PURPOSES OF SELLING - WHAT WE ARE TRYING TO ACHIEVE

The simple explanation of 'what we are trying to achieve' is a sale. But as we have seen in Chapter 4, it is rarely a single stage process - there are several steps and these form the basis of a conversion process.

Conversion is the activity of developing clients to successive stages of the sales process. The skills of doing this are in conducting key transactions with the prospective client; these are covered later in this chapter. Suffice to note at this point that it is sensible to monitor your success at conversion at each stage of the sales process, and to research the reasons for success or failure. By monitoring conversion performance you can identify areas of strength and weakness, and develop a better idea of what practices will help you to optimize your conversion rate.

But conversion is not adequate by itself. You also need to qualify: qualification involves choosing which prospective clients to pursue. This is important because it relates to the effective use of time. The consultancy salesperson should be devoting his or her time to pursuing those prospects that are most likely to produce sales.

Qualification

At each stage of the sales process there is a need for qualification: deciding where to invest your time and effort. You need to decide which clients should be converted to the next stage of the sales process, or which sales opportunities with a particular client should be pursued.

Obviously, clients may disqualify themselves: a sales call may be unsuccessful, or a prospect may not agree to a meeting. What is particularly hard for the salesperson, however, is to disqualify a client from the consultancy's point of view. It is hard because the salesperson may well have put much effort in to nursing the prospect to this stage in the sales process.

There are several obvious reasons for disqualification. Some people love to chat to consultants and to pick their brains, with no real intention of offering an assignment. If the assignment in view is one that the consultancy cannot do, or is of questionable ethics, or involves an actual conflict of interest, then the opportunity may also be disqualified. Early in the sales process, therefore, you should assess the probability of a consultancy project deriving from your efforts. To this end, you should check that:

• there is a genuine need for consultancy work of the kind that the consultancy can offer;

• the prospective client intends to offer this to outside consultants;

• the individuals with whom you are dealing have the budget and authority to proceed with the project, or can act as connectors to such individuals.

Qualification is even more crucial at the time of preparing a proposal, not only because the task is time-consuming, but also because the proposal is a commitment by the consultancy to carry out a specified assignment. Before offering to submit a proposal, therefore, you should consider the following:

• Is the consultancy able to carry out the work, in terms of the competence and availability of resources?

• What are the risks involved, and are they acceptable? Risks to be considered include:

  • the financial standing of the client;

  • political risks;

  • the difficulty of achieving the project deliverables;

  • the complexity and size of the project.

• Will undertaking the project produce any actual conflicts of interest with respect to any existing clients?

• Will undertaking the project produce any conflicts of interest with other parts of the consultancy?

• Is there a serious chance of winning the assignment?

Salespeople are strongly impelled to make sales and so there is the temptation to bid in response to every invitation to tender. The failure to qualify properly, however, can result in either wasting time, or committing to projects that are unprofitable at best.

Demonstrating the Quality of Your Consultancy in the Sales Process

Consultancy may appear to a client to be an undifferentiated product; if the client has specified what is to be achieved and the steps towards this, then any capable consultant could probably deliver. Differentiation must therefore lie not only in the consultancy service, but also in the quality of its delivery. Differentiation of delivery starts in the sales process, so what should you be seeking to achieve in this?

Beginners in selling often believe that with their client references, product knowledge and technical skills, a client will be persuaded to buy. Collectively, in the sales jargon, these can be called 'proofs', and they are undoubtedly important. They must, however, be complemented by skill in conducting the sales process; both are vital.

Wittreich, in a seminal article (1966) suggested there were three objectives in selling professional services to be kept in mind:

1. Minimizing uncertainty: a professional service must make a direct contribution to the reduction of the uncertainties involved in managing a business. The proper assessment of a service, unlike tangible goods, usually must take into account the impact of its performance on the client's business.

2. Understanding problems: a professional service must come directly to grips with a fundamental problem of the business purchasing that service. The successful performance of the service, far more so than the successful production of a product, depends on an understanding of the client's business.

3. Buying the professional: a professional service can only be purchased meaningfully from someone who is capable of rendering the service. Selling ability and personality by themselves are meaningless.

The importance of these concepts has been endorsed by research in the United Kingdom. In 1988, KPMG Peat Marwick McLintock published the findings of some research they had commissioned from MORI. It showed that the relative importance of factors involved in selecting a management consultancy was as shown in Figure 5.3.

Figure 5.3: Selecting a management consultancy - research by MORI for KPMG

One of the two factors ranked as most important is 'having a real understanding of your needs', confirming Wittreich's first two objectives above. Many of the other factors relate to the quality of the people: Wittreich's third objective. In a large consultancy practice, however, the person who is the account manager (maybe a partner or director of the practice) will not necessarily be delivering the service. This is when team selling is used, which is covered later in this chapter.

Although fee levels are shown in Figure 5.3 to be less important comparatively, they can be instrumental in the buying decision in competition when other features of competing firms are very similar and there is a significant difference in the amounts quoted.

The fact that 'previous work with client' comes so low seems to contradict the comments made elsewhere about existing clients being the most fertile ground. The same survey, however, notes that 'Business colleagues were the most important source of information about management consultancies.' Previous work together may not be significant in the intrinsic selling process (that is, to win a particular assignment), but is important in getting you through the door in the first place (that is, being invited to tender) - the extrinsic selling process.