The 10 Commandments of Selling Services

• I. Clarify Complex Customer Issues - JANUARY [+]
  The issues of professional services are usually ambiguous, often interrelated, and sometimes baffling. That’s why clients call on you to provide not only subject-matter expertise, but also critical thinking, along with a neutral perspective gained from multiple and varying engagements. Clearly identifying and defining the customer's problem is more than half the battle. If you don’t get this part of the selling process right, your chances of getting the business are slim. Worse, though, is defining the issues incorrectly but still getting the engagement. Avoid these costly blunders by learning the three steps to clarifying your customers most complex issues.
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• II. Communicate the Invisible - FEBRUARY [+]
  The more "invisible" the offering, the more challenging the task of communicating both the problem and the solution side of the equation. Here is where the premise that "a good salesperson can sell anything" meets its demise--for the majority of product salespeople are ineffective at selling services of any type. Only about one out of three product salespeople (including the very best) successfully make the transition to selling services. Find out what's so different about services, and selling actions you can take to be successful.
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• III. Customize Each Solution - MARCH [+]
  On one hand, prospects look for a provider that is the industry expert, knowledgeable in their specific problems and well-versed in all the nuances of them. On the other hand, prospects know their situation is different and abhor the thought of having a cookie-cutter solution pulled down from the shelf--customers don't pay premium prices for commodities. So as a seller of services, you need to confirm the prospect's uniqueness while demonstrating similarity based on your experience. Learn how to master this critical balancing act.
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• IV. Commit High-Level Executives to Action - APRIL [+]
  Selling pundits and astute sales managers have preached for years on the importance of selling to the C-suite. This is especially important when selling professional services and complex solutions, as having top executives as allies greatly improves your selling effectiveness and acts as a big barrier to competitive inroads. Yet, even armed with this knowledge of the probable gain and motivated to do it, most sales organizations do a lousy job of selling to the top of the power chart. Learn why selling to senior executives is more important than ever.
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• V. Coordinate the Selling Team - MAY [+]
  Granted, there are a few highly talented sellers who have the capabilities to do it all: fluently discuss all issues on all topics and communicate an appropriate and powerful value proposition to everyone from the board to the bench. In fact, 99 percent of sellers can’t do it all, and organizations that expect sellers by themselves to effectively sell complex products, traditional services, and professional services into complex environments with complex customers are kidding themselves. Top sales organizations provide ample selling horsepower support for their sellers. Find out what’s required to sell complex services and solutions.
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• VI. Compress the Selling Cycle Time - JUNE [+]
  Selling professional services is about building relationships, creating trust, and painting intangible concepts so that the prospect feels comfortable enough to move forward. All these components require time, and time is a precious commodity in selling services. Left alone without a structured business development process, sales opportunities can string out the selling cycle to months or even years. Tools and processes are required to systematically compress sales cycle time. Find out what they are.
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• VII. Concentrate on the Stars - JULY [+]
  Sales management has a basic choice when it comes to the development of its sales force: to focus efforts on the low, average, or top performers. Typically, companies focus most of their efforts on the low performers, target most resources (training) to average performers, and target little, if anything, to the old pros. The logic seems reasonable, yet this is a formula for mediocrity. Stop wasting your time and resources supporting "average" performers and the sales productivity of your services organization should improve 25 percent or more within one year.
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• VIII. Control the Cost of Sale - AUGUST [+]
  The average cost of professional services sales for those organizations that actually know this metric is a whopping 36 percent. For example, if the sale is $100,000, then organizations spend $36,000 on getting the business! Of course, the biggest cost by far of any services sale is the time involvement of those doing the selling. So everything a company can do to target selling efforts and compress the sales cycle time will lower the cost of sales. Are you guilty of not knowing or managing your cost of sale? If, so, find out how to address this selling sin.
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• IX. Commercialize the Sales Promise - SEPTEMBER [+]
  Services marketing plays a big role in helping sell services. Done effectively, it opens the doors to prospects, and then makes selling easier and faster. No matter how superior your services, you are 10 times more likely to get the business if the prospect contacts you rather than if you do the contacting. However, services marketing is an area of weakness in about 70 percent of all services businesses, and in over 90 percent of services businesses inside of product companies. Read more about mastering this huge opportunity.
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• X. Continually Learn and Grow - OCTOBER [+]
  For top-performing organizations and top-performing services sellers, continually learning and growing is not a nice-to-have, but a mandatory requirement for success. This is especially true in the knowledge-based organization, and a top priority for sellers of the invisible. Unique knowledge and skills are the differentiators in highly competitive industries where skeptical customers often view products and services as commodities. Learn the responsibilities of leadership, services sales managers, and individual services sellers to see how they should approach learning and growing.
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