IGNITING CONVERSATIONS THAT SELL – PART 1
In a professional services environment, many of us don’t like to use the word ‘sell’ and have erased such blatant language from our workbooks by using terminology like ‘business development’, ‘leverage’ and ‘partnering’. But, if truth be told, selling is exactly what we need to grow – our business and our personal profile.
Peppered throughout a myriad of sales activities undertaken by you or your firm, you are likely to have built relationships, demonstrated expertise, shared knowledge, shown leadership, developed trust and, by intention or accident, you have secured a new client.
But have you put thought into the journey you have taken with a prospect? At what stage did you ask for business, or did it just happen? Wouldn’t it be better to have commenced this activity with the journey pegged out and the end goal in mind?
Every journey starts with your first step. During my next few blogs, we’ll step through a simple sales process and look at how thought leadership can be used as a tool to generate leads and support you to convert prospects into clients.
To prepare, here is my simple process. Take time to read it and prepare for our next conversation in my ‘Just a thought’ blog. For each step, there is a marketing requirement that I’ll introduce to you next time.
Step 1: YOU ARE UNKNOWN. Your target market does not know who you are, what you do, nor how you can help them.
Step 2. NO PROBLEM. Your target market knows who you are but doesn’t think that they have a problem that needs your help.
Step 3. PROBLEM. Your target market has a problem that they need help in solving.
Step 4. DIFFERENTIATE AND VALIDATE. Your target market is weighing up who is the best firm to support them to solve their problem.
Step 5. CLOSE. Your target market is buyer ready and just needs to know how to engage your services.