We’re fond of saying that “’creative professional’ is an oxymoron.” There’s a constant tension that exists in this field like nowhere else. 
 
The mere idea of selling a creative idea feels almost wrong. But it’s part of the biz. 
 
In this article, we’re going to relate a recent story in which we had to do just that. But pay heed: This is more than just “pitching the idea and seeing if the client buys it.” It was more subtle than that—and the way we succeeded here can help you, too. There’s a little bit of mental head-gaming going on here; let us explain. 
 
What’s your take on video? 
 
For this assignment, our client (a professional-services consultancy) had the opportunity to be featured in upcoming videos by a big enterprise which sort of straddled the line between “partner” and “client.” The important thing to note, for this story, was that the enterprise was going to be footing the (substantial) bill for the video production. So it was our job to basically pitch our client’s story to this enterprise, so that the enterprise would hopefully feature them in their upcoming videos. 
 
Note that this enterprise had tons of companies to choose from. Thus it was, in our view, a competition. We had to make our client the most video-worthy choice for this “Hollywood” enterprise.
 
So what do you do in a situation like this? You listen.
 
Reading between the lines
 
The head video person at this enterprise (we’re blurring some lines here to protect identities) was the one in charge of making the selection of which companies would feature in these new “shows” they were producing. We wanted to learn more. So we booked a big Zoom call, with us, our client, and a few people from the big enterprise, including that Head Video Guy. 
 
Here’s where it gets interesting. Remember what we’d said about listening? The more you pay attention, and take notes, the better armed you are to succeed in a challenge like this. Here’s what Head Video Guy told us: 
 
“We want to make videos about a great company we’re working with. We want to feature the principal people of that company. But we don’t want to simply shoot ‘a talking head in an office.’ We want to tell an interesting story, one that really works well on video and takes advantage of the medium.” 
 
Ta-dah. There it is. We’d left off with the enterprise that we’d think about some ideas, and pitch them to them in a follow-up Zoom call. 
 
Building the “un-story”
 
In our next, offline, meeting with our client, we asked the different team members about the kinds of things they like to do when they’re not at the office—and the more extreme, the better. 
 
We were pleasantly surprised. These people play as hard as they work: 

• One was a mountain climber.

 

• Another enjoyed deep-sea fishing. 

 

• Yet another was a surfer. 

 

• A few of them enjoyed skiing. 

 
Do you see where this is going? 
 
Pitching without pitching
 
In our initial Zoom call, we picked up the signals that the Head Video Guy loved coming up with creative story ideas. In other words, he didn’t want to be spoon-fed. Read another way: He didn’t want to buy other people’s creative ideas; he wanted to come up with his own. 
 
So our job was to essentially pitch him “fodder,” and let him (easily) come up with cool creative ideas that were “his own.” All of the extreme sports listed above made this ridiculously easy. 
 
In the follow-up Zoom call, the conversation went something like this: 
 
Us: “We chatted and talked about different things, and just thought we’d tell you about what we learned about the different people at this company—specifically, what they do in their off-hours, compared to what they do at the office.” 
 
Head Video Guy (intrigued): “Go on...” 
 
Us: “For example, one of the top technical people, when she’s not solving difficult software challenges, enjoys going mountain climbing in her spare time. Can you believe that?” 
 
Head Video Guy (huge epiphany): “Wait a minute! This means that she’s always striving to reach new heights! What an incredible visual metaphor!” 
 
Us: “Amazing!” 
 
Yeah. Of course we’d thought of this. But we didn’t want to pitch it that way. The rest of the conversation, as you’ll see, was pretty predictable, but enjoyable and productive nonetheless: 
 
Us: “Our top sales rep loves deep-sea fishing.” 
 
Head Video Guy: “He likes to reel in the catch!”
 
Us: “The Director of Product Development is an avid surfer.”
 
Head Video Guy: “He’s catching the next wave!”
 
Us: “The CEO enjoys skiing.” 
 
Head Video Guy: “He’s carving out the right path for the company!”
 
And so on. 
 
The takeaway
 
As you can tell, Head Video Guy was absolutely delighted by this call, and all of the brilliant creative ideas he came up with during it; they were all great for the upcoming video series. 
 
Just as important, note what we didn’t do: We never pitched any of these visual metaphors. We didn’t need to. Indeed, if we had, they would’ve ruined the call. We let the other guy make the (relatively easy) creative leap, and enjoy the rush and the glory. And oh, our client came out ahead in this “video competition.” 
 
As we’ve said, “’creative professional’ is an oxymoron.” But the more you know about selling, the better you can be at selling your creative.
 
Need help with that next challenge? Contact us. We do this kind of stuff all the time. 

If you’re a consultant, this is an important question: Are you giving away your sniff-test?
 
Huh? 
 
Where’s this going? 
 
We’ll tell you. It’s inspired by one of our clients, who definitely does give away their sniff-test. It’s a brilliant idea, and one you should emulate, in case you aren’t already. 
 
We’ll give you all the details—answer all your questions—in a minute. 
 
Start with what you know
 
This article, be advised, is all about landing new business. (Pretty much all of our consultant-focused articles are.) So this is about helping you cross The Great Divide between clients you have, and clients you’d like to have. 
 
Your existing clients, we’ll assume, love you. They value your expertise, experience, and service. They know you. 
 
In other words, they don’t need to learn about you.
 
In the beginning of your relationship with them, this wasn’t the case. You might have started with a toe-in-the-water engagement, delicately dancing around who-trusts-whom. Once you earned your credibility with this client, they became less cautious, less cagey, and entrusted you with more and more work, assignments, and responsibility. 
 
That’s a fairly natural progression. 
 
But all of the work, from a business-development standpoint, was at the beginning. Your old client, back when they were a new client, didn’t appreciate you. To be fair, you didn’t understand them as well as you do now, either. There was a learning curve for both of you to climb. 
 
This gets back to the ongoing, thorny problem of enticing new clients to trust you with their business. It gets straight back to the sniff-test. 
 
What’s it smell like?
 
Just in case the phrase “sniff-test” is unfamiliar to you, we’ll give you our broad, street-level definition of it. Think of someone (more specifically, a single guy, because knowing that will make this more realistic, if not funny) who’s dashing out the door to go someplace important, such as a job interview or a first date. Of course, the laundry’s piling up, it hasn’t been washed in far too long, and there’s that perfect shirt that the guy wants to wear. Just sitting there. 
 
Was it washed recently? Not sure. Can’t remember. 
 
Thus, the sniff-test. He buries his nose in the thing, inhales deeply, and braces for the worst. If it’s got an airy scent of fabric softener, it’s a “go.” If it just smells neutral and not bad, it’s still passable. If it reeks like day-old roadkill, it failed the sniff-test. 
 
See where this is going? 
 
Nose it, gratis
 
This other client of ours has years and years of deep, focused experience in their area of expertise. Importantly, what takes others hours, or even days, to discover, often leaps out quickly for this client, from even a cursory review of input from a potential client.
 
This quality—this Spidey Sense, if you will—surfaced during a conversation we’d had with this client one day. “Can you really just tell when something looks wrong, or doesn’t feel right, amid mountains of arcane input?” we’d asked. 
 
“Usually,” was the reply. 
 
“Wow,” was our rejoinder. 
 
And thus, it became a business outreach strategy. We branded it (with a name we won’t share here, to protect our client) and used it as an offer in all outreach materials to prospective clients-of-our-client: “Call now to book your free sniff-test.” 
 
Think about the beauty of this: 

• It’s a wonderfully simple and concise call-to-action: “Send us your input materials. (We’ll even sign your NDA in advance, if you like.) We’ll give you, say, 30 minutes of our time, gratis, to review them. And we’ll give you the no-punches-pulled assessment. If you’d like to proceed with us afterward, by all means, do so. If not, there’s no obligation. We think it’s worth the 30-minute risk on our side.” 

 

• It helps the consultant and the new prospective client to rapidly climb the familiarity/expertise-comfort-level learning-curve. If you can provide that much insight, that quickly, for free... well, just imagine how much more you could deliver if you were actually paid? 

 

• It’s instinctive. We honestly doubt that any prospects (or you, for that matter), really needs to read our parable about “the origins of the term ‘sniff-test,’” above. “Send us your stuff. We’ll give it a free sniff-test.” It’s a simple, even visceral, message. When properly branded (as was the case here), it’s even more streamlined, elegant, powerful, and motivational. 

 

• It puts the toe in the water immediately. No dancing around “what will that first project be?” You both know it from the get-go. 

 

• It provides instant credibility. You don’t need to go proving yourself if you just delivered a brutal sniff-test to that prospect. (Note how we’ve not-too-subtly segued from “our client” to “you,” since our client already does this, and you will be soon, if you aren’t already.) 

 

• It provides instant value. Not just in terms of “My time is worth X dollars per hour; I’m giving you a half hour for free.” But rather in terms of “Even if you don’t engage with me, you’ve gotten something of value, that you can use immediately.” This is the antithesis of the “Services” page of your website or other such brochure; it’s the apotheosis of the gateway offer. 

 
Start sniffing!
 
As far as promulgating this offer goes, that’s a challenge unto itself. (Did we really just use “promulgating” and “unto” in the same sentence... a mere sentence after we’d slung “apotheosis” your way? Blame the caffeine!)
 
Still, it’s a straightforward challenge. The gateway offer of the free sniff-test, properly applied, is brilliant. And business-building. 
 
Need help crafting the details of your free sniff-test, or telling the world about it? Contact us. We’d be delighted to help!