what is the best use of your skill set?
by martin bissett
as a partner in an accounting practice, your average day (if there even is such a thing as an average day) is fraught with many calls on your time: producing client work, management of the team, checking the processes, following up unpaid bills and more. and that doesn’t even account for all the personal things you need to achieve every day.
more on business development: understand the dna of business development success | before the sales meeting | your perception vs. your client’s reality | do you deliver on your website’s promises? | lowballing is undervaluing yourself | appraise your prospects | the science of pipelines | do you have a pipeline or just a list? | develop the habit of consistency | prepare your next generation of professionals | overcome recurring fee apathy | banish the idea that selling is difficult | how to win your first client | 5 ways to make selling easier to swallow | you’re selling all the time
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so the thought of adding another skill, that of managing the sales process, might feel like the straw that broke the camel’s back. if that’s how you are feeling, here is some food for thought.
consider some of your larger clients, those for whom you currently handle work. do they have a sales department, a sales team, a sales director? probably. that’s because in the business world generally, selling is recognized as an essential part of doing business and the right people are in place solely to sell.
in the world of accounting, most firms do not have a culture of selling, and certainly nobody dedicated to the sales process. instead, you have already overworked partners whose skill set is accounting, trying to sell themselves and also oversee the process to make sure others are selling too. so why not consider bringing in a sales director, at least on a part-time basis, to handle those function?
in the u.s., the uk and europe, this is becoming the norm in larger firms, but not so much in those below the top 10. partners must, however, come to terms with the fact that they would be better served by having someone who has the skill set to handle the whole sales process.
if you look at your practice from a strictly commercial viewpoint, you will understand the value of this route. someone who is a specialist in the area will be looking after business development, which in turn frees you up to take care of the real tasks of your leadership position.
your marketing is in place, and bringing in opportunities. consider maximizing the conversation ratio from new business development efforts by putting a professional – a sales professional – in charge of the process.
business development tasks
1. add up the chargeable time used on fruitlessly chasing new business and the fees that have been lost to other firms as a result of not properly managing the process.
2. explore the true costs of an individual performing the sales directorship role and identify what return on investment would make that appointment worthwhile.
3. look at the amount of chargeable time that would be saved by having a sales director in place and how that time could be used to the benefit of the firm.
4. schedule specific, non-interruptible time in your diary to seriously consider the pros and cons of handing over your sales function to a capable and knowledgeable sales professional.