Sometimes I come across professionals who are very good at what they do. They are in business because they are just that, very professional and very good. However, that doesn’t make for a good recipe for success in business. They probably started up with one or two excellent clients who kept them fed with enough business to start with, but after a while they need to find new sources of revenue and haven’t a clue how to do that.
They ask for help and often they hear (or choose to hear) that it’s a marketing problem. If they do plenty of content marketing, white papers, free talks, posts on their website or on online channels they will attract business. They can show off at being the professional that that they are and that will cure the malaise.
For some that indeed works. However, it hasn’t worked really. What’s probably happened is that their new contact has made a conscious effort to go out and find someone and they have happened upon this professional who just happened to put something out at the right time and at the right place. This is so unlikely and so haphazard, you can’t expect it to happen, you can’t build a business on that hope.
So the professional has to decide to be more proactive And that is hard, that is scary and uncomfortable. After all, their reputation is built upon the premise that they are in no way prostituting themselves, soliciting for work.
We at Sandler can help through tried and tested processes, tools, support, coaching and training to make that transition to being proactive without compromising reputation. Done right being proactive can add to reputation. Done right it can lead to regular flow of good business and not be reliant on chance conversations or infrequent unasked for referrals. It does need one thing however that we cannot provide; a decision to make this change. If you are based in Surrey, Sussex, Hampshire, Berkshire or Kent and you’d like to see how we can help you make that change, contact me and we’ll have a conversation and perhaps invite you to a seminar.
Paul Glynn
Sandler trainer
