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The real-world guide to selling your services and bringing in businessHow Clients Buy is the much-needed guide to selling your services. If you're one of the millions of people whose skills are the 'product,' you know that you cannot be successful unless you bring in clients. The problem is, you're trained to do your job--not sell it. No matter how great you may be at your actual role, you likely feel a bit lost, hesitant, or 'behind' when it comes to courting clients, an unfamiliar territory where you're never quite sure of the line between under- and over-selling. This book comes to the rescue with real, practical advice for selling what you do. You'll have to unlearn everything you know about sales, but then you'll learn new skills that will help you make connections, develop rapport, create interest, earn trust, and turn prospects into clients.Business development is critical to your personal success, and your skills in this area will dictate the course of your career. This invaluable guide gives you a set of real-world best practices that can help you become the rainmaker you want to be.* Get the word out and make productive connections* Drop the fear of self-promotion and advertise your accomplishments* Earn potential clients' trust to build a lasting relationship* Scrap the sales pitch in favor of honesty, positivity, and valueWorking in the consulting and professional services fields comes with difficulties not encountered by those who sell tangible products. Services are often under-valued, and become among the first things to go when budgets get tight. It is now harder than ever to sell professional services, so your game must be on-point if you hope to out-compete the field. How Clients Buy shows you how to level up and start winning the client list of your dreams.

How Clients Buy: A Practical Guide to Business Development for Consulting and Professional Services

THE PROBLEM1 A Curious Problem 32 Finders, Minders, and Grinders 14The Business Development ImperativeOBSTACLES3 Beyond Pixels 27Selling a Service Is Different from Selling Things (and Harder)4 Obstacle #1--What They Didn't Teach You in B-School 37If I Am Supposed to Be the Expert, Why Do I Feel So Stupid about Sales?5 Obstacle #2--But I Don't Want to Sell 45Moving Past Willy Loman6 Obstacle #3--Things Aren't What They Once Were 56It Is Harder Than Ever to Sell Expert Services7 Obstacle #4--A Blizzard of Bad Advice 67Everything You Know about Sales Is WrongHOW CLIENTS BUY8 The Secret to Selling 83Never Say Sell9 Element 1--I Am Aware of You 95What Was the Name of Your Firm Again?10 Element 2--I Understand What You Do 112You Do What?11 Element 3--I Am Interested 127These Are My Goals12 Element 4--I Respect Your Work 138You Have the Right Stuff to Help Me13 Element 5--I Trust You 154You Have My Best Interests at Heart14 Element 6--I Am Able 168I've Got Budget and Buy-In15 Element 7--I Am Ready 181The Timing Is RightPUTTING THE SEVEN ELEMENTS TO WORK16 A Chain Is as Strong as Its Weakest Link 197Using the Seven Elements as a Diagnostic Tool17 Getting to Work 212Learning to Think and Act Like a Rainmaker18 All Business Is Local 223From the Silk Road to the Information Superhighway19 Our Vision of the Future 229A Roadmap for ChangeNotes and References 241Acknowledgments 248About the Authors 251Index 253