Improve your Sales Process

REDUCING UNCERTAINTY, SOLVING PROBLEMS

Selling creative services is not like selling widgets.

When you’re selling creative services, you’re never really sure what your client is buying, and they’re never really sure what you’re selling. In short, there’s a lot of uncertainty.

Your sales process should be focused on reducing uncertainty and aligning a problem with a set of solutions. It should never be about convincing someone to buy or pushing a prospect into a solution.

Many agency owners feel a sense of dread when they think about “sales.” Once you stop picturing your stereotype of a smarmy salesperson and start thinking about sales conversations as opportunities to showcase your expertise and solve problems for real live people, your performance will improve substantially. And you’ll be happier, too.

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Sales Process FAQs

I’m trying to grow from $1 million to $5 million, how should my business development change?

Because growing from 10 clients to 50 clients isn’t 5 times harder, it’s at least 25 times harder, you need to focus on securing bigger clients, not more clients. u003cbru003eu003cbru003eWhen you’re focused on winning bigger clients, say, those in the top 10% of your client roster in terms of total spend, you’ll automatically start marketing differently to attract those types of clients. As you secure larger clients, you’ll be ready to start letting the smaller clients go. Check out our article, u003ca href=u0022https://anchoradvisors.com/four-keys-to-growing-a-creative-services-firm/u0022u003eFour Key Ways To Grow a Creative Services Firmu003c/au003e for more tips.

I need more leads quickly. What’s your best advice for me?

The people most likely to hire you are people who’ve hired you in the past. So if you need business quickly, start by talking to past clients. u003cbru003eu003cbru003eIf you’ve already talked to past clients, consider reaching out to prospects you submitted proposals to in the last 6 months, or so, who didn’t purchase your services. You’d be surprised how many times they haven’t done anything to address the issues you discussed! Beware though, the more desperate you sound, the less likely you are to get new business.u003cbru003eu003cbru003eAnd remember, each new project you onboard becomes part of your portfolio. So make sure you’re seeking out work that you actually enjoy; the more experience you have with a particular type of project, the more likely you are to land similar business in the future. u003cbru003eu003cbru003eCheck out our article, u003ca href=u0022https://anchoradvisors.com/how-to-warm-up-cold-leads-without-being-a-pest/u0022u003eHow To Warm Up Cold Leads (Without Being a Pest)u003c/au003e for more tips.

I have so many proposals in my pipeline, I’m not sure where to focus my energy. Help!

When you have a lot of open proposals that just aren’t closing, it’s likely you aren’t spending enough time qualifying your leads, and, instead, are rushing to create a proposal before you’ve sold the potential client on the work. If you find yourself in this situation, it’s time to shrink your pipeline so you can focus on generating qualified leads with a strong chance of closing. u003cbru003eu003cbru003eWhen we’re talking about new business proposals, “yes” is the best answer we can get. And, “no” is the second best answer. If you’re getting “maybes”, see if you can move those prospects to a decisive yes or no.u003cbru003eu003cbru003eIs there a big, scary problem that they urgently need to solve? (The problem needs to be something that u003cemu003etheyu003c/emu003e think is urgent and scary, it’s not enough that u003cemu003eyouu003c/emu003e see it that way!) If not, it’s unlikely they will hire you. Now, you can remove them from your pipeline and focus your energy on projects that have a chance of closing.

If I can get in front of people, I know I can close them. I’m just not getting enough opportunities to sell. How do I generate more leads?

If you need more leads, it’s probably time to think about specializing rather than trying to be everything to everyone. u003cbru003eu003cbru003eBy picking an industry or a problem to focus on, you’ll amass case studies that show off your relationships and your expertise. It’ll also make generating leads a lot easier because you’ll become known as the person who can solve a particular problem for a particular group of people. You’ll know who is in your pool of prospective clients, and they’ll know you. u003cbru003eu003cbru003eFor a four-step plan that will help you build an endless stream of leads, check out our article, u003ca href=u0022https://anchoradvisors.com/selling-services-easy-way/u0022u003eSelling Creative Services: The Easy Way – or the Hard Wayu003c/au003e.

Can’t I just hire a salesperson to create my sales process?

Sure, you can u003cemu003etryu003c/emu003e to hire a salesperson to create your sales process. But, most successful salespeople want to work for a company with an established and effective sales process u002du002d a place where they know they can make money. So without a strong sales process, it’s going to be pretty tricky to attract a top notch salesperson. u003cbru003eu003cbru003eMore importantly, as the agency owner, u003cemu003eyouu003c/emu003e are the best salesperson for the business; you’ll be doing your agency a disservice if you cut yourself out of this work. The best sales process for your business will have u003cemu003eyouru003c/emu003e fingerprints on it. u003ca href=u0022https://anchoradvisors.com/sales-growth-assessment/u0022u003eNeed help with that?u003c/au003e

All Articles on
the Sales Process

What are you unwilling to do?

Jul 30 2024

All sales come from conversations.

Feb 20 2024

How running your agency (right now) is like Prom Season

Jun 08 2023

Brad Farris

As Principal Advisor, Brad Farris guides business owners through the pitfalls and joys of growing their business. Brad is passionate about helping business owners find better ways to do things, make more money and enjoy life more. Brad is a speaker and author. Connect with Brad on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Improve your Sales Process

REDUCING UNCERTAINTY, SOLVING PROBLEMS

Just Released

BEST OF

Sales Process FAQs

All Articles on
the Sales Process

How can you create a more consistent sales process?

Our 7-question assessment will tell you.

The only email you'll look forward to!

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Resources

Guides

Best of the Blog

Improve your Sales Process

REDUCING UNCERTAINTY, SOLVING PROBLEMS

Just Released

BEST OF

Sales Process FAQs

All Articles on the Sales Process

How can you create a more consistent sales process?

Our 7-question assessment will tell you.

The only email you'll look forward to!

Sitemap

Resources

Guides

Best of the Blog

All Articles on
the Sales Process