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Do you manage your inbound leads effectively?
With the amount of money companies spend on marketing these days, it's vital that
when you receive a phone call enquiring about your services you know how to handle
it.
Be prepared for
inbound calls. At SSW we have a script our phone operators keep close at
hand to make sure we ask the necessary qualifying questions. Qualifying a lead means
categorizing them - we use a 1 - 5 scale, just like hurricanes. 1 means a client
who wants a $500 website, and 5 means a custom application solution for a large
company. The aim is to determine if we are a good match with the prospect - that
way we don't spend time on dead ends and can give all time to the most likely leads.
Once you have qualified the lead, your aim for the remainder of the call should be
to arrange a face-to-face Initial Meeting with the client. Our preference is for
the Client to come to us. Think of this office as our showroom. Seeing it will reinforce
for the client that we are a real business, not just a voice on the other end of
the phone. If its more convenient for the Client for us to visit them, we are happy
to accommodate. Send this email Pre Initial Meeting
Once you have agreed on a time for the appointment, you send an appointment to the
client and everyone who will be attending the meeting, including the notes from
the phone call in the body of the appointment request.
On the off chance that the client wants to commence ad-hoc work (e.g. Consulting)
without a meeting, you should immediately enter
a contract with the client.
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- Figure:
Send an appointment for your initial meeting
Make sure you enter the contact information for the lead into your corporate database.
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Do you rank your prospects?
If you do not have a system for ranking all the potential clients who come knocking on your door, you will be open to accepting a troublesome client or two and a whole heap of headaches.
You could ask if they have any references from other companies, but a less drastic, and less confrontational check is a quick Google search.
- Do they turn up in the results?
- Do they have a webpage?
- Does the webpage look legitimate (not just thrown together)?
- Is the "Contact Us" Address and/or phone number the same as the one they provided?
- Do they have any references from other companies?
With this information you can then rank them from "Not a Risk" all the way up to "Huge Risk" (the kind with neon flashing lights and all) and decide whether or not to go ahead with the business deal.
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Meetings - Are you prepared for the initial meeting?
Be prepared for the initial meeting because first impressions are the most important.
Preparation cements your professionalism and underscores SSW's eye for detail and
capacity to deliver. Preparing for the meeting includes:
- Ensuring the sales staff attending the meeting are familiar with the relevant technologies.
- Reviewing the clients website or other available information, taking special note
nature of the clients business. It's also useful to remember the office locations
(e.g. one office, nationwide or international) and the year of commencement of business
- Reviewing any specification documents the client may have provided. You may conclude
the current specs are incomplete and further work is required to develop a Release
Plan
- Have the standard SSW sample apps VPC to show SSW developed websites, windows apps
and our products (Client Demo VPC)
- Having a wireless card to access the Internet if you cannot connect to the clients
network. In fact it is preferred you do not connect to the clients network due to
time and security issues
- Having the standard sales presentation. Remember, while clients don't want to
think this is you first job, they rarely like to listen to how many CommBanks, NRMAs
or Pfizers you've done work for. Clients generally prefer the focus of the meeting
is their business. You will however consider any previous projects which bear similarities
to the project on offer, you do need to prove our competency
- Have all the information recorded during the
initial call
- A hard copy of the
Consulting Order Terms and Conditions may be useful for them to review when
the meeting is concluded
- Plenty of business cards (that haven't been sitting in your wallet for three months!)
- Turning up early!
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Meetings - Do you know the agenda for the initial meeting?
The first meeting is on us. While SSW has 1 - 2 hours to provide the prospective
client with enough information to decide whether to pursue a Spec Review, the focus
of the initial meeting is to be the client, their problem, and how SSW might build
a solution. The best way to action this is to ask questions, listen and take notes:
clients appreciate someone genuinely considering their needs. A brainstorming session
is a fantastic way to give and receive feedback immediately. Even if the client
decides not to use SSW we like to leave them with useful information and a positive
impression.
The purpose of the initial meeting is to:
- Understand the clients motivation for engaging software consultants. We all know
clients 'want some software application built', but understanding the motivation
for getting that software built will assist you in making a successful bid for the
project. Three examples could be: to replace an outdated, hard to maintain existing
system core to the business; building new 'nice-to-have' functionality to allow
the client to offer a new service to the market; or assisting a start-up company
with a speculative venture. This also allows you to prioritise the clients importance
- Understand the 'pain level' of the client
- Determine whether scope, time, quality or cost has the highest priority for the
client and what level of project management they require. E.g. if a project must
be delivered by June 30, a high level of management will be required to ensure enough
resources are supplied to achieve this
- Understand as much as you can about the processes/business rules the system has
to manage. Every level of detail you can correctly comprehend and confirm back builds
your credibility as a good communicator, and supplier!
- Assess the overall scope of the project, i.e. is this is 'small', 'medium' or 'large'
project. The attending architect should start guessing how many man months this project
might be. This information will help you assess how long the spec review should be.
These initial thoughts should not be shared with the client at this stage as they
are most likely incorrect!
- Determine the clients budget and who controls that budget. E.g. are you dealing
with the business owner or a line manager in a corporation? Do they have a fixed
amount to spend? Do they have a time period to spend it in?
- Consider technology options
- Introduce the SSW team, show the presentation if appropriate, offer how our involvement
can help them, and whether we have a 'good fit'.
- Explain SSW rates, including pre-paid
- Explain the strengths and challenges of a Time and Materials or Fixed Price approaches
- Explain our development method including the importance of a Specification Review
- Take exceptional notes
- Ask for the sale: "This project is right up our alley and we'd love to be involved,
is there anything stopping us from scheduling a spec review?" will focus the mind
of client on the next step
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Figure: Do you listen?
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Meetings - What are the outcomes from your initial meeting? Spec Review or Ad Hoc work?
Schedule a Specification Review
For almost all projects, there is a need for additional requirements gathering.
Some clients don't have any kind of specification, while the specifications we are
given are sometimes lacking in detail or incomplete. Accordingly, before SSW can
provide a ballpark price for completing the project there is a another step which
requires engagement of SSW resources - the specification review.
It is the responsibility of the Account Manager during the initial meeting to present
the benefits for the prospective client of an SSW specification review. Following
the initial meeting the Account Manager will send Brief Proposal in the form of an Post initial meeting email through to the prospective client for SSW to conduct a specification review. It may be necessary to conduct a second initial meeting with a technical specialist attending as well.
Some clients require more information on how SSW will complete the project before making a decision to go ahead with the specification review. The sales people are to reinforce the importance of the spec review and at this time. There will be some prospects where you are at a stale mate, the sales person is to make the decision whether an extra 4 hours will be spent investigating the solution before the ballpark is given.
A sales person has 16 hours per month of developer time they can invest into this pre-sales investigation, so this time has to be used wisely.
SSW will not offer a fixed price at the conclusion of an Initial Meeting or the
Specification Review.
More on the
Specification Review.
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Figure: Send a brief proposal
Ad-Hoc work/Consulting
In the event the work is thought to be less than 3 developer days and the scope
is well understood, it may be worthwhile for the developers to commence work straight
away without a Specification Review. Normal standards for work should be followed,
such as morning
goals. This type of work is called 'ad-hoc' work. If during the course of
ad-hoc work it is discovered the work will take longer than 3 days, work must stop
immediately with a written request for a specification review, even if it is only
brief.
We may also immediately commence ad-hoc work if the client is a technical client
and SSW is providing resources for an existing project under the sole direction
of the client.
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Do you enter into a binding written contract with a client before doing any billable
work?
Before SSW engages in any billable work the two parties must enter into a binding
written contract. This ensures contractual obligations are clear on both sides,
mitigating the potential for disagreements down the line and protecting both SSW
and the client in the event of a disagreement. Binding contracts can take the form
of Terms and Conditions, Release Plans, Emails and Instant Messenger and or even verbal
agreements.
- Terms and Conditions
A signed copy of
SSW standard Terms and Conditions are mandatory before billable work commences
as they explain the terms on which SSW works and the rates which will be billed.
Some clients may also have their own set of Terms and Conditions which SSW will
consider signing if agreeable to SSW. It is also common for clients to ask SSW to
sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) which SSW will always consider.
Long term clients should resign the Terms and Conditions every year. Signed Terms
and Conditions should be given to SSW Accounts department for record keeping.
Generally speaking a signed set of Terms and Conditions authorizes SSW to conduct
a Specification Review.
- Proposals and Release Plans
At the conclusion of a Specification Review SSW will provide an Initial Release
Plan proposal to the client. The proposal will include all the relevant information
SSW has discovered during the Specification Review process. The proposal may take
the form of a PowerPoint presentation (preferred) or Word doc.
However the proposal is not a contract. It does not supersede the Terms and Conditions. In effect
the Proposal is a sales document which describes broadly the scope of the work to be done and SSW's
capacity to complete that work. It is not a working document from which the project is managed.
The project will be managed using Release Plans which are the living documentation of the project.
Release Plans are required to be approved and signed by clients.
- Ad Hoc Emails, Instant Messenger and Verbal Agreements
Electronic communication such as email and Instant Messenger are extremely useful
in getting decisions confirmed quickly but it is important to follow strict standards
to ensure any agreements are clear to everyone. SSW does not generally rely upon
verbal agreements, always confirming anything agreed verbally in writing. The following
are important rules to follow:
Email, Instant Messenger and (confirmed) verbal agreements are utilized extensively
during a project where newly discovered work, delays, or other work outside the
initial scope is required. SSW may use Extreme Emails
to manage this process.
Next - now run your project better with
Rules to Successful Project Management.
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Do you present project proposals as lots of little releases rather than one big price?
When a prospective client gets a quote for a huge price it's like giving them a slap in the face.
Break your proposals into a series of releases and
clients can choose to proceed with a smaller financial committment (such as just getting the mockups
done) than if they were committing to the whole project. Often, small financial commitments will
lead to bigger ones.
This approach also allows you to side-step common delaying tactics of prospective clients by making it easier to
get the project moving.
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Figure: One big price is like a slap in the face
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Do you aim for an advancement rather than a continuance?
Once you have completed the initial meeting and provided a quote, you have to be
careful to keep moving towards your goal of making the sale. In business, everyone
is busy. The prospect you met with has a million things to do, and they may be relying
on a decision from someone who also has a million things on their plate. It's easy
to get stuck in a 'continuance cycle'. A continuance basically a stalling tactic.
A prospect will tell you that they're still interested, but they haven't gotten
around to making a decision for one reason or another. An advancement is a step
that takes you closer to closing the sale. You should always aim for an advancement
rather than a continuance. An advancement might be an agreement to complete
mock-ups for the application. Often, small financial commitments will lead to bigger
ones.
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Do you realize the value of your existing clients?
It's often quoted in marketing circles that it costs between 60% and 600% more to
sell to new clients as opposed to existing ones. It makes sense then to nurture
your existing client relationships. There are two strategies that need to be employed
here:
Keep your current clients happy
We have received feedback from larger clients in the past that they expect regular
checkups and guidance from senior staff. A nice informal way to arrange this is
to buy your client lunch one a month. You can review the project for half an hour,
then grab a bite to eat. The review should cover the project as a whole, any niggling
problems, and discuss any upcoming projects. We do this review free of charge.
As a Project Manager, one of the most important things you should focus on to keep
clients happy is communication. For active clients, a week must not pass
without a phone call or some other contact. A lot of the time this will be emails
from the developer. Almost all disputes arise when you don't speak to a client for
a period of time. This allows any annoyances to fester and any misunderstandings
can turn into real problems.
A "client relationship problem" is when you have said "no" to
a client and and they let you know that they strongly disagree. In that case:
- Tell them the reasons for your stand
- Tell them that developers will sometimes do the wrong thing - clients have different
opinions of what that is
- Tell them you are authorized to split a problem,offer them the solution and ask if they
are happy with that solution
If they're still not happy you may need to refer them up the chain of authority.
Stay in touch with past clients
Have a system in place that allows you to stay in touch with past clients,
even ones we may not have spoken to in a while: send a useful newsletter
to subscribers so your business keeps fresh in their mind. That way when they suddenly
realise that they need some work done, you're right at the top of the list. Secondly,
have a follow up system in place so that client get a call every 3 months
after a job is completed. Make it friendly, not pushy.
You should use a line like 'I'm just checking in to see if everything is still running
smoothly.' Setting up a system like this will result in more repeat business and
less need to spend money on marketing.
Always be interested in your clients' lives outside of work: find out about their hobbies, sports interests,
kids etc. If you come up with the perfect idea for a present for an important client, get it approved by
your manager and send it off.
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Do you know how to manage objections?
When attempting to sell a solution to a potential client, you will invariably come
up against some objections. It is essential that you are prepared to handle these
objections so the client is confident in your skills and has no reservations about
choosing you over someone else. The main reason clients raise objections is because
they have concerns about your experience "fit" with their needs.
We recommend you use this objection handling model.
- Ask the question - "What concerns do you have about working with us?"
- Acknowledge the objection - say, "Thanks for raising that", or, "Thanks for letting
us know about that"
- Probe - ask, "Can I ask you a few questions about the concerns that you have?"
- "If I could resolve this issue for you, could we move forward?"
- You can't always solve objections on the spot - it's ok to say, "is it alright if
i speak to one of my developers about it and let you know about that today?"
- Answer - Pick the best response to their objection (see below)
- Confirm that they are happy with your answer - "Do you now feel comfortable with
our approach towards your project?"
Because we follow extreme programming, a typical objection we get is - "Why do you
put 2 developers on the project? This is going to be more expensive isn't it?".
This is basically how we handle this question:
- Explain the benefits:
- "We can typically complete the project sooner. Is that important to you?"
- You get more expertise - One guy is more focussed on UI, the other guy is stronger
with database
- You get better quality code because the guys are able to "put their heads together"
to solve a problem - this saves maintenance costs down the track
- We can continue working if 1 guy gets sick
- If they are still unsure, you can offer a small discount off the hourly rate, or
offer some free support - it's all about managing risk.
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Do you review your team are giving "Client Love" to your customer every Friday?
Developers should carry out "client Love" every week. The best way is to check their time sheets on Friday for this.
See Rules
To Being Software Consultants Dealing With Clients.
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Do you know when and when not to give away products?
We DON'T charge clients when an SSW developer uses an SSW product as part of the
toolkit he takes(e.g. we use Upsizing PRO when doing an upsizing job). This
is because it's just like a plumber
using his wrench. The developer takes it away with him when he leaves.
We DO charge clients when an SSW developer installs or provides an SSW product for
the ongoing use of the client e.g Code Auditor, Team Calendar or Extreme Emails,
which the client's staff will use after SSW leaves. This is just like a plumber
buying a particular piece of pipe to fix a sink. SSW
SSW does not discount product prices to clients. This devalues the product.
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Do you avoid giving discounts?
We should try to never discount our price at SSW. Instead we should be adding value
to the offering for the client.
If a client asks for a discount you can add value by offering:
- All our products to our clients at no charge
- Adam and Tim for 2 hours a
month to complete the following tasks:
- Code Review
- UI Review
- Help implement the SSW Checklist
- Tickets to our tech breakfasts for 3-6 months for 2 employees
- SSW Membership
program at no charge
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Do you inform the client of any resource or rate changes?
An important source of comfort for any client is a feeling that they are in control and they know
the basicis of what is going on. The fundamental part of this is who is working for them and how
much is it costing.
Therefore, if you change the developers on a project or if one or more of their rates change, it is
very important to inform the client, before sending them the next invoice, where they will find out
and could think that you're being shifty.
At SSW, we have standard templates for these situations in our CRM. You can see an example here:
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Hi Marlon,
Thanks for choosing SSW's software services. Just to let you know that Eric was promoted to Solution Architect earlier this year. We held back his rate change until the end of this phase of the project, but we will be implementing his new rate as of 9/10/2009.
His new standard rate is $245/hour+GST. Don't forget SSW offers a competitive rate to those clients pre-paying time in blocks of 40 hours per Project Team Member. You can find more information here: http://www.ssw.com.au/SSW/Products/ProdCategory.aspx?CategoryID=5CONS
I trust you've been happy with Eric's contribution to your project so far. We look forward to working with you soon.
Let me know if you have any questions; always happy to talk.
Regards,
Ulysses Maclaren
www.ssw.com.au
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Figure: Good example of an email informing the client about a rate change
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Do you regularly check up on your clients to make
sure they're happy?
It's important for Account Managers to stay involved with client projects past the
sales stage and into the implementation stage. The best way to do this is to call
them once every 2 months or so once the project gets going, just to gage their
overall satisfaction and happiness.
We find that the best way to set you reminders to do this is using your CRM system.
For every project, set a phone call about 2 months after the project starts, and
then set another one 2 months after that once you've made that call, etc.
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Do you set a specific time to follow up a prospect?
Sometimes the prospect is not ready at the end of the initial meeting to engage you for a
spec review or ad-hoc work. Even if this is the case, it's really important you leave
the meeting with a crystal clear future about the next stage and when that will be.
Every prospect needs an intelligently scheduled follow-up activity (preferrably in CRM).
So, at the end, ask the prospect:
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"When would be a good time to meet next?"
Next Friday
"Cool, speak then"
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Figure: Bad example: The client really won't remember this
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"When would be a good time to meet next?"
Next Friday
"Do you have your calendar?"
Sure, hold on
"What time suits best?"
Let's say 3pm
"Cool, Do you want to send the appointment or should I?"
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Figure: Good example: Asking them lots of questions and setting a specific time and date for the next meeting (or phone call)
This will ensure that the follow up meeting or phone call gets a much better chance of
happening... Basically the prospect set this up and will feel a certain indirect obligation.
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Do you book in a minimum of 1 day's work at a time?
Small increments of work add a lot of administrative overhead to work, drastically reducing company profit from client work. As a general rule, make sure any billable client appointment has a 1 day minimum and should preferably be in day long increments.
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Do You Know the 6 Stages in the Sales Pipeline?
Any opportunity that has not yet been converted to a sale will be at one of the following 6 stages:
- Initial Phone Call
- The client has made contact but no initial meeting has yet been made
- Initial Meeting – Booked
- You've arranged an initial meeting and it's booked in
- Follow Up Meeting – Booked
- In some cases, more than one initial meeting may be required before work or speccing commences
- Spec Review Proposal – Waiting for Approval
- After the initial meeting, if the work requires it, a specification review is proposed
- Spec Review – Booked
- The speccing phase has been approved and booked in
- Project Proposal – Waiting for Approval
- After the spec review, the client has been given a proposal for a chunk of work. Once this is approved, the opportunity is closed as won
This is the modern version of the old 8 stages in the Sales Pipeline:
- Figure: Bad Example – the old sales pipeline
- Figure: Good Example – the new sales pipeline - Download the printable PDF
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Do you follow up course attendees for consulting work?
Running training courses can be a great way to make sure your site always has new content and showing that your company is active publicly and so is good for branding, and it can also be a great source of lead generation for consulting work.
In order to capitalise on this, you should have a developer in any training course who is there to help out and get to know the attendees, whose job it will be to meet up with some of the attendees a couple of weeks after the course to catch up for a coffee and a chat. This could be the speaker or another personable developer if required. It’s important that this is not just a sales person, as it needs to be someone who can give further advice on the training topic at a later date if needed.
Keep these meetings fairly informal, with the agenda basically consisting of:
- How did you find the course?
- Is there any way we could improve it?
- What are you doing with what you learned?
- Is there anything else you’d like to know?
- Does your company have a need for any consulting work?
The last question is key as it could lead to substantially more work, but you should make sure the person you’re meeting with gets some good value out of the meeting itself, so this does not just seem like a sales exercise.
It's also a good idea to mention that this will happen at the end of the course so that the call doesn't come out of the blue. The speaker could say something like:
"Thanks for attending today. You can email either of us after this.
Also in the next few weeks 5 of you will be picked at random for a 'Retro Coffee'
It is about 20 mins. Bring your problems. We will chat about the course and what you still need to know."
Read how this rule is also useful for presenters on Do you do a Retro Coffee after presentations?