Build From Within…and From Without

It’s no secret that referrals are often the most common source of new business for professional services firms.

While referrals are an important resource, so too is outbound marketing (email, phone, mail, social) and so too is organic growth.

In our most recent survey, 73% of professional services firms stated that they get most of their new business from referrals.

The problem with referrals is they eventually start drying up and becoming less of a reliable source for new business.  That’s why proactive outreach via outbound and/or building from within your existing client base is so important.

“Networking” is typically believed to be the next most common source for new business, but reality is the next most common source is “business from existing clients”.

51% of respondents stated that their next most common source is organic growth from existing clients.

I’ve been operating in the new business space for the past 20+ years and it’s much more common for me to hear about “referral programs” than it is for me to hear about “organic marketing” targeting existing clients.

It’s no surprise as 63% of professional services firms feel they are only “somewhat” or “not at all” effective at generating organic business.

And 75% of firms believe that their clients are not aware of all the things they can potentially do for them.

And lastly, 55% of professional services firms believe they could generate significantly more business if they were proactive with existing client.

So what’s the problem?

Why don’t more firms work their existing clients to generate more new business?

The answer is three-fold:

  1. They don’t have an organized strategy and plan to do it.
  2. They haven’t properly trained their people on how to best do it.
  3. And they don’t have the right cadence of messaging and marketing to make clients take notice.

So what’s a firm to do?

Put an outbound program together so you have a more reliable source for a pipeline of opportunities AND put a plan in place to win more business from existing clients.

As yourself:

  1. Who are my best sources for new business?
  2. What do my clients know and not know about what I can/can’t deliver?
  3. What are the skill sets of my account team and how can I best train them to be more of a gatherer/hunter type?
  4. How do I (or should I) incentivize them so it’s part of their psyche?
  5. What do I want my people saying to clients, sending to clients, and how often?

Drop us a line and we can talk through how to create a great program that can drive significant increases in revenue from existing clients (info@rswus.com).

/by