You are an expert. You don’t sell. It’s called marketing. Maybe you do business development. But somewhere inside, you know that sales is a very important thing that you need to do.
You, the Expert
If you are an accountant, architect, engineer, consultant, analyst, financial advisor, lawyer, or in any profession where you are “paid for what you do”, then you are in professional services. You sell your expertise, and you work long hours to practice and perfect your craft. You are part of a 6+ trillion dollar, global industry of over 1.2M firms (in the United States alone) who sell and deliver their expertise to individuals, private companies, and very large public agencies. That’s you in a nutshell. And now let’s talk about sales in professional services firms.
Sales? Yeah, no.
You didn’t go to school to learn how to sell. In fact, you may have pursued your career to, at least a little bit, avoid sales altogether. But here we are, talking about sales.
The word sales might make you a bit uneasy. You don’t sell. You do marketing. Maybe you do business development. Not sales. But somewhere inside, you know that sales is a very important thing that businesses like yours need to do.
Selling is the summation of all the 1-to-1, expert-to-client interactions that uncover, define, and contract the solutions that address the client’s needs. It is not tricky, slimy, deceitful, or salesy, because…
Sales has changed
Decades ago, salespeople could be great or terrible, but it didn’t matter because consumers had few or no buying options. No choices to make. You bought your dishwasher from Sears. You bought your insurance from your father’s cousin Bill over on Cherry Street.
Furthermore, the balance of information was always tipped in favor of the seller. You knew nothing about dishwashers, so you walked into the local Sears and bought what you were told to buy by the less-than-helpful salesperson.
Today, all of that has changed.
Now, because there are countless options to consider and access to endless information, sales in professional services firms has forever changed. The buyer has much more control than before, regardless of what they are buying. So selling isn’t salesy anymore. Sales can’t be salesy anymore, because buyers can easily choose another option. Sure, sales is still difficult, complex, confusing, and often frustrating for both buyers and sellers, particularly in professional services. But rest assured… pushy, know-it-all, bad salespeople are a dead or quickly dying breed.
Sales is now helping. The best salespeople are the best helpers who guide buyers to the best solutions through an often confusing buying and selling process. With a massive amount of information and choice to navigate, buyers need the help of a good partner to find their way through.
You, a Part-time Salesperson
Absolutely not, right? Well, maybe.
When you sit down with a prospective client and ask them questions about their business and their needs, you are selling. When you develop a proposal with schedules and plans and fees, you are selling. Negotiating the final parts of the agreement? Selling. You are not marketing or business developing. In the eyes of the global business world, you are selling.
If you participate in any of those activities during your week, you may very well be a part-time salesperson, or Doer-Seller, or whatever other term you’d like to use. And if you are like most experts in a professional services firm, your sales skills range widely, but are likely less than they could—or should—be. Experts like you probably missed out on Sales in Professional Services Firms 101 altogether.
Yes, there is a problem
Your lack of sales acumen is a problem. But your business is fine and you hold your own and win new clients and run a reasonably successful practice. Until…
That new competitor shows up and seems to be winning more than their fair share of work and you start to lose a little bit of sleep. Or until the buoyant economy that has kept your firm busy for so many years starts to change. Opportunities are fewer and farther between, and competition is fierce.
You come to understand that it’s got less to do with skills and expertise and certifications, because you and your competitors are all very good at your craft. You realize it’s because you were a half step behind and bit off target in your efforts to find and win new clients. Too few client conversations. Not enough emphasis on building long-term relationships. Too little sales know-how.
You look across your organization and see too few technical staff members engaged in selling. Your firm’s reliance on one or a maybe few rainmakers hasn’t panned out. The highly competitive pursuits have taken their toll on your staff, your overhead, and your patience.
You may need a Sales Manager
There are full-time sales professionals who work for large organizations that perform at a very high level. They have excellent sales skills and reliable, proven sales processes to guide their work. And they have something that almost no professional services firms have…
A sales manager.
Regardless of the industry or company, a sales manager has two fundamental responsibilities: to build and maintain an organized sales function, and to coach sales professionals, even part-time ones.
An organized sales function gives Doer-Sellers the structure and framework they need to be successful. It removes the mystery and ambiguity often found in sales and replaces it with a process that helps both seller and buyer navigate the steps from “I’m interested” to “satisfied client”.
The coaching and guidance from a sales manager increases the skill and confidence of every salesperson, regardless of whether they are full-time sales leaders or just part-time sellers in a professional services firm. And importantly, a sales manager doesn’t sell for you, because your clients and customers want to develop a relationship with you, the practitioner. Your sales manager is your guide and partner that helps you and your prospective client navigate the tricky buying and selling process together.
Greater organization and timely coaching gives your whole team the tools and confidence they need to stay in front of your important clients and ahead of your competition. In an increasingly competitive world, you need every advantage you can get. And as your competitors beat each other up over lower and lower fees, you learn that the best clients are the ones worth working a little harder–and a lot smarter–for.
Wainwright Insight provides fractional sales management and consulting to organizations who want to take control of their pipeline and build future sales leaders—but could use a little, part-time expertise. I work with professional services firms, and the experts in those firms, who need to get better at chasing and winning big deals when the stakes are high.