PROBLEM: When Jennifer Kenny, founder of San Francisco–based bizTH!NK Consulting, was invited to pitch a technology project at the largest bank in the western U.S., she knew she’d be going up against consulting companies ten thousand times the size of hers. To win the gig, she’d have about two minutes with the bank’s execs to prove that she knew more than anyone about their challenge — and that her approach would solve it better than anyone else’s.

SOLUTION: Kenny knew her competitors would come to the table with an army of consultants all focused on the technology side of the problem. She also figured they’d prepare presentations featuring case studies of similar engagements and detailed slides explaining their processes. Kenny’s sales techniques differed greatly. She understood that business problems start with people, not technology. What better way to convince the bank that she could help them than by bringing the entire meeting back to a human level — no slides, no projectors; just her, the execs, and a whiteboard. So she arrived at the meeting empty-handed, but not unprepared.

After brief introductions, Kenny asked if she could use the whiteboard. With nods from the execs, she simply started to draw. She drew a circle and said, “This is you today.” Then she drew a bigger circle off to the side and said, “These are your clients today.” Then she connected the two circles with arrows back and forth. From her homework, she knew the bank’s market cap and market share numbers, and she wrote those in as well.

Then, adding a second set of circles, she said, “If present market trends continue, here is what will happen tomorrow.” She turned back to the execs: “Let me show you how the bizTH!NK approach can guarantee [success].”

By drawing a set of simple diagrams — little more than circles, boxes, and arrows — Kenny gave the bank execs a view of their business like they had never seen before. And because she drew it live in front of them, the execs were more willing to listen to her concepts without getting bogged down in the details. Kenny won the job by employing her successful sales techniques, and demonstrated that people-made problems are often best addressed with a more individualized approach.

— Dan Roam, author of The Back of the Napkin (www.thebackofthenapkin.com)

Permalink: http://www.fuelnet.com/?p=535