Do your clients love you and what you do for them?

It may sound a little risqué to say you’re in the relationship business, but the truth of the matter is your relationships with clients play a huge role in your company’s success. Do your clients like you? Can they depend on you? Do they value you? Do they trust you? Do you trust them?

All of those factor into whether you have good relationships with your ideal clients.

When it comes to starting relationships with prospects, there are many things that can demonstrate your expertise, give a feel for what it’s like to work with you, and create a foundation of trust. Here’s a look at a few:

Articles that Feature You

In this online world, the first thing people do when researching purchases is go to the web. They research their problem and possible solutions. If they find an article on the topic that features you or is written by you—and it provides helpful information—you move to the top of their list.

You can write an advice-like article and post it on your website or blog. You can also approach journalists and bloggers and let them know about you and your expertise. If you have something newsworthy to share, they could write about you or they could use you as a source in an article they write.

Approaching such writers requires some tact. Like your buyer relationships, relationships with journalists and bloggers call for a softer touch that first gets you on their radar and then proves you’re someone they want to work with. In fact, a personal approach often works best, writes David Spark in his article How to Approach Journalists and Bloggers–and Get Them to Write about You.

Bloggers on a recent PR summit said “they appreciate the personal approach where the person contacting them knows the writer, what they cover, and what they’re interested in,” Spark writes.

Other tips: keep pitches short, avoid all capital letters, and don’t call to ask if they received your email or press release.

Get Prospects to See You in Action

Speaking opportunities at conferences or industry meetings are a great way to demonstrate your expertise, showcase your personality, and network with potential buyers. The key to successful speeches depends on getting buyers into your session. And that takes work.

“Too many professional service firms put out a press release about the event or speaking engagement and call it a day. That doesn’t cut it anymore. Neither does writing a blog post or announcing it on LinkedIn. Elbow grease is required,” writes Vickie K. Sullivan in her article 3 Strategies to Get Buyers to Attend Your Next Speech.

Again, personal is best when telling people about the event. What you say to a conference attendee is different than what you say to a cold prospect, she says.

Other ways to help fill the room, according to Sullivan: ask current clients to talk up the event and include opinion leaders who will be attending the conference in your presentation.

Build a Trustworthy Sales Team

If you have a sales team talking with prospects, you have to make sure they have all of the essential information and materials. And that means having an onboarding program for each salesperson, says sales management strategist Lee Salz.

With onboarding programs companies can get new-hire salespeople up to speed and making sales faster, he says in his podcast interview The Best Way to Get New Salespeople Up to Speed and Generating Revenue Quickly. Without them, even great salespeople will fail.

“One of the challenges companies have is they say their new salespeople don’t sell the value that they offer. And I’ll say, ‘OK, when did you teach them about that value?’ And they’ll say, ‘What do you mean teach them the value? They’re salespeople. They’re great salespeople. They should know that.’ Well, you don’t come out of the womb knowing that. You’ve got to teach them how to apply the skills they bring to the table in your selling environment,” Salz says.

Being able to demonstrate the value of what you offer is also critical when it comes to pricing, adds Greta Schulz. If they understand your value and have the budget, you owe it to yourself to stand firm on price, she says.

“A prospect tells you that your price is too high for two reasons: you haven’t built up enough value or you haven’t shown them how your service can satisfy their need. If you do those two things, you should never defend or justify anything about your services, including your rates, to a prospect,” says Schulz in her article How to Close Sales When Buyers Fight You on Price.

Relationship-based Sales Success Story

Relationship-based selling works, as evidenced by Simplicity Consulting, which went from generating $300,000 in revenue to $11.5 million in just three years following that model.

CEO Lisa Hufford’s approach is to focus on the deliverable, writes Mary Flaherty in her case study of the firm Relationship-Based Sales Model Grows Consulting Firm from $300K to $11.5M in 3 Years. Projects often change in Hufford’s industry, so she works closely with clients from the beginning to get a good handle on the work required. The quote is based on the deliverable, and then she carefully matches a consultant to the project. The goal is to meet the clients’ unique needs.

“I believe it’s all about quality, not quantity,” Hufford says, “Clients don’t have the time to screen candidates. They just want to go somewhere they trust to find quality resources.”

Hufford’s relationship approach is a large part of her marketing, as well. She spends a lot of time networking, speaking to groups at large corporations, and educating companies on how to reduce costs and leverage resources in a new way.

“In a people business—especially one just starting out—it’s all about relationships, and that takes a lot of face-to-face meetings,” says Hufford.

I used to be a know-it-all. I thought I had all of the answers and knew how to do everything perfectly. And to admit I was wrong about something felt like I was losing a small piece of me—like I was a failure. I liked being right and hated to be wrong. But who doesn’t?

I’ve learned, however, that one can’t be right all of the time. No one is perfect. And no one can do everything himself. You have to push aside your ego, surround yourself with people who complement what you do, and delegate.

This holds true whether you’re the head of a household, the chairman of a committee, or the owner of a business.

That’s exactly the point Dan Antonelli makes in his article Is Your Business Struggling? Your Ego May Be to Blame. If you are afraid to hire people who are better than you, your company will never play in the big leagues. Your business will succeed when you check your ego and adopt “the successful business owner’s mentality,” he says.

What do successful business owners do? According to Antonelli, they aren’t complacent, they prepare for bad times, they refuse to waste time doing things they can’t do well, and they hire people who have skills to fill the gaps and can elevate the firm.

Other Traits of Successful Businesses

Successful business owners also do these things:

1. They Have Business Growth Plans and a Process to Implement Them
When you create a plan that aligns your firm’s decisions, priorities and business drivers—and execute that plan—you are well-armed to handle economic challenges and market fluctuations, says performance management expert Sandy Blaha in her podcast interview How Your Business Can Succeed Despite a Tough Economy.

When things get difficult, “we like to wander off and get upset and fearful,” she says. “But if you know where you’re going and you’re all aligned with the [firm's] number one priority, it makes all the difference.”

2. They Compete for Clients—Really Compete for Them
Many professional services firms talk about their competition, but few actually compete when they market their services, says Bruce W. Marcus in his article Competing for Clients—Emphasis Is on Competing. Firms must devise a competition strategy that includes deep understanding of their clients and their clients’ industries if they are to survive. Going through the mechanics of marketing isn’t enough, he says.

3. They Fire Unprofitable Clients
Sometimes firms end up with clients who no matter what you do for them aren’t satisfied. They always want “one more thing.” And the more you oblige them, the more they seem to want. These ongoing demands, however, erode profit and turn a once-profitable client into an unprofitable one, says Mark Hunter in his article You Might Need to Fire Your Client If . . ..

“Once you spot a trend with a client making multiple service requests, you must begin detailing the cost involved. A detailed account of what has transpired will help when you and management decide how to deal with the client,” Hunter says.

4. They Try New Marketing Strategies
Successful businesses are open to new ideas. They know that buyer behavior changes and that they, too, must change if they’re going to reach those prospective clients.

Such is the case with Pharmacy Development Services (PDS), which changed up their marketing when traditional methods stopped generating leads. The firm sought outside expertise and created an inbound marketing system, writes Mary Flaherty in her case study Inbound Marketing Helps Consulting Firm Increase Leads by 193%.

With the inbound marketing system, the company tapped into buyers’ needs for information and education and pulled those buyers to them. The system helped PDS increase leads 193% in one year and enabled the company to have more meaningful sales conversations with prospects and make more sales.

What other traits do you think successful businesses have?

Photo by Celine Nadeau

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

While we didn’t return to pre-recession times in 2011, we did see more businesses emerging from their shelters. They put aside their defensive-only approach and began to pursue new business. For many that involved more content marketing, inbound marketing, and social media marketing activities. They published more articles, white papers, blog posts, and reports to establish themselves as industry experts and attract prospective buyers.

As they did that, however, many began to look “on paper” like the other firms in their industry. What they published didn’t differentiate them and actually contributed to the wall of noise many of us experienced in publications, on websites, and on social media networks.

The challenge professional services firms face in 2012 is how to stand out from the crowd—be heard above the noise—and capture the attention and limited dollars of, as sales strategist Jill Konrath calls them, crazy-busy buyers. Read on to learn what RainToday’s publisher and contributing editors say service professionals must do to overcome that obstacle and grow their business.

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The Year of Sales

Mike Schultz, Publisher of RainToday and Co-President of RAIN Group

Mike Schultz, Publisher of RainToday and Co-President of RAIN Group

Selling is becoming more and more important. Websites are looking better, and it’s easier and cheaper to create them, so you don’t know if it’s a seven-person firm or a 70-person firm. Plus, firms of all sizes are producing more articles, white papers, and blogs. It’s harder for customers and clients to differentiate firms based on those things. That means sales conversations are going to set you apart.

The fact of the matter is when prospects pick up the phone and call a firm, and they say, “Hey, I want to talk to you guys about x, y, and z,” the experiences they have immediately when you answer the phone or call them back are what will differentiate you from the other similar-looking firms.

They get a sense of whether: These guys were bright. These guys listened to me. These guys cared about my needs. These guys did a thorough needs discovery. These guys shared with me not feature, feature, feature but relevant things that were helpful for me to think about what I want to do. These guys called me back. These guys didn’t. These guys were arrogant. These guys weren’t. This guy was like a mouse on the phone.

There are all of these things that happen that can cause their perceived value of you to shoot way up or way down and also build their belief of whether you can deliver on the things they want you to deliver on.

Additionally, if you’re not able to communicate your value to prospects, someone else will get their business.

I think 2012 will continue to be the year of sales where whether you have full-time salespeople, you have business developers, or you have partners and consultants that need to sell, the more that you can help them sell, the more successful your firm is going to be. You’re not going to get very far if you don’t have people who can sell.

Value, Value, Value

Robert Croston, Vice President and Principal Consultant of RAIN Group

Robert Croston, Vice President and Principal Consultant of RAIN Group

As we are likely to see painfully slow economic growth in 2012, many professional service firms will concentrate on capturing a larger piece of a static, or even shrinking, pie. To do this, most firms realize they will need to sell better.

This was largely the case last year. However, in 2012 we will see greater refinement in the approach service firms take toward sales. While many firms have become more proactive in their outreach, they will still face an urgency issue: Why now? Why you? And, most important, where’s the value?

To open stingy wallets and move skeptical prospects forward, the focus in 2012 will be on selling the value of a solution and illustrating the impact it will have on an organization. If you are selling value, you can kill three birds with one stone by driving immediate consideration, positioning yourself as distinct, and clearly demonstrating ROI.

Winning Firms Will Be Advisers and Publishers

Michael W. McLaughlin, author and Principal with MindShare Consulting LLC

Michael W. McLaughlin, author and Principal with MindShare Consulting LLC

Maybe it’s a cliché to say that we’re awash in information. But it’s hard to paint a true picture of today’s world without that reference.

Think about it: More data was transmitted over the Internet in 2010 than in all previous years combined, according to researchers at Intel. It’s a safe bet that the numbers didn’t shrink in 2011.

Every minute, 48 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube; each day, 200 million tweets are sent out; and every month, more than 7 billion photos are uploaded to the Internet. More than 4 billion devices are connected to the Internet, and that number is expected to reach 15 billion in just a few years.

The mind-boggling stats have profound implications for professional services providers in 2012 (and beyond). For starters, we have to re-double our efforts to remain effective information filters for our inundated clients.

Also, clients will become increasingly dismissive of those who try to market services by publishing over-simplified stuff like, “The 7 Secrets of Servant Leadership” in 300 words or fewer.

Service providers who rely on thought leadership to generate business will have to ratchet up the quality of what they produce, and they must be ready to distribute that content across the many channels clients will use.

Winners in 2012 will be both client advisers and publishers. They’ll apply the same uncompromising standards to their publishing activities as they do to client service. They’ll work tirelessly to put the “thought” into thought leadership.

They’ll stress substance and depth in their marketing content, not volume. They’ll be generous with their best ideas because they realize that’s the way to get clients to notice. And they’ll treat the communities they create through their publishing and marketing activities like clients—those they will listen to, serve, and eventually convert into buyers.

The Demise of Nice Salespeople

Jill Konrath, author and sales strategist

Jill Konrath, author and sales strategist

Crazy-busy decision makers have absolutely no interest in working with relationship-oriented salespeople who willingly go the extra mile to take good care of them. Instead, they want to work with savvy professionals who bring them high value on a regular basis.

To be one of those people, sellers need to sharpen their personal expertise in areas relevant to their customers. Then, they need to proactively bring customers fresh ideas, insights, and information to help them achieve their business objectives. Salespeople need to realize they are the differentiator, not their products or services.

In short, being nice is simply no longer sufficient in today’s business environment.

Be Prepared for Volatility

Vickie K. Sullivan, author and President of Sullivan Speaker Services

Vickie K. Sullivan, author and President of Sullivan Speaker Services

The key word for next year: volatility. Watch for done deals to be derailed because of buyers’ overreaction to unexpected events. Many people are still cautious and will default into doing nothing in response to outside forces, such as the economy or an unexpected dip in cash flow.

My suggestions to deal with this are two-fold: first, pack your pipeline full of opportunities so that your firm can quickly fill the void. Second, be prepared to give buyers’ compelling reasons for why it’s still good for them to move forward. The more specific the reasons are the better. Listen to the buyers’ stories and then explain what will happen if they wait.

Continued Unemployment Will Lead to More One-Person Firms

Charles H. Green, Founder and CEO of Trusted Advisor Associates

Charles H. Green, Founder and CEO of Trusted Advisor Associates

I do not believe 2012 will look materially different from 2011. But more of the same is meaningful nonetheless. It will mean:

• One more year of unemployment for a great number of talented people
• One more year of experience for all of us with new technologies
• One more year experience for all of us using social media

Those three items alone mean:

1. More one-person firms will seek to do business, especially in professional services
2. Marketing will more and more resemble networking
3. Social media will stratify into more-personal and less-personal groupings
4. Consortium-bidding will become more common and effective
5. Personal collaboration skills will be at a premium

I am a huge fan of The Next Iron Chef: Super Chefs. Watching some of the best chefs in the world compete for the coveted title is nothing short of thrilling. Every week I’m amazed by the immensely creative dishes they make under ridiculous time and sometimes physical restrictions. Watching Chef Geoffrey Zakarian work his culinary magic on Wagyu beef? Awesome. And a smoked turkey soufflé prepared by Chef Elizabeth Falkner in 30 minutes? Fantastic.

All of the competing chefs have the skills, talent, and maybe most important, the drive to win. And because they’re all so good, they must do things that make them shine brighter than all of the others. They need to find that edge.

The same can be said for successful salespeople. They, with the support of their companies, do things that help them stand out among their competitors. They even do things that may seem mundane but because their competitors don’t do them, give them an edge over not only winning the sale but transforming it into a long-time loyal client.

Beating the Competition Online

For many firms that differentiator starts with their website and landing pages. As Axway, a B2B software and services company, found out, changing your landing pages to direct visitor to targeted messages can significantly improve lead generation and conversion rates.

By breaking away from the generic templates used for its landing pages, Axway increased conversion rates to 7.5% from 3% to 4%, writes M. Sharon Baker in her case study about the company, Landing Page Redesign Doubles Conversion Rates and Results in $65K Cost Savings.

“It’s not easy for marketers with tight control of their brands to adopt landing page layout or design changes. But you need to be flexible and open to pushing the limits with what you are comfortable with and learning from what the changes reveal,” says Axway’s vice president of corporate marketing, Erika Blaney.

The use of automated marketing and sales tools can also set you apart from your competition, says Mike Schultz in his podcast interview Automated Marketing and Sales Tools Help Drive Business Growth. You can use them to drive email signups from blogs and websites, generate leads, score leads, nurture leads, and gather marketing intelligence to improve web pages and messaging.

Historically those tools have come with a hefty price tag and have required a significant amount of manpower. That has changed, and companies that stop thinking only large companies can use them will benefit, Schultz says.

The Best Cold Callers Do This

For many organizations cold calling is the preferred tactic. And the salespeople who have the best success using it are those who have a strategic plan each time they pick up the phone, writes Mark Heerema in his article The Biggest Cold Calling Mistake—and How to Prevent It from Ever Happening.

When they make a call, they know exactly what they want, they know word for word how to ask for it, and they have a secure backup plan that allows them to meet at least one of their objectives, he says.

“If you invest the time to nail down these three rules, I guarantee you will see results fast. In addition, your confidence will soar when you don’t have to think so much about every call,” Heerema says.

You will have even greater success if you can warm up your calls by getting an introduction to the person, adds C.J. Hayden.

“Ask your colleagues, others in your market niche, or members of the business and personal networks you belong to if they know this person. If so, would they be willing to serve as your connection? You might ask the person to call or email your prospect and suggest he speak with you, or simply ask if you can use your connection’s name as someone who referred you,” Hayden writes in her article Connecting the Dots to More Sales.

An alternative, and perhaps more helpful, approach is to fill your marketing pipeline with prospects with whom you already have a connection, she says. Those include members of your associations or social networks, alumni of your university or training program, and vendors who serve your current clients.

Take the opportunity to develop relationships with those people and tell them about what you do. I’m not talking about a full-out marketing and sales push, but a gradual approach that gives them an idea for what you do and your areas of expertise. Give them a chance to get to know you and your services and hopefully like you. When they know and like you, they’re more inclined to buy from you.

The Secret Sauce for Developing Loyal Clients

A strong client relationship is the foundation for developing loyal clients. It’s what you build on top of that foundation that determines if your clients will not only return but if they send others your way. And the secret to doing that is outstanding customer service, says Scott Hunter in his article The Secret to Profitable Client Relationships.

“Throughout your dealings with your client, remember to always work on what built the relationship in the first place,” Hunter writes. “Maintain frequent communication with the client, and continue to check on how he is doing. This is the essence of service. Rather than assuming you’re doing a good job taking care of the client, ask the client if you are. Find out if he is getting what was expected.”

You should also ask him from time to time if there’s anything else you can do for him, and keep him informed about new services. This continual conversation will make a difference.

Skills, talent, strategy, drive—they’re all requirements for being a “Super Chef” or a super salesperson. So, what do you think? Will you be the next Iron Salesperson?

When I was in high school, one of my teachers was fond of saying, “Never assume. You make an ass out of U and me.” He wasn’t giving us a tip on how to spell the word, though it is a good one. His point was that incorrect assumptions can leave you and the person you’re making the assumption about in bad light—and more than likely with you looking foolish.

In the business world, however, you have more at risk than looking like a fool. You can lose business, particularly if you make assumptions about your buyers.

One of the biggest mistake sellers can do is assume their buyers are ignorant and that they know better than the people making the purchases, writes Kristin Zhivago in her article The Biggest Sales Lie in Business. The reality is the customer has always been in charge of the buying process—even before the Internet and Google, she says.

“Customers who are about to spend money on services take the time to educate themselves. They keep digging until they find answers that make sense. Their buying process is guided by the experiences of customers who have already bought that type of service,” she writes.

In fact, by the time a prospective buyer approaches a salesperson these days, he has answers to all of his generic questions. That means salespeople must have answers to their very specific questions. They must listen and learn what the customer needs and then explain how their service satisfies that need. If they don’t uncover their full needs and jump in prematurely with a solution—assuming they know what the real problem is—they will either lose the sale or their effort to solve the problem will fail.

Traits of Top Salespeople

Steve W. Martin agrees that salespeople who are modest, don’t assume they know all about their buyers, and don’t act like know-it-alls sell more.

“Contrary to conventional stereotypes that successful salespeople are pushy and egotistical, 91% of top salespeople had medium to high scores of modesty and humility,” Martin writes in his article Top Traits of Successful Salespeople. “Furthermore, the results suggest that ostentatious salespeople who are full of bravado alienate far more customers than they win over.”

Martin says top salespeople are also conscientious and curious. They have a strong sense of duty and are responsible and reliable. And their high level curiosity contributes to their having a strong presence during sales calls and to ask strong questions “to close gaps in information.”

Success in 2012 and Beyond

A firm’s success also depends on its marketing and its principal’s ability to work on challenges facing the firm, not just on client work.

A recent survey conducted by EnergizeGrowth found top challenges included attracting new clients and increasing referrals. But when it came to addressing those challenges, 41% of the people surveyed said they were unfocused and “too busy to work on the business versus in the business,” says Lisa Nirell, CEO of EnergizeGrowth in a podcast interview Top Challenges of B2B Firms and How to Address Them.

Yet when asked how much they’d be willing to invest to address those issues, over 60% said they’re unwilling to invest or don’t know how much to invest, she says.

“If they do believe in learning and they do want to grow, why is such a large percentage of them unwilling to do anything to take action to move their business forward,” she asks. “[They] really have to look deep inside and say, ‘What can I do to make sure I’m not part of that 66%?’”

Longtime marketing strategist Bruce Marcus further says that principals and partners need to play a role in marketing if firms are to succeed.

Under what Marcus calls Professional Services Marketing 3.0, service professionals recognize not only that marketing is an integral part of any practice but that they must participate in and even initiate the marketing process.

They must be willing to compete, change as needed, uncover buyer trends, and truly focus on the client, he says in his article Why Professional Services Marketing 3.0 Matters for Your Future—and What to Do About It.

“Understand that successful marketing is client-based strategy, not a collection of marketing skills and mechanics routinely applied, and that it is client-focused, not firm-focused. ‘This is what I’m selling’ is not the same as selling from a clear understand of client needs,” Marcus says.

Image by Brett Jordan

In every sales conversation some risk is involved. Risks include appearing unqualified, appearing to not understand the prospect’s business, not being understood by the client, and that your price is too high.

Because salespeople are afraid of those risks—afraid of failure—they do things they think will reduce the risk, and in reality they increase the risk, says Charles H. Green in his article How You’re Unknowingly Increasing Sales Risk.

They fear saying something stupid, so they don’t say anything of any consequence. They fear asking stupid questions and appearing ignorant, so they ask only yes-no questions. They fear the prospect won’t understand their services, so they explain every last detail about them.

“By defining ‘the usual suspects’ as saying something stupid, asking stupid questions, or not explaining ourselves, we have implicitly defined our approach to risk management. It is to control the conversation, to avoid unknowns, and to make it mainly about ourselves,” Green writes. “And so it is that we end up shooting ourselves in the foot, actually increasing the risk of losing the sale.”

Prospects trust credentials, reputations, track records, and smarts, but they select providers based on other factors, he stresses.

Those factors include “curiosity, a deep other-orientation, collaboration with clients rather than hiding from them, candor and transparency, a willingness to admit boundaries to our knowledge, and detachment from a particular solution, even from the sale itself,” Green says.

Those are risky actions, but that risk will build trust and lead to more sales.

Sales Training Failures

If you’ve heard the statistic about how sales training fails 90% of the time for companies, you might be hesitant to participate in it. If it’s such a failure, why bother, right?

The thing is sales training fails partially because companies don’t go into it with the right preparation and planning. You can’t just say sales are bad; we need to get our salespeople into training, says John Doerr in his podcast interview 90% of Sales Training Fails–but You Can Fix That. You have to set objectives and expectations for the training, identify the right program for your team, and measure the results.

“If your salespeople know the training you’re sending them to is just another event, another thing that they’re going to go to, and they’re not going to be held accountable afterwards for putting these things in place, they go into it with the attitude that maybe I don’t have to listen,” Doerr says.

Don’t let other companies’ sales training failures scare you off. Learn from their mistakes so that it becomes a success for you.

Online Failures

The online world is also filled with horrible failures: Google penalizes websites for not following their rules, buyers bash companies’ brands in social networks, and salespeople fail to generate client relationships in social networks. But those, too, are situations companies can learn from and change.

If your website goes into “Google Jail,” all is not lost, writes Melanie Yunk in her article What to Do When Your Website Goes to Google Jail. And you certainly shouldn’t give up on the site, for the benefits to your company outweigh the hassle of fixing the offending features.

If you doubt the effectiveness of social media marketing and think your activity there is a waste of time, Landy Chase has some advice for you. With minimal effort, you can easily network with prospects and clients, he says in his article 4 Easy Ways to Use Social Media to Boost Business Development.

“Want to research an account for key contacts? Sign in to LinkedIn and type in the company’s name. Their system will serve you with everything you need to know about that company in a matter of seconds. … Want to send out a new article or item of interest to your prospects? Log in to your email account. There you will see a list of high-quality content, courtesy of the sites you follow, waiting in your in-box for you to review. See something there that you want to distribute? Click on the groups within your social media network that you wish to receive the information, and hit Send,” Chase writes.

Again, with proper planning, your online activity can be a success.

Learning from Failure

Like most companies, MicroVentures Marketplace, Inc. knew it needed to publish content that educated potential buyers and made them aware of their services. An obvious choice for the investment company was a blog. The problem was rules and regulations made it difficult for company founder Bill Clark to write about timely issues. The company’s traditional blog failed to be the big hit they needed, writes M. Sharon Baker in her case study about the business, Startup Uses Media and Sponsored Blog Posts to Prove Concept, Gain Investors.

Clark didn’t give up on the idea of publishing content, though. A better option for him was to write sponsored guest blog posts. The price was high, but he could reach his targeted audience and he could write about anything he wanted.

“It was the most successful thing I ever did to grow signups,” he says. “When I wrote a little 300-word post, it brought us the most traffic and the most signups.”

A single sponsored post drove 700 to 1,000 unique visitors to MicroVentures’ website the day it posted, Clark says. In addition, he typically gained 50 to 100 investors from sponsored post traffic.

Remember, failure is an opportunity to learn and grow from the situation. It took Thomas Edison nearly 10,000 attempts to discover how to create the electric light bulb. Kathryn Stockett received 60 rejections before The Help was accepted by a literary agent. They didn’t give up. Neither should you.

B2B professional services sales and marketing are not what they used to be. Where once there was less competition and it was acceptable—even encouraged—to talk only about you and your services, now you must focus on your buyers.

That isn’t breaking news. For some time we’ve been talking and writing about how you need to uncover prospects’ challenges, build trusting relationships, and practice consultative selling. But with buyers’ increased use of the Internet, their incredibly busy schedules, and their abhorrence of being sold to, service professionals need to modify their sales and marketing strategies further. Here are four things they must consider if they want to survive in today’s marketplace:

1. The Heart of a Firm Is the Clients, Not the Professionals Serving Them

Many firms still hold on to the traditional belief that they “exist for themselves,” writes Bruce W. Marcus in his article Relationships Key to Firms Surviving Today’s Changing Marketplace. What they are, however, are structures “to deal with the market it serves,” he says.

Further, professionals must take on the responsibility to bring in and keep clients. Marketing teams can certainly help, but the increasing need to develop relationships with clients requires hands-on effort from the accountants, lawyers, consultants, etc. in the firm.

2. Help Buyers Solve Problems

Not only should your services solve buyers’ problems, but your marketing should also do that. Stop selling and pushing your services, and use content to help and draw prospects to you, says Michael Stelzner in his podcast interview Why You Need to Rethink Your Marketing Strategy.

People are overloaded by marketing messages and very few trust businesses, so if you use typical marketing tactics to reach them, chances are they will ignore you, he says.

“If you know that they don’t want your marketing messages, then what do they want? I postulate that at their core everybody wants help,” Stelzner says. “And they want either access to great information or great people or recognition. More important than that most likely what they want is to solve a problem. And if you can figure out a way to help people, and you can do it in such a way that you can help tens of thousands or millions of people, then you can get through—you can cut through the noise, you can connect with people.”

3. Get Others to Promote Your Business

A referral often means the name and phone number of someone who might be able to use your services. While that can be helpful, a better option is an introduction to potential buyers.

“Your contacts can help you build new relationships faster by introducing you in person to people they think need your services,” writes Ivan R. Misner in his article 12 Ways Others Can Generate Referrals for Your Firm. “Furthermore, they can provide you with key information about the prospect. They can also tell the prospect a few things about you, your business, how the two of you met, some of the things you and the prospect have in common, and the value of your services.”

Your contacts can also arrange a meeting on your behalf, invite you to events and introduce you to people, and distribute information for you.

4. Ditch the Email When Contacting C-Level Executives

Think about what your email is like, especially when you have a day full of meetings. Now think about what a CEO’s email is like. C-level decision makers spend most of their days in meetings, they have at least 40 hours of work on their desk at any given time, and they receive more than 100 emails a day. If your email is among those, don’t plan on getting a reply, writes Kelley Robertson in his article 10 Things You Must Know About C-Level Decision Makers. They simply don’t have time.

Your best option is to call them and make sure you give them a really good reason to take the call or meet with you, he says. And be prepared to call them back if you leave a voice mail, Robertson adds. Executives he has talked to say they rarely call a salesperson back because they have too much on their plate.

What sales and marketing ideas do you have for connecting with and building relationships with buyers?

Photo by Ileana Gonzales

Increase the flow of your revenue stream

There’s a difference between working hard and working smart. You could do hundreds of little things to market your services, generate leads, and meet with prospects, and while you look incredibly busy—and probably feel exhausted at the end of the day—you don’t make any real headway. At the end of the day, week, month, or year, your business is no bigger than what you sought to achieve.

What’s going on?

For one thing, you probably aren’t thinking things through before diving into whatever it is you’re doing. Have you determined what your objectives are? What do you hope to achieve? What buyers do you hope to attract? What are their needs? Are they the ideal buyers for you?

As Bruce W. Marcus points out in his article, Setting Realistic Objectives, Part 2, you must understand “each market group’s dynamic, its immediate as well as its potential needs, and the factors that affect its foundation.”

You also must consider how you want your clientele to perceive you, he says.

“It should be remembered that marketing cannot develop images—a perception that too often belies reality,” Marcus says. “No marketing program can convey an image of high service at low cost if, in fact, you are not performing high service at low cost. If your objective is to change the way you’re perceived, then you must first change what’s necessary to make the way you want to be perceived a reality.”

Janet W. Christy agrees with Marcus, saying the things you don’t do can have a larger effect on your business than the things you do.

If you don’t take time to uncover your ideal client, issues important to them, where they’re networking, how they like to be contacted, and who the correct contact is, all your efforts will be wasted, she says in her article, 6 Problems That Strangle the Revenue Stream of Small Businesses.

“By not doing those things, [businesses are] cheating themselves out of revenue,” Christy says.

Other Problems Strangling Your Revenue Stream

When it comes to selling professional services, two legacy problems plague professionals’ selling efforts:

1. Sales’ low-trust reputation:
Often salespeople rank toward the bottom when it comes to trust. People associate their ability to get buyers to part with their money with manipulation. But if salespeople and service professionals approach prospects with care and develop trust with them, they can escape the stigma of being a sleazy salesperson.

“Nobody likes to feel manipulated. This is what’s meant when we hear ‘nobody likes to be sold.’ But people do like to buy. And it certainly makes sense for sellers to employ people to facilitate that action,” writes Charles H. Green in his article, How to Rise above Sales’ Low-Trust Reputation.

Manipulation, Green says, is self-delusional. It prevents everything that contributes to long-term successful client relationships. Stay away from it if you want to sell more—and rise above sales’ bad reputation.

“Thinking of sales as mutually beneficial relationships changes everything,” he says. “With that attitude, buyers and sellers return good faith gestures in kind; relationships are defined not by contention, but by reciprocity.”

2. The belief that there’s only one way to sell:
You see it all the time. Someone comes up with what they call the best way to sell. They develop a surefire method to sell, and you have to use it if you want to succeed.

And then you have your typical sales traits and the belief that people are natural-born salespeople.

The reality is anyone can be a good salesperson. You don’t have to have the typical traits associated with sales. (In fact, atypical traits can be just as successful.) And the best way to sell is your way, applying your talents and strengths to the process, says Tony Rutigliano, co-author of Strengths Based Selling in his podcast interview, The Best Way to Sell Professional Services.

“So many pieces of advice that you get as salesperson is about the way to sell or a way to sell, but what we want to strongly encourage is that you discover your way to sell and stick with that,” he says. “You have unique talents, you have unique abilities, you have unique experiences, and if you’re able to put those to work, it’s a formula that can work only for you. No one else’s formula will work as well for you.”

Sales Success Story

Here’s an example of a law firm owner who realized you need a strategic approach to sales and marketing if you want to keep your revenue stream from drying up.

Todd Gallinger started Gallinger Law soon after graduating from law school. In five years, he grew the firm from a general small business practice to one that specializes in business law, investor immigration, and estate planning.

But like many practitioners just starting out, Gallinger’s initial marketing efforts were not focused. He served anyone who walked through his door, he networked at the local chamber of commerce and business start-up groups, and he even provided free consulting services.

Gallinger created a general website for the firm that served as a resume and brochure and accepted referrals from his network of contacts. And he advertised in the Yellow Pages and in several business publications.
All that work resulted in some clients and revenue, but it wasn’t enough.

Gallinger finally took a step back to really look at his firm, who his ideal clients were, where his clients came from, and the marketing tactics that were failing. He revised his approach to have a stronger online and social media presence, and sales began to increase.

Gallinger overhauled “the firm’s website and integrated social media to foster connections and conversations with potential clients. He redesigned and loaded his website with relevant business law content to boost his ranking on search engines,” writes M. Sharon Baker in her case study, Small Law Firm Grows Sales 15% with Niche Websites, Social Media.

He also created a blog, and niche websites to really target clients and demonstrate his level of expertise.

Since making all of the changes, Gallinger is seeing more leads from the website, referrals from social media, and a 10% increase in monthly revenue. In fact, the firm is on track to increase annual revenue by 15%.

Photo by: Arko Sen

Are you capturing buyers' hearts?

Buying things—anything—is an emotional process. We make decisions with our hearts. And how we feel about a product or service, as well as the salesperson, strongly influences us.

Successful businesses and salespeople understand that. They know they must develop trust with their buyers and build relationships with them. They also know that what buyers are trying to achieve has emotional meaning for them. Solving a challenge could mean the buyer spends less time at the office and more time with his family, while failing to solve the problem could lead to him losing his job.

Buyers, particularly chief executives, are looking for people who understand them and their challenges. They want a peer who can offer advice, says Adrian Davis in his Q&A, Win the Heart of the CEO and Win the Sale.

“The sale with a chief executive is more around the fact that he or she has found somebody that understands them, that understands what they’re trying to achieve, understands what their challenges and fears are,” Davis says. “What you want to do … is demonstrate that you understand the issue and you can bring insight with that understanding and then you have access to resources who have the expertise.”

In order for you to demonstrate that you understand the issue, you have to get to the root cause of the problem. To do so, Mike Schultz and John Doerr suggest using the Five Whys where you ask “why” questions when presented with a problem until you uncover the true source. You don’t “stop at the first need you uncover and think you can fix it,” they write in their article, Tap the Power of ‘Why’ to Uncover Prospects’ Challenges.

“Rainmakers who are capable of getting to the bottom of things create stronger relationships, create stronger foundations of trust, and are seen as problem solvers and change agents. In turn, this keeps the competition closed out and enables them to sell to clients year after year,” Schultz and Doerr write.

Ethical behavior also plays a significant role in sales success, adds Carl Wideberg, a longtime sales professional and leader. Companies that have solid reputations as ethical companies perform better, he writes in his article, Ethical Selling = Effective Selling.

Those companies follow certain ethical selling rules help create and maintain client trust, such as not disparaging the competition, not altering contracts, and not misrepresenting your service.

When describing your service, Wideberg says, “make sure you are clear with your client about your services’ features in both conversation and writing. As a salesperson it is your job to create customer excitement with your service, but make sure they understand 100% what they are signing up for.”

Capture Hearts and Minds with Writing

What you write is important because before you have any sales conversations, your written words are your connection to prospects. Whether it’s copy for your website, brochure, or ads, it can either draw buyers to you or push them away.

That’s why it’s critical that your copy is creative and appeals to the types of buyers you want. Are you using words that match the way your buyers think? Are you using active verbs and descriptions that pique interest?

If you’re at a loss for words and are struggling to communicate your business and the value you offer, you can do a few things to get inspired. You can look at your competitors’ copy (don’t copy it, of course), do a web search of terms used to describe your business, browse books related to your profession, and turn to the thesaurus.

Those suggestions work well in combination, says C.J. Hayden in her article, Is Your Marketing Stuck for Words? For example, you could do a web search of the phrases you discover while browsing the Amazon book catalog.

“The important thing is to get outside your own head for a while, and applying any of these ideas will help you do just that,” she says.

Photo by: Jefferson Sestaro