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Nottingham
Developing an elite sales team
Guest speaker at the recent East Midlands PMF meeting was international speaker Chris Hughes of the Hughes Company who delivered an interactive session on how to develop an elite sales team.
Chris has worked with a large number of professional services firms to help individuals and teams overcome the challenges faced by "selling". These challenges range from how to identify the relevant person to target, make the initial approach to converting and closing the sale. Another challenge frequently encountered by professional services firms is that of business development versus fee earning.
One thing is clear though, according to Chris, business development,or selling, needs to become an integral part of our everyday work. This is a mindset change for many professionals and firms.
When working out who to target in the first place, Chris recommends having a focused list of targets, small enough to create success and small enough to be realistic.
Before getting to the pitch stage, rehearse in front of a colleague. Get the feedback and take it on board to prepare for the pitch itself.
Once in the sales environment and pitching to a potential new client, it is key to focus on the benefits. All too often Chris has found that his clients are more comfortable talking about themselves – how long they have been in business, how many people they employ, where their offices are located and so on. All interesting stuff and by no means to be ignored, but the client isn’t there to listen to that. The client wants to hear benefits, solutions and most of all for the pitch to be about them and their business.
Accountants and lawyers are not trained to sell; they are trained to practice accountancy and law. And for many in professional services, business development and selling still remains a challenge and something to be afraid of. Chris put it another way. Ethically, business development is about understanding your clients and prospects and providing them with the options to help them and their businesses. At the end of the day, that is what clients expect of their professional advisers. Put like this, business and development and selling does not seem so scary, but merely an extension of our daily job.
Continued training in the art of business development will help equip us with the tools and techniques to get fast and dramatic increases in sales and new clients. Business development and sales in professional services is here to stay!
Chris's tip of the day was: think the right way, say the right thing and say it to the right person.
Sue Carr
V Formation
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