Most lawyers and accountants don’t have a typical "sales" (read: business development) process. They tend to find their way to a prospect through referral or an introduction, gather a general understanding of the situation, and then jump right into solving the prospects problems.

If you don’t convert a prospect into a client, chances are there was a breakdown in your process. Therefore, it’s important to identify the reasons behind the breakdown to avoid any missed steps in the future.

Below are five easy ways to help shape your process for educating prospective clients that you are the one.

1. Be Interested, Likeable and Find Commonalities

Genuine relationships and rapport are the foundation of sales. Faked or disingenuous small talk is transparent and communicates to the prospect you only want one thing.

...listen and don’t over share

Believe it or not, this first step resembles dating, but in a professional sense. Have a conversation in which you are asking questions and getting to know the contact on a personal level. Be sure to listen and don’t over share, talk over them or relate everything back to you. A prospective client is trying to get a sense of whether they like you, trust you, and can envision themselves working with you.

Allow them that process before you get to the business talk. Demonstrate patience and do not rush your prospect. Also be respectful of their busy schedule if they mention it early in the conversation.

2. Discover

Now that you've built rapport, try to understand the pain points that motivate a prospect and keep them up at night. Then, try to identify why they have come to you.

Sometimes the pain point is not evident, and you need to ask smart, probing questions to get it out of them. What you learn will likely be tied to some emotions due to the fear creates. When we have pain in our lives, our instinct is to protect it. Many times, people are making a change in professional services because they’re unhappy with a simple service component and not necessarily unhappy with the work being completed (though poor work product can certainly be an issue).

This is where deposition skills come in handy. Ask questions: Pain questions – “Why Now?” “What is your biggest challenge with respect to this problem?” “Let’s say we agree to work together, what outcomes are you hoping we can achieve?” “Are there any major changes on the horizon that might be relevant to this problem?” “Why are you considering a change in firms?”

The more insightful your questions, the better you will understand your client’s business and be able to anticipate issues. Bonus: You may even find cross-selling opportunities along the way. Double bonus: Some responses may give you some insight into their issues with their current representation.

3. Provide a Resolution

Once you have a complete list of the issues keeping a prospective client up at night, consider and propose a solution (or multiple solutions).

Create a tailored solution based on your past experience and demonstrate the client intelligence you now have based on the rapport you have built and the pain points you have identified. Acknowledge their pain and concerns, demonstrate you were listening by offering meaningful assurances, and surprise the prospect by teaching them something or offering a new perspective about their market, industry or situation.

4. Overcome Objections

If you are speaking face-to-face, be prepared to heed objections to any of the solutions you offer a prospect as you are designing and communicating them.

Watch their body language and listen to their questions. If you cannot tell if an objection exists, there are some questions you can ask that might pull it out such as: “I have the sense that we haven’t addressed all your concerns. Is that accurate?” “Do you have any questions about the solutions we’ve proposed?” “Do you have any concerns that might keep us from working together?” As you listen to their responses, you will find their objections fall into two categories: the firm itself or pricing. If it is the firm itself, they may simply have a stronger relationship with someone else, which is not an inherent issue with you or the firm.

5. Recap and Lock It In

Close strong with a question like, “Shall we work together?” or “What can I do to cement our relationship?” Once you ask, ending the meeting is important because over-pitching can flip an interested prospect into an annoyed prospect.

Offer some free advice like, “if you make any final decisions on who you hire, be sure they have experience in (insert key areas)!”. “Closing” doesn’t mean manipulating or pressuring the contact into engaging you. It means facilitating a decision that brings closure to the sales process. Your prospect is always in the best position to determine whether engaging you is their best course of action. Your role is to help them make a clear, informed choice.

You are likely doing some of these things intuitively to some degree. The key to success in this area is to demonstrate your intelligence, experience critical insight and overall concern for their wellbeing, all of which can set you apart from competitors. Happy selling!

Get to work! Put some of these tips into action and see what happens. Track your sales pipeline and successes with INHabit from Society 54.

*

Society 54’s Director of Strategic Marketing, Melissa Delaney has over 15 years of event production experience, over 9 year of legal marketing experience, and has worked in all aspects of the professional services industry.