In a tough economy, it is more vital than ever that a professional firm gets a good return on its investment in growth. Like the people, the pipeline represents the future.

 

Therefore, both for reasons of ROI and of cost-minimisation, sustainable marketing techniques are particularly applicable to the current climate. These techniques are best defined as those that can be carried out consistently by as many people as possible, particularly while lead consultants are busy on delivery.

 

In a nutshell, we want to empower others to do our prospecting, so that we can focus on key client-relationships. So what gets in the way?

 

Here are just some of the factors that prevent opportunities being discovered. Notice how many are issues of attention; though habit plays a key role, too.

	How one thinks	How one behaves
Individual	Focused on deliverables, Not feeling entitled to ask certain questions, Lack of confidence	Talking too much, Making offers too early, Giving away the answers, Forgetting to ask questions
Team	Cultural aversion to sales, Risk-inimisation, Lack of role models Competition between teams	Dependence on rainmakers, Lack of support systems, Random keep-in-touch, Over-servicing the client

 

All development strategies become more successful and sustainable if the professional involved has the ability to create and discover opportunity. Many consultants can spec out a quotation or a proposal.... but how many can uncover new opportunities with the client, opportunities that did not exist before that vital conversation?

Working on behaviour alone is rarely enough, but that said, here are some behaviours that sometime have to be unlearned:

• Pitching. For example, the consultant puts forward a shopping list of initiatives or proposed actions, all of which clearly require the support of the consultancy. This is not spotting opportunity, this is blatant selling, and the moment this is spotted by the client, trust is damaged and the client may be on the defensive (permanently) afterwards.
  
  
• Evangelism. Here the consultant advocates an idea or a plan in which s/he passionately believes, in the full belief that this is in the best interests of the client. But while enthusiasm is sometimes infectious, it may equally be perceived as amateurish. At the very least, it may prompt the client to think about all the constraints and reality-checks; if only to balance the discussion. The net result may be that the opportunity is not so much uncovered as resisted.
  
  
• Totally focused on delivery in the belief that this will prompt value to be realised, and will win trust with the client. A laudable approach, but one that does not take account that "yesterday's bread is quickly forgotten", i.e. that the moment the problem is solved, there may be no time left in which to develop the relationship. We should never postpone the opportunity to explore value; the end of the project is often too late.
  
  
• Staying too close to one client manager (usually our advocate). Opportunities are often found by synthesising multiple viewpoints rather than by supporting one person's approach.... even if that person is the MD. The best way to do this is to talk to as many people as possible, being willing to justify the necessity of doing so when necessary.

There are many more factors that get in the way, but hopefully the above four have given a sample. Let's now turn to some of the practices we want to support and encourage, both in ourselves and in other people.

In this section, we have attempted to compile the "top ten" practices, and to contrast these with some of the behaviours that might easily be happening instead... often with the best of intentions. Most of these top-ten are self-explanatory.

As always, it is not just about working on behaviour in isolation. For behaviour-change to be sustainable, it is usually necessary to do some work on the culture and the strategy that surrounds it... not to mention the beliefs that lie beneath.

Old Habits	To	Uncovering Opportunity
Doing what the client wants,Exclusive focus on delivery		Asking exploratory questions of clients, every single working day
Total focus on the detailed content,Taking the brief from one person alone		Constantly exploring the context in which delivery (or proposed delivery) is taking place
Ending the meeting with AOB, Forgetting to recheck value. Using the word "value" too much		At the end of every meeting or presentation, asking "what about this was most useful"? And why?
Reading mass-media, or journals of our own profession (only) or not reading at all		Reading the specialist press of your target market (or presentations, web portals, journals etc.)
Constantly in "task-mode" or "email-mode", Development time planned for Fri afternoon, and surrendered easily.		Setting some development time aside every week to invent, create or adapt your offer for their current economic environment
Only doing technical training, or none at all, Learning sales techniques that don't apply well to professional life, Expecting people to absorb these talents by "osmosis"		Setting some time aside for your own development, to stay ahead. Investing in client-acquisition and management, as much as in delivery skill.
Consumed by delivery, Waiting for a better time to think, Ruled by the task list		Thinking beyond the current task-list, towards what will be important next year. (Leading others to do the same: "lateral leadership")
Complaining that others "don't get it", Criticising their approach or focus, Pointing out "the error of their ways"		Getting into the shoes of others several times each day, and asking "what would I do in their position?"
Attempting to create opportunity for clients, rather than with them		Brainstorming with colleagues, internally and externally
Waiting until we are totally proficient ourselves, before starting to encourage others		Actively coaching and mentoring others as a means of learning oneself, as well as fostering a culture where value is constantly being uncovered

 

Sustainable growth happens when healthy practices are propagated right throughout the team or organisation. In this article, we are focusing on the practices that create opportunity, but we might equally have been focusing on better team-work, service delivery or outstanding time-management.

 

Such change rarely happens in training-rooms, but more commonly (and inexpensively) happens when one colleagues influences another. To take one example, if a consultant notices that his boss often asks a client "what was most useful about this meeting?", s/he will probably start doing so, too.

Unfortunately, all the same is true of poor practice! I regularly encounter entire teams and organisations in which this "opportunity mindset" is totally absent and almost has to be developed from scratch. Even seasoned professionals can have spent decades as project-managers or order-takers, nodding at the vague aspiration of opportunity-spotting, but never really equipped to do so.

Of the five key lead-sources for a professional firm, two of them come directly from clients.

Here's the one-diagram summary. Clearly, it's an overview and there is much to be said about each box. But this picture generally suffices to show the key elements of a sustainable strategy, and the relationship between them:

Five Sustainable Lead Sources

A sustainable lead is defined here as one where we don't have to be present to generate it. Many businesses find they are relying on just one or two sources.

 

1. Repeat-business from CLIENTS. One sometimes wonders if this happens despite rather than because of the business-generation acumen of the supplier! Nevertheless, it is the best source of leads for most professional firms, and sometimes even lulls the firm into a false sense of security.
   
   
2. Introductions and referrals to others, from the CLIENTS that we are / have worked with. Again, sometimes this happens without any intervention or prompting from us. With even a small amount of systematic review on our part, this can be dramatically increased.
   
   
3. From our KEEP-IN-TOUCH SYSTEM. Perhaps all of the above happened a year ago, but the client was not ready yet. They are now, and they turn to us as a recognised port-of-call.
   
   
4. From our ALLIANCE PARTNERS. Perhaps we have even embedded an item of value in their services, so that we are routinely contacted when their client reaches a certain step in their client-journey. Perhaps we have a feature in their newsletter. Perhaps we do some research together.
   
   
5. From the SHOWCASE (online or offline). Perhaps someone notes down the website at the back of the hall, sees our article on a partner website, or finds us online. Then they visit our website and examine our resources of value. Then they email us.

The ability to uncover opportunity is a vital skill in boosting our prospecting-ability. Many everyday behaviours on client assignments are actually counter-productive to this objective. The benefits of effective opportunity-conversations include:

 

> More repeat work from clients

>Introductions are referrals to other parts of the organisation, and/or up- and down the supply chain, and/or to potential strategic alliance partners.

> Opportunities for value-billing (to be discussed in a later article)

For an intensive one-day course on "Sustainable Marketing" see www.success121.com. These workshops are held annually in London and Brussels, and include:

• detailed measures to stimulate the five lead-sources above
• introduction to the "value-conversation" and its variants, in order to provide a dialogue that rapidly explores and assesses opportunity
• dealing with difficult clients and situations
• additional measures that yield more fees in less time

Further information

For useful checklists and exercises on any of the above elements, please email john@success121.com.

For related articles, see www.success121.com. For further discussion, personal coaching, ideas for a conference or team - training session, you are welcome to contact the author by emailing john@success121.com .

© John Niland, Success 121, June 2008. May be reproduced on condition that the "Further Information" section above is included.