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SERVICES SELLING I DIDNT RAISE YOU TO BE A SALESMAN

Written by: Mike Schultz

Article Overview: By Mike Schultz and John Doerr Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be salesboys Don't let 'em sell siding or drive them big trucks Have 'em be consultants and accountants and such. Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be salesboys 'Cause they'll never stay home or they're on their cell phone Even with family around. With all due apologies to Willie Nelson, I am sure this was the sentiment of most of our parents. Yes, be a lawyer or accountant or even (heaven forbid) a consultant, but please don't ever come home and declare, “Mom, I found my calling. I am going to be a salesperson!”

SERVICES SELLING I DIDNT RAISE YOU TO BE A SALESMAN

By Mike Schultz and John Doerr

Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be salesboys
Don't let 'em sell siding or drive them big trucks
Have 'em be consultants and accountants and such.

Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be salesboys
'Cause they'll never stay home or they're on their cell phone
Even with family around.

With all due apologies to Willie Nelson, I am sure this was the sentiment of most of our parents. Yes, be a lawyer or accountant or even (heaven forbid) a consultant, but please don't ever come home and declare, “Mom, I found my calling. I am going to be a salesperson!”

Why all the disdain from those of us selling professional services? With most services firms we work with, this is what we hear:

I didn't become a lawyer, accountant, consultant, or (fill in the blank) so I could be a salesperson.

My clients won't respect me if I try to sell more to them.

I don't want to sound too “salesy.”

I don't sell professional services; I uncover problems and partner with clients to solve them.

I wasn't trained to sell. I don't know what I'm doing and I am afraid I will look foolish. Everyone will see me fail.

I'd rather just provide my clients with great value and let word of mouth do the rest.

I just don't have it in my genes. I am not one of those used car sales guys.

My parents raised me better than that. (OK, we made this one up.)

So maybe you didn't enter your profession so you could sell all day, but in the words of another great artist, the Eagles, “Get over it.” The world of professional services has changed considerably in recent years. To be successful as professionals, most of us have to do some services selling. Firms can no longer rely on one or two Rainmakers to hunt and then feed the rest of the professionals. Every one of us must become involved in growing the firm.

The good news: selling services is not as loathsome as you think. It can even be exciting. To help you get over your fear, disdain, or avoidance of sales we share these six thoughts about selling professional services.

What makes a good professional makes a good sales person. Think about how you deliver your services to your client. You ask questions. You extend expert opinions. You work hard. You are accessible at all times. You look for creative solutions. You deliver what you say you are going to deliver.

This is exactly what you need to do to become successful in sales. It is not about convincing someone to buy something they do not need. It is about helping them find solutions to needs when they realize they don't have the expertise to do it themselves.

Your prospects and clients actually want you to sell to them. What do clients (and prospects) expect from you? Certainly, not to provide free advice. They expect you to provide the expertise or the resources they do not have. If they are walking into trouble, it is your job to point it out and provide assistance. If you can see a better future for them that they can't see, help them find it. If you sell the same way you provide your services (as in #1 above), they will ask you for more.

You're most successful when you aren't too “salesy.” Think about the rainmakers in your firm. Do you equate them with the used car sales image in your mind? Probably not. They build relationships. They develop trust. They engage conversations to find out what is really going on in their client's world. They work to show their competence and that of the firm. And, they gain commitment – not by asking “What will it take to get us in to do work for you,” but by building creative solutions and creating value for their clients.

Those of you who argue, “Professional services don't need to be sold,” are partially right. It all depends on your mental model of sales. You do have to do many of the things a good salesperson does (plan, persist, hustle, stay in contact) but the tone is different than what many of us think it needs to be. Selling shouldn't be as it's depicted in most movies.

Selling is rewarding. Even though you may not have entered your profession to sell, it can be rewarding from many perspectives. There is a certain amount of thrill and excitement in brining in new customers. There is also the element, in many cases, of bringing in more money. But for many professionals, the reward is finding new people for whom you can provide much needed assistance.

Selling helps you build relationships. Selling services is about building relationships. If you approach it from this mindset, even the sales calls that do not produce direct sales can be considered a win – if you continue to put energy into the relationship. Over time, these so-called losing efforts can produce new referrals, contacts, and, at some point, sales.

Selling is fun. Yes, you too can have fun selling if you look at it as a way to build relationships, solve problems, and help your clients succeed. You may not fall in love with sales, but it doesn't have to be as distressing as most professionals go out of their way to make it.
Remind yourself often that selling isn't a necessary evil. It's a part of being a well-rounded and successful professional service provider. Once you start to feel the business development juices flowing within, you will be well on your way.

If, however, you find yourself reminiscing about the days when you didn't need to sell, and find yourself asking, “I wonder if I'll ever be able to just put my head down and do the work again, and leave the selling to everyone else,” stop yourself and take a break for a minute to consider the sage words of an old salesman.

What was it you wanted?
Tell me again so I'll know.
What's happening in there,
What's going on in your show.
What was it you wanted,
Could you say it again?
I'll be back in a minute
You can get it together by then.
- Willie Nelson (unedited)

During that minute when you're getting it together, forget you asked yourself the question. Instead, get back to your business development to-do list.

What's the worst that can happen? If it does not work, you can always climb back in your truck and get the heck out of Dodge. (Or try again.)

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  Overcoming Objections
  Finding the Right buyer when you sell your business is Crucial
  Sales Success Tip-The Customer is Not Always Right
  Sell the Store, Not the Chair

Article Tags: accountant, accountants, avoidance, babies, car sales, cell phone, disdain, due apologies, eagles, genes, john doerr, mike schultz, profession, professional services, rainmakers, salesperson, sentiment, siding, willie nelson, word of mouth



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Placemat / Table Top Advertising - Was curious if any of you have done anything like this and how you pitched it. Some people say placemat advertising dont work and I laugh. To say such a thing would mean no advertising works. Advertising in the form, not even newspapers can compete. We have a CAPTIVE audience unlike any other form of advertising. Everyone waits for their food while dining out and obviously rather than stairing at there silverware, they are going to read a few if not all the ads searching for great deals in coupon form or just looking it over while waiting for their meal. Billboards, radio, t.v just can compete with a advertising medium which holds a reader captive, relaxed and in a great frame of mind. Everyone I have talked to says calling businesses up is a waste of time but i can accomplish more by hitting more business than i can going business to business, plus with gas prices these days..WOW. I have put together the following scrpit for calling and I would appreciate any feedback please (good or bad)... Hi, my name is Daniel with (my business name). I got your number from the (local chamber). We are calling on behalf of the pizzahut. (NAME), the manager has an exciting new promotion going designed by us to increase local area spending. We are looking for local sponsors to advertise their business on the table tops at the restaurant for the next 3-4 months. Becoming a sponsor is a great way to show your community support and promote your business. If your interested, I will be in the area (FRIDAY). I would like to stop by and show you an example. What time works for you? maybe that is just to long. Maybe i just want to sound like a real person, a friend over the phone rather than a CAR SALESMAN so how bout this... We are calling on behalf of the local pizza hut. Crystal, the manager has an exciting new promotion designed to increase local area spending. It seems to be a poplular place to eat so we're looking for local sponsors to advertise their business on the table tops at the restaurant for the next 3 months or so. Will be in the area friday showing examples all day long to those already interested. What time works for you? Hmm, i just dont know. I would like to hit the gound running with this. They say SELL THE SIZZLE, NOT THE STEAK. Do i want to say that we got their name as a referral from, hmm, i think it was the local chamber (chamber of commerce). That might help loosin them up or maybe not. Maybe i am thinking on this way to much. PLEASE HELP! Our local newspaper charges 45 bucks a day for a black/white 2x2 ad. Needless to say radio and tv along with billboards are much more. Problem with billboards, most use a pretty graphic which then gets all the attention, you never get to look at the number or business name during your drive by and a few minutes later, out of site, out of mind. These are 350-400 to create the vinyl ad, then 400-700 dollars a month depending on location. Is it really worth the expense unless you can afford putting an ad up on 10-20 billboards? We charge $210 for 3 months / $70 monthly / $16 weekly / $2 daily. I would say we have the most economical marketing product on the market today!" or another option is $250 for 3 months which includes any radio promotions which we would plug them as a sponsor. Another option would be rather than run them for 3 months at a time. Run our placemats for (1) month at a time for $210 monthly but combine the ads in 3 different restaurant locations (same franchise of coarse). All within 30 minutes of each other. Or just do the 1st one and upsell the others for options. Wanting some feedback and opinions on it. Thanks, Daniel


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