There are evidence-based ways to sell your services

What is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word ‘sales’? Best-selling business author, Dan Pink, says the term 'sales' has overwhelmingly negative connotations. In a poll of 7,000 Americans, three-quarters of respondents offered words like yuck, sleazy, annoying, slimy, dishonest, pushy and aggressive in response to this five-letter word.

As keynote speaker at this week’s 2015 Legal Marketing Association conference in San Diego, Pink wanted the 1300-strong audience (of whom just two dozen were practising attorneys) to understand why people don’t like to be sold to, and why lawyers resist being asked to sell.

His message translates across all categories of professional services - and beyond.

The negativity associated with the act of selling dates back many decades and stems from there being, until fairly recently, an environment of ‘information asymmetry’ in which buyers had little information, few choices, and no way to talk back to the seller.

The internet fundamentally changed all that. Today, we’re informed, have an abundance of choice, and have found our voice.

In effect, the internet has transformed the marketplace from a state of ‘Buyer beware’ to one of ‘Seller beware’.

Pink studied law but was never cut out to be a lawyer. Still, he’s built a hugely successful career around coaching lawyers and other professionals on how to sell, and how to succeed in business.

For Pink, one of the greatest revelations was accepting (after much resistance and extensive research) that there are evidence-based ways to sell in today’s ‘Seller beware’ landscape.

For lawyers (and the other professional services), the ABCs of selling are simple:

• Attunement - have the ability to see things from the other person’s perspective – and demonstrate to that person that you do.

• Buoyancy - be able to stay afloat in an ‘ocean of rejection’. “Lawyers have a very hard time dealing with rejection yet rejection is endemic in marketing and sales.”

• Clarity - how well and how quickly can you curate information and then identify or, better still, anticipate problems which you have the expertise to resolve?

This article was first published in Australia's Lawyers Weekly, April 2015.