What are the common mistakes made when selling professional services?
I cover this topic in depth in Guide 08 (Selling); specifically, it covers how to develop a selling capability within your company. It begins, however, by looking at the common mistakes made in this area …
I learnt a lot from a guy called Lars Tewes (MD SBR Consulting). From our earliest encounter, I remember the mistakes he presented as being commonly made by professional service firms in this critical area. Recognising them and putting in place behaviours/ capabilities that avoids these traps made a huge impact at the company I grew and sold.
Not being advisors to ourselves
Many professional service experts – particularly consultants – are very good at appraising ‘capability gaps’ within their client organisations and formulating plans to resolve them. Like cobblers’ children, however, they are rarely as proficient when it comes to their own fundamental internal issues (e.g. inadequate sales proficiency).
Fail to understand the numbers game
Of course there is some ‘art’ to the selling process; after all, it is fundamentally about human relationships. One of the biggest mistakes, however, is to fail to see that this is primarily still a numbers (or ratio) game. The more people you speak to … the more you are likely to develop relationships with … the more chance you have of selling work. And … the more practice you get at improving the ‘art’. It’s that simple.
Can’t convey the idea of what you do in 30 seconds or less
Professional service experts are prone to over-complication. We revel in the detail and the complexity and can’t wait to take others down to this level of esoteric dialogue. A confused buyer, however, never buys. The selling challenge is in making the complex simple. When someone asks ‘What do you do?’, you need to be able to say ‘Quite simply, we …’ and be able to complete the sentence in less than 20 words.
Talk more than listen
Another cardinal error; especially so in the important first sales meeting. Busting to communicate how great a firm you are, how expert in your field, how many great case studies completed, you arrive at the prospect’s office with the shiniest of PowerPoint presentations ready to talk ‘at them’ all meeting. Stop. You are about to learn that this is the worst of approaches.
Don’t act on what you have learnt
Almost as bad are those dialogues where you simulate listening but then fail to adapt any part of your sales approach to the information received. You just drop back into a default script or service offering. Selling professional services is fundamentally about a conversation and the mutual development of a unique solution … so beware of this false alley also.
Fail to learn from your successes
Clive Woodward made the point in his book Winning! (2005, Hodder Paperbacks) that professional teams (business, sporting, military etc) too often get completely absorbed in debriefing on failure – on what went wrong; how we can avoid this happening again etc. Conversely, he argues, success comes from seeking to understand success. So, don’t get too caught up in micro-analysing why that recent pitch didn’t hit the mark but, instead, pore over that last new client you won … how can you replicate and build on this?
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