Sharon Berman has a recipe for creating a business development culture
These days everyone in a firm is being asked to do business development. For many services professionals, however, it isn’t an easy thing to do. They went to school to become accountants, lawyers, engineers, etc., not to become salespeople. But develop business they must if their firm is to grow or even continue.
While the pressure to develop business is immediate, the transformation from service provider to successful business developer is not, says Sharon Berman in her article, Business Development: The Perfect Recipe for Making Rain. It’s a long process that requires commitment from management and avoids any quick-sales programs. With her recipe of equal parts commitment, culture, compensation, and cultivation, Berman says firms can succeed.
As management creates this selling culture, they must also watch and take caution that staff are cultivating real sales pipelines and not chasing pipe dreams. They cannot afford to be distracted by false prospects that waste their time while competitors talk with real prospects, says Terry Slattery in his article, Don’t Let Salespeople Waste Time on Pipe Dreams. If you understand the difference between a true pipeline and pipe dreams, you can avoid those who simply want to kick the tires.
When it comes to competition, firms must also stand out from the crowd to get prospects’ attention. What makes your firm different and better than the many others out there? When you do competitive analysis, you can find out, say Sean Campbell and Scott Swigart, principals at Cascade Insights, in their podcast interview, Do You Have What it Takes to Compete? Using competitive analysis techniques, you can find out what your competitors are doing and the services they offer, determine how to differentiate yourself, and uncover qualified leads to pursue, they say. It’s a matter of mining the data found in competitors’ online trails.
Webinars are also an excellent way to generate leads, as well as nurture the ones you already have in your pipeline. What’s the best method to let people know about your webinar? Email, according to RainToday’s How Clients Buy 2009 Benchmark Report. But it’s just one method among many that firms should employ if you want to fill your webinar seats. Check out the full analysis to learn what other methods are effective.
Marketing and Sales Success Stories
One person who has marketing and sales success is Alan Weiss, a consultant, speaker, and author of 36 books. His brand is recognized worldwide, and his consulting firm attracts some of the biggest corporations. In his article, What It Takes to Successfully Market and Sell Services, Weiss shares his most fundamental principles and experiences to help you get to that level, such as:
- Your mindset must be that you have value to provide, not a “sale” to make. You’re not serving the other person well if you don’t convey and purvey that value for their betterment.
- Be diagnostic in your marketing, involving the client in the analysis of their conditions, but prescriptive in your implementation, not allowing the client to tell you how to consult.
- Remember that “scope seep” is as bad as “scope creep.” Don’t take on additional work just because you’re present, or know how, or enjoy doing it. (And certainly don’t do it because your low self-esteem urges you to provide more and more to justify your fee.)
Another example of a firm that not only is holding its own in a competitive market but is actually thriving is accounting firm Shepherd & Goldstein. Using careful acquisition and expansion and a fanatical commitment to customer service, the firm grew from one office to four offices around Massachusetts and a staff of more than 30 employees, writes Gwen Moran in her article, Accounting Firm Thrives by Expanding Services and Investing in Customer Service. For Shepherd & Goldstein, it’s all about meeting client needs.
