How to Cross Sell in Professional Services Firms

Is your firm a vulture or a wise owl? We all know the desired image but sadly the need for many firms to replace lost fee-income by selling additional services is potentially damaging the relationships with their most important clients. Steps 1Show that you have knowledge of the opportunities and challenges facing your client firm in upcoming years.Don't just ask for your clients to make general appointments for a "discussion". Get out there and spend time with your clients and ask to view the range of their professional services (gratis) so 2Realize that your clients are wise to how much easier it would be for you to make money from them by adding on additional services.In other words, be ready to answer the question: "What's in all of this for the client?" to avoid the uncomfortable silences. 3Achieve success in introducing new services to existing clients by having your client's best interest at heart.Try this very simple mantra: ‘If your services do not offer a compelling advantage to your clients over and above their current advisors then don't waste their time in attempting to sell it!'. 4Ask yourself these questions: *.Does your firm aim to cross-sell simply to increase its fee income and profit? *.Are different parts of your firm bombarding clients with promotional material telling them about all your services? (Irrespective of whether your solution is more compelling than their current provider.) *.Are your formal plans mainly focused on what you wish to achieve and your increased financial performance? *.Are your partners and fee-earners under pressure to go out and tell as many clients as possible about their service lines? 5If the answer to any of these questions is ‘yes' then you may wish to stop and think about your current approach and the impact it is having on your clients. *.Are you a professional advisor or salesperson? 6Consider how you can you cross-sell without being seen as pushy and self interested.This is possible only when you have achieved the status of being a valued and trusted advisor and when you realise what truly professional selling is and isn't. 7Build the motivation to buy.Many definitions of selling use the words "persuading" and "convincing". The most successful firms understand that sophisticated and intelligent clients do not wish to be sold to in such a way. They understand that the greatest success comes when the energy to consider and buy *.The word motivation is key. The most successful firms at cross-selling will have the deepest possible understanding ofhow a client is thinking. *.You must understand what is important to your clients and will know when and how to communicate additional services that the client will willingly wish to explore with you. *.You must be motivated to explore because you trust that there is real value in the service and that it will help their business protect itself from challenges or help them to seize opportunities in the future. 8Understand not only the client organisation in depth but also understand each individual you are in contact with.The iceberg principle illustrates the difference between the ‘surface level' information that a client will easily share and the ‘beneath the surface' information that often determines how they will respond 9Don't cross-sell until you have earned the right!The key here isgenuine interest. When the client knows that you and your firm's actions and advice always have the client's best interest at heart they will become very open and receptive to your approaches in helping them with additional services. Moving too quickly can 10Be careful!Whilst a client has developed sufficient trust to reward you with an initial instruction you may not have had sufficient time to embed that trust to the point where the client's expectations of you and your firm have been exceeded. You need to invest an appropriate amount of time and energy to earn the right 11Think like a client - the only way to cross-sell.You need to have earned the valued advisor status. You need to have the client's best interest at heart. You need to only consider introducing services where you believe there is a potentially compelling return for the client. You need to have a deep understanding of your client's 12Make a really informed decision as to which additional service to introduce.The starting point is to stop being you and start being a client. This is sometimes difficult but it is a key mindset shift if you want to have the best chance of identifying which service to introduce, when to introduce it, and how. For example, help your 13Let's say you have identified a compelling service offer for a specific client based around the thought process used in the university example above.The client however has no knowledge of your capability in this specific area. So what do you do? *.