If you've never spoken the name of your firm and the words "sales function" in the same breath, it's time to start making the connection. As accounting practices add advisory services to their menu, annuity revenue will naturally decline. Unlike audit and tax work, consulting projects and retainers can end at any time. Hence the need for continuous sales cycles and a well-managed and more robust pipeline.
Thanks to growing interest on the part of private equity organizations, firms will have the cash needed to bring on highly compensated salespeople, a model that's well-known to PE funders. So, even if you haven't considered homing in on sales professionals, your competitors probably have!
Over the past two decades, a number of firms I'm familiar with have either tried and failed at hiring a salesperson, or shied away based on others' failures. I've seen consistent mistakes due mainly to a lack of knowledge — execution without understanding.
Having hired dozens of salespeople in my career, I can attest to their diversity. You have those who are skilled at discovering leads, those better equipped to take an identified prospect and nurture it into an opportunity, and still others who can expand the firm's share of wallet in the current client base. Some selling pros are good at cultivating large opportunities with long sales cycles and complexity, while others excel in short sell cycles and smaller transactions.
In developing a sales organization, your first hire might be a vice president of sales, or a player coach — someone who can sell today but manage tomorrow. This is an individual who either has a sales management background, or someone you can nurture and develop.
What would Gale do?
Hire the type of sales pro to fit the job. The first type is account executives who cover the firm's largest clients, or a mix of existing and prospective large accounts. These are not hob-nobbers who cast about generically for clients or focus on a single geographic area. Rather, their "territory" is specific, named accounts. They have a limited number of clients — maybe one or a handful, rather than dozens. The goal is to drive as much revenue as possible from them. AEs are compensated with a base reflective of their experience, plus additional incentives for revenue generated from the client set.
The second category is sellers who operate within territories, either industries or geographies. Industry territories are advantageous because the sellers live and breathe the sector. Whether it's real estate or restaurants, they "own" the industry and bring to the table a deep understanding of its unique value propositions. Typically, the sellers identify opportunities and quarterback them to closure.
The third category is sales professionals who primarily prospect. This activity is often referred to as outbound, and refers to leads that come in from the firm's outreaches, such as sales campaigns. A prospecting territory can be based on industry, on geography or on attributes that trigger significant potential. Shifting market conditions, like changes in regulations or standards, competition, technology or economic conditions, can motivate potential buyers to respond to outreaches.
One challenge for firms building a professional sales team is how to accommodate existing rainmakers — hybrid seller/doers. The goal of a professional sales force should not be to mimic the firm rainmakers' capabilities, but to effectively integrate both models.
Often rainmakers are book-of-business or service-line oriented. They tend to see the market from the inside out, focusing most on what they have to offer. That contrasts with sales professionals trained to look at the market from the outside in, discovering buyers' needs and pairing them with solutions.
Who to avoid? Who to choose?
Firms often operate under the misconception that if someone has not sold accounting services, they never will. But in fact, a good salesperson who fits your profile and masters the offerings can sell almost anything.
It's important, however, to make sure their past experience aligns with the current situation. For example, I would be cautious to hire individuals from a large corporate environment who are accustomed to having a well-known name behind them — one that opens doors and opportunities. The lack of such a calling card could be too heavy a lift. The same holds true for bankers: A marquee bank brand will provide entree into a prospective account. But a mid-market firm's brand won't have the same impact, and their training and experience might be a poor fit.
Who, then, would I hire? Salespeople from the technology consulting sector, or, even better, those with experience in financial or accounting consulting. CPA firms are increasingly tech-driven and consulting-oriented. And that's exactly what's required in today's environment where we're selling solutions, not widgets.
Ready to grow? Ready to compete? Then get ready to add a sales function!
