Best Practices for Integrating

Sales Process into Consulting and

Professional Services Organizations
Summary of the 2008 Miller Heiman
Sales Best Practices Study
 Best Practices for Integrating Sales Process into
Consulting and Professional Services Organizations
Summary of the 2008 Miller Heiman
Sales Best Practices Study
Consulting and professional services organizations
don’t sell widgets. They sell widget knowledge. They
don’t manufacture, but they help manufacturers gain
efficiencies and competitive edge. But, as the 2008
Miller Heiman Sales Best Practices Study suggests, this
sector has opportunities to sell more of its services and
generate higher revenues in ways salespeople and their
managers may never have thought possible.
Subject Matter Experts:
A Good Start, But Not Enough
In the study, this sector was 21 percent less likely than
all survey respondents to say their sales force is very
effective at selling new products and services.
Our sales force is very effective at selling
new products/services.
30%
38%
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Bethany Schultz, Miller Heiman’s vice president of
client engagement, says that firms in this industry
do not follow a typical corporate sales structure.
“Many firms will purposely remove the term ‘sales’
from their corporate vernacular,” she says. Schultz
says that consultants are often entrenched in their
own deliverables and rarely go out to sell a service
outside of their own delivery competencies. “In these
organizations, consultants can team up with business
development professionals to scope and deliver while
they continue to build the relationship.”
According to Rich Blakeman, Miller Heiman sales vice
president for the western region, when salespeople in
consulting and professional services think about what
they do, they don’t see themselves as selling products
and services. “Instead, they see themselves as selling
© 2008 Miller Heiman, Inc. All rights reserved. 2
their own subject matter expertise,” he says. While
Blakeman recognizes the importance behind expertise,
he also points out that this model fails to recognize the
customer’s unique challenge.
Miller Heiman sales consultant Rob West adds that
many professional service firms began to recognize
the importance of a strong sales function just recently.
He agrees with Blakeman: “Historically, they relied on
subject matter expertise alone.”
A survey respondent who serves as principal at a global
management and technology consulting firm says
he wasn’t surprised by this data. “A lot of firms have
broadened their portfolio, yet a lot of their salespeople
are unaware of what’s in the basket,” he said. “They
are more likely to sell what they are comfortable and
accustomed to selling. Especially in a time of increased
acquisitions, salespeople may not know what their
expanded firms offer.”
Another respondent, who serves as a district manager
-21% for a large management consulting company, says this
goes to something his organization preaches. “A lot
Consulting
All
of times the customer is buying from the salesperson,
not from the vendor per se. If the salesperson has a
great relationship with the customer, the customer
may not know much about the company.” He adds
that sometimes salespeople tell customers what they
think they want to hear, rather than validating what
the customer’s true situation is and thus miss out on
the opportunity to present the the full scope of what
the organization offers. He agrees this is a missed
opportunity for many sales organizations.
Not All Consultants Like to Sell
Similarly, the sector was 21 percent less likely than
all survey respondents to agree that their customers
understand the full breadth of their capabilities.
Blakeman says that professional and consulting firms
are not known as highly effective at cross-selling. “They
are in a practice model,” he points out. Clients may not
understand the firm’s breadth of services because the
firm approaches clients from their narrow practice point
of view, he says.
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 Best Practices for Integrating Sales Process into Consulting and Professional Services Organizations
Our customers understand the full breadth
of our capabilities.
17%
22%
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Schultz agrees. “Professionals in this industry see a
significant risk in introducing unknowns to their client.
Whether they are introducing new services or even other
people from within the company, they will seriously weigh
the risk against the reward, even if the client is in need of
a new service.”
According to West, “They don’t talk about their full
capabilities. They really struggle with that,” he says.
This sector, by and large, sees itself as subject matter
experts. “They see their job as to deliver expertise, not to
develop new business.” He says that while being highly
knowledgeable in your subject area is desirable, it’s
not enough: the best salespeople take a keen interest
in knowing about their customers’ businesses, the
challenges they face and their unique needs.
Blakeman believes this goes to the practice model
again. As a content specialist, he says, “you have a
narrow entry into a given client. They see you in a
narrow capacity. The salesperson or consultant is highly
specialized. You’re not going to see a lot of cross-selling
unless you’ve got a strategic account management
approach where someone is looking out for the firm’s
relationships in a broad way.” He believes that if you
want better performance in that area, “someone above
a collection of practices has to be engaged in looking at
the relationship between your company and the client
company.”
Schultz notes that buying influences for different services
typically reside in other parts of the client organization.
“The project lead, who typically holds the most client-
facing role, may not have the inclination, incentive or time
to pursue relationships and opportunities with key buying
influences.” She says this is a key reason that many
firms have dedicated business development roles. “This
is a great opportunity for all sales organizations, even
WSOs.” While WSOs do this significantly more than this
industry, (36 percent), this presents an opportunity for all
sales organizations to benefit from more cross-sell and
up-sell efforts.
© 2008 Miller Heiman, Inc. All rights reserved. 3
Because consulting is a relationship business, it should
come as no surprise that the sector is seldom surprised
by the loss of a strategic account. In fact, consulting
and professional service respondents were 22 percent
more likely than all survey participants to say they never
get surprised by such a loss. “They are in a relationship
-21%
business,” Blakeman says. “People do this kind of work
Consulting based on relationships, so they tend to stay closer to
All clients long term.” Blakeman uses an advertising agency
as an example. “If they lose an account, it’s a big deal.
These firms promote a more personal relationship and a
deeper level of solution creation. They’re not customers.
They’re clients.”
We never get surprised by the loss of a strategic account.
35% 22%
Consulting
29% All
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
“They live with their clients,” says West. “They know
when the waters get rough, when doom might be on the
horizon. If they lose a client, they see it coming; they are
there day in and day out.”
Opportunities to Leverage
the Practices of Winning
Sales Organizations
When compared to Winning Sales Organizations
(WSOs), the consulting and professional services sector
again shows strong potential for growth by taking
a methodological approach to sales – and perhaps
relying less on its “practice model” as a way to develop
business.
In the study, this sector was 50 percent less likely to
agree that they regularly engage their strategic accounts
in their product/service planning process. West says that
in his experience, consulting and professional services
firms do not have account planning processes. “If they
do have them, it’s a budgetary function,” he says. And
he believes this presents a huge opportunity to leverage
what has made these firms successful over the years –
their content. “The best way to do that,” he says, “is to put
together a structured process for talking with the client
about what is happening in the client’s world.”
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 Best Practices for Integrating Sales Process into Consulting and Professional Services Organizations
We regularly engage our strategic accounts in
our product/service planning processes.
23%
46%
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Another area where the consulting sector’s subject matter
expertise may be over-riding effective sales practices: the
performance review process. In the study, respondents
from this sector were 46 percent less likely than WSOs
to agree that their performance review process helps
improve the sales force’s job performance. Blakeman
says that many times in this sector, people in business
development are hired for what they know, not for how
well they can sell. “So, if you’re hiring people based
on subject matter expertise, not against a set of sales
competencies, then your performance management
system may reflect that.”
Our performance review process helps improve the sales
force’s job performance.
23%
42%
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
West points out that this sector doesn’t talk about
its performance. “They talk about their content, their
expertise. And while they shouldn’t abandon who
they are, they should complement their subject matter
expertise with a sales culture.” He believes they need the
leadership, process, talent and language of WSOs.
In keeping with the trend, consulting and professional
services sales organizations were 43 percent less likely
than WSOs to agree that they continually measure the
improvement of their salespeople. West believes that
because these organizations don’t have a historical focus
on sales effectiveness, they don’t have as many metrics
as WSOs, and therefore can’t use metrics to map sales
performance.
© 2008 Miller Heiman, Inc. All rights reserved. 4
We continually measure the improvement
of our salespeople.
-50% 26% -43%
Consulting Consulting
WSO 46% WSO
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Bottom line for consulting and professional services
sales organizations: As the industry experts and survey
participants point out, this sector has much to leverage
– strong client relationships, subject matter expertise
and a reputation for intellectual rigor. However, the
need for consistency and replication of best practices
in creating and managing opportunities is real. If
addressed, these practices can have major impact to a
firm’s profit and utilization numbers. Sales teams that
add a methodological approach to the sales process
– especially by learning about the customers’ needs,
understanding their own companies’ full range of
services and measuring sales performance – are poised
to gain a strong competitive edge.
Contributors
Bethany Schultz
-45% Vice President of Client Engagement
Consulting Bethany Schultz joined Miller Heiman as a sales
WSO
consultant, bringing more than 20 years of experience
in sales, management and consulting. As a consultant,
she experienced many wins with The Miller Heiman
Sales System™, including Miller Heiman’s largest
single engagement to date. In her current role, she
assists clients with tracking, measurement and
realization of results as a result of their engagements
with Miller Heiman. She also works with customers to
identify their needs in order to enhance new product
development efforts.
Rich Blakeman
Miller Heiman Sales Vice President
Rich Blakeman has a unique business background
combining sales and marketing executive leadership
with consulting assignments at senior levels of
global industry-leading firms. He has proven
himself successful at creating organic growth and
differentiation for companies through their sales
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 Best Practices for Integrating Sales Process into Consulting and Professional Services Organizations
strategy and its execution. Rich’s track record includes
leading teams of cross-company sales leaders in
developing and implementing enterprise models for
strategic account management and sales effectiveness.
Rob West
Miller Heiman Sales Consultant
Rob West has over 24 years of experience in a variety
of sales, marketing and leadership positions. For the
past 15 years, Rob has held executive posts for industry
leaders like ARAMARK Corporation, Budget Rent-a-Car
and Fidelity Capital. Throughout his career, Rob has
led and developed sales organizations numbering from
25 to 400 sales professionals. His experience covers
all aspects of selling from short cycle transactional
telesales to managing national account relationships.
About the Miller Heiman
Sales Best Practices Study
Miller Heiman’s annual research study of sales
practices, success metrics, and Winning Sales
Organizations is recognized as the largest continuous
research project dedicated to sales performance in the
world. Sales leaders benefit from the resulting trends,
insights, and best practices revealed by our research.
Even more significantly, the research results support
benchmarking exercises that enable companies to
understand how they compare to their peers and how
they can better identify areas for improvement.
Since the study was launched, more than 17,000 sales
professionals have participated. Our formal research
projects, day-to-day business relationships with sales
professionals and the wisdom of our own top sales
executives enable us to continually validate and refine
our thinking in the real world.
Miller Heiman’s research focuses on complex,
business-to-business sales which, for this study,
we’ve defined as having sales cycles longer than
one quarter and more than four decision-makers
influencing the outcome. To date, more than 5,500
sales professionals have participated in the current
study, representing more than 21 industries including
technology, healthcare, business services, finance and
manufacturing. Respondent companies are located in
the U.S., Europe, Australia, Asia, South America, the
Middle East and Africa.
© 2008 Miller Heiman, Inc. All rights reserved. 5
Objectives and Research
Objective
To obtain a clear understanding of the complex selling
environment, its challenges and trends in the current
economic environment.
Research Method
The survey was designed as exploratory research to
collect primary data using a structured design. Formal
statistical procedures were employed to analyze the
data. Such procedures included exploratory factor
analysis, reliability analysis, and frequency analysis.
Survey Instrument
After the broad issues and metrics were reviewed and
discussed with key informants, the instrument was
subjected to a pretest. The final instrument contained
seven challenge sections with a total of 55 closed-
end questions based upon a 7-point Likert scale for
responses of Strongly disagree, Disagree, Somewhat
disagree, Neutral, Somewhat agree, Agree, Strongly
agree. Twelve metric questions were added to this
study. Finally, five demographic questions were
included.
Time Frame
Data were gathered from October 1, 2007 to December
31, 2007.
Data Analysis
Upon receipt, all survey responses were initially
reviewed by Miller Heiman staff and then subsequently
cleaned and coded. A database was developed in
the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS
15.0). Survey data were entered for analysis. One
phase of data analysis employed Factor Analysis as
a technique that addresses the problem of analyzing
the structure of the interrelationships among a large
number of variables. Based upon this step a data
reduction, if necessary, can be achieved which allows
for a summarization of the data and subsequent
interpretation. Also the structure of each Element
area was assessed for the visibility of the underlying
descriptors supporting the overall challenge. In all
instances the KMO and Reliability of each factor
was assessed and found to be acceptable for data
processing.
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 Best Practices for Integrating Sales Process into Consulting and Professional Services Organizations

Study Demographics
Sales Force Size Geography

5% 10% 5%
500-999 1,000+
4% Asia 4%
8% Australia South America
250-499
10% 8%
11% Europe Other
100-249 Middle East
23% Africa
1-9

26%
25-99

15%
10-24

69%
North America

Titles Deal Size

10% 5%
13% 8% $1M+
$0 - $5K
16% $500K - $1M
C-Level
Other Executive
12% 17%
11% $250K - $500K $5K - $25K
President/GM
15%
Business
Development

1%
Human
Resources

9% 28%
$25K - $100K
Sales 26% 20%
Representative Sales VP/Director $100K - $250K
8%
Sales Manager

© 2008 Miller Heiman, Inc. All rights reserved. 6 www.millerheiman.com | 1-877-678-0269

 About Miller Heiman
Thirty years ago, Strategic Selling® launched a company. Thirty years later,
Strategic Selling® is just one part of what Miller Heiman offers sales organizations.
Over the years, we have earned our clients’ trust with our in-depth knowledge of
the sales process and our demonstrated ability to deliver results.

At Miller Heiman, we help companies overcome the challenges that affect

productivity and top-line growth. We go beyond treating symptoms by introducing
The Miller Heiman Sales SystemSM as a long-term commitment to understanding
challenges and building solutions. With all of the appropriate tools and
experience, we are able to quickly and effectively lead our clients to success.

Miller Heiman provides the processes that ensure results:

• Improving Sales Force Productivity

• Managing Sales Talent
• Transitioning from Product-led to Solution-led Selling
• Winning High-value Complex Deals
• Shortening Sales Cycles
• Improving Sales Forecast Accuracy
• Evaluating and Integrating Sales Forces Pre-and-Post Merger
• Protecting and Growing Strategic Accounts

Copyright © 2008 by Miller Heiman, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this report
may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including
information storage and retrieval systems without written permission from the
publisher.
Publisher
Miller Heiman, Inc.
10509 Professional Cr., Suite 100
Reno, NV 89521
877-678-3389
www.millerheiman.com
Acknowledgements
President & CEO, Miller Heiman: Sam Reese
Editor-in-Chief: Jennifer Vodehnal
Creative Direction: Bret Poinier
Associate Editors: Kaye Lingad, Sarah Licausi
Research Analysts: Howard Olsen, Erica Olsen
Writer: Louis Greenstein

Miller Heiman Corporate Miller Heiman Europe Miller Heiman Asia Pacific
10509 Professional Circle Nelson House Level 2
Suite 100 No 1 Auckland Park 12 Waters Road
Reno, Nevada 89521 Milton Keynes MK1 1BU Neutral Bay NSW 2089
USA England Australia

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