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The 4 Capabilities Every Seller-Doer Must Develop

October 27, 2020 by Jim Rogers

 

If you are in professional services and want to work on the most exciting projects for the best clients, maximize your compensation, become indispensable, and take command of your career, then merely delivering excellent client service is not enough. You must do something, anything, to help bring in revenue.

That’s what seller-doers do.

Seller-doer defined

I define a seller-doer as a billable professional who takes purposeful action to help generate revenue for their firm.

The word “doer” implies that you are actively engaged in billable client work as opposed to being a full-time business developer or marketing professional.

“Seller” refers broadly to marketing and business activities that generate revenue for your firm.

I include the word “help” in the definition because your involvement in generating revenue will be based on the nature of your business and where you are in your career. In other words, you don’t have to be a rainmaker, or principal, to be a seller-doer with impact.

Take purposeful action

The middle part of the definition, “takes purposeful action,” simply means that you are doing something other than just delivering top quality deliverables and successful outcomes for client projects.

Below are five examples of activities in which seller-doers might participate.

  1. Raise awareness of your firm by speaking at conferences, blogging, and being active on LinkedIn or Twitter or both.
  2. Grow your network and develop leads for new clients by attending networking events.
  3. Ask an existing client for a referral.
  4. Help identify opportunities for new projects with existing clients… before your competitors do.
  5. Write or contribute to proposals and interview presentations.

What must a seller-doer learn?

To succeed in those activities, there are four capabilities that every seller doer must develop: communication, marketing, business development, and closing the sale. Let’s take them one by one.

Communication

Communication is the foundation of everything a seller-doer does and is the place to start if you don’t have these building blocks in place. If you can’t communicate effectively, tackling the other skills will be difficult if not futile. The skills include the following:

  • People skills
  • Business writing
  • Public speaking, and
  • Persuasion.

Effective communication is the key to establishing healthy working relationships with clients. Similarly, people skills allow you to build rapport and credibility, thereby fostering trust between you and your clients. Being able to write and speak clearly and persuasively will help you convey your best ideas in a compelling way that helps you stand out from the crowd.

Marketing

Marketing is the most important means of attracting new clients. A large part of this for any professional is in growing your network and raising awareness of your firm’s (and your) capabilities. You can do this through writing, speaking, and attending networking events, and being active on LinkedIn.

If you’ve been tasked with finding new clients rather than just developing new work for existing clients, then prospecting is essential. This may require your being able to perform market and client research to identify best clients.

You’ll need to know how to get referrals from existing clients and others in your network. And you’ll need to have the phone skills that can get a prospect to take a first meeting with you. Do an excellent job and you’ll soon be pumping new project leads into the pipeline. And when it comes to revenue generation, the pipeline rules all.

Business Development

Business development is the process for moving project and contract opportunities through the pipeline up to the brink of proposing on and winning the business. It’s in this middle stage of the client lifecycle where most deals are won or lost. Four business development skills that you will need are listed below:

  • Planning a compelling sales call
  • Questioning and listening
  • Positioning (i.e., articulating your value proposition), and
  • Capture planning and making good go/no-go decisions.

Closing the Sale

Closing is the last step in getting work in the door and an important seller-doer capability. For you to operate within this part of the client lifecycle, you need to learn these skills:

  • Proposal writing
  • Interview presentations, and
  • Negotiation.

These skills get the fees on the books. If you’re just starting out, you might volunteer to help by writing similar project descriptions and resumes for a proposal or to help run the dress rehearsal for a high-stakes interview presentation.

Speaking of Volunteering

I asked 30 top AEC executives how they would recommend developing seller-doer skills. Number one? Volunteering.

Volunteer in your professional association, in your client trade associations, and in your community. You’ll not only develop skills, you’ll be growing your network and discovering new clients.

The top four strategies for developing seller-doer skills, as recommended by executives are these:

  1. Volunteering (as described above)
  2. Conducting lunch & learns for existing clients. . . and prospective ones
  3. Joining Toastmasters International (a nonprofit educational organization that teaches public speaking and leadership skills through a worldwide network of clubs), and
  4. Joining or participating in the Society for Marketing Professional Services (SMPS).

Be sure to check back next week for upcoming posts on this subject with more details on how to become an effective seller-doer.

And, if you want to stay apprised of the upcoming book tentatively titled Becoming a Seller-Doer, then click here to sign up for periodic alerts.

Filed Under: Accounting, Architecture, Business Development, Construction, Engineering, Management Consulting, Seller-Doer

It’s Always a Good Time to Grow Market Share . . . Writing Superior Proposals Can Help

June 1, 2020 by Jim Rogers

Whether your business has been positively or negatively affected by the changing economy, there is still an opportunity to strengthen your firm. That’s because there’s one unalterable truth in business — regardless of whether there’s contraction or expansion in your industry, there’s always an opportunity to grow your market share.

That is, your chance to outsell your competitors never goes away.

In the unfortunate event that your markets shrink, there’s still the chance to take work away from your competitors and emerge in a stronger financial position than they will.

You’ll be able to retain the best talent because they won’t lack for work.

And you’ll cement your relationships with your most profitable clients at the expense of your competitors, which will pay off handsomely down the road.

On the other hand, if you’re fortunate enough to be in an expanding industry, as always, you can grow at a faster rate than your market does as a whole. After all, why be content with your usual share?

So what’s the best way to outsell your competitors?

Right now, uncertainty in some industries means that projects and contracts have been delayed or canceled, therefore it’s important to close on immediate opportunities that have been funded and will proceed. Spend extra time and care on these proposals.

If you’re the front-runner for the project, it’s not the time to assume that the work is yours to lose, but rather it’s time to slam the door shut and remove all doubt that you deserve the work. Ratchet up your proposals a notch.

If you’re neck and neck or within striking distance, it’s time to distinguish your proposals and separate yourself from the pack. Pull out all the stops.

Have Discipline in Your Go/No-Go Process

Be honest about whether you’re in striking distance or if you’re a long shot.

If you’re a long-shot, now may be the time to no-go those opportunities and instead put more care and attention into your higher probability pursuits.

Desperate consultants will pursue everything they’re qualified for in the hopes of hitting the elusive jackpot. Unfortunately, because those rare events do happen from time to time, principals and project managers will point back to them as justification for long-shot pursuits.

I may be wrong, but for your clients in vulnerable industries, unless they perceive you as a lower cost option, your chances of winning a long-shot drops to near zero. Clients in vulnerable sectors will likely consolidate their work around their top go-to consultants. If you’re not in their elite pool, you are probably a long-shot in the short term.

In all cases, your best bet is to write superior, not routine, proposals.

Strategies for Preparing Superior Proposals

In my next series of posts, I’ll share my best tips to help you separate your proposals from those of your competitors, including these:

  1. The most powerful way to begin your proposal
  2. How to put the focus on the client rather than on yourself
  3. Win themes that sell
  4. How to strip your proposals of marketing blather that clutters your best ideas
  5. How to describe your strengths in a way that differentiates you from your competitors
  6. Graphic design choices that make your best ideas shine through
  7. Twenty proposal mistakes that can sink your proposal.

Much of the advice I share is also captured in my book Win More Work: How to Write Winning A/E/C Proposals. Since writing it, I’ve built examples that I’ll be sharing with you that didn’t make it into the book, but the book is the best place to start.

My first article in the series will help you kick off your proposals in a way that makes an immediate positive impact on the decision maker.

If you have a high-stakes proposal in the works and can’t wait for all these tips, email me at Jim@SellerDoerAcademy.com. I may not be able to help, but I usually can. Jim

Filed Under: Accounting, Architecture, Business Development, Construction, Engineering, Management Consulting, Professional Services Marketing, Proposal Writing, Sales, Seller-Doer

How to Market Your Firm During the Coronavirus Crisis . . . Without Shame

March 22, 2020 by Jim Rogers

Hundred Dollar Bill with Benjamin Franklin in Coronavirus Protective Mask

Right now, as you try to find your footing in the time of the Covid19 pandemic, you may consider marketing and sales to be insensitive or distasteful—but it doesn’t have to be.

It’s vital that you shore up your business—now—before your competitors do a better job of it. This is a justifiable time to protect your client relationships and to position yourself in the market without feeling guilt or shame. To actively do so isn’t opportunistic—it’s simply good client service and good business.

On the other hand, hoarding 17,000 bottles of hand sanitizer and trying to gouge consumers is shameful and criminal.

Marketing during a crisis is about maintaining and deepening relationships with clients. Yet that effort requires a delicate touch.

The key to delicate touch is just to:

  1. Show that you care
  2. Share knowledge that helps clients work better, faster, and cheaper during the crisis.

To read specific suggestions for how to market your firm, confidently and without shame, click here for the PDF.

Then click here to send me an email and tell me what you thought of it.

Be well and be safe. Jim

Report cover How to Market Your Firm During Coronavirus Crisis without Shame

Marketing Professional Services Without Shame During a Crisis (by Jim Rogers) revised

Filed Under: Accounting, Business Development, Communication, Construction, Generate Leads, Keep Clients, Professional Services Marketing, Sales, Seller-Doer

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Seller-Doer Academy is a
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Testimonials

“The examples of opening a presentation were beneficial and I also agree rehearsal or practice is important, overall I thought it was a good overview and good pointers when preparing to present.” — John S.
“I plan on using all 4 of Jim’s proposal techniques on the next proposal I am involved in.” – Diana W.
“I thought the private call was well worth the time. The small group allowed people to provide input, ask questions, and review a real life example.” – Bill B.
“I thought the presentation was great. I have trouble w/ public speaking at this time and I really learned a lot of good tools to use in my next engagements.” — Brian B.
“Very helpful tips and tricks for networking. I have learned many of these tricks over the last three years by myself by hearing these piecemeal. I wish I had this presentation years ago.” – Ryan A.
I want to thank you and let you know how valuable the on-site workshop was to reinforce the skills that you presented via webinar over the last year.  I got nothing but positive comments for the in-person training and client interview and presentation simulation.  You have shown us an easy to execute a system that I will use moving forward for pursuing new clients and projects.  William T.
“Well done. I never realized how many ways I could improve upon when preparing for a networking event.” – Tom H.
“Appreciate the tips on how to ask for referrals— great info!”—Jennifer C.
“I actually caught myself interrupting a client on the phone call that preceded this webinar. Your tips of pausing before speaking would have helped. Great communication tips.” – Kevin
“Using a real proposal was an effective means to summarize the items Jim has been teaching over the last several months.” – Donald S.

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