Generating Leads: And How are Things With You?
Lindsy, a valuation consultant I am coaching, just generated a lead for new business, the first one she has ever turned up outside of the clients she is consulting to. It’s not for anything big, but it’s an important event for Lindsay. Without a lead, there can be no sale. Having a good lead flow gives you added control of your destiny at professional service firms.
Meet the right people. Stay in front of them by being helpful. Remind them of what you do in appropriate ways. And leads will follow. This is the simple logic that underlies what rainmakers do.
But is there a way, aspiring rainmakers like Lindsay always ask, to make those leads come along a little more quickly? It’s a fair question. We don’t find it so terrible to be asked to help people, especially when it’s people we like. We don’t expect an immediate return on our giving and realize that we will often give without ever getting something back. That’s okay. But we need to get something back some of the time from some of the people we help, if our firm is to make a profit and we are to move our careers along. That’s not being mercenary; it’s just being practical.
There are techniques for generating leads more quickly, and we will address them from time to time in this blog. Here is the one Lindsay used, which is perhaps the simplest of all:
To become a rainmaker you must develop relationships with clients, prospective clients and connectors, the term we use for people in other organizations who sell to the same people we do. Call discipline, the regular outreach by phone (and by emails, too, of course, but that’s a subject for another day), to our clients and connectors is a required part of the rainmaking process. These calls should largely be about the other person. How are you doing? What are you working on? What would help you? At some point in the conversation, the good ones, the ones you want to work with, will ask how things are going with you. This may be the only point in the conversation when you have an opportunity to talk about yourself and your firm. You had best spend this coin wisely.
It’s best to assume that in asking this question the contact really wants to know how you are doing. . . but not too much. And we will give her what she wants. Clearly, it shouldn’t be a blatant advertisement or a heavy sales pitch. That would be distasteful and unproductive. But answers like “Great,” or “We just put an addition on the house” won’t buy you much, either.
Instead, before you make the call mentally prepare a short statement describing something about the work you are doing that might stimulate the client’s thinking about how she or someone she knows might use you. “For the past year I’ve been working mostly on acquisitions. They’re fast paced and a lot of fun.” Keep it short. “We are putting some new ideas about vertical transportation in place, and it’s exciting to see them working so well.” “For several clients we are finding ways to manage healthcare costs while still providing the employees with reasonable coverage. Everybody; management, the employees and the providers; needs to do their part to make these approaches work. I’ve been brokering the different constituents and it’s very rewarding.”
Lindsay said, “I’m spending all my time placing a value on a pharmanceutical company’s unused patents. It’s like a treasure hunt, so I’m having a blast!” The former client she was talking to referred her to a friend who was selling his business and needed help valueing his patents.
Way to go, Lindsay!
