Work Winning Ways

In the world of professional services and engineering consultancy services, cross selling is the Holy Grail. Organisations think it's easy, but in this episode of Work Winning Ways, you'll find out why it's very difficult. Join Gary Williams as he discusses why cross selling is important, how it's done, and what are the obstacles to overcome. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• In so many jobs you need to be able to encourage, motivate, and persuade clients to work with you and influence others to do so. Word of mouth is one of the best tools at your disposal. 
• 80% of your clients buy 20% of the products you sell. 
• It's 6 times cheaper to sell to existing clients then try to find new ones. 
• Don't push a hard sell for products and services your client or prospective client doesn't need. It will essentially just annoy them at the end of the day. 
• Start with ‘why'. Why does your client want your service in the first place. It has to help them with an objective or goal, if there is no strong ‘why' then the client is unlikely to buy multiple products from you. 
• You have to show added value to convince the client to put more eggs in your basket. Why should they choose you over other service providers?
• Being a trusted advisor means that you have the competence, but this is just one aspect. The other aspects are knowing how your client likes to work, you also need knowledge of their world, and finally having a genuine interest in them, their objectives and challenges.
  
  

BEST MOMENTS

‘Bad cross selling is the kind that makes our clients cross' 

‘How is about being proactive and curious' 

‘You need to build a bank of good deeds for it to be reciprocated'

EPISODE RESOURCES 

Questas Academy

Start With Why

ABOUT THE HOST

Gary Williams has been in sales and marketing his entire career. The past 10 years have been dedicated to helping technically minded non-salespeople become skilled and confident in selling themselves and their services.

http://linkedin.com/in/garyquestas

https://www.questas.co.uk

Instagram: @bdcoachinghub

Not everyone is a natural salesperson, Find out more on how to improve your sales HERE: https://www.thequestasacademy.com/

This show was brought to you by Progressive Media

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode of Work Winning Ways, host Gary Williams of Questas discusses the evolution of the work winning employee and what your client wants from them. Also hear all about what it takes to become a trusted advisor, and just as importantly, how to keep being one.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Clients are becoming more and more demanding. You have to add good commercial acumen, understanding what the client wants to achieve. They also want you to show that you understand the world in which they work.
• The differentiator in winning work can often be a grasp of the things that affect the clients environment and the ability to talk in their language with the terms they use.
• Under promise and over deliver. If you're saying what the client wants to hear and over promising, then if you don't deliver, trust is broken. Expectation management is crucial.
• Clients will also expect you to manage them. Do you make their life and their job easier?
• Be proactive about meeting client's needs. To be proactive you need to know your client and what they will need and when. You will also need to know what they need but haven't asked for yet. 

BEST MOMENTS 

‘You need the ability to talk in the client's language'

‘Projects happen through people'

‘10 pm is not close of business, it's Monday morning'

EPISODE RESOURCES

Questas Academy

The Trusted Advisor

ABOUT THE HOST

Gary Williams has been in sales and marketing his entire career. The past 10 years have been dedicated to helping technically minded non-salespeople become skilled and confident in selling themselves and their services.

http://linkedin.com/in/garyquestas

https://www.questas.co.uk

Instagram: @bdcoachinghub

Not everyone is a natural salesperson, Find out more on how to improve your sales HERE: https://www.thequestasacademy.com/

This show was brought to you by Progressive Media

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Working Winning Ways is the new name for the podcast and for this shake-up Gary has a fantastic interview with Edd Stone of The Technology Partnership. Hear all about how Edd works with, understands, and builds strong relationships with people that can last over an entire career spanning different companies.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Relationships in business development are very important and should be nurtured over long periods of time. Many of their clients didn't predict that they would need work with The Technology Partnership again, but because those connections were there then the choice of who to go with was easy.
• It's the people who are trying to solve the problems within organisations who are the ones who will come to us to help them solve it no matter which business they're working for.
• You shouldn't assume you know what is best for a client at a particular time. You need to really listen to their needs and understand the nature of the problem in front of you. To do that you need to recruit great communicators who can make sure you're on the same page.
• Hard technical things are very rarely a solo endeavour, they require lots of people from different backgrounds to work together.

BEST MOMENTS

‘Cambridge is a low-risk place to do risky things'

‘At the end of the day it's got to hinge on commercial viability'

‘That curiosity is an aspect of being a great business developer'

ABOUT THE GUEST

Edd Stone:

“Cell and gene therapies have shown the ability to cure some of the most terrible diseases. I am passionate about finding ways to get these treatments to more patients by revolutionizing how we manufacture them.

For over 15 years, I have been fortunate to work with some of the world's most innovative companies to help bring new life science products to market. The last 7 years I have dedicated to cell and gene therapy manufacturing, spanning from commercial strategy through technology development and onto production.

I have worked with clients to develop new technologies, enjoyed the challenges of finding technical solutions, undertaking risk analysis, performing due diligence, creating new IP and meeting with regulators.

The Technology Partnership is an independent technology company where scientists and engineers collaborate to invent, design and develop new products and technologies.”

LinkedIn

Website

ABOUT THE HOST

Gary Williams has been in sales and marketing his entire career. The past 10 years have been dedicated to helping technically minded non-salespeople become skilled and confident in selling themselves and their services.

Gary's LinkedIn

Questas Website

Instagram

Not everyone is a natural salesperson, Find out more on how to improve your sales HERE: https://www.thequestasacademy.com/

This show was brought to you by Progressive Media

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we have a fascinating interview with Pat Sweet of the Engineering and Leadership podcast. Pat has some great insights on what it takes to successfully lead professional services firms and his thoughts are likely to remind, reassure and reveal in equal measures! If you are in a leadership position or aspire to be, this is a great listen.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Engineers can do pretty much anything if you give them enough time and money. But you're not going to do that so there has to be a defined mission, and that clarity has to come from a leadership role.
• People in engineering often get moved into a management role as a ‘next step in career progression' instead of actually possessing people leading and management skills.
• A diversity in a team isn't' just about who we are, it's about creating diversity of thought.
• Addressing recently bias is something you need to be aware of, especially when it comes to remote working and those people who are remote missing out on opportunity.
• One of the best things a leader can do is demonstrate that's it's okay to be vulnerable. That allows teams to open up and pitch those ideas that could be kept quiet by a bad leader.
• A leader ought to be excited about leading, not just for leadings sake, but because they recognise the value they can provide the team and that they can enable the team to do what it does best.
  
  

BEST MOMENTS

‘As leaders we're so risk averse that clouds us from perusing interesting opportunities'

‘Good leaders leave their ego at the door'

‘If you're the hero and everyone relies on you, then what's the organisation for?'

‘Decision making improves when you have diversity of thought, and diversity of thought comes when you have a diversity of backgrounds.'

ABOUT THE GUEST

Pat Sweet, P.Eng., MBA, CSEP, PMP is an experienced engineering leader, project manager, product manager, writer, speaker, and coach. His mission is to help technical organizations thrive. You can find a link to his podcast ‘Engineering and Leadership' below.

twitter.com/engileader

engineeringandleadership.com

tandemconsultingco.lpages.co/el-leadership-101-for-engineers

ABOUT THE HOST

Gary Williams has been in sales and marketing his entire career. The past 10 years have been dedicated to helping technically minded non-salespeople become skilled and confident in selling themselves and their services.

http://linkedin.com/in/garyquestas

https://www.questas.co.uk

Instagram: @bdcoachinghub

Not everyone is a natural salesperson, Find out more on how to improve your sales HERE: https://www.thequestasacademy.com/

This show was brought to you by Progressive Media

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Create, Convert, Retain, Gary is joined by Paul Adams of The Project Centre, a professional design consultancy, focused on civil engineering, transport planning, and landscape design for the public sector. Join the conversation about what sales skills you need in professional services and how they differ from other sales-based roles. Also, find out the difference between the tangible and intangible services.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Professional services is all about getting repeat business. Customer care and trust are so important. It's not just a sell them as much as you can and get out of there scenario.
• The customer experience is becoming more and more important for winning repeat business. What is the journey of your client? Are you helping them move through the process smoothly with good results?
• It's seven times easier to get business from an existing customer than a new one and a lot cheaper too. Not just in terms of cost but in terms of time.
• Take into account social value and meaningful social value. For example, are you giving work experience? These things can work their way back up the chain.
  
  

BEST MOMENTS 

‘Clients are buying into you, you need to build trust with them'

VALUABLE RESOURCES

Paul Adams on LinkedIn

ABOUT THE HOST 

Gary Williams has been in sales and marketing his entire career. The past 10 years have been dedicated to helping technically minded non-salespeople become skilled and confident in selling themselves and their services.

ABOUT THE GUEST

“Project Centre are a professional design consultancy, transport planning, civil engineering and landscape design consultancy. Most of their clients are public sector, mainly local authorities. In this interview Paul has some great insights into what works in terms of selling to public sector clients and what is vital to keep hold of them and turn them into long-term profitable relationships.”

CONTACT METHOD
http://linkedin.com/in/garyquestas
https://www.questas.co.uk

Instagram: @bdcoachinghub

Not everyone is a natural salesperson, Find out more on how to improve your sales HERE: https://www.thequestasacademy.com/

This show was brought to you by Progressive Media

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Create, Convert, Retain, Gary shares insights on what Questas does for companies, how the podcast name came about, and why it is so important for client services. This is a real deep dive into everything Gary does in his day to day working life.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Everybody within the company should fully understand the ‘why' of the business. Why does the company exist, and why their role helps fulfil that.
• Reputation building is about being clear about your purpose, understanding your marketplace, and making enough noise so that your target market is aware of you.
• Only 3% of our market is ready to buy at any one time. That means the sales people need thick skin because they're going to get a lot of nos. Opportunities can come from well-built relationships that have been developed by everyone in the company.
• Retaining existing business costs nothing to your marketing budget. Chasing down new leads consumes time and resources. Having a good connection with existing clients and understanding what they will need and when they will need it can create new opportunities.
• Create, convert, and retain.
  
  

BEST MOMENTS 

‘Marketing is about bringing people to our table'

‘Are you problem aware?'

‘One of the most important reasons a client is attracted to a bid is because they understood us and what we need'

‘Inform, Investigate, and Inspire'

 VALUABLE RESOURCES

 Simon Sinek: How great leaders inspire action - Ted Talk

ABOUT THE HOST

Gary Williams has been in sales and marketing his entire career. The past 10 years have been dedicated to helping technically minded non-salespeople become skilled and confident in selling themselves and their services.

CONTACT METHOD

http://linkedin.com/in/garyquestas
https://www.questas.co.uk

Instagram: @bdcoachinghub

Not everyone is a natural salesperson, Find out more on how to improve your sales HERE: https://www.thequestasacademy.com/

This show was brought to you by Progressive Media

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Create, Convert, Retain, Gary is joined by Mike Reader. Mike is the Head of Work Winning at Mace, leading opportunity management, capturing and bidding across Mace's Consult business. Join the discussion on building a team that can work with clients and then developing the team as a whole. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Not everyone in your organisation is client facing, but they can support in other ways that aren't direct. Building teams with different skills and abilities is the best way forward. Build different teams with different people with different skills for different clients.
• You don't need to recruit for the senior position because you think it will unlock a relationship, going for the big sales person isn't always the best way to win bids. Instead, it's about building a team and building the people from graduate roles and up. Mike prefers to look for organic growth rather than trying to recruit someone established.
• The first step in winning bids is building relationships across the organisation. By doing this you'll understand what their drivers are and their concerns. You'll find out more by getting to know someone than you will from a business proposal. Listen to find out what the other steps are.
  
  

BEST MOMENTS

 "Clients are multifaceted'"
"Building momentum is finding some quick wins for the team'"
"You can be more successful with a team rather than just a heavy hitting individual'"

VALUABLE RESOURCES

Mike Reader on Linkedin

ABOUT THE HOST 

Gary Williams has been in sales and marketing his entire career. The past 10 years have been dedicated to helping technically minded non-salespeople become skilled and confident in selling themselves and their services.

ABOUT THE GUEST

With over 15 years in the industry Mike has had the opportunity to work with designers, project and cost managers, surveyors and specialists across the sector, supporting clients as varied as local government, energy and utilities companies, complex private sector organisations and contractors.

He has a passion for business strategy, which leverages his skill sets and interests in business development, team leadership, organisational design and marketing.

Through Mike's role at Mace, and through activities outside the work place, he is able to explore his interest in the theory and practical examples of what makes some projects and people successful and others less so.

Mike is driven by the belief that everyone has a part to play in the modernisation of our sector, and that only by trying new things, learning from our mistakes, and working together as one industry, we will meet the global challenges the world faces today.

CONTACT METHOD 
http://linkedin.com/in/garyquestas
https://www.questas.co.uk

Instagram: @bdcoachinghub

Not everyone is a natural salesperson, Find out more on how to improve your sales HERE: https://www.thequestasacademy.com/

This show was brought to you by Progressive Media

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Create, Convert, Retain, Gary is joined by Claire Gott MBE, Head of Industry and Corporate Social Responsibility at WSP in the UK. Join the discussion on how to encourage your technical staff to engage better with clients. How to win and keep business. Also hear about how Claire helped found the engineering charity, Cameroon Catalyst.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• When working with very technically adept staff it can be a challenge to get them to connect with clients in the way you need. Strong relationship building skills aren't often found in highly skilled workers. So how do you encourage them to connect with clients. Claire is an advocator of nudge theory. Encouraging and developing very small tweaks that will make your staff more confident when talking with clients.
• Another way Claire tackles this is to pair up tech experts with a more sales focused team member. Then in each meeting between you and your clients you have a tag team ready to deal with any issue that comes up. Having adiversityof skills looks after both the client needs and tech solutions.
• The importance of repeat business is often overlooked in favour of chasing nclients and new leads. If you're getting more business from your existing client base who you have already worked with and built a relationship with, then there is no need to spend time on bids that may not come off.
  
  

BEST MOMENTS 

‘We strive to be a trusted advisor to our clients'

‘The client often knows what you can do technically, but in order for you to differentiate, they need to know that you know them'

‘Take the time to follow up on opportunities'

‘Diversity of thought when working in a team can lead to new ideas'

VALUABLE RESOURCES

Claire's Linkedin

ABOUT THE HOST

Gary Williams has been in sales and marketing his entire career. The past 10 years have been dedicated to helping technically minded non-salespeople become skilled and confident in selling themselves and their services.

ABOUT THE GUEST

As UK Head of Industry, Claire leads a 100 strong team in their work across the pharmaceuticals, life sciences, biotech, gas networks, hydrogen and CCUS, chemicals, food and beverage sectors.

In previous roles she specialised in managing multi-disciplinary design teams on major infrastructure projects. Claire has worked on a number of high-profile projects including the High Speed 2 stations at Birmingham Curzon Street and Euston, the £790m London Bridge Station redevelopment project and the Paddington Cube. She feels strongly about building diversity in the engineering and construction industries and represent the next generation as a board member of the Major Projects Association. Claire is also passionate about making positive sustainable change through her role as UK Head of Corporate Social Responsibility at WSP.

In 2009 Claire played a founding role in independent charity Cameroon Catalyst – which aims to facilitate sustainable development in rural Cameroon. In 2015, she was awarded an MBE in recognition for her “Services to civil engineering and international charity work".

CONTACT METHOD

http://linkedin.com/in/garyquestas
https://www.questas.co.uk

Instagram: @bdcoachinghub

Not everyone is a natural salesperson, Find out more on how to improve your sales HERE: https://www.thequestasacademy.com/

This show was brought to you by Progressive Media

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode Gary is joined by professional services expert Sarah Butters to discuss how to drive business by driving people. Sarah tells us how encouraging people's passions and helping them grow as individuals is beneficial for your business. Gary also poses Sarah the question, how do you differentiate yourself from similar services in the same field? 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• To really understand your clients and build a strong working relationship you need to help them address their needs in a language they understand. Find out where are they now, where do they want to get to, and how can you help them there. 
• Word of mouth is extremely valuable in client services. It may sound old fashioned but people put a lot of stock in what other professionals recommend. Take the time to foster authentic personal relationships and those interactions will stay with people. 
• Keep up to date with what your clients are putting out on social media. You can use it to understand your clients without having to ask. Bring that information with you to your next meeting and you will have a head start on seeing how they market to their audience.

BEST MOMENTS

“It's not about expecting everyone to be in the same mould, it's about picking up on individual strengths”

“Let people see how passionate you are”

“It's not about charisma, it's not about the gift of the gab. It's just about being honest and being human”

VALUABLE RESOURCES

ABOUT THE HOST

Gary Williams has been in sales and marketing his entire career. The past 10 years have been dedicated to helping technically minded non-salespeople become skilled and confident in selling themselves and their services.

ABOUT THE GUEST

Sarah Butters is a Commercially minded Marketing & Business Development expert working in Strategy Formulation & Execution and Client Development. 

In the rapidly changing world that we find ourselves in Sarah ensures people are aware of new ways of marketing and business development and helps them understand how they can integrate these into their busy working life.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-butters-a3a0b5b/

CONTACT METHOD

 
http://linkedin.com/in/garyquestas
https://www.questas.co.uk

Instagram: @bdcoachinghub

Not everyone is a natural salesperson, Find out more on how to improve your sales HERE: https://www.thequestasacademy.com/

This show was brought to you by Progressive Media

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Gary speaks with Nigel Clark, who is currently leading Marketing globally for SLR Consulting - an international leader of environmental and advisory solutions helping clients of all shapes and size achieve their sustainability goals. He is an experienced strategy, marketing, communications and client development leader.

Nigel has a wealth of experience and holds nothing back in this episode, sharing thoughts and ideas relevant to anyone in the professional services sector.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• In Nigel's world of consulting, it is common practice for most time and effort to be spent ahead of a bid for a job. It can be an extremely competitive process, even if you have a pre-existing relationship with the client.
  
  
• SLR Consulting have a formal client programme, they think about specific clients they want to develop a relationship with and try to make this a two-way process. They then have set people in the team who are designated to client relationship management, ensuring they are confident and comfortable in what they are doing.
  
  
• It can be useful in larger companies or bigger projects to have dedicated salespeople. These would still be people with a technical background as they need to have context and an understanding of the clients' needs, but it would mean other individuals would then focus on specialising on delivering different aspects of the project.
  
  
  

BEST MOMENTS

“The vast majority of our time and effort is ahead of bid not after the bid”

“You can't expect somebody to sell and deliver that type of project”

“I'm very confident at saying I'm not the person you need to speak to and develop this but I have a colleague that can”

VALUABLE RESOURCES

https://questas.co.uk/cross-selling-how-to-achieve-growth-by-cross-selling-in-professional-services/

https://questas.co.uk/e-learning/

ABOUT THE HOST

Gary Williams has been in sales and marketing his entire career. The past 10 years have been dedicated to helping technically minded non-salespeople become skilled and confident in selling themselves and their services.

ABOUT THE GUEST

Nigel Clark - Global Marketing Director, SLR Consulting

Currently leading Marketing globally for SLR Consulting - an international leader of environmental and advisory solutions helping clients of all shapes and size achieve their sustainability goals.

He is an experienced strategy, marketing, communications and client development leader, in particular in the professional services sector having led teams in both strategic and operational roles in financial services, management consulting, legal, environmental, business services and engineering firms. He is also a course director and marketing tutor with Cambridge Marketing College, the UK's leading provider of accredited marketing courses, qualifications and apprenticeships, and a non-executive director of the Professional Services Marketing Group (PSMG).

Nigel is the editor and author of the 'Professional Services Marketing Handbook: How to build relationships, grow your firm and become a client champion' , published by Kogan Page April 2015 and also one of the authors of the 'Professional Services Leadership Handbook' published by Kogan Page in August 2017.

CONTACT METHOD

 
http://linkedin.com/in/garyquestas
https://www.questas.co.uk

Instagram: @bdcoachinghub

Not everyone is a natural salesperson, Find out more on how to improve your sales HERE: https://www.thequestasacademy.com/

This show was brought to you by Progressive Media

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.