Cross-selling – Practical steps to take (from John Timperley)

November 23, 2025|Accountants, Kim's Blog, Lawyers, Marketing, Relationship Management, Selling|

I posted an overview article Cross-selling and referrer management – Past, present and future (September 2025) as I have many active client projects in this area – as I have for many years. Not long after, John Timperley | LinkedIn – a professional services marketing veteran who I have known for decades – presented a webinar in October for PM Forum. Whereas I focused on strategy and systems in my post, John shared some practical steps at the webinar. Cross-selling – Practical steps to take.

Introduction to John Timperley’s webinar on cross-selling

The session was chaired by Anna Lake who is a client listening expert. Over 400 joined the Events & webinars – PM Forum which is one of the highest numbers of registrations, showing just how important this topic is.

John reframed cross-selling as ‘bringing the full value of the firm to clients’. He reflected that ‘We do a great job for our clients, we have great people, so why can’t we open up more opportunities for each other?’ is a common Managing Partner refrain. He reflected that the cross-selling strategies to adopt will depend on the size of firm, its service offering and the culture of firm. Cultivate a cross-selling culture

He focused on five areas:

Introducing the wider firm to clients
Attracting introductions from colleagues
Spotting opportunities for colleagues to help
Overcoming the key barriers
Ingredients of a good personal cross-selling plan

Practical activities to support cross-selling

He suggested 10 effective practical activities:

1. Client service planning meetings

He mentioned key client meetings where the right people working on a key client worked together in a room to explore what else they could bring to a client. He reported that just getting the right people together on a firm’s top 10 clients had been transformative for one firm.

2. Presenting at other team’s meetings

He suggested partners and others for a key client presented for 10 minutes at other teams’ meetings. He mentioned a tax litigation partner presenting to relevant teams what they have done for similar directors to those they might have. Ten 15 minute presentations generated a year of work.

3. Visibility of new work reports

He asked how firms shared information on new clients and new work. And how proactive partners got in touch to proactively suggest possible services for those clients.

4. Shared marketing activity calendar

He talked about teams working together. In particular, a corporate finance and tax team in accounting. And corporate law teams working with employment and real estate teams. They organised joint meetings.

5. Cross-selling buddies or “pods”

Some complementary practice areas call each other to account, attend events together and act as sounding boards for each other to improve working relationships. He mentioned three-four professionals working in a pod with specific objectives to try to find three client opportunities together.

6. Post-assignment debriefs

All client listening exercises might be included here. Cross-selling and referrals – Listen, Focus and Proximity

But client satisfaction may be highest immediately after an assignment and they will be thinking of their next projects so this might be a good time to ask about other needs. You might also seek referrals at this time.

7. Asking for referrals and introductions from colleagues

Internal and external roundtables are a good time to ask about specific issues where there may be referral opportunities.

8. Sector lunches and other approaches for clients and contacts

Any time that clients, referrers and contacts are assembled is a good time to raise issues that are likely to be of interest to people. From my experience, it is also helpful if clients mention some of the services they have used and the benefits which might encourage others to ask about them

“Proximity marketing” (my term for just getting people together) can be achieved in many different gatherings.

9. Showcasing stories of the work you have done

Case studies and stories – whether written, spoken or in video format – are compelling ways to showcase what you have done for other clients

Book review: Unleash the power of storytelling by Rob Biesenbach

10. Internal “speed networking” events

Get people together and encourage them to rotate every 10 minutes – so they have time to learn about each other’s services and discuss organisations that might be interested in them

There are other practical ideas here: Cross-selling and referrer management – Past, present and future

Attract cross-selling introductions from colleagues

To attract introductions from colleagues you can:

Update colleagues on what you do
Educate them on triggers that point to your service
Send referrals their way to build reciprocity referrer management in professional service firms
Look for mutual opportunities
Earn the right for future referrals
Recognise the importance of your internal network
Demonstrate how well you handle the work

Processes for cross-selling

Have a process for selling your colleague’s expertise:

Have a short fact sheet about the service (answering who, how, what, when and where)
Identify trigger point or key question(s) to ask client
Talk through the process for introducing them (email, call, meeting etc)
Agree the follow through and follow up process

There are diagrams above for cross selling planning and mapping.

Adopt an issues-focused approach (Identify an issue that you could highlight to colleagues so that they can position you and your team for an introduction to their clients or contacts)

The issue
Why your client may need to act
How we can help
Where have we done it before?
Our experience and credentials in the area
Our contacts

He mentioned some technology solutions to help with cross-selling

Introhive
- Identifies interactions between staff and clients
ClientSense
- Identifies your strongest relationships with organisations and individuals
- Assists with cross-servicing as it can automatically report on the clients that are known to one group in the firm but not another
- Creates key client “heat maps” showing gaps in key relationships and potential “white space” for different practice groups
- Pre-meeting notifications identifying the individuals, their contact details and if anyone else from the firm has had recent communication

Cross-selling and referrer management – Data, focus

Ingredients of a good cross-selling plan

People
- Disciplines and colleagues to develop closer ties with
Triggers
- Indicating potential for new work that you and your team provide
Services
- Which others in the firm offer – and you can introduce easily to contacts
Actions
- Your priority actions – what and when over a 100-day period

Common barriers to cross-selling

John talked through how to overcome the key barriers to cross-selling (common friction points in firms)

Spotting the issue
Wider firm knowledge
Client sharing
Client attitude
Incentives and recognition
Converting the opportunity

John can be contacted at results@winningbusiness.net

PM Forum members can watch the video Cross selling strategies that are actually working for firms

(It’s interesting that recently there have been a number of professional service marketers on LinkedIn saying that cross-selling is too inward looking and firm-oriented. They say that firms and fee-earners should be more focused on client needs and issues and promoting appropriate solutions in response. I agree with the client-focused approach. However, my view is that most firms understand the concept of cross-selling – and we should aim to achieve the mindset shift from internal (firm and service focus) to client need focus as part of our “cross-selling” solution. It’s a core component of any business development training)

Related posts on cross-selling

Cross-selling and referrer management – Past, present and future September 2025

Cross-selling and referrals – Listen, Focus and Proximity March 2025

Referrer management: Diagnosis, Aims, Strategies and Action November 2024

Referrer Management Strategies – Planning for the firm, teams August 2024

Cross-selling and referrer management – Data, focus (kimtasso.com) March 2024

Sales Targeting Toolbox for Professional Services Firms February 2024

Referrer Management – Capacity and Capability (kimtasso.com) October 2023

The EAST framework for behavioural nudges in marketing? (kimtasso.com) August 2023

Employee Communications and Alumni Programmes (kimtasso.com) August 2023

Referrer management – Grading, Research, Discipline, Storytelling (kimtasso.com) April 2023

Cultivate a cross-selling culture (kimtasso.com) March 2023