Here's what you - as an FAO service provider - should be doing, at a very minimum, to win the "favor" of third-party intermediaries who represent your prospective FAO customers:
- Have regular one-on-one briefings that delve into your key differentiators, such as firm style, focus, personnel, service approach, offshore operations and staffing, and approaches to governance and continuous improvement.
- Also, at least 1x/year, have strategic, high-level briefings on future direction/strategy (different from regular briefings as described above).
- Be prepared to detail your retention programs. This is the topic-du-jour in the outsourcing space these days ... talk about what are you doing to to curtail attrition and boost retention offshore.
- Increase dialog on driving innovation and transformation - to show your efforts...and results...to deliver more than pure cost cutting.
- Discuss the FAO deals you have won (numbers, contract size, offerings, etc.) and why.
- Mention your pipeline being worked.
- Talk about your new capabilities and new approaches. Some consultants are visual, so be prepared to demonstrate, in some way, what you are claiming.
- Assign single points of contact within your sales organization to provide easy access to your team.
- Make sure you allow easy access to project teams so they can discuss with advisors their relevant experience.
- Pre sales, create topical white papers and other materials tailored to clients' needs...but be extremely targeted (per point #1 on the previous post of overwhelming the advisors with too many white papers and other "markety stuff."
When all parties communicate expectations effectively, the sourcing process runs smoothly. As a result, the process will be cheaper and much shorter. Things just will work out better for you overall.
It's all about communication...EFFECTIVE communication...to facilitate good relationships.
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