The highest status for a consulting professional is to be identified as one who can make rain, and bringing in salespeople creates conflict.

To illustrate the pervasiveness of these challenges, I share a story that describes the process navigated as I introduced a sales organization into FTI Consulting, Inc.

Coming Out

Three years ago, FTI posted an online employment advertisement for a director of sales for the Chicago office. The Chicago office was looking at different ways to drive revenue. They built their business on a few major client engagements, did extremely well, and grew exponentially. In 2001, as litigations pushed and settled, the practice leaders found themselves with a good-size organization of outstanding professionals, but not enough clients. One creative and innovative practice leader understood the need for new revenue streams and decided to try an experiment. He hired one experienced sales professional and identified and dedicated two current employees with great client facing skills to outside sales. In 2000, I joined FTI as their supervisor and FTIs first director of sales (or so that was my impression coming in). However, as I began my career with FTI, I saw that I was identified as a senior consultant, even in the language contained in my offer letter, and not as a director of sales. As a new employee with a background in sales, this struck me as, Yikes, what have I gotten myself into? Here was a company in need of new revenue streams and not ready to go public about the hiring of a sales management professional.

I continued in the sales management role, with the support of my direct supervisor. Focused on generating new revenue, we dug in and did the hard work. After one year, the sales team was performing exceptionally well, and the division president asked my supervisor, How did you get these budget busting months? Even with demonstrated results, my supervisor was hesitant to come out, but the time had come to disclose the truth-that a sales team, in concert with the consulting professionals, was responsible for the tremendous revenue growth. When I met the division president and shared our methods, he said to me, But, I thought you were a senior consultant. While the division president was ecstatic with the new revenue stream and improved sales performance, he still found it hard to believe that a salesperson could sell professional services. In his disbelief, he put the sales team through rigorous tasks including recalculating our forecasts repeatedly and testing our ability to sustain the growth. Even after our group brought in $13 million in self-originated engagements that year, the division president still did not want to acknowledge the need for salespeople. Slowly and hesitantly, the firm leaders came to acknowledge the impact a dedicated sales organization within a

professional services firm could have on the bottom line, and today FTIs sales organization is viewed as a tool for success.

The lesson I learned from this journey is: While there is still an enormous stigma attached to the word salesperson and a fear that sales professionals and professional consultants cannot mix, you can establish a sales organization in your firm, no matter how biased it is against such a measure, as long as you have the support of at least one person who is willing to sustain you until you prove yourself. Today, I am a respected leader in FTI and a vice president in charge of sales and marketing, where I lead an organization of 30 sales and marketing professionals.

If youre convinced of the value of forming a direct sales organization in your firm, this chapter will help you greatly. While the Coming Out scenario might convince your of the challenging nature of the task, the fact is that more and more professional services firms are experimenting with the direct sales model, with wider industry acceptance. In the context of maintaining an awareness of the challenges of instituting a sales organization within the professional services firm environment, this chapter gives you insight and actual tools to enable you to:

Organize, build, manage, and coach your sales team.

Understand your sales process and sell effectively. Track, measure, and promote your results.

Choose the systems and technologies that will best benefit your firm. Generate revenue!

Whether yours is a firm of 10 or a firm of 10,000, a sales organization is an effective tool for revenue generation and enhanced client service.

Why This Topic Is Important

The professional services industry is marked with intense competition. In the 1990s alone, the United States added a net of 2,600 new accounting firms and 2,300 advertising firms.2 Add to this competitive environment an increased pressure to perform. The partner ownership business model is shifting, and more professional services firms are now accountable to shareholders. Shareholders demand results in the form of increased profits, and this requires new business. On top of these two pressures, the professional services firm faces a unique challenge: Professional services firms traditionally look to their product, the experts, as the salesforce. Because of increased pressure to generate new revenue, the professional consultant is faced with a critical question: How do I give excellent client service and grow my practice at the same time? Exhibit 4.1 shows the answer to this dilemma.

A separate sales organization addresses the juggling plates (juggling of client and sales responsibilities) dilemma faced by professional consultants and delivers great benefit at the same time:

1. A sales organization is an effective tool for revenue generation.

2. A sales organization is an extremely targeted, low cost solution to acquiring new business.

3. A sales organization sells the service and the consultants that best fit the client need.

Exhibit 4.1 The Formation of a Separate Sales Organization

A Sales Organization Is an Effective and Essential Tool for Revenue Generation

A strong sales organization gives professionals increased sales opportunities-more at-bats.

A strong sales organization enables professionals to focus on the delivery of your core product--fanatical client service.

A strong sales organization helps your firm to reach its revenue potential. When integrated with the professionals, your firm, and your clients, you will get the benefit of all playing at the top of their game.

One Door Leads to Four Opportunities

Jeff Litvak, senior managing director at FTI Consulting, Inc., shares a revenue success story related to his willingness to work with the internal sales organization. Jeffs involvement on the lecture circuit put him in contact with many legal industry leaders, one of whom was the general counsel for a large retail corporation. A strong practice leader, Jeff was keen to new business opportunities and thus telephoned a particular attorney to request a background meeting. After securing the appointment, Jeff asked a sales professional to accompany him on the call. During the initial meeting, the general counsel referenced a large suit that the corporation was involved in and provided the names of the attorneys FTI would meet to pitch the business. As Jeff tells the story, the sales professional was organized and tenacious about his follow-up, contacted everyone named in the meeting, and secured meetings with the four key decision makers-translated, he got FTI the next at-bat. On his own, Jeff would not have had the time to dedicate to this new business process; he already had too many client responsibilities. The sales professional organized an FTI team appropriate to the needs of the contacts, brought this team on the subsequent sales calls, and managed the process. The quality of the team presented to the client, the sales management, proposal development and follow-up skills of the sales professional, and Jeffs willingness to work with the sales organization, resulted in FTIs closing the deal, forming a new client relationship, and generating revenue.