So now you're now waiting for the client to decide. Sometimes waiting for the decision is worse than anything else. Because you want to do the right thing by the client, and keep aside the time they have asked for. You also know you have to do the right thing by your own business, and sell those days as quickly as you can.

There are some important things to be aware of when waiting for clients to make decisions. These are ways you can help the client make a decision.

The convincer system concerns how the client convinces themselves of the right decision (which could be a go or a no go, but at least it's a decision, right?). People are convinced of a good decision, or a good deal in four distinct ways.

There are the four different convincer strategies.

1. I have to see it to believe it. Some people need to see things for them to be official.
2. I have to see it written down to believe it.
3. I have to hear it to believe it. need to hear in order to be convinced it's real. They like "live" meetings and voicemail updates.
4. I have to feel it, touch it or experience it to believe it. These are people who will operate on gut feel quite faithfully. They still need to get the information, but you will maybe need to give them some time to digest it, and you may need to walk them through what's happening so they can experience it.

The complication with convincer strategies is that the sensory channel things come through is only part of it. The other part is the number of times. Some people are convinced once. Others take three or four exposures to be convinced something is true or working. Some people need a length of time to pass - a day, a month, or a year - before they're convinced. A small number of people are never convinced.

It's important to make sure your updates or sales calls are frequent enough to satisfy the client's convincers that you are doing a good job and delivering what they expected. Some clients will take three or four updates to be on your side, others will be convinced once they see a good project plan.

Whatever you do, engineer your client updates to meet their sensory convincer. Ask them how they'd prefer to be updated, whether on paper, by fax, e-mailed, meeting. Do not ask if they'd like to be updated, but how. You need to keep updating them to ensure their number of times convincer is met before any real test of faith are required.

Darma was puzzled at the culture in her newest client organisation. It was a large multi-national and the international managers would often send official voice mail to everyone's voicemail box announcing important changes.

She couldn't get this. It didn't make sense to her not to have something officially written down, or even on an internal website to back up the changes.

Then I told her about people needing to be convinced of things in different ways. She finally got the picture.

To understand what a convincer strategy is, think about this. You walk into a client's office and they offer you a cup of tea or a piece of cake at morning teatime. They may ask once, and you're happy to go with it. Some people need to be asked three times, and they say yes. How many times did you think about buying your last car? How many magazines did you read, how many test drives did you do, how many times did someone tell you about a good car before you were convinced it was the one you should have?

In a similar vein, how many times or how long do you need to do something, or be exposed to some information in some format before you know you understand it, and can say you know it. This is your convincer at work.

Detecting a convincer system is pretty easy. Often the client knows unconsciously what it is. Ask them about a hobby you know about from pictures on their walls, or books on their desk. Ask them how long it took for them to know they wanted to take it up. Or how many times they did it before they knew they wanted to keep doing it.

Or ask them about a previous consulting assignment, or the last people they employed - what decided them to finally go with it, what decided them to stop doing it, how long did it take before they hired them. Their answers will become your best guess at their convincer until other evidence comes in.

Here are some examples of what you could ask:

Q. So I notice you play golf. How long did it take you to decide to take it up?

Q. How did you decide to recruit Terri as a new sales director?

Be aware, of course, that your own convincer system will be in action - be careful that you don't have a 6 times convincer, and need to hear, see, do or reason through their convincer system 6 times to be convinced you know their convincer!

The client's convincer strategies will influence at least:

• Your marketing campaigns - what you send them, in what format, and how often
• Your sales presentations or demonstrations - what you tell, show, or do for them, the information you give them and how often or how long you expose them to it
• The way you manage your projects - how you update the client, or take them through new ideas or changes, how often and how long

This table looks at some of these ideas in more detail.

If your client has a multiple-times convincer strategy, you need to do the things you do for them that number of times. So if their convincer is a three time convincer, you need to have at least that 3 telephone calls; or leave at least 3 voice mail messages, or give them 3 references before they'll buy or buy into an idea. Similarly, you may need to meet with them that number of times, or run into them 3 times before they call you about a job. Or it could be that your client needs to wait a certain amount of time before being convinced that they should make the decision.

One client I had corresponded with me by phone, voicemail and fax for six months, and then suddenly it was super urgent for them to start next week. Another client talked to me a whole year before she finally took up the project. It took her that long to decide. So remember this and keep in contact with clients who waver.

Cindy Tonkin can help you convince your client to buy, to help or to refer you. Coaching by phone, email or in person.

Public Training in Sydney.

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