From a cloud of good ideas to one thing he could sell.
Distilled a cloud of good ideas into an offer he can sell and back, barely 2 months into the program.
Erik V. is an independent advisor at Vogt Strategy. He helps data service companies win business and build scalable products.
Before the program he was, in his words, "a cloud of miscellaneous good ideas" with a confidence that there was something in it he could sell. Barely 2 months in, a buyer who wanted him as an employee heard a very different proposal, and he pitched it as a consultant. Their answer: "You're the one we need to talk to." He came out of the second conversation delighted, with a third conversation coming up.
The interview
Carla Cherry with Erik V..
He helps data service companies win business, build scalable products, and to win even more business. So I'm excited to talk with you. ...
Thank you, Carla.
I would love for you to share with everyone. We're barely 2 months into the program, and I would love for you to share your wins so far. I love to share wins at the end of the program, but I also love to share wins as we're going along because people love to hear it. So what can you share with me with your current wins so far?
I'm having some fantastic conversations and the right kind of conversations with the people that I wanna talk to. I think that, being able to position the conversation towards the goals that I'm trying to reach is, yielding a much more fruitful alignment between my core value proposition and what my customers are asking for.
So what was it like before working with me and versus now?
Before, I am a cloud of miscellaneous good ideas, with a confidence that somewhere in that muddle, there's something that I can sell. But distilling it down to something that is tangible and results oriented makes the conversation much more interesting to end customers.
It's not just about convincing them of my value as a person or my ideas being interesting, but rather tangible results that they really wanna see. And that journey of distilling these nebulous kind of, I think I have a good idea, down to, this is something that I can sell and I can back it and I can believe in it myself. And I know that it has meaningful value for my customers is the make or break difference.
So how has that changed your conversations? The conversations that you're having conversations with C-suite, with CEOs. How has that changed for you in terms of how you feel about those conversations? How do you feel personally in them?
I feel a lot more confident about them. I'm gonna borrow a metaphor that my math teacher in elementary school told me, which is we intuitively know math. We intuitively know what we're doing. But until you build a structure around it, it's difficult to make it repeatable or scalable. So this is a journey from knowing intuitively that 2 plus 2 equals 4 to being able to prove that 2 plus 2 equals 4. And then once you do that, then you can start using those tools at scale to deliver at volume, and you don't have to think about it anymore. So it's a much cleaner, growth path, I think, to structure what we're talking about. And that feels good to get that clarity.
And last question. So without sharing names, you are into, you're having some major conversations this week. And can you just share a little bit about your wins this week with those conversations?
Well, one big win was having a tough conversation, meaning I was asking them to do something very different than what they showed up with. They thought they wanted something. And I was surprised at how receptive they were to thinking about the problem differently and to considering buying my services in a different way than what they had in mind. In fact, one of the things that they said was, we're so glad that the last person we talked to didn't work out because we need you. You're the one we need to talk to.
... And let's just break that down. So someone wanted to hire you as an employee, which happens a lot with our clients. And so, and you've made this decision to be a consultant, and you're building your consultancy. And so you were approached at, a lot of talented people get approached, and it's very easy to take that. But you had a challenging conversation. You chose to go in and pitch it differently and say, hey. No. I'd actually like to do this as a consultant. And what was the result of it? I know we're still in the process, but if you could share because that just happened.
It did just happen. I think that the core story here is I get to deliver what I'm really good at, not just 40 hours a week, which is not necessarily focused on what I'm really good at. Instead, you're focusing on just what you're really good at, what you really want to do and do well. And then that's the biggest ROI that the customer can possibly buy. Because they, they're taking on a big risk by hiring an employee. They get to control 100% of your time and they get to feel good about that, but it's not really 100% of their time. They really have to work with available capacity.
But what if you could distill down to what you're really passionate about and then be able to sell that as a standalone capability, then you start thinking about how does that thing that you do add value to your customers and then the sky's the limit then because now you are having a discussion about how much is that value worth instead of trying to convince them to buy the entire package ...
... And how did that feel when you came away from that second conversation and you have a third conversation coming up ... How did you feel coming out of that second conversation when they said that they loved what you pitched and that they're excited to consider this option?
I was delighted. I was surprised even at how enthusiastic they were. So I think, it almost seemed like a big relief for them because it actually derisks things considerably. They kinda already knew what their budget was, but this way they knew they were gonna get what they wanted without necessarily having to figure it out. They, I'm helping them with a clear vision of what they're gonna get through this partnership instead of them having to guess that hiring me will yield those same results.
And the deal size is what you want either way. And so you are able to take this. When this comes through, you're able and you've got 2 more coming, 2 more down the pike, 2 other conversations set up for this week. So you would be able to take this and as well as the other 2 have 3 projects instead of getting stuck in one for just one price, you're able to add 2 more, triple what you're making or double what you're making and be doing what you love.
I get to do what I love. I get, flexibility to some extent. Obviously, we have commitments to deliver to. And, the net, the gross actually is considerably better. I think when you think about the marginal value of each, effort, the leverage that I'm getting from each hour that I'm spending on this is much higher.
So cumulatively, you're grossing a lot higher amount. And you're targeting your activities in the highest value way. You feel good about it because it's not about their hourly rate. It's about the tangible value that you're working towards, and that feels like a fair deal. So you're not, it doesn't feel like you're charging them a high amount. It feels like you're charging them a very fair amount given the value that you're giving them. Awesome. Thank you so much for sharing that. ... I'm so excited for you.
Thank you so much, Carla.
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