Shaping Business helps professional services firms to grow.

Converting business leads into opportunities

A lead is just the beginning of what could prove to be a very successful client relationship for a professional services firm. It can take a lot of time and investment to get to the point where a prospective client agrees to a meeting. Unfortunately, these meetings often result in inconclusive outcomes and perhaps some vague commitment to keep in touch.

For the prospective client such a meeting is a commitment of scarce time and they rightly expect to be dealt with professionally, be listened to properly and to learn something new. From your perspective you want to make sure that the cost and effort expended getting to the meeting is not squandered.

The fact is the potential for a successful outcome is greatly increased by your ability to develop a rapport, rapidly build an understanding of their key challenges and establish your credibility as a service provider. These things do not happen by accident and are a product of deploying people with the right skills and tools in front of clients.

"In the first business meeting, prospective clients determine whether they could work with you."

Shaping Business works with you to ensure your people are given the right skills, tools and disciplines to increase your success rate in converting business leads into opportunities. Our approach focuses on:

  • Understanding the consultative buying process from the client’s perspective
  • Identifying innovative ways to research prospective client's needs
  • Establishing clear (and measurable) objectives
  • Structuring the first meeting effectively
  • Using appropriate questioning techniques in business development meetings
  • Building rapport with prospective clients
  • Measuring success in converting business leads.

We recognise there are many factors which influence an individual’s ability in this area and that some team members will be stronger in some elements than others. Hence we always tailor our interventions to fit your business development culture and specific situation. Our approach enables your team to make better use of their time on business development and convert more business leads into opportunities.

Our Insights

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