Darcie
S. Davis
President
Davis, Kingsley & Company
I'm
not sure when I realized that my focus is on changing behavior in
order to Find Clients and Keep Clients. I used to think I was someone
who had a good head for business and an ability to develop effective
processes. I sounded like a broken record asking, "What is the process
or system that is in place?"
My thinking now places more emphasis on people and behaviors to
be effective with business development. It evolved from my penchant
for asking questions (refer to paragraph above). It's how I get
to the heart and substance of whatever issue needs to be revealed.
I call it "searching for the gold nuggets." Turning those gold nuggets
into something meaningful to my client's business is one of my strengths.
Now, my advice and reports make recommendations that may include
process adjustments but will include changes in behavior. The byproduct
is business growth. When you need to develop business, you must
know more, be focused, and behave more persuasively than your competition!
It's not about changing behavior so that everyone gets along. No,
it's about changing behavior to keep a business thriving. For instance,
one of my clients (whose billings were down) told me that the professionals
were complaining that they were embarrassed to market themselves
because their firm did not have attractive brochures. Their solution?
You guessed it, they called in a graphic designer. With my client's
permission, I interviewed selected professionals and uncovered that
they lacked the confidence and the skills to market themselves.
The brochure was just an excuse.
Often, the first solution or response is the easiest to understand
but may be farthest from the truth. Another example: I worked for
many years with professional services firms. I directed an initiative
to understand the factors affecting the success rates of proposals.
"Fees too high" was the most common reason given for a proposal
loss. That was the first response and it smelled contrived. It motivated
me to develop a formal debriefing program. I visited the prospects
who turned us down. I asked a series of questions about their perceptions
of our firm and uncovered many profound and often painful reasons
on why our firm was not selected (it was rarely about fees). We
used that information to change our behavior in order to change
the perceptions of our prospects.
One essential ingredient my clients must tolerate from me is humor.
I learned that I am a mortal (yes!), and fun has become more important
to me. Laughing and being creative allows our minds to see things
from a novel perspective. It's important that the reports generated
by my company have personality, levity, and lots of behavior-changing
gold nuggets. I don't ever want to see our reports gathering dust.
Behavior won't get changed if our advice sits on a shelf.
Call us. We would be pleased to help your business thrive. It's
what we do best.
- 20 years
experience in marketing and management
- Former
Regional Marketing Director for Deloitte & Touche LLP
- Former
Associate Planner for WilTel
- Former
head of marketing for architectural and engineering firms
- Degree earned
from Southern Methodist University: Humanities
- Travels well
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