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O P I N I O N
Get everyone selling! Your entire staff can sell the firm, and don’t forget, there’s no such thing as a completely internal role that doesn’t affect the brand.
W hen it comes to business development, professional service firms typically have extremely tight parameters on who in the firm should be empowered to sell. Historically, this industry has suffered from the illusion that those who sell must be good at two things: projects and golf. Those parameters – in addition to the one where you must be a flaming extrovert – greatly inhibit a firm’s ability to sell work. The fact is that every person in your firm affects the brand and thus affects your ability to generate new business.
Chad Clinehens
information on how well your firm is living up to the client service promise you are making. Ongoing client feedback can then be gathered using internal people or tools. Additionally, internal assessments need to be made to analyze the service delivery qual- ity on things such as phone answering, speed, and ease of reaching people. Internal assessments could include things like a secret caller program where you assess how easy it is to contact people your clients “Everyone from the person who answers the phone all the way up to the CEO has a profound impact on how your firm is perceived. Those perceptions drive the brand and greatly influence your competitiveness.”
Although it is important to train and motivate those who interact with clients on a daily basis, it goes far beyond that small group. The firms that make marketing and sales a part of the culture, involving everyone on staff, can greatly outperform their peers. You see, everyone from the person who answers the phone all the way up to the CEO has a profound impact on how your firm is perceived. Those perceptions drive the brand and greatly influence your competitiveness. You are fooling yourself if you think that your glossiest, high-level licensed professionals can single-handedly shape a client’s perception of working with your firm. To expand the effectiveness of sales, you should consider these steps: ❚ ❚ Assess where you are. This could involve several methods, all aimed at painting a picture of how you are perceived by your clients. The common ap- proaches include a client survey and internal tests of your people. An initial client survey should be con- ducted by a third-party and should gather
See CHAD CLINEHENS, page 4
THE ZWEIG LETTER September 19, 2016, ISSUE 1168
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