Clinging tenaciously to the business development and professional selling techniques which have served us well in the past is dangerous. As Darwin showed, a creature's adaptability to changes in its environment serves it best.
And so it is with selling your professional services.
Just because you've succeeded thus far doesn't mean that you will in the future. If circumstances - market conditions, competitive dynamics, client requirements, practice economics, consumer selection processes - have changed, it's essential to adjust your view if you want to continue to succeed.
To survive and prosper professionally, you need to consider different and fresh alternatives to respond to changes in your business environment.
It can be downright disastrous to hold fast to long-held opinions about the business acquisition and sales tactics which will work, what won't, what's appropriate or proper, and what will capture the attention of the clients you want for the future.
Most of us have a deep bias to conservatism: when we adopt a position or arrive at an opinion, we may find it difficult to adjust our view.
Just like Darwin's observed of the natural world, the professionals who succeed and prosper over the long-term are adaptable. They are receptive to new and better ways of doing things, open to new "food sources", and exploit each new opportunity.
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