Although finding leads to new clients is perhaps the most critical part of getting work, there is another crucial phase - winning them over. Sometimes this takes the form of a simple email conversation, sometimes it is a get-to-know-you over coffee. But for those really important clients and larger jobs, you often have to pitch. Recently American sales performance company Miller Heiman have shown there may be a gap between how we pitch and how our clients actually make their decisions. Though Heiman’s research was written for sales organizations, the results are just as pertinent for freelancers pitching their ideas and plans…

According to Miller Heiman co-founder Bob Miller, there are in fact five distinct decision making styles found amongst executives:

• Charismatics who show exuberance during a sales presentation, but yield a final decision on a balanced set of information
• Thinkers who exhibit often contradictory points-of-view within a single meeting through a barrage of questions
• Skeptics who remain highly suspicious of each data point due to their very strong egos
• Followers who make decisions based on how other trusted executives made them or decisions they’ve made previously
• Controllers who focus on the pure facts and analytics of the offering due to their large amounts of fear and uncertainty

The problem however is that oftentimes a pitch is tailored to the wrong type of client. By studying 1700 executives in North America, Australia and New Zealand, Miller has found that almost half of all pitches are aimed at Skeptics, but in fact they only make up 19% of the client demographic. Whereas Charismatics and Followers who make up 25% and 36% respectively, only hear 4% and 6% of pitches that are tailored to their decision making style.

What this means in practical terms is that after identifying what type of client you have, you can tailor your pitching style to suit their needs. Some clients are looking for the ‘big picture’, others want every detail and still others need to be given space and time to make their decisions. Miller Heiman have compiled the information into a book on the subject, but even without this, just knowing that not every client is cut the same will help you win over more of them.

If you are interested in information about selling and pitches, particularly if you are growing your freelancing business, then its worth paying a visit to the Miller Heiman Knowledge Center which lists a variety of free articles and papers on the subject.

“We’re ignoring the two largest groups” says Miller “Bottom line is it’s like ships passing in the night”