If you’re a coach, Vistage chair, or fractional advisor, an overflowing roster of clients you enjoy working with starts with your mindset. You need to change how you think about and approach business development.
Sales is the lifeblood of your business, but you already know this. You feel the pressure to close deals and grow your practice every time you check your pipeline. Henry Ford once said, “Nothing happens until someone sells something.” Without sales, your practice will stay small. Your dream of taking care of your loved ones and building a legacy will stay just that. A dream. That’s a lot of pressure.
~400% more leads, in six months.
For RPM Colorado Property Management.
What I want to give you is a way to think about sales that makes the pressure productive instead of crushing.
Three mindset shifts will get you there.
Shift 1: Sales is a noble profession.
Sales is more than just how you get paid to do what you love. In and of itself, sales is a profession of service. Author, salesman, and motivational speaker Zig Ziglar said, “You can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.”
Walk into every coffee with the mindset of helping that person for 45 minutes. If you help them, they will help you. Because I’ve learned this, I get to spend my days helping people solve problems. Not just clients but everyone else I meet. It’s an opportunity I’m eternally grateful for, and you can do the same. Do it right and some of them will become clients. They’ll bring along their friends, and before you know it, you’ll have a practice you love.
Takeaway #1: Your number one KPI in growing your practice through referrals is “how many people have I helped this week?”
Shift 2: This is a long game.
When business slows down, I know that if I stick to my plan, we’ll be busy again in four months and closing deals in five. Sometimes a bit less, sometimes a bit more. Your practice works the same way. There’s lead time between the activities you do today and the outcomes you want tomorrow. If you wait until you need business, you’re already four months behind.
According to Prof. John Dawes’ essay for the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science, only about 5% of your market is buying what you sell at any given moment. The other 95% isn’t in the market today. Some of them will be ready in 30 days, more will be ready in 60, and even more after that. If you want to build your business on referrals, you need the people in your network to think of you when someone in their sphere of influence joins the 5% because they need the service you provide.
To get there, spend time building relationships every single day. A check-in phone call. An email. A text during lunch. If you can spare an hour for coffee, great. If not, send a LinkedIn message. The hard part isn’t the activity. It’s keeping it up on the days you don’t feel like it.
Takeaway #2: Show up consistently for the people in your network and they’ll think of you when someone they know needs your help.
35–40% of leads consistently convert to sales.
Also RPM Colorado — twelve years in, and still growing.
Shift 3: Become a trusted advisor, not just a consultant or coach.
A trusted advisor is someone you turn to when you have a unique challenge. An advisor or consultant who goes beyond their role is harder to replace and easier to refer.
I try very hard to be the person my clients call when something breaks. When they have IT issues, I make sure they connect with a great firm who can help them. When they need an attorney, I know several and can refer one they’ll love. When something happens in their business, I want to be the person they call.
These referrals, all to wonderful companies, help both my clients and the companies I bring in. That’s one way I serve my network. It goes beyond coffee and lunch. I introduce people or companies that need their help.
Take a moment to reflect on what your clients need beyond your engagement, and go find it for them. When it comes to marketing, I hope you think of us.
Takeaway #3: Be the call your clients make when something breaks. That’s how you become irreplaceable.
In summary
These three mindset shifts work together. Sales is how you help people. That’s the why. The long game is how the work pays off. Becoming a trusted advisor is what makes it stick.