How to sell professional services
How To Sell Professional Services Today – Part 1
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I want to ask you a question when I use
the term salesperson what image comes to
mind for you
do you think maybe of a slick huckster
who will do or say anything to close a
deal do you think of someone who lacks
integrity and is prone to lying or at
least over promising do you envision
someone who is not trustworthy and is
maybe lacking and scruples well this is
not at all how I think of sales or of or
of selling especially for professional
services I believe the exact opposite is
true the best sales are business
development people I've known over the
years have very high integrity are
completely trustworthy and hold the
respect and admiration of everyone
around them they're great people as well
as great sellers over the next several
thought pieces I want to share with you
what works today in selling professional
services these are my lessons learned
from 25 years of marketing sales and
entrepreneurship
I believe success in selling starts with
adopting the right mindset let me share
with you how character and integrity are
crucial to success in selling services
I want to make sure I don't waste your
time so I'd like to tell you right up
front who this counsel is for over the
last 25 years or so I've been fortunate
to serve some very successful
professional service organizations most
of these firms have realized substantial
growth in new client acquisition
revenues and profits I've designed the
counsel in these thought pieces on
professional services sales for
mid-sized service firms with 15 to
roughly 150 staff who want to at least
double their revenue these firms have a
history of success they're often the
best kept secret in their industry
whereas in the past they've been
successful accidentally they're now
ready to be successful on purpose my
counsel is for firms in a number of
different professional service
industries including technology
consulting financial services
particularly our IAS
CPA and accounting law firms business
consultant management consultants
software-as-a-service coaching
engineering and architecture the ideas
I'm about to share are for people who
bear sales or business development
responsibilities and this might be
someone who wants to improve their sales
capabilities or someone who is new to
business development and service sales
it could also be someone who's
transitioning from a technical role to
business development the council opera
I'll provide is applicable to nearly any
type of service sale I see very
different types of sales engagements
depending on the business model of the
organization for instance some of our
clients only sell in a b2b context
business-to-business where they're
selling services often managed services
to another business other clients engage
in what I call the b2 HEC sale the
high-end consumer well this requires a
bit of distinction from the start so I
want to make sure we're clear here the
b2b sale can be very complex
and multi-phased lasting up to a year or
more
the deals are large and this sale
usually involves a committee of decision
makers whose concerns have to be
addressed in full to win the deal the b2
HEC sale can be much shorter sometimes
resulting in a closed in just a single
meeting so as you progress through what
I'm about to share with you please use
what is applicable to your type of sales
engagements because the b2b sale is
often complex I will share a lot of
insights to accelerate your success in
this area I want to introduce in this
thought piece the concept of a triple
win and this is the sales mindset that I
encourage you to adopt and it goes like
this in the triple win the client wins
the salesperson wins and the delivery
team and the business wins that's the
triple win and it's a direct
counterpoint to the lose win lose sales
mindset that is prevalent today in so
many service firms and let me explain
what I mean by this in the triple win
the client wins because they're deeply
satisfied by a sales process that
anticipates their needs from the start
the salesperson Lissa's to them
carefully and then pushes back on ideas
that are inappropriate and guides the
client toward a service package that is
ideal for their goals and budget the
salesperson wins in this model because
they have a very high close rate often
like me a 100% close rate they are a
hero in their organization and they hold
the respect of people around them
especially people on the delivery team
the salesperson sleeps very well at
night knowing that they did the right
thing by the client and the triple win
the delivery team wins and they are
delighted to begin serving a new client
because the salesperson did such a good
job onboarding the client the business
ultimately wins because the client is
happy stays long-term pays their bills
on time
and then refers other great clients
these are the benefits of the triple win
in the lose win lose model by comparison
the client loses the salesperson wins
and the delivery team and the business
also lose in this model the salesperson
did whatever it took to close a deal and
then threw the client over a wall to the
delivery team who often has no insights
into promises made to the client through
the sales process
I've known way too many service
organizations who imply employ this
sales model it is a formula for failure
you don't want it here's my thesis to
you if you adopt the win-win-win mindset
your career your personal compensation
and your sense of integrity will all
flourish you will love who you are and
what you do you will like who you see in
the mirror you will live by a moral code
that was around long before you came to
be on planet earth and will be around
long after you leave planet Earth you
will be proud of your work and of the
way you've treated your clients this is
the power of the triple win the triple
win requires you to rethink what it
means to sell in this model your role is
to help clients acquire the best service
package for their needs and to ensure
that the delivery team can deliver in
full measure against the promises that
you make and here are the outcomes that
I consistently see when people adopt the
triple win these people one drive
revenue for their firm and exceed their
quota if they have won two they produce
happy long-term clients who refer them
in their firm three they deliver a great
experience through the sales process
that makes prospects and new clients say
WOW four they set expectations about how
the client will be served long term and
five they produce a deal that the
delivery team can seamlessly and read
deliver against in the triple wind
mindset the goal is not to close a deal
the goal is to discover if there is a
fit between what the prospect needs and
what your firm does think of this like
an exploratory journey where you're
seeing if you can work together this can
be really hard when you have business
development responsibilities or carry a
quota I get that but if you take
shortcuts and try to push deals forward
that you know are not a good fit this
will only hurt your career your sense of
integrity and ultimately your company
here's how I think of professional
services sales today this is like a ship
passing through a set of locks like the
Panama Canal to go from a lower body of
water to a higher body of water as the
ship passes through the gates water
enters the lock so a ship can gently and
steadily rise from a lower to a higher
body of water professional services
sales is simply about getting a series
of gates to fall open so you can proceed
toward the end goal serving the client
very well and professional services
sales you will likely encounter a series
of steps not a single event unless you
deployed the b2 HEC sale the high-end
consumer I think of these steps as a
sales campaign in each phase of the
campaign your job is to fill the client
with confidence that moving ahead with
your firm is in their best interest
however it is equally as important to
pause forward movement if the prospect
is not ready or even to abandon forward
movement if the prospect does not fit
the ideal client profile I'll explain
more about these two concepts in a
future thought piece
be on the lookout for my next thought
piece where I'll describe how to align
the three teams who are crucial to this
process marketing sales and delivery
until then I'm wishing you the very best
of success
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