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Posted by
Ian Brodie on July 14th, 2008.
An excellent post by Matt Brazil caught my eye recently. It's provocatively entitled Are Social Networks the Last Nail in the Coffin for Cold Calling?
Now, of course, the increased prevalance of social media (and Matt includes blogs, articles, podcasts, etc. in that group) aren't going to completely kill off cold calling. But Matt's point – based on a lead generation experiment he ran – is that for many businesses they may now present a better return on investment than cold calling.
In the case of professional services: article writing, seminars and speeches have always been a fantastic business development device for the larger “names” in the business. They provide advanced clues for potential buyers to the credibility and knowledge of the consultant, lawyer, accountant, engineer or architect who wrote the article or delivered the speech. Given the intangible nature of professional services; those clues are often an immensely powerful lever to at least get the professional engaged in a dialogue with the potential client.
Historically, speech-making and article writing has often been the preserve of the well-known individual or the major firm. Most people read a small number of quality journals so competition for placement was high and the chances of a small firm or unknown individual getting a high degree of visibility was slim.
But like many things in life, the internet has changed all that. Not only is it much easier for good quality content to get published on a plethora of sites and blogs; but potential clients have changed the way they find material. Nowadays they don't subscribe to a small number of quality journals in the hope that something of relevance will appear every few months – they search for what they want, when they want it.
So equipped with some half-decent SEO and an interesting niche to write about; smaller firms and less well-known professionals can replicate the marketing tactics of the industry giants.
Of course, actually being able to produce quality material that really is going to raise your credibility is a whole different story. But at least today the barriers to publishing and being found have all but fallen.
Ian
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Posted byIan Brodie on June 18th, 2008.
3 quick and simple steps that professional service firms (lawyers, accountants and consultants) can take to hugely improve their sales:
- Cut the marketing and advertising budget in half
- Take the money you've saved from this and use it to reduce the billable hours targets of your partners and get them to focus on business development activities instead
- Ensure that the business development activities are being carried out effectively
Typically professional services firms spend too much on ineffective “getting our name out there” marketing and advertising – and don't spend nearly enough money and more importantly time on more direct business development activities.
Professional services are complex, intanglible products. Before people can buy, they must know that you are credible and that they can trust you.
Activities which can build credibility and trust include: getting referrals from people your clients trust, speaking at client industry conferences, networking at client industry events, writing and publishing relevant articles (in publications your clients read), organising small-scale seminars, performing and publishing relevant research and face-to-face issue-led discussions with clients.
And, of course, having a content rich website.
They don't include generic corporate advertising and marketing.
Onward!
Ian
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Posted byIan Brodie on June 4th, 2008.
It's accepted wisdom in marketing and sales nowadays that every business needs a strong Unique Selling Point (USP).
“Differentiate or Die” has become the clarion call of consultants across the globe, urging their clients to (pay them to) develop clever positioning statements showing how unique and different they are to their competitors.
But does it work? Is a powerful, differentiated USP really critical for the success of every business?
Not in my experience.
The concept of a USP dates back to the 1940's and originated with consumer goods companies battling for advertising share-of-mind. And indeed today, for many consumer oriented products a strong USP is key to creating brand awareness.
But for many businesses – particularly service businesses and companies who serve a local customer base, the concept of a USP is not so important.
Think about it from the customer's perspective: when you're looking to hire an accountant, or you need a taxi, or you want a plumber to fix a leak – are you looking for someone who is unique and clearly differentiated from his competitors? Or are you instead looking for someone who you can trust to do a really good job at a fair price?
Differentiation is great to mark yourself out from the crowd – but in a great many businesses you already stand out from the crowd.
In my own consulting practice for example, I very rarely face direct competitors. My biggest competitor – as I pointed out in the post Beating Your #1 Competitor – is the status quo – the client doing nothing. And to beat that, I don't need a USP. I need to demonstrate compelling value to the client, not uniqueness.
Or take the taxi firm. What will make a potential customer call one taxi firm over another? Usually two factors: availability and perceived reliability. Most successful taxi businesses didn't become successes because they somehow offered something different or unique – they offered what every firm offers – available, reliable transport. The reason they get chosen is that they (are perceived) to be able to do it better than their competitors.
How about an accountant? Do you really want an accountant that does your books in a unique and different way? Probably not. Probably you want someone who does them well at a good price. The role of marketing for the accountant is not to communicate uniqueness, but to ensure the potential customer trusts that the accountant will do a good job.
I work with a lot of professional service firms – lawyers, accountants and consultants. And when we work together on clarifying their vision and goals I always introduce the concept from David Maister's classic book Managing the Professional Services Firm that all professional services firms have essentially the same mission: “To deliver outstanding client service, to provide fulfilling careers and professional satisfaction for our people, and to achieve financial success so we can reward ourselves and grow”.
The challenge for marketing and sales in professional services is not to create some clever, unique proposition – it is to take this great but common proposition of offering outstanding client service and to prove to clients that it's true.
To be continued…….
Ian
Ian Brodie on July 14th, 2008.
It's accepted wisdom in marketing and sales nowadays that every business needs a strong Unique Selling Point (USP).