Skinning cats
There’s a school of thought doing the rounds on LinkedIn that the only legitimate way to grow a professional services firm is through Key Account Management (KAM). Everything else, perish the thought, is “salesy nonsense” being peddled by snake oil merchants.
Let’s be clear: all three of the approaches below are sales methodologies. They’re about generating revenue. Full stop. They just get there in different ways.
Whether you’ve got a marketing team, a BD function, or the rarest of professional services unicorns, a sales team, each plays a critical role in choosing which horse to back. Because growth (a.k.a sales) doesn’t come from ideology and diagnostics (for a small charge). It comes from activity.
So, in the spirit of healthy heresy, here are three ways to sell that don’t all look the same. Enjoy.
#1. Account-Based Marketing (ABM) – the sharpshooter
Think of ABM as the sniper rifle of sales: precise, deliberate, one eye closed, finger on the trigger.
You’re identifying a specific group of prospects that look and feel like your best clients and designing campaigns that speak directly to them. It’s not “spray and pray” – it’s “stalk and woo”.
Example: imagine your firm’s corporate team is focused on SMEs preparing for sale before the next UK Budget. You build an ABM plan around that: tailored insights, events, and campaigns aimed squarely at SME owners thinking about an exit.
When it works best: when you know exactly who you want to win and what will make them bite.
Watch out for: endless chasing – set clear metrics and timelines. If they’re not biting, stop flogging the dead horse and find a livelier one.
#2. Key Account Management (KAM) – the grower
KAM is what you do once you’ve won the client. It’s “land and expand”, the fine art of embedding yourselves so deeply in the client’s world that removing you would require minor surgery.
It’s particularly powerful when you’ve just been reappointed to a big legal panel and suddenly find yourself on new sub-panels, say, employment and AI for a major bank. Now’s the time to develop those relationships, cross-sell intelligently, and make it impossible for the client to imagine life without you.
When it works best: when your client relationships are trusted, mature, and ready to grow.
Watch out for: the false sense of security that comes with long lunches and retained work. Clients drift. Competitors lurk. Stay hungry.
#3. Targeted Product (or Service) Marketing (TPM) – the opportunist
Sometimes growth comes from timing; spotting a hot topic and getting to market fast. That’s TPM. It’s the method for doubling down on a product or service that’s already generating a buzz in the market.
Maybe your regulatory team has built an EU AI Act audit, or your trade team has launched a tariff tracker. You’ve got something that solves a clear, current problem – and now you’re laser-focused on getting it in front of as many relevant buyers as possible, inside and outside your existing client base.
Example: running a focused campaign targeting every client in manufacturing, tech and logistics who’ll be hit by those new tariffs, with a view to pulling in new clients via that one service.
When it works best: when you need to generate meaningful revenue quickly by exploiting a hot opportunity.
Watch out for: everyone else jumping on the same bandwagon. You’ve got to move fast and communicate clearly.
Takeaway
The best firms blend all three:
- ABM to win,
- TPM to seize and grow,
- KAM to keep and deepen.
Because growth isn’t a religion. It’s a toolkit.
So next time someone with thirty years’ experience tells you “sales is snake oil,” smile, thank them for their wisdom… and get back to selling things that actually work.
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