It’s easy to get caught up in the buzz of new marketing and sales technologies and tactics. And it’s tempting to think the latest and greatest thing will be the solution to all of your concerns. Business success, however, depends on something more. It calls for having certain human behaviors.

As Michael W. McLaughlin writes in his article 10 Things the Top Consultants Do, some people seem perfect for a career in professional services, but they fail because they lack certain qualities. They might be the nicest and most skilled person, but these days that isn’t enough.

In McLaughlin’s experience, top service professionals have 10 behaviors that set them apart from the pack including, being an independent thinker, putting client concerns first and money second, mastering the art of consulting, and being confident without being arrogant.

“There’s a fine line between confidence and arrogance, which the best consultants recognize and respect,” McLaughlin says. “They know when to back off. If you’re tempted to venture into unfamiliar project territory, check your justification for doing it. Are you being confident or arrogant?”

Also key to your success is your mindset—how you think about your work. Negative thoughts about sales and marketing will prevent you from implementing strategies that can drive your business forward, says Robert Middleton in his article The Only Thing Holding Your Business Back.

“Truth be told, marketing and selling aren’t all that complicated. It’s a series of strategies and tactics that anyone can learn, practice, and implement. Over time, you get better and your results improve. Ultimately, by mastering this process, you’ll earn more money than you can even imagine,” he writes. “And the only things that can really stop you are your thoughts.”

Acting Human in an Online World

The rush to use social media networks for marketing has many people forgetting that this medium requires a human approach just like marketing via traditional channels. In fact, the people you’re reaching out to via social media are like the gatekeepers of traditional media, says Mike Danielson in his article Why Social Media Marketing Must Follow Old Media Rules.

“There are specific guidelines for creating social media posts that appeal to the audience. When building a social media marketing plan, it would be wise for businesses to follow similar specifications that media gatekeepers do. If you ambush your followers with self-serving or ill-suited posts, there is a real risk they will turn their backs on you,” he says.

Use social media networks to focus on buyers’ problems, not force solutions on them, Danielson adds.

“The ‘heavy on the problem’ strategy is useful here because now the company can wrap relevant content about the problem around how their product can alleviate it. In providing this knowledge, the company confirms its position as an industry leader and drives its readers to trust it with their business,” he says.

Developing Trust via Book Publishing

Trust might be the most critical human quality when it comes to succeeding in business. When buyers trust you, they’re more likely to buy from you and to refer you. And publishing a book is one way to elevate their trust in you.
Once you publish a book, you gain almost instant expert status, says Stephanie Chandler in her podcast interview How Publishing a Book Can Generate Business Revenue.

“Any newspaper, magazine, television show or radio show love to interview authors because authors are the experts. They’re the authorities in their fields,” she says. “So, while it might be a lot of work to put a book together, you can create so many fabulous results because you have that book and you can get quoted in major media and your local hometown media and really get known for what it is that you do.”

Additionally, if you can partner with another business and give them copies of your book to give to their clients, you can rev up your referral engine. For example, one of Chandler’s clients wrote a parenting guide. She sent it to local marriage and family therapists, and they started referring clients to her law firm. The firm became the largest law firm in town thanks in large part to those referrals.

What ideas do you have for humanizing your business and creating trust with buyers?

Photo by Micu Radu

How many of you have taken to the social networks when you’ve been unhappy with a company’s service? Posted on their Facebook wall when you couldn’t get someone to respond to you? Tweeted your unhappiness? Or posted comments on Yelp? I suspect a lot of you have. And if you’re doing it, you know your customers are also doing it.

We’ve been given so many venues to connect with people and share our thoughts and opinions, and we—as well as our customers—are increasingly vocal about our experiences. That’s a great thing when customers say good things about you. But when they say negative things, watch out. The picky, fickle, and vain customers of today will quickly leave you when not satisfied, and they’ll tell the world about their unhappiness, causing others to not even consider you.

What you must do, then, is turn those “wired and dangerous” customers into “wired and loyal” customers, write Chip R. Bell and John R. Patterson in their article, Turn Picky, Fickle Customers into Loyal Clients.

There are a few things you can do to make that happen and keep customers from abandoning you, all of which revolve around giving exemplary customer service, say Bell and Patterson. Start by monitoring all mentions of you on the web and take all comments and complaints seriously. Catching and resolving issues early is essential.

“Research reveals a strong relationship between effort and satisfaction,” Bell and Patterson say. “When a client found an experience to be both satisfactory and effortless, they were three-and-a-half times more likely to say they were loyal. It means the concept of ‘first-call resolution’ may need to take a back seat to ‘first-contact resolution.’”

Become Irresistible

Customers today are also “crazy busy,” says Jill Konrath. They’re going as fast as they can to produce products, provide services, meet deadlines, resolve problems, and keep their businesses going. But you can capture their attention—and their business—if you can understand their thinking and show how you can help them, she says.

For example, buyers won’t listen to you if you present them with complex ideas. They don’t have time to sort it all out. They also won’t change anything if they think it will inhibit their careers. And if your service looks the same as what they currently use, they won’t switch. But they will pay attention if you keep things simple, demonstrate a strong business case, and minimize the risk of working with you, says Konrath in her article, How to Make Yourself Irresistible to Crazy-Busy Customers.

You must also be prepared, adds Konrath.

“If you aren’t prepared, you aren’t credible. In fact, you’re just like every other self-serving salesperson. Make sure every meeting with you is well worth their time,” she says.

Don’t Depend on Gravy. Get Out and Prospect

A little “gravy” in your sales diet is a good thing. New business simply falls into your lap. But if you rely on that easy business, or go on the “Gravy Diet,” you could starve. Successful salespeople know they have to take control of their future and have a system for getting new business, says Landy Chase in his article, Want to Lose Sales? Try the ‘Gravy Diet’.

That means you have to prospect for new business or potential customers will pass you by. You could provide a fantastic service that’s unique compared to nearly everyone in your field, but buyers have no idea. You need a system that includes marketing, referrals, branding, networking, and integrity, Chase says.

Generate Referrals

Referrals—absolutely, you think. That’s how you prefer to generate new business. But are you asking for referrals, or introductions, the right way? Or are you inadvertently pushing clients away and causing them to not refer you?

If you ask for a referral with an open-ended question—such as “Who else do you know?”—you will cause the client to resent you, says Colleen Francis in her Q&A, Avoid this Mistake When Asking for a Referral or Testimonial.

“Clients resent it when you go to them and ask them to do a whole bunch of work for you,” she says. “Asking for a referral in that open-ended statement won’t get you any referrals … because your clients have other things to do.”

Instead approach your client with the names of specific companies you would like to work with whom you think your client can help with, and say something like, “I was thinking that these engineering firms in California—A, B, and C—would be a really great fit for our business. I’m wondering if you can help me with an introduction,” Francis says.

Consider All Possibilities, Not Just the Tactic of the Week

We’ve said it before, the strategies you use to attract new customers depends on what your buyers prefer. If they actively use social media, then you need to network with them there. If they respond better to email, then you need to communicate with them via that platform. You can’t adopt a strategy or tactic simply because it’s new and sounds exciting.

In fact, when EPIC Translations needed to generate new business it went back to a marketing tactic many businesses have dropped since the explosion of online marketing—direct mail. Only it added an online twist to its campaign, writes Mary Flaherty in her case study, Firm Combines Direct Mail with Online Features to Increase Sales.

The company sent a postcard to a highly targeted list, and on the postcard included an online call to action so that it could better track responses. The postcard directed prospects to a specific landing page, and it had a QR code that people could scan to get information.

Imran Virk, director of sales at EPIC Translations, said he decided to explore direct mail because he noticed not many companies were using it.

“Don’t be afraid to be different and try tactics that have worked in the past,” he says. “What can actually get somebody’s attention now? Believe it or not, people do pay attention to something that they receive in the mail. I know I certainly do.”

Photo by kymillman

Learn more in Paul McCord's on-demand webinar, The Key to Building a Successful Referral-Based Practice.

Most service professionals would love it if people would simply call them up and say they’d like to buy their services. Considering the chances of that happening are slim to none, the next best option is to get referrals from clients.

Once you’ve established your value and the quality of your work—and your client feels comfortable giving you a referral—getting a name and number of a potential buyer isn’t that difficult. The challenge is in turning that referral into a buyer. To do that, you need more than just a name and number, says Paul McCord in a recent interview, A Ridiculous Way to Get Referrals.

“Most of us have finally figured out over a period of time that we may get a name and a phone number, but that’s really about all that we get. It’s little better than taking out the phone book and pointing at a name at random. And the problem is the way we’ve been taught creates more problems than it solves,” says McCord, who’s presented a webinar July 14 titled The Key to Building a Successful Referral-Based Practice.

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Listen to the complete interview here:

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How do you get more than a name and number? And how do you turn that referral into a buyer? McCord advocates asking the client to introduce you to the prospect. And he says there are three types of introductions that improve the odds of that referral becoming a client.

1. A Referral Letter

You can ask your client to write a referral letter, but McCord suggests you write the letter and have the client sign it. There are two reasons for this: you control when the letter is sent and you know more than your client what you’ve actually done for them.

“When I write the letter, my first paragraph is usually a real brief summary of what I’ve done for my client. The second paragraph is where my client recommends for whatever reason, and I’ll always give a reason, why they should meet with me. The third paragraph is just kind of a little push. It would say something like, ‘Michelle, I really respect your opinion and your judgment. Once you’ve met with Paul I’d really like to hear what you think about him and his company,’” McCord says.

After the client signs the referral letter and you mail it, follow up with the prospect to try to set an appointment.

2. Introduction over the Phone

A phone introduction is much more personal, and it has greater impact, says McCord.

“It’s also very difficult for that prospect, when I ask them for an appointment, for them to say no when the know that my client—their friend, their coworker, whomever—is standing right next to me. So getting that appointment is much, much easier if I’m using a phone call,” he says.

3. In-person Introduction

An even more effective method is to have your client invite the prospect to a lunch or coffee meeting, with you in attendance, McCord says.

“It gives me an opportunity to meet that prospect more as a friend than as a seller at this point. And again when I ask for that appointment, it’s almost impossible for them to say no when my client is sitting right there with us,” he says.

Learn more about getting referrals in Colleen Francis's on-demand webinar, Unleash Your Secret Sales Force

Referrals—they can make selling your services so much easier. Yet often professionals don’t get them. Why is that?

In a recent interview, Colleen Francis, President of Engage Selling, told me two things stop service professionals from getting the referrals they deserve: 1) they don’t ask, and 2) they ask incorrectly.

“Study after study shows that referrals are the preferred way to generate leads and to win new business, yet well over 80% of salespeople just aren’t asking,” Francis says. “They worry that if they go to their clients and ask for referrals that they will appear to be desperate and needy, and they don’t want their clients to think they need help.”

If professionals get over their fear of asking for a referral, the next step is to figure out how to ask correctly so that they see success every time, Francis adds.

Listen to the full interview here:

The Correct Way to Ask for a Referral

The key to asking for referrals is to be specific and to help your clients give them, says Francis. Don’t make it too much work for them.

“For example, you never want to say, ‘Who else do you know?’ And that’s such a common thing for salespeople. We don’t ever want to say that because that is going guarantee that you will not get any referrals,” she says. “The key is to be very specific and to give direction and to be directive with your clients. The last thing you want to do is make more work for your clients.”

Make sure your clients understand all of the services you offer, they types of companies you want to do business with, and give them something good to talk about. And make sure you reward them for their help. It could be a simple thank-you note, a Starbucks card, or free admission to an event you’re presenting. The key is to make them feel good for helping you.

Studies show that 80% to 90% of clients, when they’re satisfied with your services, are happy to give referrals. So, go ahead and ask, but ask correctly.

Don Draper knows a thing or two about communicating with clients

You’ve been invited to a party where you will be socializing with executives from companies you’d like to add to your client list. Do you use the event as an opportunity to pitch them your services? If you said yes, think again.

Even Don Draper from TV’s Mad Men knows it isn’t the right place to give your elevator pitch. As Don said in a season 3 episode to co-head of accounts Pete Campbell, when Pete was drooling over the CEOs present at a party, “Don’t hand out your card.”

There is a time and place for such conversations, and social events are not one of them, agrees Charles H. Green in his article, When to Ditch the Elevator Speech and Take the Escalator or the Stairs. In those situations, it’s better to avoid the Elevator Speech and instead use what he calls The Stairs Speech.

“In this situation, if someone says, ‘What do you do?’ they’re not inviting you to assess their business, much less pitch your own. And remember, they probably don’t care much about your answer. “Their question was a social nicety; they didn’t come to this event looking for business contacts,” Green says.

Keep your answer brief and simple, and “toss the conversational ball back to the other side,” he says. The dialogue is back and forth, taking the conversation one step at a time. If they want to continue the conversation, then do so later—away from the event.

Should the person turn out to be a promising lead, be prepared to nurture that relationship. It can take several “touches” (sometimes as many as 10) before the person decides to purchase your services, John Doerr and Mike Schultz write in their blog post, Prospecting 101: How to Improve Prospecting Success. In addition, each person responds differently to different types of touches, so be prepared to do more than send one email.

“Use a variety of touches to reach out and warm up your prospects—and make sure each touch has value in and of itself,” they say. “When you think about providing value, don’t think only about the value you will eventually provide when the prospect buys from you. Think about the value they’ll get just from speaking with you.”

Conversations with Clients

Should your prospect become a satisfied client, don’t be afraid to ask for a testimonial of your services or to ask for referrals. If you dread cold calling, a referral or testimonial can warm prospects up, giving you an in with prospective buyers.

“Referrals are the preferred way to generate leads and to win new business, yet well over 80% of salespeople just aren’t asking. They worry that if they ask for referrals that they will appear desperate and needy,” says Colleen Francis, president of Engage Selling. “But studies show that 85-90% of your clients, when they’re satisfied with your work, would gladly give you referrals.”

The key is to ask for referrals correctly, says Francis in her podcast interview, Mistakes that Keep You from Getting the Referrals You Deserve. “The key is to be very specific and to give direction and to be directive with your clients,” she says.

The same applies to testimonials, which should be on every firm’s website to help persuade potential buyers to purchase your services. Testimonials build trust and give insight into your company, your services, and you as a professional.

Testimonials, like case studies, demonstrate that your solution works—that others have used it successfully to improve their business. This type of content appeals especially to website visitors who know their business issue and have narrowed down the solution to a handful of providers, says Jon Baer in his article, Offers that Convert Website Visitors into Qualified Leads.

Successful websites should have several offers that appeal to various visitors, stresses Baer. In addition to case studies and testimonials, offer an opportunity to subscribe to your newsletter so people early in the sales cycle can learn more about you. You should also provide an easy way to contact you once they’re ready to speak with you.

Communicate Your Value with Content

You should also provide content—articles, research, white papers, etc.—that communicates the value you offer and pulls prospects to you. More often than not, buyers are turning to search engines when starting the sales process. Having such content on your website will help draw those buyers to you.

Peak Cost Containment greatly improved its lead generation from its website after publishing search-optimized content on its website. It developed case studies, executive briefs, and blog material to spread the word about new developments.

Traffic to the website steadily increased—attracted by the informational content—and those website visitors began to convert to leads, according Van Haas, founder and CEO of the company.

In a case study about the company, How a Consulting Firm Quadrupled Its Client Base and New Business Opportunities in Six Months, Haas says he also used email to nurture leads. He wanted to follow up with prospects in a tactful way with useful information to deepen their understanding of his services and build trust.

The efforts paid off. Visitors who came to the site from organic search had a conversion rate of more than 3% by August 2010. And within six months, Peak gained 130 leads.

When it comes to selling your services, do not underestimate the power of communication. Whether you’re meeting someone for the first time at an event, following up with potential buyers via phone calls or email, or communicating with current clients, what you say can lead to new opportunities or to closed doors.

Last year, we asked you to share your selling services challenges. You flooded us with your challenges and concerns, which included communicating the value of your services, client relationship management, and qualifying leads. In this blog series we identify 12 of the major selling obstacles you are struggling with the most and offer advice and suggestions for overcoming them.

This week’s challenge: getting referrals.

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If it’s no secret that referrals are among the top ways professional services firms get leads and new business, then why do so many providers struggle when it comes to getting referrals?

We know our buyers rely on colleagues, associates, and friends to recommend service providers. And we know when a prospect comes to us via this route that some of our work is already done for us. After all, a referral comes with some pre-selling done, since a certain amount of trust and credibility comes along with it.

Are you doing what it takes to generate quality referrals?

While most professionals recognize this, they don’t effectively tap into their networks to proactively generate referrals.

This happens for a number of reasons. As we saw in the Selling Services Challenge, many people are uncomfortable asking for referrals. They either don’t want to appear “salesy” or don’t want to appear desperate for the work. Or, as John Jantsch, author of The Referral Engine, suggests in his podcast with RainToday’s Michelle Davidson, they may be insecure about whether they deserve referrals—do they actually deliver value and benefit to their clients?

Be Referable

To make referral marketing a proactive part of your lead generation activities, you need to be referable. Ensure that you deliver what you promise, when you promise—and that you actually deliver value to your clients.

Don’t Rely on Accidental Referrals

This is important.

If you don’t want what Jantsch calls “accidental referrals,” you need to get clear on who you want to attract as clients and how your network can help you get referrals to those clients.

Don’t Wait for the Pipeline to Dry Up

Don’t wait until your pipeline for work has stopped flowing. Put a referral process into place now to drive high quality referrals consistently.

Create Your Own Referral System

Start getting quality referrals using these tips (in no particular order):

1. Create a referral program with complimentary service providers to exchange referrals. Be sure you only include providers in this network that you’d be comfortable recommending to your best client or best friend.
2. Recognize and thank your referral sources. This could be with a simple phone call, email, or—even better—a handwritten note. The important thing is to express your appreciation. You’ll also encourage additional referrals this way.
3. If you have clients who don’t refer, create another way for them to recommend your services (e.g., case study, testimonial). I once worked for a large organization that prohibited written testimonials and discouraged referrals; however, I was able to provide recommendations by phone for vendors with which I worked. Two vendors I worked with took advantage of this opportunity and closed several deals by having select high-value prospects speak with me.
4. Include a “Referrals Appreciated” blurb in your print or email newsletter. Be sure to describe what an ideal referral looks like for you.
5. Also in your email newsletter, include a request: “If you got value from this article, please share it with your network (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn).” Add icons and links that make it easy to share content.
6. Add to your email signature: Referrals Appreciated.
7. Add a “referrals appreciated” tagline or “By Referral Only” to your business card.
8. Make sure your current clients know about the services you offer so they can either refer within their company or to others they know. Too often providers assume their clients know more about them than they do. If you’re a market research firm and a client uses only your online survey research services, for example, make sure they know about your intercept interview service or focus group capabilities.
9. Add a link to a form on your website for referral submissions.
10. Proactively refer people to other businesses that have a clientele similar to yours. Let those businesses know you’ve done so and that you’d appreciate the same.
11. Be remarkable; remind clients why your service is special. Give them something (good) to talk about.
12. Inspire confidence. It’s risky referring someone—what if it’s not successful? You can inspire confidence in your referral sources by letting them know that 80% (or whatever) of your business comes from repeat customers.
13. Offer an affiliate program.
14. Offer a guarantee. This is another way to inspire confidence (see #12).
15. Provide valuable content your referral sources can share with their network—an invitation to a breakfast or lunch seminar or webinar on an industry topic, research briefs, an article about a regulatory change or industry trend, etc. Make it something special for them to share.
16. Treat the vendors and suppliers with which you do business as partners. Make sure they’re aware of who you help and the services you provide.
17. Update your LinkedIn profile. Include the link to your profile in your email newsletter or website to make it easy for referral sources to share. Include it in your email signature with the note, “Please feel free to forward my profile to others you feel would benefit from my services.”
18. Create a list of prospects you want to work with. Check out their LinkedIn profiles to see whether you’re connected in any way. If so, reach out to them via your network—whether it’s an individual, a company, or a group.
19. Create a referral program for current clients where they receive some type of reward or recognition for new business they refer. For example, John Jantsch gives an example of an accounting firm that created a “100% Refund” offer where its tax preparation clients received four coded business cards. Clients who referred new clients could receive a refund of up to 100% of their tax preparation fee—25% for each card that was turned in to the firm by a new client.
20. If you generate traffic from Twitter, Facebook, and other social networks, reach out to your networks online and request referrals. On Twitter, you can ask your followers to retweet to their networks.
21. Be helpful in forums. There are many stories of helpful people getting business just from the goodwill they create from helping on Twitter, LinkedIn, and private online communities.
22. Treat your customers as partners, too. Let them know you view them as a strategic partner, and tell them you hope they’ll do the same with you. Create formal channels to share referrals.
23. Educate referral sources so they know what an ideal referral looks like. For example, Sarah Arrow of Same Day Courier Services lets people know their ideal referrals are blue chip companies looking to deliver airfreight and time-sensitive components. They don’t deliver small packages like nuts and bolts unless they are worth more than $5,000.
24. Give your raving fans the tools they need to refer you. Johan Taft had people tell him they wanted to refer him, but they didn’t know how to explain what he does. So, he created a site for referrals and testimonials. He has a link to it in his email signature, and he gives copies of the PDF document posted there to people who are interested in referring him.
25. GIVE a referral. It’s one of the best ways to get one in return.
    

This is just a start. Let these suggestions jump-start your own idea generation. Create a referral process that works for your ideal clients and your networks.

Be referable. Focus on your ideal clients. Tap into your networks in a proactive way. By putting a referral system into place now, you are more likely to receive quality referrals throughout the year.

Photo: Jason Gulledge

Last week, I had a long-overdue chat with a former colleague, a marketing director. We met in her office, and as I sat down at her work table, she scooped up piles of papers to make space for my coffee.

“Sorry,” she said. “I’m in major overwhelm mode here. Juggling too many writing projects and a new product launch.”

Well, I know that feeling, so I jumped right in.

“What are the writing projects? Is there anything you could hand off to a freelancer?” I asked.

“Well, there’s a white paper that needs writing, and we have no sales collateral for the new product launch,” she responded. “Why, do you know someone?”

“Sure.” I rattled off the name of a writer who specializes in writing white papers for the IT industry and another who would be a good fit for the sales collateral.

My friend was thrilled. I was happy to be able to help. And, importantly, those two writers each just received a referral. And, not just a generic “I need a writer referral.” I didn’t simply offer my friend the names of some “writers;” I gave her the names of an “IT industry white paper writer” and a “sales collateral writer.” Professionals who specialize in solving the exact problems she was facing.

Despite the growing number of ways to generate leads for professional services, e.g., direct mail, cold calling, email, online, webinars, and more, research shows that referrals are still the top way professionals generate leads.

Yet many professionals I speak with wonder why they don’t get more referrals. They wonder what they’re doing wrong—Not doing enough networking? Not going to the right events? Not asking for referrals? And often, those are indeed real problems. However, in many cases the lack of referrals stems from something else.

How did I know whom to refer to my friend the marketing director? Well, each of the professionals I referred did the groundwork for me.

Each has a tightly defined niche. They describe the work they perform in terms of the types of writing they specialize in, as well as the industries and clients they serve. Not only have they clearly defined their niche, but they communicate and reinforce that message.

• One is a frequent speaker at events that showcase her white paper expertise and industry experience. She reinforces her niche on her website and in her tweets. She writes blog posts and articles about white papers on related industry sites.
• One keeps in close contact with me, with phone calls and email updates. She lets me know about projects she’s working on, recent successes, and her availability to take on new work. Her email signature includes her special focus, a link to her blog and website, and association awards she’s received.

Unlike some professionals who try to be all things to all people, neither is afraid to define the niche they serve and devote all their energy to cultivating that niche.

They make it easy for me to refer them.

How do you make it easy for your contacts to refer you?

What growing up at a motel taught me about running a service business. (Photo by Will V.)

The 4th of July has always signaled the beginning of summer to me. Fireworks, parades, barbecues, picnics, and baseball games—what better ways to celebrate the kickoff of the short-lived, New England heat?

The holiday also brings back memories of my childhood. I grew up in a small tourist town in southern Maine where my parents owned and managed a motel. Growing up living at a motel made for a pretty interesting childhood where I got to meet new people every day and make friends all over the world.

It wasn’t all fun and games. Growing up in a family business also meant that I had to work every summer. I’d do everything from housekeeping to running the front office to painting to cleaning the pool. But I wouldn’t trade those experiences for anything. In fact, I learned a number of lessons that have stuck with me throughout my life.

Here are five of those lessons that have really become guiding principles for me in running a service business.

1. Always put the people first. Staff, clients, prospects—if you put the people first, everything else will fall in line.

My parents always put an emphasis on personal relationships. They built strong relationships with guests where they’d stay in touch throughout the year, sending Christmas cards, letters, and emails to guests just to see how they were doing and fill them in on what was going on in our lives. Every Friday night my parents would take one of the repeat guests out to dinner, and they would host small cocktail parties. These relationships kept folks coming back year after year.

They also built strong bonds with the staff. They genuinely cared about (and sometimes for) the employees, and in turn, the employees would regularly go above and beyond the call of duty.

Professional services marketing, selling, and management are all about relationships. If you put people first and allow this philosophy to drive the rest of your decisions, everything else will fall in line. Go above and beyond for your staff, and you will have a group of people working with you who go above and beyond for you, one another, and your clients.

2. The price of entry gets you only so far. The cleanliness of the rooms at the motel, having amenities guests want, and our location got us only so far. In the hospitality business, such things are the price of entry. If you don’t have them, you won’t survive for very long. But having them only gets you to the starting gate.

Your clients expect excellent service and technical competence. What can you do above and beyond “doing good work” that will help you compete?

3. Ask for referrals. More than 65% of the reservations at the motel came from customers who came back year after year. And the number one source of new customers was through referrals. As my parents built a relationship with each guest, they got know their extended families and friends, and they were not shy about asking for a referral.

It’s as easy as saying, “Wouldn’t it be nice if you all vacationed together next year?” Or, “Why doesn’t your cousin Joe who is staying down the road, stay here? It would be much more convenient for you all, and it would be wonderful to have him.”

It’s nice when clients make referrals on their own, but as a rule you can’t expect them to connect the dots between the people they know who might need your services and you. Ask questions, and ask for referrals.

4. Everyone needs to pitch in. On any given day you would find my mother making beds to help out the housekeeping team, painting a wall in a room, or fielding calls during the busy hours in the office. As the owner/manager, she set an example for me and the rest of the staff that everyone needs to pitch in and help out to get things done.

Helping your teammates goes a long way, no matter what your job description is. It may involve staying late or working on the weekends to get a project done, or proofreading that big proposal, or helping a colleague with a mundane task. As a leader at a professional services organization (or aspiring leader), you set the example that all others will follow. Provide support and help out any way possible.

5. Be genuine. None of this works if you are not genuine. People can tell when you care, are serious about building relationships, and give your all to be the best you can be.

These lessons are among the many I’ve learned from my parents. I hope that in sharing them, they will help you grow as an individual and a business leader as much as they have helped me.

Do buyers see you as trustworthy or as a snake oil salesman?

Trust—there are countless articles, books, videos, and webinars about the importance of trust when selling professional services. You might think, “OK, OK—I get it. I need to get buyers to trust me.” But are you doing what it takes to establish that trust? Do you really understand what can happen if you don’t have a buyer’s trust? You could see a sale slip away even when you think you’re doing everything right.

That’s exactly what Colleen Francis was seeing when she wrote her article, The Sale That Slipped Away: What Went Wrong? The thing that went wrong is sellers pushed too hard—they oversold their service. And by doing so, they raised doubt in the buyers’ minds. They made them question whether they were genuine and trustworthy.

Charles H. Green, one of the masters of establishing trust in business relationships, has developed a plan to help you increase your business’s trust. In his article, 3 Strategies for Increasing Your Business’s Trust he says there are three dimensions by which you should measure your business’s performance on trust: Are your people trustworthy? Does your organization promote trustworthiness? Do you trust others appropriately? If you want to increase your business’s trust, you must have a strategy for all three.

In this day and age when people have little trust for most things—the government, Wall Street, big banks, car makers, Facebook, etc.—firms must show that they’re trustworthy and perform amazing work that keeps clients coming back for more. It isn’t enough to simply outline your services.

Change is Needed

Firms must also realize that a couple rainmakers are not enough to help a firm grow or even survive, says Lisa Nirell in her podcast interview, What Firms Must Do to Achieve Sustainable Growth. A firm’s success depends on everyone in the organization working together to attract and retain clients, and you need a plan for doing that.

Marketing plays a key role in that plan. Increasingly firms are turning to inbound marketing tactics such as blogs, search engine optimization, and social networks. One attraction is the lower cost per lead compared with outbound marketing tactics. But with so much online activity from firms, you must develop a plan that helps you stand out and you must test various tactics, says Jasmine Sandler in her article, The Secret to Online Marketing Success.

Firms are also thinking creatively when it comes to networking to develop new business partners and generate referrals. Doing so has become a necessity when traditional golf games and mixers fail to produce results. CPA firm Piercy Bowler Taylor & Kern followed this path and created Table for Four marketing lunches. The lunches were a big success, immediately leading to referrals and a six-figure deal. And what helps you get referrals? Trust. The events gave the firm’s partners an opportunity to develop relationships and build trust.

So, what are you doing to build your business’s trust?

How do your client relationships grow? (Photo by straymuse)

All service professionals face sticky situations and cranky clients. You miss a milestone, people get upset with one another, and there are misunderstandings about scope. All of those situations can lead to tough client situations. But if you have a good relationship with the client, a healthy mindset, and a willingness to talk about the situation, not only will you get through the issues but you will have a healthier relationship as a result, says Michael W. McLaughlin in his article, When Clients Put You on the Hot Seat.

How well you interact with clients is key, he stresses.

“The success of the services you deliver and the results you achieve depend in large part on the quality of the personal interactions you have with others along the way,” McLaughlin says. “Keep that in mind, and you’ll be able to tackle any problem clients throw your way.”

Investing in client relationships goes a long way toward helping you grow your business. That’s because you become more referable and prospects are drawn to you, says Joseph Jaffe, author Flip the Funnel: How to Use Existing Customers to Gain New Ones in his podcast interview, Why You Must Invest in Existing Clients.

Avoid doing what many firms do: ignore a client after a project is complete. Instead, stay in touch with the client and keep the relationship going. “If you invest in your clients down the road, they will return that investment tenfold,” Jaffe says.

How do you nurture and grow client relationships? Andrew Sobel, a leading authority on client relationships, has several ideas. In his article, How to Grow Client Relationships—and Grow Your Business, Sobel shares 10 events and opportunities that “can all serve to fuel relationship growth—if and only if you recognize them and capitalize on them effectively.”

Opportunities include a company crisis, a new executive, reorganization within the company, and mistakes by current providers.

Lori Richardson, of Score More Sales, turned to book publishing as a way to nurture client relationships. In this week’s case study, Book Publishing Helps Consultant ‘Score More Sales’, she says she uses her book as a calling card to get back in touch with past clients.

“I sent a copy of my latest book to a former client I had lost touch with for a couple of years as a way to rekindle a conversation,” she says. “And he thought it was great and rehired me for another training gig.”

Some firms also turn to automated lead management tools to identify, track, and nurture new revenue opportunities. And the investment in such tools is paying off, according to Aberdeen Group. Research conducted by the firm shows 63% best-in-class companies that use those tools are seeing a return on the investment. They say they are better able to measure and account for their marketing efforts, learn more about clients, manage multi-channel activities from one application, and prioritize leads for sales.

Before you can begin the nurturing process and build relationships with clients, however, you must start with a lead. And your website is an ideal place to get those leads, says Todd Miechiels in his article, 5 Ways to Get More Sales Leads from Your Website. If you don’t think so, then your website probably isn’t set up properly.

“If your website generates sales leads today, it’s entirely possible that, with a few modifications, you could enjoy a 2X (or even 5X) increase in leads,” Miechiels says.

The modifications are not terribly difficult, but you need to make them now before your competition does and starts to get all of your business.