Are you on the road to sales success?

Lots of things can determine whether you win sales. Buyers might not understand the value you offer. You might come on too strong and push people away. You might not have identified your ideal clients, and so the people you talk to have no need.

The list can go on and on. But here are four things that are essential for not only making a one-time sale, but establishing long-term buying relationships with clients—becoming a trusted advisor on whom they rely.

1. Market Your Services According to Buyer Preferences

You know you have to market your services using methods your ideal clients prefer. You have to go where your buyers are. If they use Twitter, you have to be there. If they prefer email notifications, you need to update them via that form of media.

Fairly new to the game is mobile marketing. Companies may be reluctant to adopt that type of marketing, but they shouldn’t be, says Jeff Roberts in his article Mobile Marketing a Must for Firms. Millions of people now use smartphones and other mobile devices, and if your firm doesn’t have a mobile website, chances are you’re not reaching those buyers, he says.

“Mobile websites are here to stay and are fast becoming one of the dominant ways that buyers access content,” Roberts writes. “In fact, Morgan Stanley predicts that by 2014, more people will access the Internet from mobile devices than from computers. And according to Google’s study, “The Mobile Movement: Understanding Smartphone Users,” nine out of 10 smartphone searches results in an action (purchasing, visiting a business, etc.).”

If you’re new to the mobile marketing game, Roberts’ article can help you get started.

2. Provide Sales Training

You’ve identified your ideal client, you’re marketing where they hang out, your value proposition is crystal clear, you’re publishing content to help potential buyers and prove your expertise, and you’re ready for your sales team to start bringing in the clients. But they’re struggling. Even the “sales superstar” you hired is having trouble.

The problem could be that you haven’t prepared your sales team. They might not understand the firm’s value proposition and therefore aren’t communicating it well. They might not know what is expected of them.

Companies can’t expect their sales force to “just know” how to sell their products and services, writes John Doerr in his article Sales Success Calls for Building a Better Road: Define, Support, and Drive Action. They must provide a framework that salespeople can follow systematically to move prospects through the pipeline, as well as help them set goals and put plans into action.

“Most would agree that there are right and wrong ways to do just about everything, and sales are no exception,” Doerr says. “Process and methodology are essentially guides for behavior. They help you know when to do certain things (process) and how to do them well (methodology). It should be the basis for any sales training program looking to increase sales efficiency.”

3. Make Sure Buyers Are Ready to Change

As you talk with potential buyers you have to be careful that you accurately judge prospects’ interest, warns Jill Konrath. You might assume they’re ready to buy when really they’re still trying to decide if they should change from the status quo.

Your prospect would “prefer not to [change] because it takes a lot of extra time and effort. But if they can see that all the hassle and pain leads to a better outcome, they’ll do it,” Konrath writes in her article Promiscuous Sales Behavior Is Damaging Your Reputation.

She also points out that 90% of the people you meet are still in that deciding phase. Get them past that and onto the next phase—selecting a service—and then you can talk about your solution.

Sales expert Adrian Davis agrees that getting buyers to change from the status quo is a significant step sellers need to do well. In fact, the status quo is often a business’s greatest competition, he says in his podcast interview How to Become a CEO’s Trusted Advisor.

“Most people don’t seriously consider how much competition the status quo poses,” Davis says. “They’re seeing themselves as competing against another vendor, and really what they should be thinking is that they are competing against the status quo. And they should work with the chief executive to figure out how to move the organization out of the status quo.”

4. Work with the CEO

Getting a chief executive to take action on what you propose calls for a different approach than when you present a proposal to a department manager, says Davis. The chief executive has the final say, and there’s a level of risk involved. It’s on his shoulders if he makes a decision that hurts the company.

That means you have to present a business case and explain the ROI. With a business case you work with the CEO to uncover the real needs of an organization, agree on the requirements, and present tangible and intangible benefits. And you use an ROI to back up your claims.

“What’s going to make the sale is emotional engagement,” Davis says. “When that chief executive has completely bought in emotionally to making this change, then they’re going to look for ammunition that will support the change that they want to make. And one of the most powerful pieces of ammunition is ROI.”

What other things should firms do to make sure their services sell well?

Photo by Rob Owen-Wahl

Download the Selling Consulting Services Roadmap to Sales Success to learn what's covered in the program

Are you serious about improving your selling skills? Is this the year for you to make the transition from service provider to rainmaker? Are you looking for a proven way to improve your sales conversations, fill the pipeline, and close more new deals?

If so, then you’ll want to check out our popular online training program: Selling Consulting Services 2.0 with RAIN Selling. And you’d better do it fast because we’re closing enrollment tomorrow (February 3) to devote our full attention to helping the new group of members successfully grow their consulting practices.

Special Offer: Save $100.00 off your first month when you enroll right now.

This online training program is absolutely the best way to boost your selling skills. But don’t take our word for it; here’s what a few industry experts have to say:

“This program has it all: superb content, a self-paced format, and a community of like-minded practitioners. The program strikes a perfect balance between recorded presentations, video, and live interaction with RAIN Group and RainToday founders Mike Schultz and John Doerr. The lesson on mastering sales conversations alone is worth the price of admission. Highly recommended for consultants looking to bring in more business.”
— Michael McLaughlin, author of Winning the Professional Services Sale and Publisher of Management Consulting News

“I’ve been selling and marketing professional services for over almost 20 years. Over that time there’s only been one external program I’ve ever felt comfortable recommending: Selling Consulting Services with RAIN Selling. With a wealth of video, audio, interviews, presentations, and exercises, it covers the full range of skills a consultant needs to excel at business development. Right from generating leads through to closing deals. And because it’s online, you can benefit from it without losing precious billable time. In fact, I signed up for the program myself and was delighted to find that despite my years of experience, there was plenty that I learned from it. I got an email a few weeks ago from a fellow consultant who thanked me for introducing them to the program and said how much they’d benefited from it. Frankly, it’s not often people feel compelled to thank you just for making a recommendation, and it’s testament to the quality of the program that it provokes this kind of response.”
— Ian Brodie, Managing Director, Rainmaker Academy

If you enjoy the content we publish on this blog and in our RainToday.com newsletter, you’ll love the Selling Consulting Services 2.0 program.

But enrollment closes tomorrow. Check out all of the details here:  http://www.SellingConsultingServices.com.

How does the program work?

Enrollment closes tomorrow. When we close the doors, we shift our attention to focus on helping you improve your sales skills and grow your business. When you enroll you’ll get:

• 27 training lessons: 1 or 2 new lessons will be released every week over the next 4 months until you complete the 6 core modules. Lessons are designed to give you every last piece of the puzzle you need to fill the pipeline with qualified leads, win more new business, and command higher fees. Click here to download an overview of the 27 lessons.

• Access to members-only forums: You’re not going through this alone. In the forums you can share challenges and successes, get individual feedback from instructors, and learn from your peers.

• Monthly Q&A Coaching Calls: We’ll dig deep into the issues you face and provide specific feedback and suggestions for your situation.

• Worksheets, templates, tools, and checklists: Apply the learning to your sales practices immediately.

• RAIN Selling Simulation: This 2 -part choose-your-own-adventure-style sales game is a fun, competitive way for you to put the program’s techniques and tactics to use.

• Email Reinforcement: Helps you retain the core RAIN Selling concepts so they become second nature

• Plus, you’ll get access to 4 exclusive bonus webinars for Selling Consulting Services members, including Prospecting 101, How to Craft a Value Proposition, How to Turn Cold Prospects into New Clients, and Using Questions to Make the Sale. You’ll get immediate access to these webinars when you sign up.

Time is winding down. We’re closing the doors tomorrow, and we don’t know when we’ll open them again. Plus, we’re offering you a special deal when you enroll by the deadline: Enroll now and save $100 off your first month’s tuition.

So, start your journey down the path of making 2012 a year of growth and prosperity. Go grab your spot in the program before it’s too late! Doors close Friday at 9:00 pm ET.

“Selling Consulting Services has had a direct positive impact on my business. I was able to turn a prospect that was in my pipeline for the past few years into a significant client. The framework provided by the program really made a difference, especially during the proposal development process. I highly recommend this program to anyone looking to improve their sales approach, conversations, and results.”
- Perry Parendo, Perry’s Solutions, LLC

Get started today for just $97 for your first month. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to grow your business.

Whenever somebody says “trust me” don’t you instinctively put up your guard? I do. If you have to tell me to trust you, then you aren’t doing your job. I need to feel I can trust you—and so do your prospects. They need to feel you have their best interests at heart and that you can truly help them.

Often the first feelings of trust—or mistrust—come when potential buyers read your marketing copy. If you don’t know your buyers and you aren’t relevant, they aren’t going to give you the time of day let alone trust you. That means you must research your buyers, uncover their concerns with buying from you, and help them weigh the tradeoffs of buying from you, writes Kristin Zhivago in her article Secrets to Writing Marketing Copy that Customers Can’t Ignore.

“Once the copywriter knows what the tradeoffs are, he can and should address them as a friend would, not as a ‘formal’ copywriter,” she says.

Write copy that allows people to think positively about your firm, allows them to picture real, experienced people who take a smart approach to their business, Zhivago says. (Read examples in Zhivago’s article.)

Trust-based Networking

You can also establish trust through networking. Rather than just finding out how others can be helpful to you, “search for others to whom you can be helpful, write Charles H. Green and Andrea Howe in their article Trust-based Networking Critical for Business Success. Focus on others, and the rest will take care of itself, they say.

“This approach has two characteristics: it is inherently longer-term, and it forces focus on the other’s needs,” Green and Howe write. “The reason the trust-based approach is so attractive is the fundamental shift in business, from vertical control to horizontal influence. Coercion can work when you have control; when you don’t, you’d better try influence.”

Trust-based networking works online and in person. And the greatest thing you can do is introduce two people to each other, Green and Howe say. Other ways to practice trust-based networking include collaborating with others, recognizing others’ contributions publicly, talking about your partner more and about you less, and dropping the sales pitch.

How Well Do You Listen?

When a prospect talks with you, do you really listen to what they say? Or are you thinking about what you can buy if they agree to the deal?

Many service professionals and salespeople get dollar signs in their eyes and tune out when a prospect approaches them and says they’re ready to buy. They get excited about the money and “run roughshod” over people, says Dan Waldschmidt in his podcast interview A Key Component to Winning More Sales.

“We blame it on passion,” he says. “‘I’m just passionate,” we say. What we really are is a little bit inconsiderate. We’re a little hurtful. So, what we have to do is start listening—listening to what’s being said. Most of what gets said is never spoken. It’s either inferred or implied. It’s never actually said with our lips. It’s said with body language and eye sight. You really have to listen to what the soul of the person is saying.”

Trust Between Sales and Marketing

Companies would like to think they have one team responsible for generating revenue—sales and marketing teams working together. The reality for most, however, is different. Sales and marketing “exist separately, communication between the two teams is usually informal and irregular, and their data is siloed in ways that make it impossible to share,” says Dan Goldman in his article How an Inbound Marketing System Can Help Increase Revenue.

Add to that the fact that the two often don’t agree on what a qualified lead or buyer is, and the problem grows. Salespeople don’t trust the leads given them, they discard them, and sales suffer.

To improve this, Goldman suggests integrating sales and marketing teams via inbound marketing and marketing automation. With the right mindset, shared goals, and appropriate tools they can join forces to pull buyers to them and make sure each team has the same information about marketing campaigns and potential buyers.

With such a system companies can also better determine the ROI of marketing campaigns and stop spending money on those that don’t work.

“Integrating sales and marketing teams can be made to work and work well, but you have to make it an official goal and know what you want to achieve,” Goldman says. “And it has to be a top-down and bottom-up approach to get the right focus of effort and buy-in.”

Photo by Omar Naeem

These game changers will give you the edge in 2012

A lot of people are predicting more of the same for 2012:

High unemployment… volatile stock market… difficulty getting new clients… more push back on price…

But the private conversations we’ve had with clients are the complete opposite:

Lots of opportunity… plenty of need… leaders who are less skittish… time for significant growth…

Few say the economy is great, but most agree opportunity is everywhere. Their fears are gone. Although things have not returned to how they once were, it’s back to business and back to growth in 2012.

When we talk about growth, we’re talking about the ability of leaders and consultants to bring in new business and close new deals. We’re talking about selling.

Some things about selling haven’t changed much, such as the need to fill the pipeline with qualified leads, build meaningful relationships, communicate value, listen, uncover needs, craft solutions, overcome objections, and win new business. If you want to put selling to work for you, you have to master the core of the craft. Certainly, these topics are evergreen, but a lot is changing and changing fast.

To help make this year your best sales year yet, we’ve published the free report 5 Game Changers for Selling Consulting Services in 2012. In the report, we look through the lens of what’s new and what’s evolving to give you the edge you need in 2012. Mike Schultz, co-author of Rainmaking Conversations, Publisher of RainToday, and President of RAIN Group, reveals new ideas that you can implement in your sales process right now. You won’t find these game changers anywhere else.

It’s time to step up and start 2012 with momentum and confidence.

>> Click here to download 5 Game Changers for Selling Consulting Services in 2012.

(Photo by John Perivolaris)

Selling.

What images come to mind when you see this word? Close your eyes and say the word out loud.

How does it make you feel?

If you’re like many consultants, the thought of having to sell makes you anxious, distressed, or uneasy. And for others, while you may want to learn how to sell, you simply don’t know where to start. You’ve never been taught what to do.

Well, I’m going to let you in on a little secret: As a consultant, you already have many of the skills you need to be great at selling.

Think about it. When you deliver services to your clients, you:

• Ask questions
• Provide expert opinions
• Work hard
• Are accessible
• Build creative solutions
• Deliver what you say you are going to deliver
• Develop relationships
• Act with your clients’ best interest in mind
• Solve problems
• Introduce clients to new ideas, helping them see a better way

This is exactly what you need to do to become successful in sales. It is not about persuading someone to buy something they don’t need. It is about helping clients and prospects find solutions to their needs while providing value.

As a Consultant You Already Have Many Skills You Need to Be Great at Sales

Here are just a few ways you can apply the consulting skills you already have to your selling efforts:

1. Sell as You Serve

Many consultants who have never sold think the purpose of selling is to part someone from their money at any cost. They believe that to be successful at selling, consultants must leave their values and everyday personalities at the door and adopt a sleazy persona and voice—a voice that would normally say something like, “What’s it gonna take to get you into this shiny, red, pre-owned sports car today, ma’am?”

Nothing is further from the truth. The best rainmakers bring in new clients because they are no different when they sell their services than when they deliver their services.

Great consultants create better futures for their clients that the clients didn’t know were possible.

The best rainmakers meet mutually set expectations over and over again, building trust, relationships, and confidence. The best rainmakers are ethical at all times.

2. Sell to Need

Great consultants are masters at uncovering clients’ goals and challenges and helping them make the changes necessary for success.

Great rainmakers are no different. However, many consultants feel uncomfortable making connections, uncovering needs, and working closely with people they don’t know well. Too often, the first conversations go awry when they don’t need to.

The same skills you use to get to the root of your clients’ problems and develop solutions to help them meet their goals are the ones you can use to uncover prospects’ needs and propose winning solutions. You just need to recognize what you need to do and bring these skills out at the right time and in the right way.

3. Communicate the Value

Great consultants understand the value they provide to clients.

They craft compelling solutions based on their clients’ unique needs, and they communicate that value to clients clearly and articulately.

Selling is no different. You must learn to lead discussions that influence direction and outcomes, and you must advocate your services and communicate your value. Just like when you advocate new ideas to your clients when you work with them, you must be persuasive, inspire confidence, and be empathetic all at the same time when you sell to them.

4. Plan for Success

It’s been said that if you don’t know where you’re going, then any road will get you there. Selling consulting services requires planning on multiple levels:

• Generating discussions for the first time with prospective clients
• Leading individual conversations and interactions
• Planning outcomes for specific accounts
• Orchestrating the entire business development process—how many clients you need to gain, how often, and for how much revenue and profit

Great consultants have a clear process that they follow. Each project has a specific objective, timeframe, budget, and resource allocation.

Rainmaking is no different.

Like consulting, selling is a process, and it’s waiting for you to master it.

No matter how you look at it, consulting is a sales business. Every day you are selling your clients on your ideas and your recommendations. So stop letting fear get in your way of selling to new clients and start to embrace the idea that selling is actually a good thing. Prospects are looking for solutions to their problems, and you are the one who is well-equipped to help.

Learn more about how to improve your sales in Dan Waldschmidt's Jan. 19 webinar Break the Rules: Edgy Ways to Drive Sales and Business Growth

If your sales aren’t what you’d like them to be, chances are you’re hanging on to some bad practices that are holding you back. According to sales and business strategist Dan Waldschmidt, there are several out there that salespeople follow not realizing their negative effects.

One of those is pursuing and accepting any client, especially when the prospect says they’re ready to buy. Salespeople get excited and begin spending that money before it is earned. They pursue the sale without adequately qualifying the buyer, Waldschmidt says.

High-performing salespeople don’t do that—even if it seems like the prospect is ready and willing to write them a check, he says. They make sure the buyer is a right fit for them and that they are in fact ready to buy. They aren’t blinded by dollar signs and don’t waste time pursuing a prospect who really isn’t interested. They know that if they carefully qualify buyers, they’re more likely to develop loyal clients who buy from them regularly and refer them to others.

“Salespeople must spend some extra time qualifying, some extra time spent listening—listening to what people are saying and listening to what people aren’t saying,” says Waldschmidt in a recent interview. “All of those things are very helpful in determining if you’re going to be successful or not.”

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Listen to the complete interview here:

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High-performing people and companies also have these qualities, Waldschmidt says:

• Extreme behavior
• Discipline
• Giving mindset
• Human strategy

“Great companies throughout time have shared all four of those qualities—all of them, not one of them, not two of them, not three of them—all four of them,” he says. “So, I’m going to challenge you to be edgy.”

Don’t do things simply because some expert said you should, Waldschmidt adds. Do things because you care about doing them.

“Until you stop and start caring about other people, until you change your message to be interesting and novel and creative, then you’re going to be like everybody else in the crowd. And frankly we have enough of those people. It’s what we call noise,” he says.

Selling services is a tough challenge. You face a long sales cycle, you’re selling high-ticket, high-end services, often the prospect isn’t even sure if they want or need your services, and after the sale you have to work with the client.

Since trial and error are the norm when it comes to learning how to sell consulting services and become a rainmaker, the learning curve is long and steep and often filled with anxiety and pain. But it is possible to shorten the learning curve, make selling feel less “salesy,” and increase your level of success as a seller.

To facilitate the transition from trusted adviser to rainmaker, we’ve developed the concept of RAIN Selling. RAIN is an acronym for the four keys to winning sales conversations:

1. Rapport
2. Aspirations and afflictions
3. Impact
4. New reality

Watch this short video where we walk you through the RAIN Selling conversation framework, teaching you what you need to know to lead winning sales conversations.

Using the RAIN Selling conversation framework, you can quickly and easily learn how to apply the same skills that make you a great consultant to your selling efforts.

Like any good conceptual model, RAIN Selling goes a lot deeper than what can be described in a short video. Applying a new process that will make a difference in your sales results requires practice, training, and coaching.

To help, we’ve developed an online training program, Selling Consulting Services 2.0 with RAIN Selling that will have you confidently selling and bringing in new clients in short order.

This program will walk you step by step through the RAIN Selling process and will provide you with tools and strategies that have been field-tested and proven to work for consultants by consultants. We’ll equip you with the practical how-to information and tools you need to fill the pipeline with qualified opportunities, win more new business, and command higher fees for your consulting services.

“Selling Consulting Services with RAIN Selling has given me greater confidence and comfort with selling my services. The program structure and tools are logical and practical, and they have helped me learn how selling can be a natural extension of who I am and what I have to offer. Additionally, it allows me to go at my own pace, which given an already busy schedule is a huge plus. This program is really enjoyable and valuable.”
—Jeremy Bromberg, Bromberg LLC

You can learn more about the program here.

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

Looking at the articles, podcast, case study, and webinar that made it onto RainToday’s list of the top content from this past year, I would say 2011 was the year of the prospect.

Specifically, readers wanted to know how to best attract prospects, grab their attention, and have conversations with them. They, like their competitors, were vying for limited buyer dollars, and they knew they had to make a great—not simply good—first impression if they wanted any chance of winning the sale.

All of the content on RainToday’s list enabled them to do that. When put into practice, the advice from our contributors set readers on a path to develop new business and grow their firm.

Without further adieu, I give you RainToday’s top content from 2011.

There Is Such a Thing as a Bad Question

Andrew Sobel

Instructors and teachers always say there’s no such thing as a bad question. That statement is wrong, however, when it comes to asking prospects questions. In fact, Andrew Sobel says in his top article that there are certain questions you should never ask a prospect, including the cliché, “So, what keeps you up at night?” That question is so bad that one of Sobel’s clients kicks people out of his office if they ask it.

Good questions can be incredibly powerful, Sobel says, but bad ones can cause prospects to shut down. Check out Sobel’s article Never Ask a Prospect these Questions for more questions you should definitely avoid.

Statements Sellers Should Avoid

Ron Smith

Just as there are questions you should never ask a prospect, there are also statements you should avoid, says Ron Smith in his top article 4 Things a Prospect Doesn’t Want to Hear.

Your goal when talking with a prospect is to make a connection that will allow you to develop the relationship. If you say such things as “Let’s get right to the demo” or “Let me educate you,” you don’t allow for a meaningful conversation to take place.

Prospects don’t want a know-it-all to go on and on about what they know and how wonderful their services are. They want someone who takes the care and time to understand their challenge and then offer a solution. They want answers to specific questions, not a generic presentation filled with information they gathered themselves before they called you.

How to Handle the Dreaded RFP

Michael W. McLaughlin

If you’ve ever participated in a Request for Proposals (RFP), then you know they can be extremely challenging and time-consuming. And the chances of you winning a deal through them are very slim. For those reasons, Michael W. McLaughlin says you should ignore RFPs.

One huge flaw with RFPs, McLaughlin says in his top article Why You Should Ignore that RFP, is that you can’t provide an independent diagnosis of the prospect’s problem. You’re agreeing with what they say is the problem, and they could be wrong. They may not have uncovered the root of the situation.

“For 99.9% of projects, there’s substantial value in collaborating with the client in the definition of the problem and the design of the solution,” McLaughlin says. “If clients keep you ‘at arms’ length,’ they sacrifice access to expertise in problem analysis in the name of creating a ‘fair’ buying process. The result: the client receives a stack of mediocre proposals to solve an unconfirmed problem.”

The Best Prospecting Tool

Kendra Lee

You might think email has lost its allure, with so many pieces filling our inboxes each day. But lead generation expert Kendra Lee says email when used correctly is the most effective prospecting tool.

“Email is very effective, and, in fact, it is now the number one tool for prospecting. It has surpassed cold calling,” says Lee in her top podcast Email Now the Number One Prospecting Tool. “But it is effective only if it’s written with your client in mind. You have to focus on the issues your clients have. If you do that, you are going to get responses.”

Not only will you get responses, but prospects will agree to meetings and proposals, she says.

Minimizing Risk for Clients

M. Sharon Baker

When prospects hire you, they take a leap of faith that you will deliver on what you promised. It’s a risk they’re willing to take. To minimize that risk, Advanced Technology Consulting enhanced it’s risk-free guarantee by clearly stating what clients would receive and including all of the details of the agreement, writes M. Sharon Baker in her top case study Consulting Firm Attracts Large Clients, Grows Revenue 50% Using Implementation Fee and Guarantee.

That modification proved to be a significant selling point when signing on new clients, say the company’s co-founders.

“[Co-founder David] Goodwin says the agreement has become powerful, and every customer plays a role in creating it as they bring their needs, styles, and perspectives to the process,” Baker writes.

And the risk-free guarantee alleviated fears buyers had about whether the firm could deliver what was promised.

Getting a CEO to Say Yes

Adrian Davis

No sales meeting is more important than one with the CEO of a company. The fact that you were able to get the meeting in the first place proves you know how to get their attention. And you don’t want to lose it when you finally meet. That means you must approach the meeting from the point of view of the CEO, says Adrian Davis in his top webinar Winning Over the CEO: How to Lead Effective Sales Meetings with C-Level Executives.

You want them to consider you a peer, not a vendor, he says.

“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.”

Strong Value Proposition at the Core

Top Guide for 2011

The key to any sales communication, whether it’s an email, phone call, or in-person meeting, is the ability to articulate the value of what you do. If people don’t understand that value, they will not respond. You can forget about getting a call back or an email reply let alone a meeting.

Knowing how critical that is, readers flocked to RainToday’s How to Develop a Value Proposition That Sells Kit. This top product includes advice and tools to take you step by step through the best strategies for creating a value proposition that sells.

The video presentation with RainToday founder John Doerr combined with the Value Proposition Workbook teaches you how to avoid the commodity trap, uncover hot buttons that drive prospects to you, the keys to successful value propositions, and how to describe complex services that gets prospects excited.

Looking Ahead

As we look ahead to 2012, the year of the prospect may lead to the year of the client. If you grew your business by adding new clients, now you’ll want to maintain and continue to grow those relationships. For it’s easier to sell to current clients who know you and what you can do than it is to sell to businesses who know nothing about you.

Learn more in Mike Schultz's on-demand webinar "The Year Ahead: How to Make Your Business Thrive in 2012"

Technology has evened the playing field for businesses’ websites, and content marketing has made nearly everyone a thought leader. More than ever you and your firm look “on paper” the same as everyone in your market. That means when a prospect talks to you or someone on your sales team, you need to shine.

Your sales conversations must convey the value you offer, reliability, trustworthiness, and likability, says Mike Schultz, co-author of Rainmaking Conversations.

“The fact of the matter is when [a prospect picks] up the phone, especially with service firms, and they say, ‘Hey, I want to talk to you guys about x, y, and z,’ while three companies may look similar, the experiences they have immediately when that salesperson answers the phone … it’s a wild sense of differentiation,” says Schultz in a recent RainToday.com interview.

When a prospect talks with you they immediately get a sense for whether you’re smart, attentive, caring, helpful, responsive, arrogant, and more, Schultz says.

“There are all of these things that happen that can create wild differentiation that can make their perception of value on behalf of the potential client shoot way up or way down and also build up their belief: ‘Can they or can’t they deliver on the things that I want them to deliver on,’” he says.

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Listen to the complete interview here:

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The simple truth is if salespeople can’t lead strong sales conversations, can’t express how they provide more value, and can’t prove that they offer solutions to help prospects make tough decisions, they will lose to salespeople who can.

“You’re not going to get very far if you don’t have people who can sell,” Schultz says.