buyers if you're seen as a peer of human resources, or training, or lower‐level management in general.
An economic buyer can, metaphorically, sign a check. That is, he or she can cause the computer to spit out a check. You don't deal with purchasing, procurement, or accounts payable, and you don't adhere to their rather arbitrary and unilateral payment practices. They deal with the terms that you and your buyer have agreed upon. (Buyers can also require manual checks when there has been an error or undue delay. Remember, when anyone says that payment takes, say, 30 days, it means that for 29 days the request sits on someone's desk, because computers can produce checks anytime at all.)
Case Study: The Pathetic Payment Policy
Some technology companies have instituted at times 120‐day payment to all venders. Aside from the unethical and despicable policy of penalizing small businesses in order to achieve a four‐month “float” on their money, it's simply unacceptable from a cash flow standpoint.
This is where the buyer comes in. You ensure that your payment terms supercede the policy in place through the buyer's clout. Of course, someone will say, “It's company policy.” Sure it is. But you're allowed to have policies, too, such as more favorable payment terms for you.
If the company “policy” were to loot and pillage, would that be acceptable also?
So how do you tell who the economic buyers are? I say “buyers” because in larger organizations there are scores or even hundreds. I dealt with a dozen different buyers in Merck alone over 12 years. You can't always tell them by title. One of my most significant buyers—he spent $250,000 per year for several years—had the title “International Director of Management Development.” Conversely, some vice presidents can't buy a toothbrush in some organizations (find someone in a bank who is not a vice president).
In smaller organizations, the owner, or CEO, or president will be the buyer. In nonprofits, usually the executive director or managing director is the buyer. However, in most cases, most of the time, you can find the true buyer by asking these 10 questions of the person with whom you're dealing at the moment:
Questions to Determine the Economic Buyer
1 Whose budget will support this initiative?
2 Who can immediately approve this project?
3 To whom will people look for support, approval, and credibility?
4 Who controls the resources required to make this happen?
5 Who has initiated this request?
6 Who will claim responsibility for the results?
7 Who will be seen as the main sponsor and/or champion?
8 Do you have to seek anyone else's approval?
9 Who will accept or reject proposals?
10 If you and I were to shake hands, could I begin tomorrow?
There are often, among the non‐buyers, key recommenders who can speed your efforts to find the economic buyer. It's worth developing brief relationships with such people in order to have someone lower the drawbridge over the moat.
The Gospel
It's easy to develop long‐term relationships with nonthreatening non‐buyers, but this results in nonpayment of your mortgage.
FIGURE 3.2 Consulting Model
It's worth revisiting our consulting model chart (see Figure 3.2).
We begin with shared values—not spiritual or religious values, but business values. For example, I won't participate in downsizing work, because I believe it's unethical and the result of errors (and sometimes stupidity) in the executive suite. That's me; others may disagree. But I turn that work down based on differing values.
If values are simpatico, then we forge a relationship with the economic buyer. And that requires finding the economic buyer, which is why we've taken the time to examine that process here.
The next step is developing conceptual agreement, which is the very heart of my consulting model, but can be accomplished solely with an economic buyer. Only buyers can sign proposals (the following step in the model), and only they can provide the details that will make the proposal of high value and justify your fees.
Most consultants stumble in trying to find the economic buyer and settle for lower levels because of self‐esteem issues, feelings that they don't deserve or don't merit the attention of a key executive.
Get over it.
How do you know if you have a “trusting relationship” with a buyer?
The buyer doesn't allow for interruptions by phone, e‐mail, or assistant.
The buyer doesn't end the meeting early and might even extend it.
The buyer asks for advice on an issue.
The buyer reveals something confidential (“We're considering an expansion… .”)
The buyer uses humor and reacts well to your humor.
You are involved in a conversation, not a “presentation.”
No other people have been unilaterally invited to the meeting.
Conceptual Agreement
Once you've developed a trusting relationship with the economic buyer, you're positioned to establish conceptual agreement. We're in the middle of the chart, the sweet spot, and ironically, the longer you take to develop a relationship and create conceptual agreement, the quicker you'll obtain projects.
I know that sounds counterintuitive, but I simply mean this: The steps are rational in their sequence: No one is going to trust you with their objectives, for example, if they don't trust you, and you can't submit a proposal (the following step to conceptual agreement) without a congruence in the buyer's and your expectations and perceived value. (Nor can you arrive at an equitable fee.)
Conceptual agreement has three aspects: objectives, measures of success (metrics), and value.
Objectives
There are always business outcomes, never deliverables or inputs. They describe a component of an improved client condition. Hence, these cannot be inputs, because a training program or a focus group does not improve the client's condition, per se; it merely costs money! (You'll find that most gatekeepers and HR people talk solely in terms of inputs, and almost all RFPs are predefined inputs, e.g., a four‐day strategy retreat and a safety audit.)
Examples
