Most professionals are not great salespeople. In fact you probably think you hate sales, but business development is just that – sales. You are helping people buy your services and if you enjoy business development, perhaps you don’t hate sales after all.
What are you selling?
Let’s start by thinking about what you are selling. What solutions are you selling to your clients?
This will of course vary by company and industry, but write yourself a list. The obvious things on this list will be your products, services and packaged experiences. Start with what you do, but also try to include what your colleagues and company do so that you also have the ability to effectively cross-sell (after all you don’t know who you might meet).
So now you know what you are selling… how do you sell it?
How do you get in front of people? How are you getting your message out there?
Consider what you are already doing as part of your business development efforts? How do you get your products, services and anything else on your “items for sale” list in front of your client – your target audience?
Are you…
- producing strategic content?
- sharing strategic content?
- attending and/or hosting events and conferences?
- talking with people? when you talk to them are you telling them about what you do and your items for sale?
How you are getting your items for sale in front of others and how you are marketing them should form part of your Business Development or networking strategy.
How do your make easy for your client to buy?
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Package your product
Make it easier for your client to understand what you are selling them by packaging it as a solution or by defining the outcome and using language that appeals to them – your client. Not by confusing them with technical language. You can do this by showing your clients you are offering them a practical solution, by giving them options and being clear about the cost and finally by letting them know what they need to do to get started!
Make it easy, desirable and practical.
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Be online
In addition of “getting in front of your client” as mentioned above you should also be building up a credible online presence and if possible an easy online offering or experience. More and more people are buying products and services online. This also includes doing research and reading reviews, simply finding out more information and of course making the actual purchase online. You ultimately need to be online to be with them throughout the buying process.
Consider your clients and your offering. Consider what influences your client’s decision to buy.
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Research
As you will know understanding your client is essential you need to understand your client in order to help them make the purchase.
Research will help you understand your client better and should always be included in your strategy. This might be through desk-based research, networking, informational interviews, conferences and events and meetings with your existing clients. Use your conversations and research to identify your client’s pain points and from that identify what product or service you offer them. This might also be a personalised product or service that you put together just for them.
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Put together a Marketing Toolkit
Once you have reached this stage you might want to consider investing some time in putting together a handy “marketing tool-kit” (or refreshing an existing one). This might be a personal one or something you put together at team or firm level. As well as key information and statistics your marketing tool-kit should also include testimonials, credibility statements and stories/case studies. Choose what works best for your product or service. And perhaps most importantly have an elevator pitch for your product or service.
You should make your tool-kit downloadable and sharable. Don’t forget the person who comes across your product or service or the person you have had a conversation with may not be the sole decision maker, make it easy for them to share the information to make it easier for them to buy.