A Marketer’s Road Map to Driving Sales Culture: Key Tips  

AAM members who tuned in to the AAM High! Webinar on June 6 were treated to a presentation jam-packed with actionable recommendations from Angel Morgan, Chief Business Development Officer at Cherry Bekaert Advisory LLC.

Angel introduced a business development “Pyramid of Success,” a framework for building a business development culture, that includes Leadership Support, Participant Directives, Mindset, Tactical and is topped off by something near and dear to all of our hearts, Increased Revenue.

In addition to a framework, Angel offered specifics.  Examples included different ways to measure success, and an impressive list of things professionals can do during their “BD Hour”.

In a webinar loaded with good information, some key tips members took away are:

• You cannot successfully launch ANY effective BD culture without Leadership buy in. They must speak about it, be clear about participation, and empower you to do your job, as well as agree on a tracking method. BD goals must be aligned to performance reviews, if measurable change is the goal.
• What does success look like? Define it! For the firm, it could be overall revenue growth, industry or service line growth, or it could be performance indicators like increased prospect meetings, more team selling, or win-loss trends. For the marketer, you also need to define success, which could include things like getting the right measurement systems in place, improving meeting cadence or creating content to drive conversations.
• Understand your partners’ mindset. Many accountants have a preconceived idea of sales, and would prefer to avoid it.  Angel noted that it can be very helpful to bring in an outside BD trainer to teach your people what “selling” really is – helping – and techniques that everyone, introvert or extravert, can master.

“Business development is a vitamin, not a flu shot,” Angel advised, meaning that it’s not a one-off to relieve a symptom, but an ongoing boost to the long-term health of the firm.

Be sure to check out the AAM Events page for the next AAM High! Webinar, as well as other upcoming events.