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Plan to Win Key Sales Opportunities

Given the haphazard way that most technical consulting and design firms approach business development, it's no wonder that win rates are so low. Many simply accept the status quo, lamenting that the business is much more competitive than it used to be. Others grapple for some kind of advantage, perhaps through new services, a marketing campaign, or a strategic hire—strategies that often fall short of expectations.

But one of the best ways to gain a competitive edge is simply to manage the sales process more effectively. This involves focusing on your best opportunities, planning your capture strategy, dedicating adequate resources, and managing the sales effort. This article outlines some key steps in moving in this direction.

Give your best efforts to your most important opportunities. If you think you're already doing this, let me clarify what I mean. By "best effort" I mean the best you can do, not merely the best among generally mediocre sales efforts. Most firms don't give their best to their best opportunities, in part because they let lesser priorities get in the way. This includes spreading their sales efforts over too many speculative or marginal prospects or proposals. While I understand the need to keep "filling the pipeline," many firms devote proportionately too much time to prospecting and not enough to closing their best sales opportunities. So start by identifying your most crucial "accounts" (existing or prospective clients) over the next several months.

Manage the sales process like projects. This, of course, is my standard advice for succeeding at any important nonbillable activity. The simple fact is that we manage project time and outcomes much more effectively than we do anything else. So why not apply the same general approach to other critical functions like sales? This will involve—for each key account—assembling a team, appointing a team leader, devising an action plan, allocating and managing resources, tracking performance, and holding people accountable for expected results. This article focuses on the upfront planning activities that give shape to this kind of sales effort.

Assign an account manager and team. The account manager is typically the individual in your firm who knows the client best. This person holds ultimate responsibility for developing and maintaining the account. Consequently, it is best that he or she hold some authority to garner the needed resources and hold team members accountable for their respective assignments. The account team typically consists of 3-5 people who will be involved in implementing the sales process. In the case of existing clients, team members will ideally also have a relationship and familiarity with the client. 

Prepare a Key Opportunity Plan (KOP). Planning enables effective management of vital activities such as sales. Drawing on the approach outlined by Miller and Heiman in their popular book Strategic Selling, I have developed a template that you can use in preparing a KOP. This plan includes the following major elements: (1) review of client needs driving the sales objective; (2) identification of the decision makers and what's most important to each; (3) evaluation of your firm's positioning for the award, including strengths and weaknesses; and (4) definition of the specific actions desired to enhance your chances of winning the work. For best results, conduct the planning session as a timed brainstorming activity. The recommended time period for each section of the KOP is identified on the template.

Identify and complete the best next 3-5 actions. The primary value of the KOP is helping you determine the best course of action in successfully closing the sale. I recommend identifying no more than the five best next actions that you can take. Be sure to specifically select the person responsible for seeing that each action is carried out and define a deadline for each. Once these are completed, or once you've acquired new information, you should update the action plan portion of the KOP. The template also encourages you to identify your "entree"—a justifiable reason for taking the client's precious time—for each meeting with the client (see "Starting the Relationship Right" for more information).

Update the KOP as appropriate. As you carry out the actions identified earlier, you will be gathering new insights that will affect your sales strategy. So it's important to periodically update the KOP and your best next actions. This typically involves the account team getting together for 20-30 minutes every 2-4 weeks.

Above all, be diligent in your follow-through. An inconsistent sales effort not only misses opportunities for relationship building and information gathering, but can actually harm your reputation with the client. Research indicates that many clients take offense to the sporadic sales efforts that are common in our industry. It sends a message that you're not really that committed to the client's concerns. This is particularly evident when we don't heat up the effort until the RFP is on the street.

Research also points to the value of persistence. One study across multiple industries found that 80% of purchases were made after the fifth contact with the customer, but 90% of salespeople quit before the fifth contact. So it's vitally important to be consistent in your follow-through on action items identified in the KOP.

Will such an approach substantially increase your sales costs? Not necessarily. As noted earlier, most firms waste a lot of time and money on marginal prospects and proposals. So reallocating some of that time to your best sales opportunities won't automatically increase costs. Furthermore, if you're not using a similar account strategy already, you'll see marked improvement in your sales success. So give it a try. Download the template and start planning how to win your most critical sales objectives. And give me a call if you need help. 

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