A Better Way to Describe Your Consulting Firm—One That Wins More Clients
You already know (I hope) how important it is to boil down the description of your consulting firm to a narrow definition of your target client and a precise articulation of the problem you solve.
The combination of your target and the problem you solve is called your Fishing Line, and it’s the foundation on which you build your market presence and attract lucrative clients.
The very best, most effective consulting firm leaders craft their Fishing Line with one clever, additional twist.
First, though, let’s acknowledge that the Fishing Line follows the pattern taught by every how-to book on marketing or sales: identify your customer, then find their pain.
That is sound advice for marketing your consulting firm.
Following that advice positions your consulting firm to consistently hit solid singles and doubles. And for many consulting firms, consistent hits would be a very nice step forward.
When you’re ready to hit grand slams, though, you can move past the basic “market to a pain” approach.
To fully understand where we’re headed, consider the world of toothpaste, circa 1979.
Because your firm is like toothpaste?
No. Of course not. Your offering isn’t creamy and there’s no limit to how much consulting you can bring on a plane.
Because in 1979, Bohemian Rhapsody had just been released and it seemed so weird that maybe Queen included a toothpaste reference?
No again.
Because back in 1979 if you were watching the latest installment of Dallas, your episode would have been interrupted by a commercial with two women approaching a supermarket shelf:
Exasperated mom: “I don’t care what everybody’s doing. You’re using a fluoride paste to fight cavities.”
Demanding teen daughter: “Mom, I need this gel for fresh breath.”
Nosy lady who’d get bopped in the nose in today’s world: “My family uses double protection Aquafresh.”
Reassuring announcer: “Aquafresh gives you all the cavity fighting fluoride of the leading paste, and all the breath freshener of the leading gel.”
What’s going on in this commercial that launched a new toothpaste into the top ranks of the category?
In a word:
Conflict
The advertisers didn’t simply highlight a pain (you’re at risk of cavities, halitosis or both) or an aspiration (you want fresh breath and strong teeth).
They dramatized the conflict: a cavity-fighting paste is not a breath-freshening gel.
Your consulting prospects always have a conflict.
If there were no conflict, then your prospects would have already achieved their goals.
Example
Your problem-based Fishing Line might sound like this: “We work with chocolate chips manufacturers who are struggling with throughput.”
If you’re of the aspirational ilk (like most consulting firms), your Fishing Line sounds like, “We help chocolate chip manufacturers increase throughput.”
But even more powerful is a “Conflict Fishing Line” like the following:
We work with chocolate chip manufacturers who want to increase throughput without causing chip-melting issues.
Solving a problem is good consulting. Resolving a conflict is great, consulting firm marketing.
Next Steps
Improve your current Fishing Line and your other marketing communication by following these three steps:
Get Specific – Your target market should be narrow, narrow, narrow! It’s harder to isolate a specific pain in a crowd than in an individual.
Provoke the Pain – Don’t be afraid to needle the sore spot. Make the pain or obstacle your consulting prospects are facing more salient, scary, and concrete.
Call Out the Conflict – Loudly echo your prospects’ “this isn’t possible” beliefs. The more intractable you make the conflict appear, the more attractive your solution becomes.
Have you used conflict to market your offering? Do you think you could?
Hi David,
I realized a while back that folks don’t call me unless there’s conflict, so that’s always the starting point. Like one of the guys in my CEO Roundtable told me a while back, “You’re either selling aspirin or you’re selling vitamins.” As you often emphasize, the people who are looking for aspirin are much more motivated. Thanks for all you do.
You’re either selling aspirin or you’re selling vitamins. What a great image. I just passed that along to a group of consultants who are discussing what to do if the client doesn’t think something is broken. That phrase sums up very quickly why it’s so hard to sell services to those sorts of folks.
Brilliant advice, as always, David! It may look like a small change but makes a big difference when a client can relate it to his conflict or pain. Thank you for generously sharing your insights— appreciate it.
I’ve been reading everything about positioning lately and this is probably the most original and best bang-for-buck suggestion I’ve seen. Such a smart angle.
I think this idea extends beyond just the concise positioning statements, and also into landing page design and more long form marketing assets. For example I can imagine a page on my website that lists one of my service and the page might list 5 conflicts that our service addresses.
An alternative (or addition) to listing just benefits or features..
That would be an interesting approach, Troy. It sounds like a complex website implementation; however, savvier web people than me might have a different opinion.
You’re definitely onto something, Yoni. Your firm’s “Core Model,” which is typically where you’d head after you offer your Conflict Fishing Line, also sets up conflict. By showing key elements or distinctions that underscore the problem, you’re then able to show what’s missing in the prospect’s world.
That said, you can definitely highlight conflicts more directly throughout your marketing assets. Good idea, Yoni. Thanks for adding that to the discussion!
Love the perspective of “conflict resolution”. For me, resolving pain points misses a bigger picture of what success looks like in an engagement. The absence of pain doesn’t mean health; it just means the pain is gone. We have the opportunity to do more than remove pain!
You’re right, Dave, that in our ideal world as consultants, we get to do more than simply remove a pain point. However, consulting is about THEM, and sometimes what our clients want most and need most urgently is simply resolution of the problem at hand.
Resolving the conflict rather than simply relieving the pain may open the door between what they know they want and where you would like to provide value as a consultancy.
Definitely a thread worth following and trying out with your clients. I’m glad you surfaced the idea, Dave!
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David A. Fields Consulting Group 
Hi David,
I realized a while back that folks don’t call me unless there’s conflict, so that’s always the starting point. Like one of the guys in my CEO Roundtable told me a while back, “You’re either selling aspirin or you’re selling vitamins.” As you often emphasize, the people who are looking for aspirin are much more motivated. Thanks for all you do.
Love that imagery for distinguishing between problems and aspirations, Doc. Thank you for expanding on the idea!
You’re either selling aspirin or you’re selling vitamins. What a great image. I just passed that along to a group of consultants who are discussing what to do if the client doesn’t think something is broken. That phrase sums up very quickly why it’s so hard to sell services to those sorts of folks.
Brilliant advice, as always, David! It may look like a small change but makes a big difference when a client can relate it to his conflict or pain. Thank you for generously sharing your insights— appreciate it.
As you’re suggesting, VR, sometimes the nuances make an enormous difference. This is one of those times.
I appreciate your kind feedback and that you took a moment to post your thoughts.
Hi David. A really insightful idea. We (now) improve recoveries without sacrificing yields.
Excellent application, Kumaran! And, of course, I assume you’re talking about the most important yield–chocolate chips.
Thank you for sharing your real-world application of the concept, Kumaran. Well done!
I’ve been reading everything about positioning lately and this is probably the most original and best bang-for-buck suggestion I’ve seen. Such a smart angle.
I think this idea extends beyond just the concise positioning statements, and also into landing page design and more long form marketing assets. For example I can imagine a page on my website that lists one of my service and the page might list 5 conflicts that our service addresses.
An alternative (or addition) to listing just benefits or features..
Qual researcher me wonders what would happen if each one of those conflicts got its OWN page. Great targets for your ads/other content…
That would be an interesting approach, Troy. It sounds like a complex website implementation; however, savvier web people than me might have a different opinion.
You’re definitely onto something, Yoni. Your firm’s “Core Model,” which is typically where you’d head after you offer your Conflict Fishing Line, also sets up conflict. By showing key elements or distinctions that underscore the problem, you’re then able to show what’s missing in the prospect’s world.
That said, you can definitely highlight conflicts more directly throughout your marketing assets. Good idea, Yoni. Thanks for adding that to the discussion!
Love the perspective of “conflict resolution”. For me, resolving pain points misses a bigger picture of what success looks like in an engagement. The absence of pain doesn’t mean health; it just means the pain is gone. We have the opportunity to do more than remove pain!
You’re right, Dave, that in our ideal world as consultants, we get to do more than simply remove a pain point. However, consulting is about THEM, and sometimes what our clients want most and need most urgently is simply resolution of the problem at hand.
Resolving the conflict rather than simply relieving the pain may open the door between what they know they want and where you would like to provide value as a consultancy.
Definitely a thread worth following and trying out with your clients. I’m glad you surfaced the idea, Dave!