people. Instead of going into the complexities of a stock option plan, you would have been able to show Albert that you understood his concerns. You could have told him how you’ve worked with clients who had similar issues and that you’d been able to solve them and alleviate their fears… That’s the kind of advisor Albert is looking for.

“Jerry, you may have impressed Albert with your expertise, but you never showed him you were applying your expertise to solve his unique problem.”

Jerry nodded.

“It’s frustrating to know that, in the end, the solution you proposed was probably the right one. But Albert never felt that way. You didn’t go through a process of exploration that would have led Albert to see the wisdom of your solution. People are always more comfortable with their own conclusions, than with the conclusions of others. Listen and provide your expertise when the time is right.”

“You know,” Jerry said, “years ago when I knew less, I spent more time listening to my prospects and clients. My appointments were learning experiences for my client and for me. And the funny thing is, I made more money back then.”

I told Jerry he’d put it nicely. “Appointments must be learning experiences for both parties. And that’s only possible with a combination of wisdom and deep listening.”

Jerry thanked me for my time and promised to start listening to his clients. He called me last month to tell me he was having the best year of his career. “Deep listening has changed my whole business,” he told me. “I have a totally different relationship with my clients now. There’s a level of connection and trust that hasn’t been there for years.”

Lessons Learned

Jerry learned four important lessons about connecting with prospects and clients:

• Expertise is not enough. Being a good advisor means being both a ‘wisdom keeper’ and a ‘deep listener.’
• Deep listening is what lets you get beyond merely knowing what the problem is to understand the emotional issues that underlie it.
• When you listen deeply you demonstrate to your client that you are applying your expertise to their unique situation.
• People choose to work with advisors with whom they feel a connection. Listening is the key to connecting with your clients.

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The Covenant Group is referred to by many as the place entrepreneurs go to become Business Builders. They are considered to be thought leaders and have authored the best-selling books, The 8 Best Practices of High-Performing Salespeople, The Entrepreneurial Journey, and The Business Builder.