How to grow without selling
How professionals build their business without selling
It is quite natural to want to grow your business. To carry out more work from your existing clients and to win new ones. However, on the opposite side of this equation, your clients really dislike being sold to. For the true professional the question becomes this – how can I grow my business, but at the same time remain a trusted advisor to my existing clients. And when it comes to new clients, what makes them change from one advisor to another? What is really important to them when choosing to use someone new? What do clients like when dealing with professional advisors and what behaviours do you need to avoid. Understanding these issues is of fundamental importance.
Our solution is research based. We followed the best developers in professional service firms in the USA and Europe to learn what they did to make them so successful. And we analysed over 800 buying decisions from the client side to understand exactly how they made their decisions. We combined this learning to develop a clear process driven approach to growing a business – we call this Client C.A.R.E.® It starts by looking at how you CHOOSE the best opportunities for growth, then explores the best APPROACH to use to contact them. RECIPROCITY explores how to win without selling and ENGAGE takes us across the line to complete the process.
Client C.A.R.E. ®
Choose
Approach
Reciprocity
Engage
This is the foundation stone of all your business development activities. It is also the place that professionals spend the least time! We will show you how to assess the best prospects for growth and for new clients and help you develop a personal scoresheet to guide the choice.
Foe an existing client, getting a meeting should be easy. But how you behave in the meeting determines whether it will be a success in terms of fostering growth. With a new client, professionals often find this the biggest hurdle – how to arrange the first meeting with a stranger?
The secret to avoiding selling is to rely on the principle of reciprocity. Why? Research shows that your behaviour towards others is repaid in kind. Interested in them and in helping them succeed – then they will repay you in kind. It’s the ultimate in not selling!
Some people told us they were doing all the right things, but they weren’t growing their business. This final part of our process looks at the barriers. Is the client (or target) taking a risk using you? How can you remove the risk? What are the key reassurances clients might need?