Let me tell you the story of two self-employed professionals…

It was in the year 2021, in a galaxy really close by…

Professional 1 is a consultant.

(Or a coach? I forget – but for this story, it doesn’t matter.)

What does matter is that she is not a happy bunny. Not happy at all!
Because she loves her work and she KNOWS she’s good at what she does. 

But still…

Corporate clients are hard to find. 

She looks high and low, joins networking groups, posts lots of value on social media. 

But – Nada. 

Every now and then, she gets excited: a call with a prospect!

The call goes really well.

She hears: send us your proposal. 

Yeah!

She is ready to break out the bubbles. 

But then – nothing. 

Crickets. 

No response to the offer.

Ghosted

So she blames the economy. The lack of budgets. The pandemic! Considers chucking it all in…

And then there is consultant #2. She’s in a similar field as poor #1.

But her calendar is filled with exciting prospect meetings.

Her emails ping with responses to her proposals. 

She’s raising her prices – and clients cannot wait to throw their budget at them…

The difference between these two? 

Is it talent? Is it experience? Is it inside connections?

All of those play a role. 

But the most important difference is that our #2 consultant knows all about the Hierarchy of Needs for corporate offers. 

Now some of you, dear reader, might be nodding sagely but for those who are in the category of WTF? let me explain:

To sell successfully to corporates as a consultant or coach (or trainer or other services provider), you need to make them an irresistible offer. 

  • And an irresistible offer is not what you do.
  • it’s not enough to have something they need. I
  • It’s not enough to have a great method, approach or tool. 
  • It’s not even enough to have the expertise.

An irresistible corporate offer consists of 7+1 elements and just like in Maslow’s famous hierarchy of need, each level builds on the previous one.

The levels are (in ascending order)

  1. Your value proposition: what is the value your work brings beyond the specifics?#
  2. Your service/product: what is it they can buy from you?
  3. Your solutions: what specific problem do you solve with this specific offer you’re making
  4. The belief ladder: why should they believe in you, your solution and themselves?
  5. The experience: what is it like to work with you?
  6. The options: give them choices
  7. The price: it has to make sense! (and “sense” is not what you think it is!)

Understanding each element of the hierarchy means you can attract corporate clients who need what you offer AND are ready to buy.

It means you can sell to them without having to negotiate on price. And means you never hear crickets again…

Tatyana

Tatyana

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Miriam Gilbert, founder of Impactfulness Lab, smiling

About Me

With more than 20years experience as a corporate decision-maker and CFO, 8+years running my own 6-figure consultancy I KNOW exactly what goes on in corporate mindsets – and how to sneak into their brain, charm their mind and get them to throw their budget at you.

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