Complex sales processes made simple

October 21, 2024|Accountants, Kim's Blog, Lawyers, Management Skills, Marketing, Relationship Management, Selling|

Delegates from legal, accountancy and pensions firms attended last week’s “Selling Processes and Sales Skills for Marketing and BD Professionals” workshop by PM Forum. We explored the processes supporting complex sales cycles. A key theme was educating fee-earners – especially to manage expectations about the length of the sales cycle and the need for multiple interactions. We considered how best to support fee-earners through research and meeting preparation so that they build the relationship and explore client needs (aspirations and afflictions, gains and pains) thoroughly.

Overview of sales processes in professional services firms

Developing a relationship takes time and multiple interactions. So it’s surprising that many fee-earners don’t realise that the same process is at work when selling professional services. At the heart of the complex sale is the idea that there are likely to be multiple points of contact between a first interaction and conversion. And this process may be repeated across several individuals involved in the decision-making process. Selling Basics – Detectives and DMUs (Video) (kimtasso.com)

In complex sales situations – where we are selling professional services to organisations – research indicates that it can take from five to 10 separate contacts to convert a contact into a client. We noted average figure of nine separate contact points over an average of nine months. Fee-earners may therefore feel disheartened if they do not manage to convert a prospect at a first meeting.

Marketing professionals sometimes restrict their activity to designing and implementing campaigns which stop when they generate interest or leads. But handing over a qualified sales lead from a campaign or event is not enough. Fee-earners need to know what to do with that lead. So campaigns must extend throughout the lead nurturing process to include guidance and content.

Fee-earners naturally want to follow a process. During the workshop we looked at a variety of well-known sales processes – for organisations overall and for individuals. We looked at sales processes to conduct each interaction or meeting. We reviewed commercial models such as SPIN, Strategic Selling and PACE. As well as some developed from experience (e.g. Four themes in the art of selling – Integrating marketing and sales (kimtasso.com))

A selection of book reviews exploring sales processes:

Insight selling – building on consultative selling models (kimtasso.com)

Hope is not a strategy – the 6 keys to winning the complex sale (kimtasso.com)

Book review: Sales Mind – 48 tools to help you sell (kimtasso.com)

Book Review: Smarter selling – Next generation sales strategies (kimtasso.com)

Book review: Managing key clients (professional service firms) (kimtasso.com)

Classic management book reviews – The McKinsey way, Good to great (kimtasso.com)

Book review – Demise of dysfunctional selling (Khalsa) (kimtasso.com)

Business development for lawyers (kimtasso.com)

Selling Skills for the Professions – Kim Tasso

But we need fee-earners to understand that there are no guarantees – selling is as much an art as a science. A tried-and-trusted way to educate fee-earners about the sales process is to elicit sales success stories from experienced and respected fee-earners. Video – The art of storytelling – Kim Tasso explains. These stories are likely to demonstrate that it takes time and patience to win clients. Reports of delays and mistakes from seasoned professionals helps fee-earners manage their expectations of what they might achieve.

Step-by-step through the complex sales process

During workshop discussions, we identified the common themes that are relevant to most B2B sales situations. And learned how to convey this in a jargon-free way to help fee-earners develop their understanding of how they need to think, feel and act to secure new business.

Co-ordinate relationship and sales activity

Some firms enjoy effective CRM systems with sales processes embedded in them. The CRM based sales processes might be tailored to the sales cycles of different practice areas and services. The CRM helps fee-earners capture the necessary data on clients and opportunities along their sales journeys and guides them to the next steps.

Such CRM systems also help marketing, business development and client relationship professionals co-ordinate activity with large (global) clients where there may be multiple touchpoints and services across the firm. Data can be aggregated to provide a view of the sales pipeline across teams and the firm.

However, many firms do not have such CRM systems. This shouldn’t be a barrier. Educate and embed the sales processes first. And then help fee-earners develop simple systems (e.g. Excel sheets etc) that enable them to manage their information and keep track of what they have done and plan to do.

Sales conversations need preparation and planning.

Fee-earners need to anticipate what they hope to achieve at each meeting. They need to conduct research about the person, the organisation and the sector. They need to know what information they need to obtain at each meeting (here we explored the “blue box” approach to understanding what we know about and what we need to know about each individual). And what decisions and follow up action would be ideal. Selling insights for fabulous first meetings (kimtasso.com)

Connect with the right people

A marketing and business development plan will contain information about segmentation, targeting and positioning.

In practice, fee-earners will need to decide who they want to reach. Some may have a good idea from experience. Others may need help analysing or extending their network. Sometimes they may need help in targeting.

Marketing and BD planning – Segmentation, Rock Stars and Engagement (kimtasso.com)

Sales Targeting Toolbox for Professional Services Firms (kimtasso.com)

Book review – Great networking by Alisa Grafton (kimtasso.com)

Connected leadership – How professional relationships (kimtasso.com)

They also have to appreciate that a decision to purchase professional services is rarely down to one individual. They need to connect with multiple people at the prospective client organisation. And manage many (at the firm) to many (at the client organisation) relationships. Selling Basics – Detectives and DMUs (Video) (kimtasso.com)

Conversations that add value

Conversations are the life blood of relationships. There are numerous resources to help improve conversational skills:

Conversation skills book review (kimtasso.com)

Conversation skills book review 2 – How to talk to anyone: 92 little tricks (kimtasso.com)

Conversation skills book review 3: Conversational intelligence (kimtasso.com)

How to start conversations that get results (kimtasso.com)

leadership conversation skills: SCARF model of neuroscience (kimtasso.com)

Each conversation with a client representation needs to be natural and authentic. Fee-earners need to develop the skills to understand how to develop empathy, rapport and trust. And how to adapt their behaviour to the different people and personalities, styles, generations and cultures they might encounter at the client organisation. To develop the personal and professional relationship.

An introduction to emotional intelligence (EQ) and empathy (Video) (kimtasso.com)

trust for better business relationships (kimtasso.com)

Book review: Digital Body Language – How to build trust by Erica Dhawan (kimtasso.com)

dog, cat and bear personalities – Better business relationships (kimtasso.com)

How can I improve my cross cultural communication (kimtasso.com)

Conveying information effectively and being persuasive often involves sharing stories. These are like case studies with evidence of the firm’s effectiveness. But with an added dimension of emotion. selling legal services with storytelling (kimtasso.com)

We also know – from Challenger and Insight selling models – that clients consider the conversations with the fee-earner who is selling to be part of the value proposition. In effect, the sales conversations are a foretaste of what the service with the firm will be like.

Curiosity before and during meetings

At the heart of selling is curiosity. What is curiosity and why is it important in business relationships? (Video) (kimtasso.com).

The majority of early interactions with clients will be to understand them and their organisation thoroughly. To explore their decision-making processes. And to learn about their needs – what they want to achieve and what they want to avoid.

And this is why research, questioning and listening skills are so important in selling

Why are questions so important? (Questioning skills) (kimtasso.com)

Coaching skills – the power of questions (kimtasso.com)

Active Listening (Video) (kimtasso.com)

A key part of business development and sales coaching is helping fee-earners think about the right questions to ask Business Development Coaching Insights – Kim Tasso. We explored a number of ways to do this including “blue box” grids and buyer impression frameworks.

However, many fee-earners resist asking questions where they are not sure that they will know the answer. We need to help them overcome this fear so that they really delve into the client’s situation. Reframing selling as “be more detective” may help.

We considered how we might use ChatGPT and other AI tools to support questioning during the sales cycle. Key Insights from the AI in Marketing training by Optix at PM Forum (kimtasso.com)

Marketing must add-value to fee-earners during every interaction – by providing insight, connections, content and support. That way, fee-earners will return to marketing for support at each stage of the sales process. This emulates the process that fee-earners need to create with their prospects and clients if they are to continue to secure further meetings

Consistent – Create good relationship and sales habits

Whilst understanding the complex sales process is important, the aim is to educate fee-earners to adopt good sales habits.

Recent research into professional services selling (Rainmaking best practice in professional services firms (Selling) (kimtasso.com)) indicates that the most successful fee-earners exhibit the following key behaviours:

Build connected networks of colleagues and clients
Create value through collaboration
Commit to proactive and consistent business development routine

And develop the following habits:

90% reserve time for BD every week
Spend same time between new and existing clients
74% introduce clients to colleagues (only 29% non-activator)
Curate information for current and prospective clients
Proactively engage clients in conversations about potential issues and opportunities

Conversion of interest into opportunities and work

It helps if fee-earners have an outline plan for how many interactions they need with each member of the client organisation to navigate the sales process. This can be achieved by having a sales plan at the outset and also by using systems that prompt fee-earners through the process.

As most sales processes will involve multiple interactions, it is important to help fee-earners think about the next stage at each step. Pre-planning the options for the next follow up before each meeting.

Sometimes, fee-earners may be anxious about picking up the phone to take the next step or sending an email to nudge progress. Marketing can help provide reasons to make contact, ways to add value and the confidence to continue.

We talked again about the value of obtaining “sales war stories” from successful rainmakers in your firm. These demonstrate that it isn’t always plain sailing and that it can take time and persistent to win the client and the business.

Only when you have a clear idea of their needs and wants, you will be in a position to craft a persuasive value proposition that meets those needs and sets out why your firm is best placed to deliver it.

What is a value proposition or USP – and how do I create one? (kimtasso.com)

Malcolm McDonald on value propositions – How to develop them (kimtasso.com)

Then you are into the realms of pitching, presenting, persuasion, managing objections and closing.

Delegate takeaways

Image:

Lightbulb (provide insights or add value for clients at every interaction)
Dog (consider emotion and personal chemistry)
Cycle (relationship development stages need consistent effort)

Idea:

Emotion (decisions rarely made on rational thoughts alone)
Nine contacts/months on average (long sales cycle)
Sales training for all fee-earners (need for education and training)
Talk to clients about their relationship and service needs (research to be client-centric)

Action:

Communication with partners
Build trust with partners
Get involved with planning sales meetings
Improve “know your client” processes
Build our sales process
Provide sales tools to help fee-earners
Organise internal sales training
Work on client/sales plans

Delegate poll results

How would you rate your sales and selling abilities?

0% Really low/no experience

14% Low – little experience

57% Average – some experience

29% High – Lot of experience

0% Really high – much experience, lots of client contact, key part of my role

Analysis – what’s the source of the majority of your clients

0% Digital marketing

0% Internal referrals/cross-selling

29% Existing client referrals

14% External referrals/international network

43% Fee-earners’ sales, BD/relationship efforts

14% Somewhere else

Are you mostly trying to sell to

29% Large, global organisations

57% Small and medium sized enterprises

0% Not for profit

0% Individuals/families

14% Something else (public sector)

What sales objectives do you monitor (multiple choice)

Results

86% Revenue/profit

71% Additional revenue from existing clients

57% Number of new clients/transactions

57% Pitch or tender (number and conversions)

43% Fee-earner targets cs actuals on business development

Process

57% Referrals or recommendations generation

57% New leads, enquiries or opportunities generated

29% Number of meetings arranged

0% opportunities at each stage of he sales cycles

How familiar are you with the concept of the DMU? Selling Basics – Detectives and DMUs (Video) (kimtasso.com)

57% No idea what it is

29% Use it in some sales situations

14% Its an integral part of our sales process

Where do you think your firm is weakest?

17% Focus/targeting

0% Awareness/personal skills

50% Sales process/methodology

0% Discipline/motivation

33% Other

What do you use to help fee-earners research sales prospects?

86% Free online information (eg Google)

71% CRM/intranet/internal systems

71% Social media (including LinkedIn Sales Navigator)

71% Companies House

71% Paid or commercial information/research systems

43% Sector group information

43% Industrial/professional associations0% AI tools

0% I don’t get involved in research

How do your fee-earners generally reach out to contacts?

29% Events and networking

29% Direct – telephone or email

29% Mutual connection

14% Industry or business association

0% Through marketing (responding to enquiries)

0% Social media

How often are you asked to help plan sales meetings?

14% Never

71% Sometimes

14% Regularly

0% Always

Personalities dog, cat and bear personalities – Better business relationships (kimtasso.com)

You

14% Cat

86% Dog

0% Bear

Fee-earners

43% Cat

29% Dog

29% Bear

Do your fee-earners use a framework to plan questions at sales meetings?

14% Yes – another framework

29% Yes – we developed our own (templates/guides)

14% Our sales/BD professionals help them

29% No

14% I don’t know

How much of what we hear do we retain? Active Listening (Video) (kimtasso.com)

43% 0-25%

29% 26-50%

29% 51-75%

0% over 76%

Overview of sales processes in professional services firms