This blog is aimed at people in the professional services industry.  Typically these people sell information or knowledge and the product can be somewhat intangible to the client.

One of the big challenges in selling professional services relates to how you let your clients know about the range of products and services you provide.  I’ll give you an example from the financial planning industry.

Some friends of ours were talking about making some investments and asked me for a recommendation.   They told me they already had a financial adviser who looked after their retirement plan, but they needed someone who could speak with them about other investments.  I actually knew the planner who looked after their retirement plan, and I knew he could help them with their additional investment needs.  But they didn’t think to ask him.  Why?

Could it be that they didn’t realise he provided a wider range of services than the ones he’d provided to them?

When they initially saw him they had one need which he was able to help with.  Unfortunately he’d never taken the time to let them know about the range of other services he could provide – things such as lending advice, investments and insurance.  To my friends, he was just the guy who looked after their retirement plan.

I was reminded of this story this week when I was doing some business planning.  I love asking business owners two questions:

1. What range of services and products do you provide, and
2. What range of services and products do your clients think you provide?

There’s generally a large gap in the answers.  In most professional service businesses your clients don’t understand the range of services you provide.  And the problem with that is that if they have a need for a service they don’t currently buy from you, they may go elsewhere to get it, even if you could sell it to them.

So how can you let them know about all the things you can do?  Here’s some ideas.

• Brochure, printed material and web site that describe the full range of services you provide.
• Regular reviews with clients.  These help to uncover additional needs and issues that you didn’t know about.
• Letting them know about additional products that may be suitable.  No-one likes the feeling of having something pushed on them, but most people are open to a professional talking to them about products or services that have helped people in similar situations.
• Survey your clients to find out about what additional services they’d like.  Then tell them how you can provide those services.
• If you can’t do it in-house, but it’s a good fit with your business, then consider outsourcing or developing a referral alliance with someone.  In the financial planning industry, many planners have referral relationships with accountants and lawyers so they can provide introductions to these professionals.
• Consider packaging some of your services.

Have a think about all the things you do for clients.  And then work out which services you can promote to your clients.  Take another look at the Ansoff Matrix article I wrote a few months ago to get some additional ideas about growing your business.  And then get to work letting your clients know about all the things you can do for them.

Please leave a comment and let me know about ways you can do this.