Most
service professionals are resistant to the idea of selling. Sure, they'll attend networking functions from time to time and keep their LinkedIn page up to date, but very few treat the pursuit of new clientele as if their future depends on it.
I believe this is because many of the characteristics that make for a quality service professional are the very ones that make for a poor sales professional.
Efficiency
- Service professionals are judged by their ability to produce results efficiently.
- Sales professionals must become comfortable with the inefficient decision process of a prospective client. It can take months or even years before a prospect will engage them.
Competence
- Service professionals develop a particular area of expertise so that they can competently deliver a quality experience to their clients. They typically do not develop expertise in sales, and therefore tend to feel incompetent in their business development.
- Sales professionals become competent business developers—or they don't eat.
Time
- Service professionals have a strong work ethic and dedicate themselves to their full-time occupation.
- Sales professionals also have a full-time job, and no one wants two full-time jobs.
Emotional attachment
- Service professionals are dedicated to the client experience. They are deeply invested in fulfilling their clients' needs.
- Sales professionals must distance themselves emotionally from their prospective clients lest the constant sting of rejection become unbearable.
This doesn't mean that service professionals can't sell, but it does illustrate why business development can be particularly challenging for those who are not intrinsically cut out for it.
The best business developers I know have learned how to reframe sales as an act of service. They view their offering as a must-have and deliver their message with relentless evangelism. These are the people to emulate, because they believe in what they sell just as passionately as those who believe in how they serve.
