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Sales and Marke,ng Processes John Colvin September 2015
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Sales and Marke,ng Processes John Colvin
September 2015
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High quality sales processes in PS firms exhibit the following
Belief Clear focus Client value Rela@onships High Energy
Quality thinking Communica@ons
Big ideas Collabora@on Accountability
Belief
• There is no such thing as a tough market – our market is challenged by a need to ‘create it’
• Let’s wipe that thought from our minds
• If you are good enough, ac@ve enough, thoughMul enough and focussed enough you will find plenty of work in any market – the key is to find ways to be ac@ve
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Clear focus
• Ver@cal markets – sectors, clients
• Horizontal markets – func@onal prac@ces, clients
• 70% of prac@ce success comes from being very clear where you are going to build an outstanding prac@ce
• Focus where there are “deep pools of demand” on a sustainable basis at a client level – year in and year out
• Find 5 clients where you can generate 3-‐4 jobs per client per annum – every year
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Client Value
• Really understand the strategy of the client and the industry forces
• Dozens of opportuni@es flow from this
• Think about what we can do that can help with these
• Work at becoming strategy advisors on the client’s major issues that we are relevant to help with
• Figure out what you are going to be famous for in the market – and go a^er it
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Rela@onships
• There is a golden rule in PS firms
• Strength of rela@onship = 1
• You will sell next to nothing to buyers you don’t know
• Strength of rela@onship = 5
• You will get a share of wallet of more than 80% from these people
• A key to building sustainable prac@ce success is to build strong rela@onships with the key buyers in those 5 clients with “deep pools of demand”
• There are a number of ways of doing this is a cost effec@ve and @me efficient way
• There is a clear rela@onship building plan
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High Energy in the Market
• 40-‐50 hours per week working with the market
• I set a target for myself to connect with 10 clients a week outside of current assignments
• A funny thing happens when you talk to clients about their most important business issues – you spot opportuni@es and you sell work – need to create conversa@ons
• The more clients you talk to – the more work you sell
• Doing business with ourselves a^er hours – firm mee@ngs need to be banned between 9 to 6
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Quality Thinking
• In tough markets – crea@ng demand is a by-‐product of deep knowledge around sectors and clients
• Everybody needs to be a thought leader in at least one thing
• We have got to abolish the idea in our heads that we are in the “responding to events” business
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Communica@ng to the Market
• Talk to seminars of industry leaders
• Hold discussions in the office with industry leaders on important leadership topics
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Big Ideas
• Every top performing PS firm thinks big
• We have a unique set of skills and experience which when combined together can help companies solve some of their most pressing issues
• Lets’ have 10 “big ideas” bubbling across the firm at any one @me that involves all of us – we need to create cross-‐prac@ce ideas to ‘galvanise’
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Collabora@on
• Big ideas come from teamwork – and can only be delivered usually with teamwork
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Very Good Management
• A healthy pipeline contains a range of opportuni@es at different stages of development
• A well managed pipeline across everybody in the firm delivers consistent performance
• Vola@lity is always a sign of poor pipeline management
• Let’s get rid of the thought in some of our minds that vola@lity is “normal.”
• It is NOT normal in high quality PS firms, and it is not wrilen in the sands, and is simply an outcome of poor management
• A well managed pipeline contains a large number of opportuni@es that have sufficient volume to counterbalance the many “murphy” events that happen in our business
• It is a sta@s@cal fact
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Accountability
• You are only truly accountable if ALL of the following condi@ons are in place:
• You have accepted a goal and are genuinely responsible for achieving it – eg Revenue target – revenue is an outcome target; also need process targets that generate the revenues (most of the above are process targets)
• You have a plan to achieve it
• What sectors/func@ons
• Clients with deep pools of demand
• Buyers whom you need to build strong rela@onships with
• Prospec@on plan
• Get your EA to make the mee@ngs – it is much more efficient
• Fill your diary – no blank spaces
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Accountability
• You know what a healthy pipeline looks like – so that you can defeat vola@lity
• There is a volume of opportuni@es at different stages:
• Opportuni@es – these can be ideas that you have heard about from connec@ng with players in the market
• Qualified opportuni@es – these are ideas that you have discussed with the client, they have acknowledged that they have a need, you are s@ll working up a solu@on – and you have not yet put in a proposal
• Proposals
• Sold work
• You have set an individual target for each of these stages that works for your prac@ce
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Accountability
• You monitor your performance weekly
• You know what your monthly budget is
• Every week -‐ at least once a week -‐ be clear what your gap is for the month – and search your pipeline for opportuni@es to close it
• Prepare an ac@on plan to close it
• Then act on what you need to do straight away
• The basics of management are : plan – do – monitor – adjust plan – do – monitor
• And so on forever
• If any of the above condi@ons are not in place – you are not accountable
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The process I will go through with everybody flows from the above and is:
• Agree revised budget for Q4
• Review focus – sectors, clients, buyers etc
• Agree revised focus if necessary
• Review ac@vity levels in the market – what’s stopping us from spending all our @me in the market?
• Agree revised – and probably higher – levels of ac@vity in the market
• I say “probably higher”, because I have looked at most people’s diaries over the past few days to see how people are spending their @me – and there is a lot of “white space” around the firm over the past few months – we need to find new ways of crea@ng mee@ng opportuni@es and we will benefit from support from the partners to do this e.g., how can GS partner with JC on TSRA?
• Understand the gap for April and ac@ons required
• Review pipeline to see what we can do to plug the gap
• Agree ac@on plan
• Discuss what the firm can do to help – refer above
• Come armed with a big idea – let’s discuss how we make it come alive
• I expect that the control sheet will be completely up to date when we meet
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Contact Details
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John Colvin Principal
E: [email protected] M: +61 409 183 174 S: +61 2 8823 3485 Level 36, Governor Phillip Tower 1 Farrer Place, Sydney NSW 2000, Australia
Sandra Heinig Senior Associate
E: [email protected] M: +61 416 731 897 S: +61 2 8823 3485 D: +61 2 8823 3487 Level 36, Governor Phillip Tower 1 Farrer Place, Sydney NSW 2000, Australia
Sian O’Shaughnessy Research Analyst
E: [email protected] D: +61 2 8823 3485
Level 36, Governor Phillip Tower 1 Farrer Place, Sydney NSW 2000, Australia
