Sales Success… Well it would be nice wouldn’t it? I mean, all those sales just falling into your lap with little effort on your part. What consultant / services provider doesn’t want that?

Or maybe, like me at various times in my career, just a little improvement (or a little bit of luck) would make you feel so much better. If only..

Well, there are some things you can do.

First Do Some Research

Look back at your projects over the last couple of years and recall how you got them. Were they from old clients wanting some more work? Or did you win them in open Requests for Proposals (RFPs)? Did they arise from you attending certain types of events? How many clients are new? What size of project are you typically selling? Which were your best projects? Are there any patterns you can see?

Then Do Some Analysis

Take a look at your unsuccessful proposals / quotes. Do you know why they were unsuccessful? What is the ratio of proposals to sales – your success rate. Do you know how long you spent on each proposal? Did you take more time over the successful ones? How much time does it take to win each $1,000 of work? Again, are any patterns emerging?

And Draw Some Conclusions

Typical conclusions may be:

• A lot of time is spent responding to RFPs unsuccessfully.
• Most of my sales are coming from one major client or one sector.
• On average 1 in 4 of my proposals are successful.
• It takes me 3 hours to sell $1,000 of work

At least now you had better information than you had before and can change your strategy accordingly.

Now let’s look at this from another angle.

Who Are Your Ideal Clients?

It’s always worth profiling your ideal clients so you can target them. The more detail you have on them, the easier it is to come up with strategies to target them. For example, what business sectors are they in? What level are they (senior manager, VP etc?). Who do you know already that fits the bill?

What Are The Key Issues?

Do you know what the latest developments are in your ideal clients’ business sectors? Do you understand the problems your ideal clients are struggling with? Can you think of any services you can offer that may help them? And if you can identify some issues, can you come up with some marketing activities that would help get your name out there?

Talk to Them!

In my experience, there is no substitute for face-to-face contact. It’s great if you can fix up some meetings and /or get out to the appropriate networking events where your ideal clients are.

Speaking at an event that your ideal clients may attend is a gold-plated opportunity to get more work. Find an appropriate event, even a small one, that you can present at. This can have a huge impact.

Finally, It all sounds easy when you write it out in a short piece like this – and I know it isn’t. But if your business is not going the way you want it to then something needs to change. I hope some of these ideas may help.