5 Simple Steps to Reframe Your Sales Process.
If sales have stagnated, or you are just not attracting the right clients, maybe it’s time to refresh your sales process. Don’t get us wrong, great business development is complex and multi-layered, but it can be simplified into five steps that better frame your desired outcome. We have outlined each below.
Start by clearly identifying your ideal client target.
Many small to medium-sized technical consulting firms grew organically over time. You may not have formally outlined your target market, client type, persona, etc. It might be time to take a step back and ask yourself and your team who we would like to work with. What does that client look like? Can we find more clients that match our best client qualities? How will you know where to look if you don’t clearly define who and what you are looking for? Creating an ideal client target is a great place to start.
Sell with your story; what’s yours?
Every organization has an origin story, purpose, and mission. But today’s clients want more. They want to understand why you do what you do and, how you deliver your services differently, what sets you apart from the competition. So why should they invest in you? You can tell your story differently, add personality, demonstrate value, and build upon it over time. Suppose you start to think about your services and solutions as part of a greater narrative. In that case, it opens the door to deeper conversations with prospects so that you can qualify for an opportunity faster.
Appeal to customer challenges rather than your features and benefits.
Once you are past the discovery phase of a sale, it’s time to better define the opportunity's scope, scale, and timeline. Typically, the first instinct is to dive into your process and describe the features and benefits of your services. Of course, it’s human nature to want to solve the problem immediately. But, we have found that the best way to go from a vendor to a partner in your prospect's mind is to unpack the challenges and complexity of a project before working on the solution. This accomplishes two things, potential clients feel that you are listening to them, which builds rapport and trust, and by taking time to dive deeper, you are better positioned to deliver a solution based on all the data you gained.
Work to answer all your prospect’s questions before the close.
The final run-through of your proposal or last sales meeting is not the time for a client to ask front-loaded questions about your team, process, approach, or even fees. You must ensure you have answered all these questions before this last step. The close should be focused on the value you will add to the process above and beyond the fundamentals. That’s not to say that a prospect may not return and want a recap of earlier conversations. When that happens, the best approach is to take that step back to validate why your company should be considered, then redirect the conversation back to value.
Demonstrate actionable value to determine your pricing and close with confidence.
Prospective clients often want to discuss fees early to evaluate if your company is a viable option. This is natural. But if you start talking about fees before genuinely understanding all aspects of a project, you are doing yourself a disservice. Once a fee, no matter how speculative, has been communicated, that is the fee the prospect will expect. Suppose you have completed the more profound discovery described above. In that case, you can reframe your services to potentially solve the immediate problem on the table and add more value working to solve an underlying challenge or deliver more than what was originally in the scope. This position allows you to charge a greater fee than if you reacted to a bid or RFP. The final key is to address fees confidently. You and your team have worked for years to amass the experience and expertise to solve these projects; act like it.
