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“Jeremy” recently pivoted from a freelance-style business to a more consultative model.
He was thrilled with how much more impact he was having with his new client base—his early results were pretty off the charts.
But the pivot also meant relearning how to sell his services and—while he enjoyed the sales conversations—he was a bit frustrated that they seemed to take so much longer to close than his old approach.
We quickly zeroed in on the issue: when he was freelancing, all he had to do was send out a few emails and a month later he’d be fully booked.
This gave him a sense of control because he knew how to reliably fill his pipeline.
But selling an outcome rather than his time felt different. Now, the clients were in charge of deciding whether (and how) they valued the outcome—and when they might like to start the work.
Instead of always knowing how to fill his dance card, that control had shifted to the client…and it felt unnerving.
The thing is, that’s how it feels when you move from execution to outcomes-based consulting. It feels weird at first—having to constantly wait on clients to decide to proceed when you’re used to getting a pretty immediate yes or no.
Jeremy was very clear that his pivot was the right decision—and so he is doubling down on expanding his pipeline so that he can create more opportunities and therefore more control over his sales.
Because ultimately, selling outcomes-based work gives you more control over selling. It gives you a story to tell about your vision of a better future for your clients.
You can draw a clear line of sight between what you do and the transformational outcomes you are promising.
Yes, it may take longer for some to see the light—and like clients everywhere, they will do it in their own timeframe.
But when you keep focusing on your ideal clients (kind of like focusing a pair of binoculars), you’ll start finding that they often hire you quickly—they know they have a problem and that you’re the right solution.
You’ll have much more control over selling your work because you have choices—which also means you’re unlikely to be worriedly staring at an empty month on the calendar.
An empty spot means that you can go off and play, confident that a new client will be waiting when you return.
More control over your selling = more freedom.
Freedom from financial worry. Freedom from bad-fit clients. And freedom to spend your time the way you wish.