The Rainmakers – learn how to sell professional services

For many decades professional service providers (lawyers, accountants, financial advisors, banking, management consultants, engineers, architects, medical specialists, etc.) relied on their local networks for new client referrals. They usually developed a reputation amongst a select group of their friends, colleagues and local industry groups making them an attractive option that would bring business to their door.

While personal recommendations and referrals are still highly sought after, the days of only relying on referrals, especially local referrals, have passed. Markets have expanded, and professional service providers can often work from anywhere with clients further afield than their local neighbourhood. While industry and professional networking groups provide avenues to new clients too, internet searches for these services are a keystroke away, with the potential client base aware of the offers and the alternatives. This can put added pressure on professionals to offer better services, lower fees, and more. There is a lot of choice and competition is fierce. 

In the end, it is not only the quality of service delivered but also the quality of professional guidance and selling that commenced and stimulated the relationship that ultimately makes up the entire client experience.

While formally trained in their professional streams, almost no one is trained in how to sell and reconcile their feelings about selling. This is a huge stumbling block for those who want to start their own business or work in consulting firms because the brutal facts are everyone has a sales revenue target to reach if they want to stay in business and earn what they are worth.

Added to the pressure of finding and winning new business and accepting they are in sales, selling professional services, has a unique dual role of advocacy and inquiry. They must present a professional face that does not come across as an overt sell.

Conventional sales training does not cater for this complexity. Whilst many of the skills and techniques used in professional services selling are the same as those used in other solutions selling areas, their application is vastly different. Conventionally, selling has tended to chase “share of spend / wallet” making valiant efforts to capture a lucrative proportion of a client’s spend in a category. However, in professional services selling, the emphasis shifts from share of wallet to “share of mind”. By capturing share of mind (as opposed to the focus on share of wallet) partners and associates position themselves and their firms as the first-choice provider for the service, as opposed to one of many choices out there.

Those deemed successful in professional services selling are often referred to as The Rainmakers – a person (as a partner in a law firm) who brings in new business; a person whose influence can initiate progress or ensure success (Merriam-Webster dictionary)

The most effective rainmaking partners and associates bring business into their firm because they are no different when they “sell” than when they service:

1. Successful rainmakers treat clients as their most valuable partner. Past and current clients can be a source of new business, successful rainmakers don’t neglect them while they cultivate new relationships.
2. Successful rainmakers make business development a priority every day, every week.
3. Consistent business development requires a system. While approaches can be limitless and highly personal, the important thing is to have a structure in place that keeps selling and business development a consistent priority.
4. Successful rainmakers have a plan. They recognise that “random acts of lunch” are not usually successful and therefore not a good use of limited sales time.
5. Successful rainmakers know where they are going to focus their sales effort and translate that into an action plan they execute with discipline and purpose.
6. Successful rainmakers focus on high-potential sales opportunities. Professionals have a limited amount of time to invest in selling and business development. Successful rainmakers focus the limited sales time where they can get the biggest return on their investment.

If you’d like to explore how to develop your rainmaking skills and practices contact us, we’d be happy to help you sell better faster with our RAIN Making program.

Remember everybody lives by selling something.

Stories from the field:

Thank you! I know I have already said this but I will say it again. It was a fantastic day. We walked away with some practical tools and ways of elevating our way of doing business, growing our sales and selling better! You were engaging, insightful and aligned the content and delivery to suit our team. Looking forward to our follow up sessions.

I had a client meeting on Wednesday and applied the WWW and gained plenty of F’s!

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