Legal Sales: A beginner's lessons

The essence of sales; hit as many prospects as you can. The experience of sales and marketing for me has not been very elaborated but still, i have spend a few months selling services and interacting with people across the globe. And believe me, it was worth talking to them (whatever be the topic of discussion). I chose this field, shifting from a completely differen field, just for the sake of 'change'. a word of caution for technology oriented people who wish to pursue this field: if you can not talk a lot; don't go for it.

The periphery of sales is made up of the following ingredients:

Research: Before speaking to a prospect, research as much as you can about him/her/his firm. This gives you an idea of what to speak, especially when your meeting/call is short of anf fixed agenda. And believe me, alsmost 90% of the sales meetings are unorganized and they lack any fixed topic of dicussion.

Communication: Communicate a lot, but sensibly. However, its worst if you do not talk than you talk insensible. The challenging part is to start communication with completely strange people. Devise ways to begin talking with them. They may be your potential clients. A word of caution: speaking slowly will make the prospect understand you properly and will remove any chance of confusion, plus it will show that you are confident and in control of yourself.

Showcase: Your work speaks louder than you yourself. Show them what you have done and what are you capable of doing. A few samples (relevant to the prospect's business) will help you showcase yourself in a different way.

Follow up: You may not get business the very first day of the meeting. Sales cycle may stretch from months to years. Remain in touch with your prospect. Send them regular updates about what are you doing currently and how it can bringe change to his business. A moment will come when your prospect will understand your importance and will get back to you with some potential work.

However the core of any client relationship is how much your get hold of the market situation and how you develop a personal relatioship with your client. These skills ofcourse come with experience and as you dig deep in this field, you uncover yet another layer of client-provider relationship.