The Power Of An Annual Sales Plan
Having a plan makes good sense. And further, the Legal Sales and Service Organization’s Women Rainmaker Study (2019 marks the 4th study over a 7-year period) proves that having a plan and sticking to it helps women professionals (the study was of women lawyers) reach their goals, earn higher levels of compensation, and are more successful at generating new revenue for their firms. Clearly having a plan by itself will not yield high results. It’s the sticking to it part that really makes the difference. This means one has to make choices about where to spend her time and what to say yes, and sometimes, more important, what to say no to. Here are a few tips for staying on track:
Stick to the plan. Sounds simple, but many things can detract one from a well thought-out plan including:
Committee participation at your firm or business. Is this committee(s) helping you to make equity partner? Drive revenue? Obtain higher compensation? Reach your goals? If not, then analyze why you are on the committee and perhaps resign or give yourself a final date to resign. Time is valuable and if you are not being recognized through compensation for your time on firm committees, then determine if it makes career sense.
Attending pitch meetings with no promise of sharing in the originations. Work out with colleagues ahead of time how they plan on rewarding you and others who are part of the pitch team to win new business, and for what percentage of work will you be billing? Otherwise, does it make sense to spend time this way?
Speaking and writing opportunities. At first blush, it’s nice to be asked. Dig into who the audience will be and determine if they are the right people to provide you with sales follow up opportunities and new business opportunities down the line. If not, recommend a colleague who may be a better fit.
Follow up on business development activities. For time invested in networking events, conference attendance and other business development activities, be sure to go with the intent of meeting one to three new people with whom you will follow up. Then be sure to follow up. Remember, it takes one to three years to develop business from an initial contact and that is as long as one is following up one to sixteen times during those three to four years.
Keep in touch with at least fifty individuals quarterly. This includes existing clients, inactive clients, referral sources and potential referral sources and prospective clients. Get to know what their business goals are and how things are going for them and their businesses during the existing year. Try to find ways to help them meet their goals, add value, and make introductions for them. Keeping in touch with a group of individuals over time always results in new business. Be patient though, it takes time! Oh and research shows Friday afternoons are the best time to reach out. Mondays are not.
Participate in sales training. Even if one has been through training previously, it’s always good to be reminded of the basics and to hear new ways of doing things that work for others. Pick up a few new sales ideas annually at these training sessions and it will help to reach your goals.
When clients tell us they are stuck, we usually go to these areas above and see what is going on. To add octane to your business development plan implementation, stay on track, engage in those activities that support your plan and best wishes for the best success!
Silvia Coulter is a BizDevGals founding partner, and a principal consultant with LawVision Group. She may be reached at scoulter@lawvision.com.