Lost a Consulting Alternative? What Really Went Wrong
You’d like to boast of 100% shut charges—purchasers settle for each proposal your consulting agency submits.
Alas, you and I each know that some nice consulting alternatives have slipped away.
Take into consideration a latest mission that didn’t come by means of to your consulting agency. Let’s name it Venture X.
Did your consulting agency do one thing fallacious?
Fairly presumably.
Then once more, presumably not.
Understanding potential purchasers is a bit like considering the partitions of Bryce Canyon at evening with a flashlight.
Some geologic layers flash an iridescent response to your mild; different strata stay stubbornly darkish and unresponsive.
That has a little to do along with your mild, and is generally the results of the composition of every rock layer.
Equally, every prospect’s response to your corporation improvement course of displays that individual group’s make-up.
The method that resonates deeply with one govt might sound like fingernails on a chalkboard to a different consulting prospect.
Often you may—and will—stave off your introspective angst by realizing it has nothing to do with you and all the pieces to do along with your prospects’ historical past and surroundings.
However, in case your course of for profitable purchasers reveals constant weaknesses, investing in a higher enterprise improvement method is worth it.
However I digress. Let’s get again to the unhappy destiny of Venture X.
We have to know why you misplaced that engagement in order that we are able to win extra initiatives sooner or later.
Was it a weak point in your promoting course of and capabilities, or did some unmanageable function of your prospect torpedo the chance?
Beneath are two units of put up-loss diagnostic questions. Primarily based in your solutions, you may appropriately resolve whether or not to enhance your corporation improvement prowess or to stroll away from a misplaced mission with nary a remorse.
10 Publish-Loss Diagnostic Questions
Was Your Enterprise Improvement Course of Stable?
- Had been you coping with the choice maker?
- Did you say one thing that triggered resistance or induced your prospect to disengage?
- Did you conduct a full Context Dialogue, strolling by means of all six elements?
- Did you compellingly articulate the worth of hiring your consulting agency versus different alternate options (e.g., different corporations, inside workers, or doing nothing)?
- Did you handle objections nicely, together with any price objections?
In the event you answered “No” to any of these diagnostic questions, spend money on boosting your corporation improvement capabilities.
Was It About Them, Not You?
- Did your prospect ask to your agency’s assist to handle a passing nuisance relatively than a significant, pressing problem?
- Did your prospect profess any inherent bias in opposition to consultants typically?
- Did your mission fall sufferer to inside politics, mission blockers (comparable to authorized) and/or competing forces?
- Did your prospect make use of a rigidly simplistic method comparable to an arm’s size RFP?
- Had been your prospect’s expectations about the price of consulting unrealistic?
In the event you answered “Sure” to any of these diagnostic questions, enhance your alternative-qualification course of; past that, put the loss behind you.
What else must you ask your self to find out whether or not a mission that didn’t shut was the results of your course of or the prospect?
Textual content and pictures are © 2026 David A. Fields, all rights reserved.
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