Take a lesson from the bungee crowd. We all need support when we confront something new, particularly in some of the more staid professional services enterprises. It can be difficult to leap into something different. It can take a lot of reassurance. It can take pep talks. It can take a great deal of cheerleading. But with enough support, with enough confidence, and with the momentum that comes just by starting, you can do it. When you set yourself the high goal of creating a world-class firm, you gave yourself a challenge. Now, use this chapter and the resources as your mentor and your cheerleader. Each section provides you with insight and actual tools to enable you to:
• Organize, build, manage, and coach your sales team.
• Understand your sales process and sell effectively.
• Track, measure, and promote your results.
• Choose the systems and technologies that will best benefit your firm.
• Generate revenue!
Remember, whether yours is a firm of 10 or 10,000, a sales organization is an effective tool for revenue generation and enhanced client service.
RESOURCES
The following online and printed resources will help you as you establish a sales organization within your professional services firm:
Sales Management
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American Marketing Association: www.marketingpower.com
Robert B. Cialdini, PhD, Inf luence: The Psychology of Persuasion (New York: William Morrow & Co., 1993).
Kevin Hoff berg, www.decision-quality.com and www.kevinhoff berg.com Al Reis and Jack Trout, Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2000).
Recruiting, Training, Hiring
Achieve Global, www.achieveglobal.com
Sales Essentials Group (SPQ Distributor), Rose Venditto, rose@salesessentials-group.com
Society for Human Resource Management, www.shrm.org
Customer Relationship Management
CRM Research: www.crmguru.com
Kevin Hoff berg, www.decision-quality.com and www.kevinhoff berg.com NOTES
1. “Like herding cats,” Economist (April 18, 2002).
2. See note 1.
3. Available from http://www.marketingpower.com/live/mg-dictionary-view2714
.php (February 19, 2004).
4.
5. Rosann Spiro, William J. Stanton, Gregory A. Rich, William E. Prentice, Management of a Sales Force (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2002).
6. Lisa Burris Arthur, “Guided Selling: Merging Marketing and Sales,” available from http://www.marketingpower.com/live/content15696.php (February 19, 2004).
7. “Should You Adjust Your Sales Compensation,” available from http://www.shrm
.org/hrmagazine/articles/0202/0202agn-compensationa.asp (February 19, 2004).
8. Telephone interview with Patrick Strong, managing director, FTI Consulting, Inc. (February 8, 2004).
9. “Structured Behavioral Interviewing: Oldie But Goodie,” available from http://www.shrm.org/ema /library_published /nonIC /CMS_006200.asp (February 2004).
10. Telephone interview with Wendy Lea, Managing Partner, Chatham Group, LLC (February 6, 2004).
11. See note 10.
12. Telephone interview with John Salomon, managing director, FTI Consulting, Inc. (February 16, 2004).
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13. See note 12.
14. Telephone interview with Kevin Hoff berg, Decision Quality, Incorporated, LLC (February 19th, 2004).
15. “The Measurement of Firm-Specific Organization Capital” (Baruch Lev and Suresh Radhakrishnan National Bureau of Economic Research, April 2003).
16. Tom Morris, True Success: A New Philosophy of Excellence (Berkley Publishing Group, April 1995).
5
Marketing and
Business Development
BRYAN J. WICK
Don’t be fooled by the calendar.There are only as many days in the year as you make use of.
One man gets only a week’s value out of a year while another man gets a full year’s value out of a week.
—Charles Richards1
This chapter identifies and outlines successful marketing techniques and models used by professional services firms to develop business. While most professionals would rather practice their profession, developing business is perhaps the most crucial function of a professional services firm. The success of any venture is dependent on its ability to develop a client base and drive revenue. Without a strong client base, no firm can survive. In this chapter, we discuss various models and techniques used by a variety of professional services firms to market themselves, develop business, and, consequently, drive revenue. Additionally, because it is also important to know what not to do, we discuss the effectiveness of the various strategies.
There are three prevalent models that professional services firms use to market themselves and develop business:
1. Most common is the partner model wherein firms use their owners,
shareholders, and partners.
2. Firms use internal human capital in the form of professional sales staff and marketers (as discussed in the previous chapter).
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3. Firms use external sources such as marketing, advertising, and public relations firms.
Each of these models can be productive. Chapter 4 outlines the dedicated salesforce option in detail. Because the partner model is the most prevalent in professional services firms, it is the focus of this chapter. The sales and outsourcing models are touched on brief ly.
This chapter focuses on a number of business development topics, including: 1. Defining yourself and the target or ideal client;
2. Using human capital and financial resources efficiently and effectively; 3. Developing business by demonstrating your expertise and competency by writing, speaking, organizing seminars, publishing newsletters, and facilitating business between and among the firm’s clients;
4. Developing business through relationships by (a) developing a network for the referral of business, (b) forming strategic alliances, (c) participating in charitable and community organizations, (d) maintaining
and cultivating relationships, (e) presenting yourself with confidence, (f ) practicing diligence and perseverance, (g) focusing, and (h) offering assistance to existing and potential clients;
5. Successfully managing clients and their expectations; and
6. Advertising as a means of driving business.
The ideas and strategies discussed in this chapter use techniques that have been proven over time. However, the list of techniques discussed is not exhaustive, and the professional will quickly realize that there is no right or wrong way to market firm services or develop business. Professionals in a cross-section of the market experience varying degrees of success depending on their personalities and the strategies implemented. Depending on the firms personnel, lines of business, target market, and target clients, you may opt to use some of these techniques and variations of others.
Why This Topic Is Important
The first step toward successfully marketing your firm and developing business is to define yourself and your target market. You cannot efficiently allocate your resources and effectively market your firm unless you have done this. Professionals are often tasked with the dual role of servicing their clients and developing business by securing new clients or expanding the scope of existing relationships. Because there are limited hours in the day, you must work efficiently as a professional and as a marketer. The first step in the path to success is to develop a detailed game plan. In doing so, you must define yourself, your firm, and your target market or ideal client.
Marketing and Business Development
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Defining Yourself and the Firm
Firms differentiate themselves from the competition by carefully defining their attributes and characteristics. This step is critical to success. Firms that have focused service offerings generally have better performance than firms that try to “do it all.” To attract new clients and retain existing clients, you must define yourself and the firm in such a way as to differentiate yourself and the firm from the competition. It is imperative that you convince existing and prospective clients that you offer something unique that the competition does not. Failing the ability to offer a unique service, you become a commodity product. Additionally, differentiating yourself and thus taking the firm out of the realm of the fungible product enables the firm to charge more for its services.
Defining and differentiating yourself may seem like a daunting task. However, a highly productive team-building exercise begins by gathering partners and principals in a room to discuss the basic tenets and unique capabilities of the firm. Each of the participants should spend a few minutes identifying the attributes that make the firm a better option than the competition. Write this list on a board or f lipchart. After the list is complete, the group should identify the competition and list their attributes. Finally the group compares the lists by crossing off every characteristic that you identified as also being a characteristic of the competition. What remains are the attributes that make the firm different. These differences could lie in the culture of your firm or a unique service that you offer. Regardless, these differentiating factors must be the focal point of any marketing discussion with potential or existing clients.
As part of this exercise, you may engage the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis that focuses on key marketing issues and should be a technique incorporated into the exercise of defining the firm and the ideal client. When conducting the SWOT analysis, the participants should be realistic and extremely critical of the firm’s weaknesses and external threats. The analysis will not be effective unless the group avoids the natural tendency to ignore weaknesses and threats. Specificity in identifying the firm’s strengths and weaknesses and the market’s opportunities and threats will make it more valuable and effective.
Strengths and weaknesses are internal factors. Strengths might include such things as the firm’s focus or expertise, the quality of the firm’s work product, the firm’s recent successes, the firm’s ability to think outside the box, the quality of the firm’s process and procedures, and any other aspects of the firm’s business that add value for the firm’s clients.