Recruitment to Consulting....2 years on

Today marks 2 years since joining BJSS and I am really not sure where the time has gone! Having spent my previous 8 years with a large, reputable recruitment company I was confident I’d have a good amount of transferrable skills in terms of managing a sales process and engaging with our clients. This was true to some degree, but there has been a lot to learn and I’ve had the opportunity to grow in these last 2 years.

So, reflecting on what has been a thoroughly enjoyable 2 years, here’s a brain dump…some things I’ve learned, some observations and some changes I've made:

?? Our customers don’t always know exactly what they need from us. They may have an idea about launching a new product, migrating data to the public cloud or building their technology roadmap but the HOW can be unclear. As a consultancy, that’s where we come in. Our experience and expertise across the business allows us to work with the client to shape the work required to get from point ‘A’ to point ‘B’. Even more poignantly, what is ‘B’ and how did you come to this assertion…? Don’t get me wrong, there are of course occasions where a client says I need XYZ skills for ABC project and that is great but often clients benefit from the ‘thinking’ we bring as well as the ‘doing’.

?? I’m enjoying being part of a diverse culture. In my previous role I’d largely been surrounded by people of a similar age, at a similar stage in life/career with similar motivations and could broadly be described as “like minded”. We had some amazing times and there are memories I will always cherish. When the time came for a change I was naturally nervous about stepping out of this environment. In my new role with BJSS, I’d be one of a handful of people in the Business Development team, surrounded by Engineers, Architects, Delivery Managers, Scrum Masters etc. – what do I talk to them about? What do they think about sales people? Am I going to be the youngest in the office? Wow….these people are all going to be so much smarter than me (they are ??!).

2 years later, I’ve built strong relationships with colleagues and now friends. I’ve also realised that whilst the sheer intelligence of some of my colleagues is frankly astounding, my skills are also valued and when we work together as a team we are able to deliver exceptional experiences to our clients. Engaging with colleagues on a daily basis who have years of experience in consulting, or even better having been on the client side of the fence has been invaluable. I’ve grown a much broader understanding of how we can best add value to clients, how we actually “do the work” and even an improved education around technology itself – although those who know me well will appreciate there is indeed a limit on that last one!

?? Being the sales person doesn’t mean you need to be front and centre. I am fortunate to have so many talented colleagues around me who support me with pre sales, account management and even initial outreach to clients. Every situation is different but I’ve learned to read the room and know when it’s best to let our Chief Engineer, Delivery Manager or Cloud expert take the floor – they add immense value to the conversation and clients are genuinely interested in their opinion. Naturally there are times when I will lead pitches, or will be the primary touch point for a client but I’ve become more comfortable with working as a team and sometimes keeping quiet is powerful!

?? I’ve always enjoyed engaging with potential new clients. It’s exciting and being involved in winning a new client is definitely something that motivates me. My approach to this, however has changed a great deal. I used to pride myself on being an excellent ‘cold caller’ and would regularly make unsolicited calls to senior stakeholders, with reasonable success in securing meetings or even uncovering opportunities. In my first few weeks here, I’d send my manager weekly updates to say how many people I had spoken to, what meetings I had managed to book for the following week and so on. His response generally supportive but equally he was not overly concerned. I also found that when talking to colleagues in the business development team, they raised their eyebrows slightly when I spoke about this approach, and it quickly became clear that this was not really expected nor part of the culture at BJSS.

Over time I have come to realise that whilst it may still have it’s place, there are much better ways to go about building new customer relationships. If I take a step back and think objectively – is an unsolicited call likely to lead to a long term, mutually valuable and trust based relationship….? Amongst other activities, networking, conference events (shout out DIGIT), sharing research based insights and putting time and effort in to building relationship with our partner network are all great ways to introduce BJSS to potential new clients.

?? Looking in to 2023 and beyond I’m excited by the opportunity to continue this growth journey with BJSS and work with some amazing clients and colleagues along the way!

I could go on, but if you’d like to know more please do just drop me a DM and would love to talk. We’re hiring across lots of different roles and always interested in exploring partnerships with new clients too.

All the best,

Richard