Having recently run a survey to ascertain the largest business development challenge facing professional firms during this Covid dominated time, the answer came back loud and clear, converting leads and potential opportunities into billable work.
This didn’t surprise me. At all.
Question. How much has your firm spent in the last 2 years on advertising, sponsorship, client entertainment, corporate hospitality, networking events, branded gifts, websites, Google ads, awards submissions, conference attendance and tender submissions? My hunch is quite a lot.
Second question. How much has your business invested in training those people who receive the leads, answer calls and run the initial meetings, as to how to convert them into dollars? My guess is next to nothing. Therein lies both a problem and a huge opportunity.
1. Stop spending cash on generic advertising. Its record in attracting new profitable clients to professional services firms is woeful. I know because I was involved in research with 150 firms who told me how much time and money they spent on attracting new clients. This was the number one waste of valuable resources.
2. Stop wasting money on sponsorships that bring no new revenue streams. Do some analysis. Did sponsoring that sports team really bring in the client work you were hoping for?
3. Consider losing the box at the footy and other hospitality events (albeit a rarity in the short term). Good way for cementing relationships with existing contacts but lousy when utilised to get profitable new clients.
4. With the cash you have just saved in action points 1, 2 & 3, invest in training your client facing staff in how to ‘sell’ your business/practice.
5. Educate your team as to the 20 routes to market that work effectively to attract new profitable client work but cost no cash. All but 3 work just as well whilst remote working. Doing nothing is no longer an option. Digital is critical.
I know, I know I used the ‘S’ word and you all hate it. “It’s beneath me, below me, makes me feel desperate and cheesy and I will not do it.” I have heard it all before and I have great empathy with you. No one ever showed you how to do this at law/accounting/engineering school.
Well, let me say this. You can do it. I know you can because I have worked with thousands of people just like you in over one hundred firms already, who have mastered a basic understanding of how to convey the value of an organisation to a stranger.
Many of them were introverted technical experts. Given the framework and tools to follow, they became proficient at what is an increasingly critical skill, the ability to sell what you do.
In a post pandemic world, where profitable business will be harder than ever to come by, this might just be the best investment in your own learning and development journey you and your team will ever make.