Selling Professional Services through Actually Doing It

Selling products is different from selling services. The former sells things, the latter sells experiences. And experiences must be experienced first.
Since over the years some people passed judgement on me and my skills because of my accented English (He can't even speak English, how could he do what he says he can) I have started using an interesting technique called selling by doing.
Instead of bragging about my credentials and past accomplishments, I started working with the prospect from the first minute.
Imagine this situation: You are looking for an accountant to do some work for your firm. You have checked firms and narrowed your selection to three firms. So, you want to invite them to do their presentations for you, so you can choose. The first firm does a great presentation. They show great expertise of your industry and even give you some free advice.
The second firm is even better. Their presentation is downright splendiferous. You are thinking. Holly sausage. Which one shall I choose?
Then the representative of the third firm walks in and says: We have two choices here: Either we can do a standard presentation or we can start working on your real issues right away. After two hours we stop and you have a first-hand experience of what it feels working with us. Then based on your experience you can decide as whether or not you want to retain our services.
Let's just think for a magic moment. What did this firm actually do?
Instead of bragging about what they did in the past for someone the prospect doesn't even know on issues that are irrelevant to the prospect, they actually started working with the prospect for free. They started demonstrating their services.
Complex and intangible services are pretty complex and intangible. It is hard to talk about them.
As the Harvard marketing guru, Theodore Levitt once said: "If you sell services, you sell experiences". And this is the magic key to the fiendish selling vault.
People have to experience the service before they can make a serious commitment.
Professional services are similar to pudding in that both must be sampled. "Selling by doing" is basically offering a sample of your work, a sample of the value your can bring to the client's table.
You can hear and see the qualifications of a professional but have no earthly idea how that applies to you. You can see testimonials and references, but you don't know if they were collected as a result of doing work that is similar to your own situation. Third party opinions simply don't carry the same emotional weight as real client work done in real time on real issues.
Selling by doing also shows that you are ready and willing to take risks in order to achieve full collaboration. Selling by doing actually adds value to the client now, instead if talking about adding value in the future. It feels genuine, client-focused and makes the abstract intangible service more tangible.
Here are some differences between traditional "selling by telling" and selling by doing.
Selling by telling approach * Focusing on the past * Using other clients as example * Talking about past examples * Establishing credibility through credentials * Talking about adding value in the future * Talking about quality
Selling by doing approach * Focusing on the present * Using present client - you * Demonstrating current example * Establishing trust through collaboration * Adding value here and now * Demonstrating quality
Sellers of professional services tend to overemphasise their credentials. However, since it is not client-focused, it doesn't make a dickybird of a difference for clients. Clients still use it because that is conventional wisdom: "If you have a triple MBA and a quadruple Ph.D., then you must be good."
Selling by doing will give your clients answers to questions like these: * Is this the kind of person I would invite to my home for dinner? * Would I trust this person with my money? * Does s/he show enthusiasm? * Is s/he for real or just fluff with no substance?
Some people may say they already do selling by doing, by offering a one-hour free consultation. Well, in my experience, these consulting sessions are nothing more than extended sales pitches or various analyses, 99% of which conclude with a blunt statement: "Ms. prospect, according to my analysis, you are in deep trouble, and the only way for you to climb out of it is by hiring me."
Hm. Analyses and statistics are just like swimming suits: They reveal the trivial, but conceal the vital.
The common belief is that the sales process is highly rational, consisting problem definition and solution.
I believe selling professional services is totally different from selling "things". It requires a different approach, and since for many years there has been no differentiation between the two, many professionals feel that selling is unprofessional or plain unethical.
Selling professional services is basically about selling ourselves. This raises an interesting issue. More and more professional service firms have dedicated business development people on board. I think that is great for lead generation, but at the end of the day it is the individual professional who must meet the prospect and start building the relationship by demonstrating value. Most people do what they are naturally good at. Most professionals are better at abstract intellectual conceptual work than at interpersonal relations.
However, every professional service is a relationship business, and we all have to learn to interact. Clients do not want to do business with firms. They want to deal with individuals. In the "selling things" world selling is different from delivering. Selling becomes a distinct process in the company, using dedicated sales people and often closed with pretty complex contracts. After sales, the "thing" is delivered by someone else, and then customer relationship part is turned over to someone else, all too often to a CRM software package.
When selling professional services, the seller is the doer.
Can you now see why your business development person can only generate leads for your firm, but cannot get sales? I wonder why so many firms pay good salaries to their professionals, and only minimum wage and a tiny commission for their business development (rainmakers) people. It is up to the individual professional to follow through with leads and either get started the projects or courteously disqualify the prospect.
In the professional service world the best selling is great delivery. It builds trust beyond the commodity of credentials. A good test-drive is worth a thousand brochures and days of non-stop "talking about it".
So, the idea is that instead of learning new sales tactics, we should focus on perfecting our delivery practices, getting better at showing value to prospective clients that they say: "Gee, I am willing to pay you for this kind of support."
Since trust is best created through interactions between buyer and seller, it naturally integrates delivery work into the selling process, rather than isolating and separating the two.
About the Author
Tom "Bald Dog" Varjan helps service businesses to improve personal and organisational performance. Requests his FREE fee-setting guide "Why Most Service Firms Grossly Undercharge for Their Services?" by sending an email to booklet@di-squad.com with "booklet" in the subjectline.