What We Teach

Elite service providers, the top 5%, have the biggest and most profitable clients. They rarely compete on price, and they do well in good and bad markets. What do these elite providers do differently than the rest of us to win in competition? The short answer is that they engage clients at a deeper personal and professional level, a Third Level.  That leads to greater success and career satisfaction and less price competition.

Once clients narrow their options to a short list of highly capable alternatives, nuanced differences in capabilities cease to be a factor in their final choice. Top competitors pretty much look the same. At this level everybody is qualified. On the other hand, client’s feel that their situation, project, people, preferences and process are unique.

Where most service professionals are wasting time trying to force clients to recognize and value increasingly nuanced differences in their capabilities (Vendor Differentiation), elite, Third Level service providers win in competition by finding and aligning to what is unique about the client, the project, client preferences and decision process (Client Differentiation).

Clients want to work with someone they know and trust, someone who knows their situation, their project, their preferences and their process better. In other words, instead of wanting to know more about the providers, they want providers to know more about them. They don’t want to work with a vendor. They want to work with a partner. Instead of forcing the client to differentiate between competitors, Third Level Service Selling shows service providers how to differentiate on the client. If you can find and align to that uniqueness, the client will view you as a partner and not just another vendor.

In this course Bob Potter, the author of Winning In The Invisible Market: A Guide To Selling Professional Services In Turbulent Times and Selling Real Estate Services: Third Level Secrets of Top Producers, will show you how to:

• Identify and master the communication skills that elite providers employ to build strategic partnerships, win in competition and retain committed clients
• Recognize why and how clients choose one service provider over another
• Recognize that price decisions are frequently self inflicted because price is the last of 10 choice factors
• Understand and align to predictable client decision patterns in order to reduce friction and enable faster choices
• Accelerate business relationships by learning how to engage clients in a strategic and more client-centric level
• Accelerate client understanding, agreement and commitment to your recommendations
• Determine and align to unique characteristics and client execution preferences
• Build client preference for your solutions through more a differentiated rational and emotional value proposition
• Consistently get first and last look
• Get chosen away from price

The bottom line is that you will win more business without competing on price.