♦️ Why your consulting firm's 'unique' methodology isn't winning clients
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Your consulting firm’s ‘unique’ methodology is not as unique as you think. I know. You’ve refined it meticulously after many client engagements, solving the same problems many times, and turning your firm’s collective experience into a repeatable system. But your competitors also have one. They also gave it a nice name. They are also boasting about the results it delivers. Put yourself in the buyer’s shoes. You have a business problem to solve. You’ve found some consulting firms. And all these firms claim they have unique methodologies and deliver amazing outcomes. How would you choose one over the other when other things are equal? How would you know which ‘unique’ methodology works best for you? Well, the answer comes down to indoctrination. Let me explain. Creating a unique methodology is an important step to differentiate your firm. Every consulting firm needs one. But it’s only one step. Having a methodology on its own doesn’t influence buyers. To make it meaningful, you have to indoctrinate buyers that your methodology is the best one for them. In other words, you have to do propaganda. For consulting firms, that propaganda is thought leadership. The firm that explains their methodology the best, repeats the reasoning consistently, and influences buyers before the buying process wins. That’s why if you leave indoctrination to the decision moment, it’s too late. Your competitors also have nice presentations to explain their methodologies. At that stage, having a unique methodology doesn’t mean much. It’s a coin toss. So the indoctrination has to happen before. Your firm has to be the one changing the buyer’s perspective about their problems. Your firm has to be the one that has already educated the buyer about why your process was designed the way it is. The buyer has to believe in it, long before they decide to buy. Only that indoctrination differentiates your firm in the buying process. Sometimes, it even makes your firm the only one considered. So does your firm have a unique methodology? Great. The first step is done. The next step is indoctrinating your buyers on why it’s the best one. If you leave indoctrination to the decision moment, it’s already too late.
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