Sales Speak: Overcoming the Doer-Seller Dilemma

Sales is a challenge for every business, but it's a subject many lawyers still tippy toe around — even as more firms focus on improving business fundamentals.

It's not just semantics. Lawyers are one of only a handful of professionals whose job requires them both to do the work and generate the business.

This “Doer-Seller” Dilemma is particularly vexing for lawyers because of a long-held belief that sales is somehow beneath the legal profession and because lawyers have a limited view of what successful selling looks like.

As a result, many firms rely on a handful of partners to drive most of the revenue, which is not only risky, it makes sustainable growth extraordinarily difficult.

The good news is that when sales is reframed as an act of service that elevates the “seller” side of the doer-seller equation, lawyers will start to see that sales is simply as an extension of what they do best.

Connecting Attorneys to the Seller Within

In most firms, there is a one-size-fits-all profile of a “rainmaker,” when in fact recent research of doer-sellers demonstrates that, just as there are different types of lawyers, there are multiple profiles of doer-sellers. (This research was conducted using the GrowthPlay Chally Assessment, a 45-year-old talent-profiling tool that has been used on more than 750,000 people to measure skills and motivations attributed to success in high-performing organizations. With its roots in the U.S. Department of Justice — the assessment was originally designed to help predict success of FBI candidates — the assessment has statistically validated about 140 measurable performance-affiliated competencies and motivations. More than 500 attorneys were part of the initial doer-seller study, which matched attorney competencies to descriptive profiles based on a combination of the Chally competencies.) Leveraging talent analytics, the research compared competencies based on five “doer-seller” profiles:

• Account Manager whose strength is building trust and loyalty.
• Lead Generator whose strength is uncovering needs and building interest.
• Educator whose strength is in using insight and wisdom.
• Inventor whose strength anticipating change and helping buyers respond.
• Architect whose strength is adapting existing solutions to solve problems in different ways.

And while it is true that natural-born rainmakers are a rare breed, the research provides two important insights. It reinforces with data that every lawyer has natural selling skills. In fact, 98% of the attorneys that were part of the study tested as a “fit” for at least one of the five profiles below.

Five profiles of sellers

And, it provides a tool for helping to match lawyers to the types of sales activities that enable them to work to their strengths.

Elevating Sales to an Act of Service

Firm cultures that perpetuate a view that selling is manipulative and self-serving will be hard-pressed to find lawyers who embrace it. But when the definition of sales is reframed as an extension of what comes naturally to lawyers — solving problems in service to others — it changes the way lawyers look at selling and allows them to embrace the act of sales as something that is authentic to who they are and the work they do.

Consider how many of the skills that go into being a great lawyer are the same skills that go into being a great seller:

1. Relationship Building. Great lawyers do more than deliver great legal services, they build trusted-advisor relationships with clients. They seek feedback. They express appreciation. Doer-sellers simply treat every person the same way they treat their best clients.
2. Discovery. Every lawyer knows the importance of good discovery. Sometimes discovery focuses on diagnosing a specific issue, but more often it is about uncovering context to support a legal position. Sellers are constantly discovering everything they can about a prospect's business, professional aspirations and personal interests to deepen the relationship. Good questions are the hallmark of the other-centered behavior that makes a great seller.
3. Issue Spotting. Lawyers are masters at taking complex situations and matching fact patterns to the law to uncover potential legal issues. Likewise, sellers are keenly aware of potential buying triggers (problems, needs, opportunities) that create demand for what they do. When sellers uncover a potential buying trigger, they are intentional about transitioning the relationship to a business opportunity.
4. Problem Solving. Lawyers sell their ideas to clients every day. They draw on their experience and wisdom. They consider what is in the best interest of the client and they confidently sell a path forward. That, at its heart, is what a great sales pitch looks like.
5. Anticipating Objections. No lawyer walks into a situation without thinking in advance about potential challenges. In the same way, sellers know that that there are a variety of factors that can influence the outcome of a decision and they anticipate the best case, likely case and worst case outcomes so that the door always stays open to them.

Activating Sales-as-a-Service: A 3-Step Plan

Firms that recognize the potential for creating more consistent revenue by increasing the number of sellers inside their organization can start with the following:

1. Mindset matters: Lead from the top with a clear message that elevates the role of sales as an extension of what lawyers do naturally in service to clients.
2. Methodology: Create a common language for how you talk about sales execution and provide training that focuses not just on what to do but how to do it.
3. Motivation: Get curious about the natural strengths of your partnership. When lawyers can sell to their strengths, they are more likely to enjoy it, find time to do it and get better results.

By seeking incremental improvements in sales effectiveness across the partnership, firms can not only achieve greater financial results, they can eliminate the risks that come with relying on too few people to drive growth.

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Debra Baker is a managing director at GrowthPlay where she works with lawyers and leadership teams to improve business development performance.