The Hardest Job I've Ever Had...Finding White-Collar Business Professionals Who Want More Clients

I think I have a business that is close to jobs people who build rockets. There's great enjoyment in what I do, but the work is at a level tougher than any job I have ever had...even jobs I had serving in the U.S. military!

321 Biz Dev LLC is a consulting firm.

Huh? A consulting firm? You ask what is a consulting firm? I am so glad you asked.

My answer will outline why my business is very difficult. I don't think most people could start a company like 321 Biz Dev LLC, not even a Harvard University nor a Stanford University Ph.D!

This article will be very short and succinct in describing why consulting requires enormous skills to bring this type of service to white-collar small business owners. And please check out our upcoming article and podcast episode about the differences between a consulting firm and a marketing organization. Readers and podcast listeners may see some overlap between the two articles, podcast episodes.

In order for a consulting firm to be hired by a white-collar small business owner, one requirement must be first met: the business owner must declare a problem exist and that the business owner wants the problem solved. That's it.

For 321 Biz Dev LLC, our consulting firm fixes sales production and sales performance challenges. Sales production relates to not having enough clients. Sales performance relates to having poor closing ratios. An additional service 321 Biz Dev LLC provides is helping white-collar small business owners move through the learning curve to become proficient in sales productivity and sales performance.

A consulting firm cannot successfully stay in business by telling every business owner he or she has a problem. Business owners' psychology does not tolerate being told sales production and sales performance challenges exist. Business owners become extremely defensive (even if sales challenges are present) if told a company can "fix their problem".

Business owners' egos often will not accept outside entities criticizing (feels like attacks) their ways of managing their operations.

What makes running a consulting firm tough is people like myself must go through the process of finding white-collar small business owners who will admit they have sales challenges.

So, instead of telling white-collar small business owners how great 321 Biz Dev LLC is, 321 Biz Dev LLC always asks the following questions to every contact we call: "does your business needs more clients?" Then, we shut up and wait for the answer.

Yes, the 321 Biz Dev LLC question to white-collar small business owners is very humbling.

The business owner can either begin to resolve sales challenges (if there are challenges) or maintain the sales challenges.

There is nothing more 321 Biz Dev LLC can communicate until the white-collar small business owner answers the question. If the answer is No, then we contact others on our list. If the answer is Yes, this is where the consultation process begins.

The consultation is an interaction between the white-collar small business and 321 Biz Dev LLC. The 321 Biz Dev LLC consultation is not a marketing pitch. We do not have a marketing pitch. The consultation is a Q & A session where 321 Biz Dev LLC is talking only 10% of the time and listening 90% of the time.

This is how we collect our data about industry sales challenges in the legal, accounting, dental, plastic surgery, insurance and real estate industries.

Here are some of the interactions 321 Biz Dev LLC sees, experiences and observes on a daily basis.

First, here is an assumption 321 Biz Dev LLC has: every white-collar small business owner wants or needs more clients. In my 12 years of selling in corporate America at a Fortune 500 company and 10 years working with small business owners in several states, I have never found a small business not needing new clients, not needing more revenue.

The interactions we have with white-collar small business owners are:

1. A CPA advertises to get more clients. 321 Biz Dev LLC contacts the business owner (very professionally) to hear that the CPA is not looking to add new clients.

2. An injury attorney spends a bundle on television advertising but never speaks to people in public about their legal services.

3. A dentist has a beautiful dental office in a nice part of Los Angeles and claims the practice is booked solid with patients (parking lot is usually empty). Then, six months later, the dentist calls 321 Biz Dev LLC for help after spending $8,000 per month from personal savings, for eight consecutive months, to keep the practice open. It was too late. The practice shut down two months later.

4. An insurance brokerage has 150 agents on the roster but only 8 agents turn in insurance business monthly. The insurance broker is reluctant to accept help because he stated "things will turn around soon and it's his company".

5. A real estate broker startup has 200 agents ready to start selling. But the real estate broker put his buddy in charge of sales training whose claim to fame is spending three months, every Tuesday night, talking about how great the brokerage is and the awesome digital tools the company has. Six months later, the 200 agent real estate broker dwindled down to 12 agents.

6. Not all stories are bad. Here's a good one. Another insurance brokerage had 50 agents on the roster with about 8 coming to weekly meetings. 321 Biz Dev LLC started sales system training. Four months later, 40 agents were attending weekly meetings and 16 began to turn in insurance applications on a monthly basis. Two agents won trips to a cruise to Mexico.

7. A real estate agent was struggling with getting new buyers and sellers. 321 Biz Dev LLC provided prospecting training to a group of 8 agents. One agent, the very next days, got a listing and a buyer.

8. Here's probably the most rewarding experience (please listen to the Greg Marshall interview on my podcast). Greg was 99% analytical as an insurance broker...and was stuck with analysis-paralysis. Long story short, Greg took the 321 Biz Dev 9-hour sales system training class. After several months of training reinforcement, Greg closed a huge insurance deal that paid him about $35,000.

The point I'm making about consulting is the white-collar small business owner must acknowledge he or she wants help. Selling is an emotional, highly sensitive industry.

Lastly, I believe many white-collar small business owners start their companies thinking consumers will just walk in with their checkbooks ready to buy. This may be true for retail stores selling items at $19.99, but not for business owners with transaction prices starting at $1,000.

Interested parties can contact me, Rick Nappier, CEO, at (833) 321-3212 or Yeilyn Rodriguez, VP, Business Development Specialist (bilingual) for English or Spanish contacts, at (786) 697-3400.

321 Biz Dev LLC offers 6- to 9-hour sales system training to help white-collar salespeople improve skills and increase business development results.

Business owners can also complete a 5-minute Questionnaire by clicking the Services tab on our website. Also, click the About tab to learn about 321 Biz Dev LLC.

I hope readers enjoyed this article.

Rick, CEO

Yeilyn, VP