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I received a call this evening from an athlete that wanted some help.

So, I did what I would normally do. I asked her what was happening and instigated a conversation.

After about 15 minutes we started to explore some of the practicalities - where was she, could we meet etc.

At that point she made an interesting comment. She said that she had called a few people and only felt that she'd clicked with me. This wasn't the first time I'd had a comment that suggested we were developing rapport already, and I was genuinely interested to know: What was different about me?

She said she was put off because the other professionals she spoke to didn't seem to really be that interested in her issue, but just wanted to set up a consultation. In other words, they were rushing to get to second base without getting to first.

I've been in consulting for 10 years, and I'm still a relative novice when it comes to business development, but I thought I'd share some thoughts on how to deal with consulting enquiries.

1. This is first step in a process. Don't try to rush to next steps.
2. Find out what the key issues are from the enquirer's point of view. Ask questions and more questions, and demonstrate understanding by playing back the issues to them.
3. Be prepared to invest some time in the person on the phone. It doesn't matter if you don't know straight away whether they have a budget, or whether there are other barriers to you working together. Yes, establish these, but not at the expense of rapport.
4. Try to help them, even if that means passing them on to someone else in your network. What goes around, comes around.

The first call is about establishing that you are competent and trustworthy enough to move to the next step with. For an individual client the next step might be a paid consultation, while for a bigger prospect it might simply be a meeting to discuss their needs in detail. If you treat the person on the end of the phone as a person, you're more likely to get to that next step.

Rob RobsonSport and Business Psychologist, Warwickshire