How to Cross-Sell Effectively

Seeking business from a different department within the same company can be a lot like prospecting at a new logo. The company can be very large and have many different buyers. The buyers may not know each other very well and may be reluctant to make a referral. Also, you may not know anyone at the company very well aside from your buyer.

How do you bridge the familiarity gap? Using existing clients as references helps to overcome any built-in hesitancy a prospective buyer may have. This article explains how to use existing clients to prospect with similar buyers.

Assume you’re doing legal work for the Chief Legal Officer (CLO) of a multinational—let’s call it Global Manufacturing Company or GMC for ease of reference—but you also get credit for all business your firm generates from GMC. Now assume your labor and employment practice lead approaches you about doing HR consulting work with GMC, but the buyer of HR consulting services isn’t the Chief Legal Officer; it’s the Chief People Officer who already works with an outside HR consulting firm. How can you help your labor and employment partner supplant the incumbent HR consulting firm?

Your first instinct is probably to ask the Chief Legal Officer for an introduction to the HR Chief. But there is a degree of separation there. The CLO would not be recommending you personally. Rather, she would be recommending your colleague, a person with whom she has never done business. The recommendation could be further complicated if your CLO contact has no real relationship with the HR Lead and either doesn’t feel comfortable making the introduction or doesn’t believe the introduction would be very effective.

How can your firm connect with the HR Lead? You could (and should) pop in and introduce yourself to the HR Lead when you’re at GMC for a meeting with the CLO. However, since you wouldn’t be working on the HR Lead’s account personally that visit alone is unlikely to result in the alleviation of any doubts the HR Lead may have about trying a new provider. Thus, the likely outcome is that HR Lead will be polite but may not prioritize meeting with your labor and employment partner.

What would motivate the HR Lead to take such a meeting? Professionals tend to know others within their profession. So, lawyers tend to know other lawyers, and HR pros tend to know other HR pros, and so on. So, the quickest, most effective way to cross sell is to involve someone the HR professional trusts.

Say your labor and employment partner does work for many Fortune 1000 companies. If the partner is doing good work, there must be an HR client with whom he has a great rapport. Your L&E partner should ask that client to be a reference for him.