ColumBO Selector

Boss: So what's this months "Tim blog" going to be about?

Me: I'm struggling tbh

Boss: Well in a perfect world what would you want to sell all to your prospects?

Me: Me! I would want to sell them on me!

Boss: Bit creepy if I am honest Tim, but fill your boots...

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So, start of a new financial year for most, products poised to be unveiled, shiny, wizzy new technologies to talk about. Not me, well not now anyway.

If I could put one piece of information across succinctly and accurately to every prospect or customer or anyone I interact with in fact (especially my soon to be mother in law), it would be who I am, how I work, and who I wish to work with.

I am as far removed from the pointy-shoed, tight trousered, chunky watch sporting, ‘Wolf of Wall Street’ Sales Guy as you can get.

My hero is Columbo, I like to think if I have half of his intellect, and his investigative/uncovering ability I will be doing alright (minus the Raincoat, they’re a tad taboo these days).

You can rattle on endlessly about skill sets, knowledge and value add, but the absolute essence of what I do is filtering.

I filter those with whom I wish to work, or who might wish to work with me, with whom I think working will be mutually beneficial, and with whom I think will either accept or mirror my approach.

First and foremost I am transparent.

Columbo never told the Heiress that he was disarming her to get her to open up about her affair with the Gardener…..

It aids my filtering if you read this and like the approach, or not.

The 80/20 rule was a revelation to me.

I really was making 80% of my target from 20% of my clients…

Further extended, 80% of clients/prospects fit into categories that I don't want to work with, 20% do.

These categories are:

Number 1 - IT Decision Maker who doesn't know what they want or how to fix it, or how best to buy it, but they are acceptant of this.

Number 2 - IT Decision Maker who doesn't know what they want or how to fix/buy it, but think they do.

Number 3 - IT Decision Maker who knows what they want or how to fix/buy it, but lacks the time, inclination or capacity.

Number 2’s I filter you out! (there is a toilet based joke here which I am aware of and purposely avoiding).

80% of people I talk with are Number 2, 20% either 1 or 3.

So, I filter. It works.

If I do my job correctly we both know exactly what is on offer, how best to deliver/achieve this, and how long it will take and how much it will cost.

As Radiohead sang, “No surprises please”.

Simple, predictable, honest, and transparent.

Oh, and just one more thing…..