1. Developing Your Business – Gaining Clients 21 April 2016 Keith Harper B.Soc.Sc. FCIM

2. Today’s agenda 1. What is Business Development? 2.The business environment 3.Competitive advantage 4.Targeting Clients 5.Selling yourself and your skills 6.Creating a plan

3. Do you have…? A bit of creativity? A bit of time…? A lot of ability to see the world through the eyes of your clients?

4. It’s all about C’s Commitment Consistency Collaboration Client focus

5. What is ‘Marketing/BD’?

6. What is Marketing? What do you think ?

7. What is Marketing ? “Marketing is that activity which encourages and facilitates voluntary, mutually satisfying exchange relationships” Gordon Oliver Marketing Today

8. I looked up ‘Marketing’! “Marketing is to SELL goods in a market or elsewhere” The Concise Oxford Dictionary

9. Marketing REALLY is... “... ANYTHING you do to get or keep a Client” Harper Professional 2016

10. Marketing REALLY is... “... ANYTHING you do to get or keep a …………….Client” Harper Professional 2016

11. Marketing REALLY is... “...ANYTHING you do to get or keep a PROFITABLE Client” Harper Professional 2015

12. What ANYTHING ? Can you think of 10 activities which could be described as marketing?

13. Clients’ judgement of value received Service & relationships Legal advice High cost Perceived value =30% Low cost Perceived value =70%

14. Client service and relationships 80% of law firms’ business comes from existing clients/referrers or their contacts

15. The Business Environment

16. Tools & Techniques to review the Environment SWOT analysis PEST analysis

17. SWOT Analysis Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats

18. PEST Analysis Professional /Political Economic Social Technological

19. Competitive Advantage

20. What is Competitive Advantage?

21. Competitive Advantage is... Very simple… “The development of a set of actions that will make the firm’s services more valuable to clients than the services of competing firms” David Maister

22. Three Possible strategies to achieve Competitive Advantage 1. Cost leadership - being cheaper ! 2. Differentiation - being different! 3. Market Segmentation - focus

23. Which to choose... Chasing cost leadership in a fragmented profession can lead to reduced profitability. Differentiation difficult because of fragmentation BUT... Every professional and firm is different – the secret is to add value as a result.

24. What are your Competitive Advantages?

25. Key areas for Competitive Advantage Expertise - specific Experience – specific and relevant Service/efficiency – specifics/examples Approach and attitude Value – NOT THE SAME AS PRICE

26. Competitive Advantage can be delivered through... Internal focus AND/OR External focus

27. If you’ve got it…flaunt it Competitive advantage MUST be exploited We MUST recognise it and talk it up to clients Highlight key benefits on all marketing communication Clients must be able to instantly understand why you add more value than your competitors

28. Your strategy and positioning Target market Services they need, delivered how they want them Competitive advantages

29. The ‘project management’ approach Treat business development as a project Decide what you want to achieve – set specific objectives Define the resource requirements – especially time and money Create an action plan Review and amend

30. Marketing’s 6 ‘P’s – how are your ‘P’s? Product Place Price Promotion People Positioning

31. Targeting Clients

32. What sort of clients would you like? How will you describe them, and where will you find them?

33. Platform marketing/selling Buying Platform (existing Clients/referrers-more business-brick walling) Working Platform (activity on ‘current’ prospects) Market Platform (activity to ‘suspects’ - not yet worked on)

34. Dividing your time budget Buying Platform (60% of time) (existing Clients-more business-brick walling) Working Platform (30% of time) (activity on ‘current’ prospects) Market Platform (10% of time) (activity to ‘suspects’ - not yet worked on)

35. Which prospects/clients are your priorities? Buying platform Working platform Market platform

36. Building Client relationships – the key tools P ersonalising L istening U nderstanding C ontacting D elighting

37. Remember… SERVICE AND CLIENT RELATIONSHIPS ARE THE KEY TO LONG-TERM PROFITABILITY!

38. Selling Yourself and Your Skills

39. What is Selling? What do you think ?

40. What is Selling? “The identification of a client’s/prospect’s needs, and the development of the TRUST required for the client/prospect to allow you to satisfy them”

41. Selling… …is about the Client!!! Turn the telescope around and look at the situation from their point of view.

42. How does Selling differ from Marketing? What do you think ?

43. The Selling task Clients are looking for people they can TRUST. They are entering into a RELATIONSHIP Selling task is to EARN Client’s TRUST AND CONFIDENCE Selling and influencing are PERSONAL skills. We sell ourselves before we sell anything else.

44. Why do Clients ‘buy’ you? You are professional (meetings, organisation, timekeeping etc.) You are personable You are interested in helping them You are well informed about them

45. The key stages of the sales process There are a number of key stages to the sales process. Their relative importance depends very much on the situation and the relationship with the client/prospect

46. The sales process - the key stages Prep/Research Building rapport Questioning Presentation Handling objections Closing Follow up

47. Stage 3 - Questioning To confirm their decision making authority To establish the real nature of their issues To establish their expectations To understand their motivations To demonstrate your knowledge of them and your competence Use open questions - who, why, what where, when, how?

48. Six honest serving men… I kept six honest serving men, They tought me all I knew. Their names, were How and What and Why And Which and When and Who. Rudyard Kipling

49. Stage 4 - Presentation You explain your understanding of your client, their issues and their expectations You explain how you would solve their problem and the benefits that would bring to the client You demonstrate your interest in helping the client You demonstrate why you are the right choice to make

50. Always ‘show’ why…provide evidence! D on’t A ssert D emonstrate

51. Features and Benefits Features are nothing unless they provide a benefit for the client E.G. Having 20 years experience of writing wills means little to a client. The benefit is that you have dealt with a wide range of matters so that the client can trust you to understand their personal issues.

52. Marketing Comminication

53. Marketing Communication Web-sites Social Media Advertising Articles

54. Now write a Marketing plan…see how it all fits together...