The Art of Selling for Knowledge Workers: 3 Lessons from the Frontlines

In my last article on The Myth of Self-Promotion for Professionals , I talked about how even professionals need to embrace personal branding and self-promotion–and sales is the next step for growing our careers–whether it’s selling our ideas, services, or ability to do a job and get hired or promoted.

Selling in the new world of knowledge work is about influencing others to change. It's about fostering relationships with people to get your knowledge to market.?

Whether you’re an employee, climbing the corporate ladder, a consultant, or business owner, in today’s knowledge-based economy we’re all in sales.

In this next article is my mini series on the New World of Knowledge Work , let me share some real and hard-won advice from my many years as a consultant and business owner working on the frontlines (and in the trenches too).

Selling in the New World of Knowledge Work

In the new world of knowledge work, just being an expert is no longer enough. Today, there is less focus on your past — your resume, courses, credentials — and more focus on:

• What you can do and bring to the table, especially to break through all the noise. There is more competition and distraction than there ever has been that you need to cut through to make a sale.

• Your ability to influence others and drive change. Influence is more important and more complicated in today’s age of influencer leadership. Today’s leaders need to galvanize others to change how they work, implement new technologies and strategies, go into new markets, and be able to influence their industries and customers.
• Your style of working. Your style of work means your methods, processes, and ways of working that you bring to your projects and the companies you work with. For example, in our internal control business under Risk Oversight, we have a “style” for running internal control programs that uses heavy interviews, workshops, strong reporting, and problem-solving for our clients. This approach attracts clients looking for high-value, tailored recommendations. But it doesn’t appeal to clients wanting a program based on templates, quants, and high volumes of testing.

3 Sales Lessons for the New World of Knowledge Work

While I hate to add to the “advice” out there, here’s my honest take to help you with getting started with sales or boosting your own approaches.

1. Talk to real business people about their strategies.

The best and most useful advice you will ever get is from talking to real business people. While they need to have had some degree of success, they don’t need to be famous, have a massive following, or a huge business. The more accessible and in-line with your goals, the more relevant they will be.?

I recently had a conversation about our sales strategies with my peer-group of fellow entrepreneurs. I found it fascinating how each of us had our own winning strategy for sales. Here are the different approaches that were shared:

• Events – one business owner hosts clients and friends at events including sports games and wine tasting.
• Targeted sales calls – one researches companies in detail and then makes targeted pitches.
• Hiring a top salesperson — one hired a top salesperson to grow their business.
• Online communities – one participates in online communities for target customers.
• Speaking – one speaks at professional events.
• "Wining and dining" – one swears by this technique, which has not gone out of style!

Although I don’t use all of these techniques, my discussion with these entrepreneurs has challenged me to experiment with new techniques and to bolster others.?

If you are an employee, your circle of influence will look different and the sales techniques to get a promotion or accolades will look different too. You are best off asking others within your company or other peers at other companies what are their techniques to grow, expand, or get promoted, better projects, or other benefits you are looking for.

BTW, if you are looking for great reads on the topic, my personal favorite books on sales are Sell or Be Sold by Grant Cardone and Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi . To learn how to “sell” yourself as a content creator and thought leader, I love The Long Game by Dorie Clark .

2. Pick a few tactics you will use or experiment with.

You can’t use all the sales and outreach techniques at once, but you can experiment strategically. No one has a crystal ball to tell you what will work or not. It’s best to start with techniques that aren’t too expensive or time-consuming and to build and experiment iteratively.

Here are a few I’d recommend you try:

• People you have worked with: Reaching out to past clients, colleagues, or bosses is the most effective technique that I use. If you have worked with someone in the past, they are more likely to work with you in the future.

• Coffee: Going for coffee with people is one of the easiest, cheapest, and most effective techniques there is.

• Professional circles: Getting involved in your professional associations or related conferences is a good way to “be seen” in your profession.

• Networking events: It’s not everyone’s cup of tea (or glass of wine, for that matter). I have met a lot of great people at events and they open your circles dramatically. These events can be exhausting if you have a full client-load and kid-load, but great if you can spare the time.

• Lunch or dinner: This is the next level up from coffee which is also highly effective.

• LinkedIn (or other socials): There are mixed opinions about the effectiveness of social media. Social media is, in my opinion, social – which means you do connect with people. And it’s also cheap. You can think of LinkedIn as a 24/7 business conference where you learn, connect, share, rekindle, and get updates, if you use it actively and effectively.

• Speaking: Speaking to groups is a wonderful way to be seen and heard. I personally love this technique. Whether it’s speaking in your company or at your clients, local associations, lunch-and-learns, or national and international conferences, speaking at events encourages me to develop and test new ideas, network, meet potential clients, and increase my perceived authority.?

• Podcasts: Podcasts are another easy option for expanding your influence and connections (while this method is admittedly less direct at clinching sales). Podcasts are proliferating and are accessible, and you’d be surprised at how impressed people are when you do podcasts. Podcasters can also introduce you to their network of listeners, other podcasters, and experts.?

• Targeted or “cold” emailing/calling: If there is someone you feel you could offer a service to in a specific industry or company, reach out to them. Targeted reach outs can be effective if you are a good fit. I find this technique to be time-consuming and less certain than connecting with people you know which is why I rarely use it. However, if you have “social proof” and/or mutual connections, say on LinkedIn, your “cold” call is already a little bit warmer. And since timing is everything (i.e., you might just hit someone at the right time), this technique will never go entirely out of fashion.

3. Create your own “sales stack.”

After trying out the techniques above (and others), I recommend that you constantly step back and reassess what’s working and what’s not. Adjust your strategy as you go.

But there’s a wrinkle in how you assess. It’s usually not just one thing that closes a sale. It’s typically many things and many connections. I can speak at an event and make a connection. The connection may become a lead in my CRM. Then, this lead follows my content for months (sometimes years). Then, the lead reaches out for a coffee (virtual or real). Then, there is a proposal for services and then the sale. Then, I might start with a small project before winning a more decent size piece of work.?

This “stack” — also known as a “funnel,” “path,” or “method”--is the combination of things that you do to make a sale. After you close a sale, ask yourself what “stack” you used to close it?

Everyone has a different sales stack which is why a combination of techniques is so important. It’s also why understanding your sales cycle can be so helpful, which means logging connections, touch points, proposals, acceptances, and renewals, and size and scope of the work.?

My Personal Sales Journey

In the new world of knowledge work, the sales game is shifting before our eyes. I will admit that I too have only recently opened my eyes and began to explore, dive in, and grapple the sales game in the new world of knowledge work.

When I started in consulting, I’ll be the first to admit that I would rather pluck out all my eyelashes than ask people for money. It’s not a skill I was born with.

More than 90% of my business each year comes from repeat customers with the other 10% from referrals (which includes coffee dates and networking with existing or former clients) or content (which includes speaking, newsletters, and emails).?

As you can tell, I’ve had pretty poor success with cold-calling, advertising, and securing random business opportunities!?

I have gotten by for a long time on the “old-school” belief that doing the best to serve your clients and doing good and great work leads to more work. Over-delivering and over-performing are sales strategies that are not going out of style anytime soon.

With the launch of my first “big” book last year, The 24-Hour Rule , I had to learn a whole new, unfamiliar (and completely uncomfortable) game of sales. When I was asked by my publisher to “build an audience,” I had no idea what it meant. I learned that this world of audience is a new concept for thought leaders, business owners, and leaders. While consulting is about having about 10-20 corporate clients, audience building means having thousands of people who follow what you say, how you work, and how you think.

The audience building and content game is tough, long, and soul-searching. Yet a couple of years in, I am now at a stage I find exciting and fun and I’m looking forward to what is around the next corner. I’m also seeing how essential this approach is–with or without a book or a particular goal. The world is changing and this new approach is becoming required, not optional.?

In the upcoming articles, I look forward to sharing more of this journey as I go and learn more.

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