Show Don’t Tell Your Expertise

Via Larry Bodine and Patrick Lamb comes a post on an article in the February 2006 issue of American Lawyer entitled “Selling By Doing.”  Here’s the money quote on how a company decided on its outside counsel:

We needed to hire outside counsel; we looked at a dozen firms, narrowed it to three, and   invited them for 90 minute presentations.  The first two were very good; they had solid expertise and industry knowledge and they had done their homework.

Then came firm three. They said, ‘We have 90 minutes with you . We can either do a standard capabilities presentation–which we’re very happy to do–or we can try something different. We suggest that we get started on the job, right now–as if you had already given us the contract–and begin the job, right here, right now. After 85 minutes, we’ll stop and you’ll have firsthand experience of exactly how it feels to work with us.’

Can you make this technique work for you?