Do You Make These 3 Mistakes

Dear Voornaam,

Back in 2007 when I started my own consulting business, I thought it would be easy to grow my practice. All I needed to do was show people my track record and everyone would want to work with me. After all, I took a real estate business in New York City from start-up to over $50 million in annual revenue in three years and I started a consulting practice for Gallup (also in New York) and grew our revenue to in excess of $200 million.

Certainly, lawyers, engineers, other consultants and CPAs would want to learn these business development strategies from me, right?Â

This is where the three mistakes come in. You see, professionals, regardless of their chosen field, all make these mistakes and they PREVENT them from achieving the success they deserve. You can tell they are making these mistakes because they say/believe the following:

Mistake Number 3: “Just Be a Good ____.”

Walk into any big law firm in the United States and you’ll find the ghosts of yesterday’s lawyers repeating the phrase: “Just be a good lawyer and business will come.” In accounting firms, engineering shops, consulting practices, you hear: “Just do good work and the clients will find you.”Â

This is, of course, absolute crap.

Being good at your job is the PRICE of ENTRY into any profession. Nobody wants to work with a terrible accountant. Few people engage the lawyer with a reputation for losing cases over and over. The consultant who doesn’t know a venn diagram from a valuable money-gram, gets fired almost immediately. Good is the bare minimum to make it in professional services.

Mistake Number 2: “I didn’t go to law/business/engineering school to become a salesperson.”

Well, if you want someone to tell you what to do, every day, for the rest of your career, you can continue to believe this.Â

There is a universal truth to professional services and all business. That truth is: NOTHING happens until SOMEBODY SELLS something.Â

You have three choices here: 1.) Learn to develop business (sell) 2.) Take whatever business some other professional decided to gift to you or 3.) Go broke being the best lawyer/CPA/Engineer/Professional nobody knows.

Mistake Number 1: “I’m not an ambulance chaser so sales and marketing is not for me.”

Look, I hate billboards, TV commercials, and cold calls. I never advise my clients to do any of those things. But you MUST know how to develop relationships and influence people. Here is a simple formula for you to memorize:

Business Development = Sales + Marketing

Marketing = Initiating New Relationships

Sales = Solving Problems in Exchange for Money

If you are a professional, you need to develop relationships and solve problems. That’s business development. That’s sales and marketing.Â

Now, you can ignore my advice and continue to make these mistakes. Maybe you’ll get lucky and find a couple of clients and eek out a living. Or you could do something else.

Want to know what that is? Curious?Â

I’ll share the solution to these issues in my message next week. In the meantime, feel free to hit reply and guess at the solution.Â

Warm regards,

Dave Lorenzo

888.444.5150

P.S. When it comes to my business I do 3 things:

👍 I help lawyers, professionals and business leaders shorten the sales cycle and deepen relationships with existing clients. Want to go from 6 figures to 7 figures? I’m your guy.

💪 I also help professionals start, grow, and revive coaching and consulting practices.

😌 I develop customized sales acceleration academies for Professional Firms and FORTUNE 500 companies.

P.P.S. You’re receiving this email message because I value our relationship and I want to stay in touch. I only send one email each week and I respect your privacy. You can reach me by calling: 888.444.5150.