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Who Can Benefit How it Works Coaching and Advisory Service Experience		How it Works You can be a Better Business Developer Since the early 1980s, our founder has worked as a consultant and helped many consulting and training firms develop more business.  We have compiled the principals, strategies, and methods that are truly appropriate for those responsible for building consulting practices and developing business. Twenty years ago, few training programs or books talked about selling professional services.  While many books about sales and marketing existed, they never seemed to fit in with the realities of the consultants' work.  They seemed appropriate for selling products and tangible items, but not services.  When consultants  employed those principals, they simply weren't successful.  Consultative sales was more about building relationships and talking about the client's wants, needs and desires.  It had little to do with properly describing our services' features and benefits.   With the shift to an information and service economy, more books have been developed about selling services, but too many talk about selling professional services as a component of selling more software and products.  Still today, few resources exist that truly address the needs of the consulting Practice Leader. Old industrial sales techniques don't work!  It is not about features and benefits and handling objections.  And it's certainly not about the ABC's of selling -- “Always Be Closing.”  If you're like a great deal of other professional service providers, you've tried all that and found they don't work. What you need is a process that: educates and informs your client, is collaborative and creative, is based on active listening (not telling) provides demonstrable value (and compensates you for the value you create), builds credibility and relationships, and attracts clients to you so you don't have to pursue them. This last point is very important.  Most consultants hate cold calling and selling.  We rarely admit it but it's true.  We would prefer that clients call us and engage us in a conversation about their needs and how we can help.  Fortunately, you can change you business development methods to make this dream a reality.    Practice Development through Knowledge and Advice Training Dimensions can provide Practice Leaders with the know-how to develop business for your practice more effectively and quickly than ever before.  Best of all, it is a method that is better for your client and more natural for you.   To this end, we provide Coaching and Advisory Service to get your business to the next level.   Practice Development Model - There's probably nothing new under the sun, and frankly we have read hundreds of books and articles about sales, marketing, and business development.  Dozens more about consulting, management, and development.  Over the years we have compiled ideas that made sense for consulting and professional services, applied them in our own work, and over time, refined them to a simple, easy to follow method. Many of the methods are based on what I call The 15 Dimensions of Practice Leadership.  What are these dimensions or components that all successful consulting practice leaders must encompass? Professing (Evangelism) People (leadership, training, coaching, & management) Planning (Action-oriented, strategy focused plans) Process and Procedures Partnering (collaboration with staff, colleagues, and clients) Positioning Packaging Promoting Pricing Pursuing Persuading Proposing Projects & Performance Productivity Profitability All are important for developing new business, but items 6-12 are particularly important for expanding your practice.  Unfortunately, these areas are the most inadequate in many practices.
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