Tired of clashing with other departments?
You have a project, you need something from Finance, IT or Legal… and your request gets lost in limbo.
Today you’ll learn the method that makes your peers in other departments want to help you.
You might be thinking: “Sebastián, helping me is their job”.
And you’re right. But if you keep thinking that way, you’ll keep hitting a wall. The key lies in a single concept:
if you apply internal Consultative Selling, your peers in other departments will stop seeing you as the person who gives them “more work” and start seeing you as a strategic partner. And your projects will move forward faster.
Stay with me.
This is where the problem starts.
You’re “Carlos”, Marketing Manager. You need data from “Sandra”, Business Intelligence Manager.
Your email reads like this: “Hi Sandra, I need the Q3 sales report broken down by country. I need it by Friday, thanks.”
Sounds direct and efficient, right? …It’s also a disaster.
You’ve just treated Sandra like a vending machine. Without saying it, you’ve told her: “I don’t care about your work, I just need you to give me this”.
This is being the worst kind of “salesperson”: the one who doesn’t listen. You’re asking her to stop her world, which is full of her own fires to put out (the monthly dashboard for the Executive Committee, cleaning up corrupted data from the last close), to put out yours.
Naturally, unless you have a very close relationship with Sandra, she’ll put you at the bottom of her list. Or worse, on her blacklist.
This is the mistake I see in hundreds of managers: they confuse “influencing” with “asking”. They believe that, because they hold a position, others must obey. But across departmental silos, hierarchical authority doesn’t get you very far.
The solution is to stop “pushing” and start “attracting”.
In my business communication programs we talk about Consultative Selling. It isn’t a sales trick; it’s a communication philosophy. It’s based on “listening to the potential client to understand their needs and jointly find the most suitable solution”.
And in your case, if you want to influence Sandra from Business Intelligence, it will help to see her as a “client”.
The consultative selling model has three phases:
- Connection: Create a space of comfort and trust.
- Qualification: Understand their situation.
- Close: Adapt your proposal (or, in this case, your request) to what you’ve heard.
Carlos’s mistake is that he skips the first two phases and goes straight to the Close (“give me the report”). And that’s why he fails.
Today we’re going to focus on the phase that changes everything: Qualification.
The tool for qualifying is called Strategic Empathy.
Careful, this isn’t “soft” empathy, the kind that means “understanding how you feel”. It’s strategic empathy: “putting myself in their shoes to adapt my message and focus it on what interests them”.
Your goal as an internal consultant is to understand two things about Sandra:
- A: Where she is now (her challenges, her fires).
- B: Where she wants to be (her goals, her metrics).
POINT A: Pain → POINT B: Desire
Before asking her for ANYTHING, you have to qualify her. You have to ask smart questions.
Imagine that Carlos, instead of that email, strategically asks Sandra, well in advance, for 10 minutes over a coffee (virtual or in person).
The conversation does NOT start with “I need”. It starts with “how’s it going”.
“Hey Sandra, thanks for making time. First of all, how’s the rollout of the new automated dashboards going? I know that’s keeping you busy.”
And then you stay silent. You just listen. And she’ll probably tell you something like this:
“Ugh, don’t even mention it. It’s hell. Every department defines its KPIs its own way, the historical data doesn’t match up, and on top of that they’re asking for structural changes when we’ve almost got it built.”
Bingo!
You’ve just found her Point A. Her pain is: “I’m overwhelmed trying to bring order, and my technical work never shines because they’re never happy”.
You keep listening… and ask her the magic question:
“That sounds tough… And what would the ideal scenario be for you right now? What would take that pressure off?”
You stay silent again. And listen to what she tells you:
“Honestly… I’d need people to stop asking for manual changes… and for Management to understand that… either we validate this new standard now… or the project won’t get off the ground.”
Bingo!
You’ve just found her “Point B”.
Her desire isn’t just “to work less”. Her desire is: Visibility… and for someone to validate that her new system works.
Now… and only now… is when you present your “request”.
But careful… it’s no longer a request for help. It’s a strategic alliance.
Look at how you put it to her:
“I completely understand. Look… that’s exactly why I wanted to talk to you.
The Q3 report I’m putting together… goes straight to the Executive Committee.
How about we use my presentation… to officially launch your new automated dashboards?
I get my data… and you get the visibility you need with Management.”
See the difference?
With this… Carlos goes from being a “problem”… to being a partner.
He stops being “the Marketing guy asking for things”… and becomes Sandra’s Trusted Advisor.
This isn’t manipulation. It’s Political Intelligence.
It’s about looking beyond yourself… and understanding that… for the ship to move forward… all the oars must row in the same direction.
So… the next time you think… “Business Intelligence just doesn’t get me”…
Ask yourself: “Have I tried… to understand them?”
As management expert Xavier Marcet rightly says, silos aren’t broken with more processes or bureaucracy; they’re broken by building bonds of trust and a common purpose.
And this is where internal Consultative Selling stops being a “soft skill” and becomes your competitive advantage. It’s the tool for building those bonds where others only see barriers.
Your task for this week.
Identify a colleague from another department… with whom you already have some rapport.
Someone you get along with… but with whom conversations are still superficial or purely operational.
That person you need on your side… but with whom things don’t quite “flow”.
Forbid yourself from sending the usual email asking for things.
Instead… invite them for a coffee. Virtual or in person. Just 15 minutes.
Your goal is NOT to ask for anything. It’s to understand them.
Qualify them.
Ask about their “Point A”: what’s keeping them up at night right now.
And about their “Point B”: what they need to achieve this quarter.
And then… just listen.
You’ll be surprised how quickly the dynamics change… when you stop trying to break the door down…
and simply… use the right key.
If you want to learn how to navigate silos intelligently… and without cheap politics… subscribe to the channel.
And tell me in the comments: which department gives you the hardest time?
