To a Power Professional:  Sell is a Four Letter Word!!

The word "sell" is a four letter word in the world of professional services. Sell has long been synonym with a high-pressure, hard-sell approach that is not only controversial, but also ethically challenging.

Times have changed! Today, customer acquisition and relationship management are about the customer choosing you for the value your firm can provide them. Yes, there are situations where selling skills can help to close the deal but this should be an exception not the norm. What you communicate when you meet someone at a cocktail party or other social event largely determines whether they'll become your client or not. So don't "sell. "

What is Selling…or Marketing?

Let me start by saying that I believe that "selling" is a necessary and unavoidable part of working with customers. It's important not to confuse selling with marketing or business development. The technical differences in the two are very clear, but at the same time the intent of each is largely the same.

For those of you who don't know what marketing is, here's another way to describe it: Marketing is about understanding your customers needs and creating value for them that helps them to achieve their goals and results in their decision to do business with you. In contrast, selling reflects all those elements involved in trying to persuade people who may not want what you have on offer (i.e. persuading someone to do something they don't want to do).

A question we often ask prospective clients is: "What is the best result you are looking for from your professional services firm?" The answer will either be: "To get more business," or "For our business to grow." And when we push back and ask them what does that mean, we get a number of different responses. Some go as far to say that the objective for their professional service firm is 100% of their time spent on selling. While some professionals are very good at selling, this kind of approach can lead to burnout and destructive results.

Selling is a Four Letter Word

Strongly worded words have a power that cannot be denied. In the professional service world, it is often said that the words "sell" or "marketing" are four letter words, which means they are not to be spoken in public. But, yet they rank high on the list of serious topics with heavy consideration and deep thought. As professionals who conduct business with their clients and customers must discuss marketing or selling in conversation with them any time they meet them socially, we often must take pause as we consider what may be best for our clients and customers.

In selling, the key question is: "What can you do for me?" In marketing, the intent is to add value to your client or prospect and help them achieve their goals. The difference in approach is that one is short-term and focused on you, while the other is long term and focused on your client or prospect.

If you're not used to approaching clients or prospects with marketing conversations versus sales conversations, it might feel odd at first. But stick with it because people perceive marketing as being more useful.

Professional services firms that try to market in a way that sounds like their competitors will most likely fail. If your marketing doesn't sound like you, it won't work. You don't want to be a "me too" player. The days of pushing your business to the forefront with advertising and irrelevant messages are gone! Today you have to be stand-out different and relevant to the audience you hope to attract in order for marketing to be effective.

What are you selling to your customers?

When a customer or prospect contacts you, they're doing so because they have a need. In some cases, they will have many needs and they may even be looking to buy different services from different providers. Sometimes, however, the problems are very specific to one client or prospect.

To succeed in this very challenging environment you must understand what your customer's needs are and how your agency can solve those problems. You must "sell" the value of what you do for them. It is about communicating to your customer exactly what value you can provide for them, above anyone else. It's about what unique benefit you can bring to the table and how you can help them overcome their business challenges.

What are your customer's needs? What problems do they have? What are they looking to achieve? How do your services make their life easier, more profitable or save them time (and therefore money)?

If you're able to clearly identify these things and then formulate a "unique selling proposition" that makes it clear why the client should work with you (and not someone else), then you'll create an effective marketing message.

Assessing your Value Proposition

When you meet a prospective client or customer, you will have the opportunity to have multiple conversations to assess their needs. The first conversation is an assessment of what their problem is and what it will take to solve it. This conversation is typically referred to as the "need discovery" process. It is especially important that you take detailed notes from this initial meeting. While legal, financial and other professional services can be complex, marketing conversations are really about listening and understanding your prospects' needs and their personal situation.

Once the "need discovery" is complete, you can move forward and either engage your client in service design discussions or begin to offer a series of solutions that can solve their problem. When you are defining your solutions to add value to your client, you absolutely must tailor them to their situation.

Here are two questions that help guide this conversation: What problem do you solve for your customers? Why should they work with you? How will the solution bring them the value they need in the amount of time and at less cost that it would take from someone else? The answers and the problems will be unique to every client or prospect.

Conclusion

Professional services marketing is not easy. It requires a different skill set and mindset than selling. However, if you are willing to master it, it will more than pay for itself and put you in control of your destiny in terms of success with current and future clients.

About the Author

Kevin Darte, Director and Principal Consultant of Darte Marketing Group has been a marketing strategist for professional services firms since 1999. He frequently speaks on topics related to the marketing strategies required for success in the financial advisory industry. He can be reached at Kevin@DarteMarCom.