Sales and marketing initiatives

1. Sales
and
Marke,ng
Processes
John
Colvin
September
2015

2. 2
High
quality
sales
processes
in
PS
firms
exhibit
the
following
Belief
Clear
focus
Client
value
Rela@onships
High
Energy
Quality
thinking
Communica@ons
Big
ideas
Collabora@on
Accountability

3. Belief
• There
is
no
such
thing
as
a
tough
market
–
our
market
is
challenged
by
a
need
to
‘create
it’
• Let’s
wipe
that
thought
from
our
minds
• If
you
are
good
enough,
ac@ve
enough,
thoughMul
enough
and
focussed
enough
you
will
find
plenty
of
work
in
any
market
–
the
key
is
to
find
ways
to
be
ac@ve
3

4. Clear
focus
• Ver@cal
markets
–
sectors,
clients
• Horizontal
markets
–
func@onal
prac@ces,
clients
• 70%
of
prac@ce
success
comes
from
being
very
clear
where
you
are
going
to
build
an
outstanding
prac@ce
• Focus
where
there
are
“deep
pools
of
demand”
on
a
sustainable
basis
at
a
client
level
–
year
in
and
year
out
• Find
5
clients
where
you
can
generate
3-­‐4
jobs
per
client
per
annum
–
every
year
4

5. Client
Value
• Really
understand
the
strategy
of
the
client
and
the
industry
forces
• Dozens
of
opportuni@es
flow
from
this
• Think
about
what
we
can
do
that
can
help
with
these
• Work
at
becoming
strategy
advisors
on
the
client’s
major
issues
that
we
are
relevant
to
help
with
• Figure
out
what
you
are
going
to
be
famous
for
in
the
market
–
and
go
a^er
it
5

6. Rela@onships
• There
is
a
golden
rule
in
PS
firms
• Strength
of
rela@onship
=
1
• You
will
sell
next
to
nothing
to
buyers
you
don’t
know
• Strength
of
rela@onship
=
5
• You
will
get
a
share
of
wallet
of
more
than
80%
from
these
people
• A
key
to
building
sustainable
prac@ce
success
is
to
build
strong
rela@onships
with
the
key
buyers
in
those
5
clients
with
“deep
pools
of
demand”
• There
are
a
number
of
ways
of
doing
this
is
a
cost
effec@ve
and
@me
efficient
way
• There
is
a
clear
rela@onship
building
plan
6

7. High
Energy
in
the
Market
• 40-­‐50
hours
per
week
working
with
the
market
• I
set
a
target
for
myself
to
connect
with
10
clients
a
week
outside
of
current
assignments
• A
funny
thing
happens
when
you
talk
to
clients
about
their
most
important
business
issues
–
you
spot
opportuni@es
and
you
sell
work
–
need
to
create
conversa@ons
• The
more
clients
you
talk
to
–
the
more
work
you
sell
• Doing
business
with
ourselves
a^er
hours
–
firm
mee@ngs
need
to
be
banned
between
9
to
6
7

8. Quality
Thinking
• In
tough
markets
–
crea@ng
demand
is
a
by-­‐product
of
deep
knowledge
around
sectors
and
clients
• Everybody
needs
to
be
a
thought
leader
in
at
least
one
thing
• We
have
got
to
abolish
the
idea
in
our
heads
that
we
are
in
the
“responding
to
events”
business
8

9. Communica@ng
to
the
Market
• Talk
to
seminars
of
industry
leaders
• Hold
discussions
in
the
office
with
industry
leaders
on
important
leadership
topics
9

10. Big
Ideas
• Every
top
performing
PS
firm
thinks
big
• We
have
a
unique
set
of
skills
and
experience
which
when
combined
together
can
help
companies
solve
some
of
their
most
pressing
issues
• Lets’
have
10
“big
ideas”
bubbling
across
the
firm
at
any
one
@me
that
involves
all
of
us
–
we
need
to
create
cross-­‐prac@ce
ideas
to
‘galvanise’
10

11. Collabora@on
• Big
ideas
come
from
teamwork
–
and
can
only
be
delivered
usually
with
teamwork
11

12. Very
Good
Management
• A
healthy
pipeline
contains
a
range
of
opportuni@es
at
different
stages
of
development
• A
well
managed
pipeline
across
everybody
in
the
firm
delivers
consistent
performance
• Vola@lity
is
always
a
sign
of
poor
pipeline
management
• Let’s
get
rid
of
the
thought
in
some
of
our
minds
that
vola@lity
is
“normal.”
• It
is
NOT
normal
in
high
quality
PS
firms,
and
it
is
not
wrilen
in
the
sands,
and
is
simply
an
outcome
of
poor
management
• A
well
managed
pipeline
contains
a
large
number
of
opportuni@es
that
have
sufficient
volume
to
counterbalance
the
many
“murphy”
events
that
happen
in
our
business
• It
is
a
sta@s@cal
fact
12

13. Accountability
• You
are
only
truly
accountable
if
ALL
of
the
following
condi@ons
are
in
place:
• You
have
accepted
a
goal
and
are
genuinely
responsible
for
achieving
it
–
eg
Revenue
target
–
revenue
is
an
outcome
target;
also
need
process
targets
that
generate
the
revenues
(most
of
the
above
are
process
targets)
• You
have
a
plan
to
achieve
it
• What
sectors/func@ons
• Clients
with
deep
pools
of
demand
• Buyers
whom
you
need
to
build
strong
rela@onships
with
• Prospec@on
plan
• Get
your
EA
to
make
the
mee@ngs
–
it
is
much
more
efficient
• Fill
your
diary
–
no
blank
spaces
13

14. Accountability
• You
know
what
a
healthy
pipeline
looks
like
–
so
that
you
can
defeat
vola@lity
• There
is
a
volume
of
opportuni@es
at
different
stages:
• Opportuni@es
–
these
can
be
ideas
that
you
have
heard
about
from
connec@ng
with
players
in
the
market
• Qualified
opportuni@es
–
these
are
ideas
that
you
have
discussed
with
the
client,
they
have
acknowledged
that
they
have
a
need,
you
are
s@ll
working
up
a
solu@on
–
and
you
have
not
yet
put
in
a
proposal
• Proposals
• Sold
work
• You
have
set
an
individual
target
for
each
of
these
stages
that
works
for
your
prac@ce
14

15. Accountability
• You
monitor
your
performance
weekly
• You
know
what
your
monthly
budget
is
• Every
week
-­‐
at
least
once
a
week
-­‐
be
clear
what
your
gap
is
for
the
month
–
and
search
your
pipeline
for
opportuni@es
to
close
it
• Prepare
an
ac@on
plan
to
close
it
• Then
act
on
what
you
need
to
do
straight
away
• The
basics
of
management
are
:
plan
–
do
–
monitor
–
adjust
plan
–
do
–
monitor
• And
so
on
forever
• If
any
of
the
above
condi@ons
are
not
in
place
–
you
are
not
accountable
15

16. The
process
I
will
go
through
with
everybody
flows
from
the
above
and
is:
• Agree
revised
budget
for
Q4
• Review
focus
–
sectors,
clients,
buyers
etc
• Agree
revised
focus
if
necessary
• Review
ac@vity
levels
in
the
market
–
what’s
stopping
us
from
spending
all
our
@me
in
the
market?
• Agree
revised
–
and
probably
higher
–
levels
of
ac@vity
in
the
market
• I
say
“probably
higher”,
because
I
have
looked
at
most
people’s
diaries
over
the
past
few
days
to
see
how
people
are
spending
their
@me
–
and
there
is
a
lot
of
“white
space”
around
the
firm
over
the
past
few
months
–
we
need
to
find
new
ways
of
crea@ng
mee@ng
opportuni@es
and
we
will
benefit
from
support
from
the
partners
to
do
this
e.g.,
how
can
GS
partner
with
JC
on
TSRA?
• Understand
the
gap
for
April
and
ac@ons
required
• Review
pipeline
to
see
what
we
can
do
to
plug
the
gap
• Agree
ac@on
plan
• Discuss
what
the
firm
can
do
to
help
–
refer
above
• Come
armed
with
a
big
idea
–
let’s
discuss
how
we
make
it
come
alive
• I
expect
that
the
control
sheet
will
be
completely
up
to
date
when
we
meet
16

17. Contact
Details
17
John
Colvin
Principal
E:
jcolvin@johncolvin.com.au
M:
+61
409
183
174
S:
+61
2
8823
3485
Level
36,
Governor
Phillip
Tower
1
Farrer
Place,
Sydney
NSW
2000,
Australia
Sandra
Heinig
Senior
Associate
E:
sh@johncolvin.com.au
M:
+61
416
731
897
S:
+61
2
8823
3485
D:
+61
2
8823
3487
Level
36,
Governor
Phillip
Tower
1
Farrer
Place,
Sydney
NSW
2000,
Australia
Sian
O’Shaughnessy
Research
Analyst
E:
sian@johncolvin.com.au
D:
+61
2
8823
3485
Level
36,
Governor
Phillip
Tower
1
Farrer
Place,
Sydney
NSW
2000,
Australia