According to Forbes, June 29, 2013, there are:
- 59,578 “one man” Professional, Science & Technical Services firms selling up to $499,000 annually.
- 6,708 small Professional, Science & Technical Services selling up to $2.4M.
- 328 small Professional, Scientific & Technical services selling $5M.
Analysis and sampling conducted by SDM over a 3-year period revealed that “less than ½ of one percent” of these firms undertook professional-grade sales performance or in simpler terms – “how do we sell more when we are NOT salespeople?
Many in these industries agree that the owners of small firms, often where the owner does the client-facing work, are very smart and experts/authorities in their fields. They maintain long—term customer relationships, but have some difficulty is securing new business, especially when the client relationship does not exist. But, since the act of new business, which typically requires some degree of selling, is not revered in academia and science, it is not recognized as a necessary skill. This leaves a gap that is not addressed by either the Owner or outside vendors calling on them to help with selling proficiencies.
Compounding the problem, this audience is time constrained, and often budget constrained as well. They need to run the business, produce the deliverables, engage with clients and their extended staff and professional advisors. Many take Continuing Ed for needed certifications. It’s no wonder more effective selling is never top of mind.
The opportunity for Owners to take extended sales courses or training in not viable due to their time and focus constraints(free “gifts of Knowledge”). As well, industry relevant training is rare and is more so generic or slanted towards sales people selling technology, insurance, real estate, etc. The expense of 1:1 training is not viable and most likely not built for their business. Further exasperating this, many owners have been doing this for many years and may be resistant to change.
The best way to help Owners hone their sales skills, is to provide easy to use tools. A sample of these are:
- Single topic “sales gifts of knowledge” using a fast, one-page format.
- Relevant topics that are supportive and suggestive to betterinteract with clients.
- Convenient Web, Mobile or Print subject matterthat is easy to make actionable.
- Old fashioned “Cheat sheets” using the latest in sales methodologies.
- 20 minute “speed learning” including ways to use Social Media to deepen the client relationship.
What do you do next? Send us an email and we’ll arrange for you to speak with Ed to chat about how these learnings can help build more sales just for your business.