Success Stories
A Consultant Who Never Liked Selling Her Services Becomes a Rainmaker
Sheryl is a brilliant business consultant who not only provides great strategic advice for her clients, but manages to make new contacts and get new business effortlessly. Sheryl has doubled the amount of business she's brought into her firm in just one year and her CEO can't say enough good things about her. She's pleasant, insightful, invaluable to her firm, and highly regarded by her clients.
Just one year ago, Sheryl had been feeling the pressures of being responsible for a heavy load of client work. In addition, her firm had high goals to bring in many new profitable clients and Sheryl felt she was in a bind. She loved working with her clients, but didn't share the same passion for business development. She viewed it as "sales" and cringed at the thought of being a salesperson. She couldn't help but wonder how she was going to manage business development and still come across as polished, professional, and prepared for anything.
When we started working with Sheryl, one of the first things we identified was that she needed to be more assertive. She was friendly and outgoing, but spoke tentatively. A result of this was that she tended to put too much on her own plate and felt uncomfortable asking others for help, or even delegating to her staff. And in conversations with potential clients, she was hesitant, almost timid, about the benefits of working with her firm. It wasn't that she didn't believe in their approach, she simply lacked the communication skills to get what she wanted to across. She didn't believe she had the capacity to learn these skills, or take the time to master them.
We took a look at her "to-do" list and goals. It was immediately clear that she needed to clear her list of "little things." Once she sat down and identified what she could delegate to her staff, her calendar was much clearer. We filled some of it with time for business development practice. That way, rather than getting caught off guard in business conversations, she could take strategic time to think about what she would say in such situations. We videotaped Sheryl in mock business conversations to show her progress. We also gave her goals for how many potential business sources she needed to get in touch with per month.
With our guidance, Sheryl's business development opportunities skyrocketed. With continued goal setting, action planning, and practice on how to be more assertive to win business, Sheryl's confidence grew. She started to believe that bringing business in the door wasn't about selling, but about believing in her work and persuading others to believe in it too. For the first time, she was taking the initiative to do outreach for new clients and her CEO was thrilled. She became an essential player in the firm's overall strategy to win new clients, and within one year, doubled her revenues.
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