marketing & sales

5 ways to make selling easier to swallow

man's hand writing "people buy from people they trust" on a chalkboardselling happens all the time: the 3 things it represents.

by martin bissett
business development on a budget

selling is not something you now need to go and do; it’s not a suit you wear or a personality you adopt. you don’t need to suddenly be nicer or different somehow because you are out of your comfort zone.

more: you’re selling all the time

for you, going forward, selling means a constant quest to build a perception of yourself and your firm. once you buy into that idea, you can relax and realize that selling is not the enemy, but the conduit through which you access new areas of business by demonstrating the value we bring to clients.

demonstrating your value to any given client is what makes you not only different but superior to your competition in the client’s eyes.

many people base their purchasing decisions on

  • how well they get along with the individual and
  • the outcomes that they can see as available to them by working with that person.

looked at in those terms, selling becomes an extension of the best of yourself – that part you would want to project in any situation. rather than being a separate discipline, selling is a case of representing

  • what you already are,
  • what you stand for and
  • what you can deliver to your clients.

once you realize that, you won’t need to try so hard!

business development tasks

  1. understand that marketing is the method by which an opportunity is created, and business development – what you used to know as “selling” – is the way you will convert that opportunity into a fee-paying client. you may well hire support to handle the marketing, but it’s your job to master business development.
  2. understand that recurring fees are a double-edged sword. while they do support profitability on one hand, on the other they create development apathy – which is fatal to your business in the long run.
  3. failure to implement, or fti, is the greatest malaise the accounting profession faces. to begin moving away from fti, identify a simple goal – meet one new buyer, obtain one referral – as your starting point. impose a deadline on yourself to achieve this and, if necessary, enlist someone to whom you will be accountable for doing it.
  4. figure out who can help you achieve this goal – and reach out for that help.
  5. schedule specific, non-interruptible time in your diary to practice your ability to be entrepreneurial and make things happen.