Would you like to get some major sales initiatives moving? Would you like to reach that “next level” that all the clichés proclaim await you? Would you like to have a profound impact on more and more clients with the value you deliver?

Fair enough, here are 12 techniques.

You can move self-created mountains

Most of us create our own mountains. That is, we encourage the tectonics of our work and lives to form obstacles and barriers. Here’s how to move them back out of the way and create some level ground.

1. Start from the premise that most people need the value you provide, but only some are smart enough to realize it. Eschew those who are uneducable, and focus only on those wise enough to be educated.
2. Become conversant in stating your results as benefits to the buyer.
3. Distinguish yourself from others. Never allow a “commodity” comparison.
4. Create and nurture strong personal relationships. I used to think that “spouse programs” were silly. I was wrong. You need people in your life—spouses, significant others, colleagues—whom you can trust for support and honest feedback.
5. Understand your own expertise. I’m not talking “methodology,” which too many consultants drown in. (Sorry, your approaches are NOT unique.) I mean being able to push back at the prospect to say, “You may understand insurance services because that’s your business, but what you’re suggesting is not going to work to cut attrition, and I know because that’s my business.”
6. Don’t listen to most consulting “experts.” There are far too many people giving consulting advice (or coaching advice or publishing advice) who have never successfully consulted (or coached or published) in any substantive manner. You want a ski instructor who is manifestly far better than you, right?

Why climb if you can go around?

7. The easiest way is usually the best. Focus on quick and painless. If you’re charging by value, then the quicker you meet objectives, the better you and the client are. If you are focusing on time-based billing, then you’re cheating yourself and the client, because you only get paid well by hanging around.
8. Create a brand which draws people to you. The more people come to you (the mountain comes to you, perhaps) the more that fee and details no longer matter. Develop an expertise that creates a “gravity” for you.
9. Don’t over-rely on technology. Your web site is a credibility statement, not a sales tool for corporate buyers. Social media are not a major tool for reaching corporate buyers (though many people prefer to do that than actually try to meet key people in person, because it’s less threatening). This is still a personal relationship business.
10. Don’t focus on revenue, focus on discretionary time. You want to maximize your real “wealth,” so don’t burn yourself out merely making money. Money is a means, not an end.
11. Organize your days. You won’t achieve anything that you intend to “get to when you can.” Schedule projects and tasks the way you would client calls. And don’t allow them to disappear from sight in an electronic excuse. Keep them in front of you until you complete them.
12. Treat yourself well. You’re not going to be able to deal as a peer with key buyers if you’re tired, traveling in steerage, or dressed like a used clothing store. Act like a success, once you believe you’re a success, and you will be a success.

Travel wisely

Most of the roadblocks and potholes we encounter are either self-created or could have been easily circumvented with decent planning and anticipation.

Consultants tend to get in their own way. That’s because we don’t focus on the destination—improving the client’s condition—but instead create all kinds of obstacles through adherence to arbitrary methodology and the belief that we are not a peer of the buyer.

The good news is that you can eliminate those mountains, by simply refusing to create them.

© Alan Weiss 2008 All rights reserved.

Alan Weiss, Ph.D. probably has the strongest independent consulting brand in the country, and maybe beyond. He is the author of 30 books appearing in 9 languages. His newest is The Global Consultant (with Omar Kahn) from Wiley. He runs the unique Million Dollar Consulting® College three times a year. He has won dozens of writing and consulting awards and is a member of the Professional Speaking Hall of Fame.® Contact him at http://www.summitconsulting.com, or his blog, http://www.contrarianconsulting.com.