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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Fachliteratur
- Sprache: Englisch
A proven approach to revenue-generating marketing and client development Professional Services Marketing is a fully field-tested and research-based approach to marketing and client development for professional services firms. The book, now in its Second Edition, covers five key areas that are critical for firms that want to grow and become more profitable: creating a marketing and growth strategy; establishing a brand and reputation; implementing a marketing communications program; executing lead generation strategies; and developing business by winning new clients. You will also read real-world case studies that illustrate major points, as well as quotes and stories from well-respected professionals in the industry. * The Second Edition features new research and updates throughout, including new chapters on social media and online marketing, as well as new case studies and interviews * Authors Mike Schultz and John E. Doerr are the coauthors of the Wall Street Journal and Inc. Magazine bestseller Rainmaking Conversations and Professional Services Marketing; Lee W. Frederiksen is coauthor of Online Marketing for Professional Services * Will be widely promoted via multiple online routes and direct mail marketing Firms of any size can use this proven approach to marketing and client development to attract new clients and grow their professional service businesses.
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Seitenzahl: 478
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2013
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Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Introduction
The Rise of Online Marketing
Traditional Marketing—Alive and Kicking
The Professional Service Firm Brand
Closing the Almighty Sale
Part I: Strategy and Planning
Chapter 1: What Marketing Can Do for a Firm
Inside the High-Growth Professional Services Firm
The Revolution in the Professional Services Marketplace
Generate New Conversations with Potential Buyers
Improve the Odds of Winning New Client Engagements
Higher Revenue and Higher Fees
Increased Affinity with Workforce
Offer the Right Services to the Right Markets
Chapter 2: Marketing Planning
A Marketing Planning Process for Services Firms
Two Helpful Tools
Chapter 3: Keys to Building a Terrible Marketing Strategy
Build the Strategy from the Top Down
Don't Consult with Expert Tacticians
Look Only at Your Own Industry and Competition
Don't Create an Environment of Fervent Execution
Don't Plan for Behavioral or Organizational Change
Form a Marketing Committee, Then Take Them to Abilene
Chapter 4: The Seven Levers of Lead Generation and Marketing Planning
Make Outcomes Assumptions
Playing with the Assumptions
Only Seven Levers Matter
Chapter 5: How to Think about Fees and Pricing
The Basic Landscape of Pricing Structure
Getting the Fees You Deserve
Top Challenges Focus on Value
Chapter 6: Don't Worry about Your Competition (Let Them Worry about You)
Mistake 1: Over-the-Top Competitive Research
Mistake 2: Market and Service Offering Reluctance
Mistake 3: Clichéd Competitive Differentiation
Mistake 4: Unique Methodology
Forget General Marketing Advice
Don't Worry about Crowded Markets
Change the Question from Competition to Clients
Drop the Clichés
Overcome Your Greatest Competitor—Client Indifference
When Competition Is the Order of the Day
Part II: Focus on Branding
Chapter 7: Brand—What It Is; Why Bother
Your Brand Defined
How to Think about Service Brands
Chapter 8: Three Elements of Well-Crafted Brand Messaging
What Buyers Want to Know
Foundation of Developing Your Value Proposition Messaging
Chapter 9: Uncovering Your Key Brand Attributes
Nine Questions: Finding the Strength of Your Value Proposition
Brand Attributes: The Building Blocks of Brand Messaging
Chapter 10: Your Firm, Your Brand
Who Are We? What Do We Deliver?
Competencies and Assets: The Building Blocks of Capabilities
Chapter 11: RAMP Up Your Brand
Recognize
Articulate
Memorize
Prefer
Chapter 12: Differentiating Your Firm
Is Differentiation Important?
On Being Unique
Some Common Differentiators
Differentiation Based on Your People
Differentiators Based on Your Process
Differentiators Based on Client Characteristics
Differentiation Based on Expertise or Special Knowledge
Some Other Differentiators
The Case for a Collection of Distinctions
Chapter 13: Building Brand and Marketing Messages
How to Think about Brand Messaging
Chapter 14: On Becoming a Thought Leader
Two Keys to Thought Leadership
Implementing a Thought Leadership Strategy
Thought Leader Mind-Set and Motivation
What Thought Leaders Can Expect
Part III: Generating and Nurturing Leads
Chapter 15: Content Marketing
The Content Marketing Model
Giving Away the Secret Sauce
The Case for Content Marketing
The Case against Content Marketing
Chapter 16: Marketing Communications and Lead Generation Tactics
Traditional Marketing Techniques
Online Marketing Techniques
Content for Online Marketing
Chapter 17: Introduction to Lead Generation
Clients Are Waiting to Buy—It's Your Move
What to Expect from Lead Generation Done Well
Keys to Professional Services Lead Generation
Chapter 18: Value and Offers in Lead Generation
Steps to Demonstrating Value
Marketing and Selling the Invisible
Why Use Offers and Experiences
Chapter 19: The Case for Sustained Lead Generation and Relationship Nurturing
Why Sustained Lead Generation Is So Hard to Do, and Why It Matters
Sustained Lead Generation Keeps You Top of Mind
Nurture the Leads You Already Have
Marketing to Current Clients
Why Market to Current Clients
What Marketing Can't Do
What Marketing Can Do
Chapter 20: Targeting
Target Your Best Prospects
Know Your Market
I Want Names
Part IV: Making the Sale
Chapter 21: RAIN Selling
Selling with Integrity
RAIN Selling BasicsSM
Applying RAIN
Chapter 22: Creating Essential Relationships
Creating Essential Relationships
Getting Access to Hard-to-Reach Senior Executives
When Executives Are Particularly Skeptical
Skeptical Steve—Code name “Guardian”
Chapter 23: Building a Culture of Business Development Success
Challenge 1: Lack of Performance Readiness
Challenge 2: Disconnect with Reality
Challenge 3: Lack of Will
Chapter 24: Selling with Hustle, Passion, and Intensity
About RAIN Group
About RainToday.com
About Hinge
About the Authors
Index
Copyright © 2009 and 2013 by RAIN Group, LLC. All rights reserved.
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.Published simultaneously in Canada.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750–8400, fax (978) 646–8600, or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748–6011, fax (201) 748–6008, or online at www.wiley.com/go/permissions.
Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom.
For general information about our other products and services, please contact our Customer Care Department within the United States at (800) 762–2974, outside the United States at (317) 572–3993 or fax (317) 572–4002.
Wiley publishes in a variety of print and electronic formats and by print-on-demand. Some material included with standard print versions of this book may not be included in e-books or in print-on-demand. If this book refers to media such as a CD or DVD that is not included in the version you purchased, you may download this material at http://booksupport.wiley.com. For more information about Wiley products, visit www.wiley.com.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Schultz, Mike, 1974-
Professional services marketing : how the best firms build premier brands, thriving lead generation engines, and cultures of business development success / Mike Schultz, John Doerr, and Lee Frederiksen, PhD.–Second edition.
pages cm
Includes index.
ISBN 978-1-118-60434-2 (cloth), ISBN 978-1-118-68835-9 (ebk);
ISBN 978-1-118-68843-4 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-68845-8 (ebk)
1. Service industries–Marketing. 2. Branding (Marketing) 3. Marketing. I. Doerr, John E. II. Frederiksen, Lee W. III. Title.
HD9980. 5. S357 2013
658.8–dc23
2013007338
To my dad, Stan Schultz, the father every son wants.
—MES
To the memory of my dad, Joseph Doerr.His time was too short, but it sure was full.
—JED
To the memory of my dad, Harry Frederiksen,who taught me what really mattered.
—LWF
Acknowledgments
We'd first like to acknowledge our colleagues at RAIN Group and RainToday.com who kept the train running while we took the time to write this book: Bob Croston, Erica Stritch, Mary Flaherty, Mark Fortune, Deniz Olcay, Craig Simons, Jon Carlson, Beth McCluskey, Michelle Davidson, Cynthia Ironson, Steve Elefson, Andrew Doerr, and Ago Cluytens, all of whom work with hustle, passion, and intensity (HPI). We'd also like to thank Michael Sheehan, Michael May, Edmond Russ, Paul Dunay, and Kevin McMurdo, who generously gave their time to lend their thoughts and experiences to the content of the book. And at Hinge, we would like to thank Aaron Taylor, who contributed his ideas, editorial eye, and time to this new edition. We would also like to acknowledge the efforts of Candace Frederiksen, Alex Marigodova, Brian Lemen, and Kristin Claeys, whose talents and efforts have made this an even better book.
To our valued clients, we thank you for the privilege of working with you and accepting us as members of your team. To the contributors, members, and readers of RainToday.com, we appreciate your support, content, questions, and interactions with us through the years.
We'd like to thank leading bloggers, thinkers, and writers who, over the past several years, have influenced our thoughts about marketing, sales, and business, including the following bloggers:
Tom Asacker
A Clear Eye
acleareye.com
Chris Crain
Advertising Age
adage.com/blogs
Gerry Riskin
Amazing Firms, Amazing Practices
gerryriskin.com
Chad Horenfeldt
Anything Goes Marketing
anythinggoesmarketing.blogspot.com/index.html
Brian Carroll
B2B Lead Roundtable Blog
blog.startwithalead.com
Tom Varjan
Bald Dog Barking Board
bald_dog.blogspot.com
Barbara Walters Price
Barbara Walters Price's Marketing U
bwprice.blogs.com/marketingu
John Moore
Brand Autopsy
brandautopsy.com
Chris Brown
Branding & Marketing
brandandmarket.com
Derrick Daye
Branding Strategy Insider
brandingstrategyinsider.com
Brian Solis
Brian Solis
briansolis.com
Richard Carufel
Bulldog Reporter's Daily Dog
bulldogreporter.com/dailydog
Chris Brogan
Chris Brogan
chrisbrogan.com
Ben McConnell & Jackie Huba
Church of the Customer
www.churchofthecustomer.com
Valeria Maltoni
Conversation Agent
conversationagent.com
Joe Pulizzi
Content Marketing Institute
contentmarketinginstitute.com/blog
Copyblogger staff
Copyblogger
copyblogger.com
Stephen Seckler
Counsel to Counsel
www.seckler.com/blog
Sam Decker
Decker Marketing
deckermarketing.com
Drew McLellan
Drew's Marketing Minute
drewsmarketingminute.com
John Jantsch
Duct Tape Marketing
www.ducttapemarketing.com/blog
Karen Axelton
Entrepreneur.com
Daily Dose
entrepreneur.com/blog
Karen E. Klein
Financially inKleined
kareneklein.blogspot.com
Stephen D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner
Freakonomics
freakonomics.com/blog
Jill Konrath
Fresh Perspectives Sales Blog
www.jillkonrath.com/sales-blog
Michelle Golden
Golden Practices
goldenmarketing.typepad.com
Michael McLaughlin
Guerrilla Consulting
guerrillaconsulting.com
Guy Kawasaki
How to Change the World
blog.guykawasaki.com
HubSpot staff
HubSpot
blog.hubspot.com
Patrick Lamb
In Search of Perfect Client Service
patrickjlamb.com
Rohit Bhargava
Influential Marketing Blog
www.rohitbhargava.com/blog
Joseph Jaffe
Jaffe Juice
www.jaffejuice.com
Ed Poll
LawBiz Blog
lawbizblog.com
Larry Bodine
LawMarketing Blog
blog.larrybodine.com
Jim Hassett
Legal Business Development
adverselling.typepad.com
Allison Shields
Legal Ease Blog
legalease.blogs.com
Thomas E. Kane
Legal Marketing Blog
legalmarketingblog.com
Phil Gerbyshak
Make It Great
philgerbyshak.com
Paul Dunay
Marketing Darwinism
pauldunay.com
Alain Thys & Stefan Kolle
Marketing & Strategy Innovation
blog.futurelab.net
Daniel Burstein
Marketing Experiments
www.marketingexperiments.com/blog
Ardath Albee
Marketing Interactions
marketinginteractions.typepad.com
Ilise Benun & Peleg Top
Marketing Mentor
marketingmixblog.com
Andy Beal
Marketing Pilgrim
marketingpilgrim.com
MarketingProfs Staff
MarketingProfs
mpdailyfix.com
Brian Carroll
MarketingSherpa
sherpablog.marketingsherpa.com
Angela Natividad
Marketing Vox
marketingvox.com
Michael Daehn
Marketinggenius Blog
michaeldaehn.com/blog
Jon Miller
Marketo Blog
blog.marketo.com
Carolyn Elefant
MyShingle
myshingle.com
Keith Ferrazzi
Never Eat Alone
keithferrazzi.com
Phil Gomes
Phil Gomes
blog.philgomes.com
Todd Defren
PR Squared
pr-squared.com
Francine McKenna
re: The Auditors
retheauditors.com
James Obermayer
Sales Lead Management Association
blog.salesleadmgmtassn.com
Scott Howard
ScLoHo
www.scotthoward.me
KoMarketing Associates
Search Engine Marketing Blog
komarketingassociates.com/blog
Seth Godin
Seth Godin's Blog
sethgodin.typepad.com
Steve Rucinski
Small Business CEO
smbceo.com
Anita Campbell
Small Business Trends
smallbiztrends.com
Michael Stelzner
Social Media Examiner
www.socialmediaexaminer.com
Derek Halpern
Social Triggers
socialtriggers.com
Rita Keller
Solutions for CPA Firm Leaders
blog.ritakeller.com
Suzanne Lowe
The Expertise Marketplace
expertisemarketing.typepad.com
Bruce Marcus
The Marcus Letter
marcusletter.com
David Bilinsky
Thoughtful Legal Management
thoughtfullaw.com
Tom Peters
Tom Peters!
tompeters.com
Charlie Green
Trust Matters Blog
trustedadvisor.com/trustmatters
Steve Miller
Two Hat Marketing
www.twohatmarketing.com
Ed Kless
Verasage Community Section
verasage.com/index.php/community
David Meerman Scott
Web Ink Now
www.webinknow.com
Dave Crouch
Web Solutions Blog
ten24web.com/blog
B. L. Ochman
What's Next? Blog
whatsnextblog.com
Ashby Jones
WSJ Law Blog
blogs.wsj.com/law
We'd like to acknowledge the RainToday.com authors, who help us bring the best marketing and sales advice to the professional services world, including:
Contributing editors: Charles H. Green, C. J. Hayden, Jill Konrath, Bruce W. Marcus, Michael W. McLaughlin, and Vickie K. Sullivan.
Authors: Tim Adams, Felipe Aguiar, Jason Alba, Ardath Albee, Dave Alexander, Janet Altman, Dan Antonelli, Paige Arnof-Fenn, Lior Arussy, Nicole Auerbach, Craig Badings, Jon Baer, M. Sharon Baker, Ron Baker, Daniela Baker, Joseph Baker, Eric Barton, Elise Bauer, Robbie Baxter, Chip R. Bell, Matthew Bellows, Rob Benson, Iise Benun, Sharon Berman, MacDonald Berns, Barbara Bix, Catherine Blake, Bob Bly, Larry Bodine, John Boe, Marilyn Bontempo, Harold Boughton, Annette Boyle, Peter Bregman, Ian Brodie, Jeremy Bromberg, Laurie Brown, Scott Buresh, Bev Burgess, Troy Burk, Mark Burton, Danita Bye, Jonathan Byrnes, Patrick Cahill, Marcie Callan, George Calys, Jim Camp, Joan Capelin, Bjorn Carlson, Brian Carroll, Ken Carson, Beth Carter, Gareth Cartman, Jim Cathcart, Michelangelo Celli, Lyn Chamberlin, David Chapman, Landy Chase, Ethan Chazin, Paul Cherry, Janet W. Christy, Scottie Claiborne, Michelle Class, Cynthia Coldren, Paul Collins, Allan Colman, Karen Compton, Charlie Cook, Mike Cook, Kimberly Cooley, Stephanie Craft, Gale Crosley, Michael Cucka, Fiona Czerniawska, Virginia Daffron, Stuart G. Danforth, Mike Danielson, Kevin Darlington, Doug Davidoff, Adrian Davis, Krishna De, Mark Dembo, Barnes Dennig, Kevin Dervin, ArLyne Diamond, Brian Dietmeyer, Joseph DiMisa, John Doehring, Matt Drought, Hugh Duffy, Jill Eastman, Melissa Josephson Edwards, Kevin Eikenberry, Craig Elias, Debra Wishik Englander, Jonathan Farrington, Brad Farris, Neil Fauerbach, Keith Ferrazzi, Erin Ferree, David Fields, William J. Flannery Jr., Nancy Fox, John Fox, Colleen Francis, Davide Freedman, Patricia Fripp, Rob Fuggetta, Robert Galford, Larry Gard, Mathew Georghiou, Amy Gesenhues, Fabian Geyrhalter, Scott Ginsberg, Paul Gladen, Sally Glick, Alain J. Godbout, Seth Godin, Eric Goldman, Ashley Goodall, Mitchell Goozé, Pamela J. Gordon, Rebecca Gould, Don Gray, Jim Graziano, Jim Grigsby, Keri Hammond, Stacey Hanke, Ford Harding, Courtney Harris, Guy Harris, Michael Harris, Cal Harrison, Rachel Hayes, Mark Heerema, Matt Heinz, Todd Hendries, Elizabeth Henry, Jeff Herman, Greg Heydel, Casey Hibbard, Dave Hofferberth, Dr. Reed K. Holden, Sara Holtz, Bob Howard, Andrea Howe, Dianna Huff, Mark Hunter, Scott Hunter, Vera Iordanova, Jason Jacobson, Dick Jacques, Jay Jaffe, Dave Jakielo, Kristina Jaramillo, Sonja Jefferson, Linda Jenkins, Catherine Jewell, Aaron Joslow, Dave Kahle, Jason Kane, Ron Karr, Michael J. Katz, Kimberly Kayler, Daniel Kehrer, Eric Keiles, Patrick King, Ashley Kizzire, Karen Klein, Ed Kless, Jim Klossner, Andy Komack, Jonathan Kranz, Sheryl Kravitz, Art Kuesel, Patrick Lamb, Susan Wylie Lanfray, Terri Langhans, Brent Larlee, David A. Lax, Kendra Lee, Sean Leenaerts, Marsha Leest, Mel Lester, Mark Levy, Doug Levy, Judith Lindenberger, Don Linder, Jay Lipe, Ken Lizotte, Kate Logan, Pam Lontos, Phil Lotane, Suzanne Lowe, Richard Lozano, Sharon Machrone, Eliot Madow, Barry Maher, David Maister, Kathy Maixner, Patrick T. Malone, Britton Manasco, Larry Mandelberg, Steve Markman, Bob Martel, Steve W. Martin, Nancy Martinez, Regina Fazio Maruca, Harry Max, Matthew May, Paul McCord, Dan McDade, Maeve McDonald, Patrick McEvoy, Mac McIntosh, Patrick McKenna, Maureen McNamara, Nilofer Merchant, Robert Middleton, Todd Miechiels, Robert Millard, Nicholas Miller, Ivan Misner, Barry Moltz, Robert Moment, Gwen Moran, Sharon Drew Morgan, Graham Munday, Tiffany Mura, Glenn Murray, Brandy Mychals, Harriet Nezer, Ernest Nicastro, Lindsay J. K. Nichols, Lisa Nirell, Lyne Noella, Tim Noworyta, James Oberymayer, Andrea Obston, Brian O'Connell, Julia O'Connor, Sandy O'Dell, Erica Olsen, Lisa Ordell, Lance Osborne, Abhay Padgaonkar, Michelle Palmer, Roger Parker, John R. Patterson, Raymond R. Patterson, Maryanne Peabody, Chris Perrino, Paula Phelan, Promise Phelon, Tom Pick, Dick Pirrozollo, Michael Platt, Ed Poll, Michael Port, Robert A. Potter, Elge Premeau, Barbara Walters Price, Silvia Quintanilla, Janet Ellen Raasch, Sridhar Ramanathan, Lydia Ramsey, Carey Ransom, Joerg Rathenberg, Sam Reese, Joseph Riden, Lauren Rikleen, Gerry Riskin, Jeff Roberts, Kelley Robertson, Andrea Rosal, Alan Rosenspan, Jack E. Rossin, Nancy Rossiter, Eric Rudolf, Dan Safford, Jasmine Sandler, Mark Satterfield, Anne Scarlett, James Schakenbach, Todd Schnick, Greta Schulz, Ilene Schwartz, Gregg Schwartz, David Meerman Scott, Jeff Scurry, David Searns, James K. Sebenius, Stephen Seckler, Alan Sharpe, Randy Shattuck, E. Michael Shays, Idora Silver, Lori Siragusa, Terry Slattery, Eric Slife, Rick Sloboda, Ron Smith, Tom Snyder, Andrew Sobel, David Spark, Colleen Stanley, Julia D. Stege, Michael Stelzner, Doug Stern, Ruth P. Stevens, Lauren Stiller Rikleen, Laurence Stybel, Cliff Sutton, Adam Sutton, Bill Taylor, Olga Taylor, Jane Thompson-Renzi, Ken Thoreson, Jeff Thull, Tony Tiernan, Stephanie Tilton, Hillary Topper, David Tovey, John Ullman, Michael Ulrich, Jeanne Ulrich, Bob Urichuck, Nick Usborne, Mike Van Horn, Steven Van Yoder, Tom Varjan, Michelle Wacek, Dan Waldschmidt, Steve Walmsley, Wendy Ward, Steve Waterhouse, Michael Webb, Sally Webb, Mike Weiner, Wendy Weiss, Alan Weiss, Richard Weylman, Richard White, Carl Wideberg, Jessica Wilganowski, John Willig, Ruth Winett, Eva Wisnik, Jeff Wolf, Laurie Young, Melanie Yunk, David Zahn, Evan Zall, Kristin Zhivago, and Mark Zweig.
We are also grateful to Matt Holt, Vice President and Publisher at John Wiley & Sons, who shared our vision for this book from the outset. Our thanks also go to Shannon Vargo, Tiffany Colon, and Elana Schulman, who helped keep us on target through the editing process, and to everyone else at Wiley who helped see this book to its final form.
—Mike Schultz, John Doerr, and Lee Frederiksen
The task of writing a book is more than just the act of writing. The true work goes on behind the scenes as you draw upon your family, friends, and colleagues to support, encourage, and often put up with you as you drive to the finish line. To Chris Mirabile, my wife, my best friend, and my guide through this journey called life, thank you for always believing in me and my dreams. To my sons, John Michael and Andrew, just because you are who you are. To my mom, Gloria Doerr, who has always been my inspiration for staying young by working hard, even when you have done so for 86 years. To my siblings, Jean, Judi, Jennifer, Jodi, and Jim (and all their children and grandchildren), thank you for defining family, caring in a very special way, and selecting wonderful people (Jeff, Al, Rob, Randy, and Jessica) to bring into our family. And, of course, to Mike, coauthor and friend, who continues to energize me. I couldn't have done my part without you all.
—John Doerr
Thank you, John, my coauthor, partner, and friend. Dan Cohen, thank you for your teaching and support and for being the model of selling with hustle, passion, intensity, and integrity. Steve Lisauskas and Dean Ierardi, for everything you both do and give. Tony Bettencourt, for cooking everything up. Nancy Harris, for the love you give and happiness you spread. To my sister, Allyson, for giving me the front seat at least once or twice a year. Toby and Ray Ray, my constant companions.
To my wife and best friend, Erica Schultz.
And to my son, Ari Schultz, professional wrestler, pop icon, and most interesting man alive. I love you son. Win your war: www.echoofhope.org.
—Mike Schultz
Introduction
A great deal has changed in the professional services marketplace since the first edition of this book. Firms are discovering that marketing techniques that worked so dependably in the past are no longer sufficient by themselves to sustain growth into the future. And many local markets are attracting more regional, national, and even international competitors. Firms today are finding themselves competing for local clients with companies they've never heard of in distant states. And more than a few are struggling to adapt.
The Rise of Online Marketing
If one common theme underlies these changes, it is the increasing influence of the Internet on professional services marketing. The relentless rise of online services and tools in people's personal and professional lives is changing the way people both buy and market professional services. You see, the more we embrace online technologies in our private lives, the more natural they feel in our businesses. As a result, more and more people are finding, vetting, and communicating with professional services firms online. Technologies such as online search, mobile devices, and social media are creating unprecedented opportunities for reaching new audiences.
All of this change is nothing short of revolutionary, and it is turning the professional services marketplace on its head. To adjust to these new realities, firms must embrace online marketing tools—or risk becoming irrelevant.
The hub of any online marketing program is the firm's website, so it's not surprising that it has undergone some changes. To support online lead generation, a website has to be more than an online brochure. It has to generate leads and serve up a wealth of educational content. It is a public resource as much as it is a firm promotional vehicle.
Perhaps the most potent online approach is called content marketing. It uses powerful online tools to distribute and promote valuable educational content that is published on a firm's website. But it's more than a thought leadership strategy; it is also a powerful lead generation engine that attracts a steady stream of interested, qualified individuals to your website. Chapter 16 describes content marketing in detail.
At first blush, the online marketing ecosystem looks frighteningly complex. How are firms supposed to master so many unfamiliar disciplines: social media, search engine optimization (SEO), analytics, blogging, e-mail marketing, and marketing automation, to name just a few? In fact, you don't have to take on everything at once. This book will help you sort through and prioritize the many options so that you will know where and how to start.
Traditional Marketing—Alive and Kicking
Although a marketing revolution is under way, traditional marketing isn't dead—nor is it dying. Most of the tried-and-true marketing approaches that you already know remain essential parts of the business development equation. According to our research, referrals are still the most common source of new business in the professional services arena. And we don't expect that to change anytime soon.
Of course, the best way to promote referrals is to engage current clients and prospects in person. Public speaking, networking, and personal calls generate exposure and create opportunities to make critical face-to-face contact. And as old-school tactics such as direct mail drop out of favor, some marketers will discover new life in them as competition in those media dwindles.
Sure, traditional techniques are less effective at reaching an increasingly plugged-in, device-toting audience. But the most successful firms are using a combination of online and offline techniques to build their businesses. When firms are able to master both traditional and online marketing, they significantly improve their chances of success.
The Professional Service Firm Brand
The true beneficiary of marketing is a firm's brand. In this new edition of Professional Services Marketing, we've updated our discussion of the professional services firm brand to take into account the latest research and the effects of online marketing on the way brands are perceived and built. Specialization, positioning, and differentiation have become even more important in today's larger, digital marketplace. You will learn how there is a new path to developing trust and building reputation. And you will discover why it is impossible to build a strong brand without addressing the challenge of visibility.
Closing the Almighty Sale
Marketing, of course, is only the beginning and middle of the story. How the story ends depends on the expertise of the sales team. We devote the last five chapters to the strategies, skills, and techniques required to turn an opportunity into a paying client. We discuss the challenges of converting professional service practitioners into rainmakers, and we lay out a proven approach, called RAIN SellingSM, that firms can put into place and begin generating immediate results.
In this second edition of Professional Services Marketing, we have updated the text with new data, advice, and insights. And we lay out a comprehensive program to make your firm more competitive so that you can grow and be more profitable, even in a tough market. As the business environment continues to evolve, firms like yours need the knowledge and perspective to adapt and thrive. We believe this book, more than any other, gives you that foundation.
Mike Schultz
John E. Doerr
Lee W. Frederiksen, PhD
Part I
Strategy and Planning
1
What Marketing Can Do for a Firm
The sole purpose of marketing is to sell more to more people, more often, and at higher prices. There is no other reason to do it.
—Sergio Zyman
Marketing is the single most important function within a modern professional services firm.
This might strike some as overly bold given the widespread lack of respect that marketing receives within many firms. More than a few of today's principals believe marketing is only loosely connected to the success of their firms.
To be fair, the way marketing is done in many firms is of limited value. But it doesn't have to be that way. To understand why, we need only to look at today's most successful firms.
Inside the High-Growth Professional Services Firm
About five years ago, we began a series of studies that looked at high-growth professional services firms.1 To qualify for the study, these firms had to have a minimum compound annual organic growth rate of 20 percent or more. And these firms were exceptional on many fronts.
Compared with their peers, these firms showed:
How did these firms do it? What did they do differently?
As it turned out, there was not a single industry, strategy, or size that defined this group. These firms existed to varying degrees in all professional services industries. They included firms of all sizes and categories, served target clients of every ilk, and pursued a wide variety of different strategies.
So what characteristics did they share in common? For one thing, they tended to have a clear target client group that they understood very well. Their services were tailored to solve their clients' important problems. And they usually had clear, easy-to-understand differentiators that were believable and relevant to their target clients.
The marketing strategies they used gave them easier access to their target audience, both online and in the traditional offline world. And although their business strategies were diverse, they were easily understood and communicated.
As you step back and reflect on some of these characteristics, it becomes clear that all of them are related to the discipline of marketing. Understanding and selecting the right markets and target clients, offering the right services, and building a firm's visibility and reputation in the marketplace are what marketing does (or should do) in a professional services firm. When combined with a capable sales operation, marketing should produce a steady stream of well-qualified prospects and new clients. We know of no other functional area that can have such a profound and far-reaching impact on a firm's success.
But that's not the end of the story. You see, the modern professional services marketplace is anything but stable.
The Revolution in the Professional Services Marketplace
Once upon a time, professional services marketing was a small player in a comfortable and familiar marketplace, driven almost exclusively by personal relationships.
Slowly at first, but with increasing speed, that marketplace has changed. And with that change, marketing has become more essential for a firm's success and even its survival.
What are those changes? We have identified five major interrelated trends that are reshaping the professional services marketplace.
So how does your firm navigate this shifting landscape? The answer is through the competent application of modern professional services marketing. But what are the specific ways it can help your firm succeed?
Effective marketing at a professional services firm produces four measurable outcomes:
Let's explore each of these outcomes.
Generate New Conversations with Potential Buyers
Call it lead generation, call it business development, or call it prospecting. Whatever term is used, firms need to create conversations with potential clients before they can make a sale. That might sound basic. That's because it is.
But more often than not, the concept of creating an external conversation, one that can produce a new client and new revenue, never finds its way into firms' marketing plans. Why? Because for many firms, repeat business and referrals have always been sufficient to attract new clients and grow revenue.
Although repeat business and referrals still provide an important—and often the most important—source of new leads at many firms, they are no longer sufficient by themselves to sustain growth. During the halcyon days of flowing referrals, less competition, and simpler industry dynamics, many professional services firms operated less like businesses and more like country clubs. Answering the phone was pretty much all the lead generation they did. Times certainly have changed.
To examine how buyers go about finding new service providers, our study sampled 822 professional purchasers.2 The results are shown in Figure 1.1.
Figure 1.1 Top 10 Ways Buyers Search for a New Professional Services Firm
By far the most common response—more than 70 percent—was to ask a friend or colleague for a recommendation. Naturally, when people ask the question, you want your firm to be on the list of those recommended.
The research indicates that it is important to have a good reputation and high marketplace visibility. This is the essence of a strong professional services brand. Marketing can help you strengthen your brand by building your reputation and increasing your visibility.
The next most frequent response (24 percent) was that the buyers believed they already knew all of the firms that they needed to know. Is your firm on that list of alternatives? Marketing can answer that question. If the answer is no, you will need to find a way to break through this resistance to new alternatives.
Some buyers are constrained by a formal procurement process. Governments and some large institutional purchasers are good examples. Here, marketing can help you understand the process and develop a favorable impression in advance of a solicitation.
A similar number of respondents preferred to search online for options. Firms that harness the power of search engine optimization (SEO) and social media have the advantage with these buyers.
Of course, if you are everywhere the buyer looks, your firm will have maximum advantage.
Further down the list are some of the more traditional approaches, such as trade associations, tradeshows/conferences, and trade and business publications. Although it may be tempting to dismiss marketing methods that don't make the top 10 list, that could be a dangerous mistake. Remember, the dominant response will be to inquire among friends or colleagues or to go with an already familiar firm. How do you make sure the right people know your firm and have a positive impression of it? That is marketing's job.
Of course, there are other ways to encourage conversations about your firm. Thought leadership and content marketing can create an itch that prospects can't help but scratch. But we'll cover those topics in detail in Chapters 14 and 15.
Improve the Odds of Winning New Client Engagements
Not only can effective marketing help you get on the short list of firms, it can increase the likelihood that you will be selected. This is nicely illustrated by a recent experience of Lee's.
For some time, our firm had been pursuing a content marketing strategy. We've been researching our target client audience (professional services firms) through our research arm, the Hinge Research Institute, and publishing our findings in a series of free research reports, webinars, books, executive guides, and blog posts. We are also active in social media and speak at professional associations and conferences. As a result, a growing number of professional services firms follow our work and contact us when they need the kind of branding and marketing services that we offer. (So far, this illustrates marketing's first two outcomes.)
One day a professional services firm that was headquartered a couple of miles from our offices in Virginia called us up and asked us to submit a proposal for a full rebranding of their firm. When we asked if they wanted to meet the Hinge team, the firm declined, saying that they had been “following Hinge's work for a while” and didn't feel the need. After some time, we were awarded the project.
Only at the project's kickoff meeting did we learn the full story. The firm had gone through a full request for proposal (RFP) process and conducted in-depth reviews of several other firms before they chose Hinge. Prior to our selection, we never had a single meeting or formal review with this firm. We asked them why they didn't put us through the same scrutiny. After all, we were practically down the street.
The response was very telling. “Since we've been following you, we understand how you think through issues and approach challenges. We were completely comfortable with your approach.”
Although this situation may seem a bit extreme, it's not as uncommon as you may think.
Potential clients can and do develop trust based on indirect experience with a firm. A firm's reputation, commentary from referral sources, the content it produces, and the familiarity that builds up over repeated online interactions can create a tremendous amount of trust—which can have a profound impact on your ability to close new business.
Marketing, when done right, can create a trust effect (Figure 1.2). Instead of receiving the transferred trust that comes from the referral source, the company builds up the trust itself over time through its marketing activities. Is it the same kind of trust that comes after having worked with a company and having gone through thick and thin for several years? Of course not, but it's enough trust and affinity to make the sales process kickoff that much stronger, go that much more smoothly, and have that much more chance of success.
Figure 1.2 Trust to Win
In our consulting work at RAIN Group and Hinge, we consistently hear stories that support this argument. Time and time again, clients report that a white paper download, a newsletter, and a speech they made at a conference have all contributed to their ability to connect more quickly or more deeply with their prospective new clients.
Research supports the argument as well. According to a CIMS Business Influencer Study, there are 49.7 million technology influencers in the United States alone. Some 3.3 million (7 percent) reside in the management information systems/information technology (MIS/IT) department, 11 million (23 percent) are senior management, and 34.5 million (70 percent) are departmental heads. Of these IT decision makers, 43.8 percent will strongly consider purchasing from a company with high brand recognition. Only 18.6 percent would consider buying from a brand they never heard of.
Higher Revenue and Higher Fees
It can be just as difficult to sell a $15,000 engagement as it is to sell a $150,000 engagement as it is to sell a $1,500,000 engagement. Although the nitty-gritty of that leap might be just a bit off, the essence of the statement is true.
You can grow your firm by adding new clients, or you can increase the size of your deals. What is the average revenue you generate with your clients? Say it is $50,000 per year in revenue to the firm. What can you do to increase that by 20 percent, 80 percent, or even 100 percent?
Marketing plays a role in increasing this average in a number of ways.
Packaging the Services
Marketing your services as a package can increase differentiation, perception of the value of the service, and a client's trust that the service firm will deliver on the promise of the service. Indeed, service packaging can have a significant impact on the average size of client engagements.
At our firms we have offered service packages covering issues common to our target client audiences. The outcomes for our own firms were higher average client engagement revenue and higher client satisfaction (which went hand in hand).
Positioning Your Value Proposition Compellingly
It is marketing's role to highlight the value of a firm or a particular service. Consider a service such as profitability analysis and consulting. You could position its value by stating, for example, “We can analyze the profitability of your divisions by product and service lines and geographic divisions and give you a report detailing where you can improve your revenue and profit,” a reasonably attractive approach.
Or you could position the same service by saying, “We help our clients in manufacturing save millions of dollars. We have accomplished these results for dozens of companies, such as Companies A, B, and C, through our profitability consulting work.” This is a much stronger and compelling positioning of your value for potential clients.
Cross-Selling the Entire Firm
Cross-selling is usually an untapped area of opportunity for firms. In our research on professional services buyers.3,4 We have found that between half and three-quarters of buyers admit to being unaware of all the services their providers have to offer. When asked if there were other services they wished their provider would offer, up to three-quarters have specific services in mind.
The really telling statistic comes when you ask the service provider about those services. In about 8 out of 10 cases, they already offer one or more of the services their clients want from them.
Clearly there is an opportunity to increase services to existing clients. This is an area where marketing and sales efforts can provide measurable income improvement.
Establishing and Strengthening Brand
Marketing can also affect the strength of the fees you command for your services. We published a series of Fees and Pricing Benchmark Reports5 for the following industries:
Among the findings were nuggets about brand leader firms and the fees they command in, for example, the consulting industry. Brand leaders:
Figure 1.4 Median Hourly Billable Rates for Consulting Industry—Standard/Published, by Brand Reputation
Although brand leaders and their “best-kept secret” firm brethren both reported that, on average, their standard or published fees for top-level professionals were $300 per hour (Figure 1.4), the brand leaders reported realizing $300 in actual fees at this level (Figure 1.5). In contrast, lesser-known firms reported realizing $250, or 20 percent less than the leading firms. Data across the other professional services industries were largely similar to the consulting industry data.
Figure 1.5 Median Hourly Billable Rates for Consulting Industry
When we ask leaders of strategy consulting firms what companies they consider their competition, we hear comments such as, “We compete with firms like McKinsey, Bain, Boston Consulting Group, and other major firms, and we charge fees similar to theirs.” Of course, the firms mentioned are extremely well known and respected.
Upon further investigation, we discover that although this is sometimes true, more often than not, the lesser-known firm in reality charges less in fees per hour than the better-known firm and is willing to discount engagements more often than brand leaders to win deals. If given the choice, would they want to discount or charge lower fees? No. But they do, largely because if they proposed similar fees, many clients would opt to give the business to the better-known firm—the power of brand in evidence once again.
Increased Affinity with Workforce
This final major outcome is not a primary focus of this book. However, it does bear comment as it plays such an important role in many professional services firms. The battle to attract and retain a quality workforce is a key success driver in many professional services industries.
Employees, like projects, referral sources, and potential business partners, are influenced by the reputation and visibility of a firm—in short, its brand. If marketing is successful in crafting a strong brand, it will very likely aid in recruiting.
One test of this hypothesis is to look at new hires coming directly through a firm's website. If new employees are seeking you out directly, it is a clear advantage. And, in fact, that is what seems to be happening. When we look at the high-growth, high-value firms we described earlier,6 we find that they get more than twice the proportion of new hires from their website as do average growth firms (47.5 percent versus 22.2 percent). Clearly something is working well for them in their marketing efforts.
Offer the Right Services to the Right Markets
Although not a measurable outcome, a firm's mix of services is critical to business success. And marketing compels a firm to consider the services it offers. Just because you can offer a service doesn't mean that you should. Similarly, just because you can offer your services to any industry, doesn't mean that you should.
Offering a wider and wider range of services has associated costs and downsides. It adds complexity to operations, and it may require more supervision, additional staff, or the development of new skills. The same is true of new industries. Either way, the practice dilutes your marketing dollars, complicates your message, and expands your pool of competitors.
By the same token, if you fail to address the emerging needs of your clients, you may force them into the arms of competitors. And betting everything on a shrinking industry is not a great strategy to achieve robust growth. You don't want to be caught offering yesterday's services to dying industries.
So how can marketing help you get the mix of services and industries right? Finding the answer requires doing some research. Only research will give you the insights you need to truly understand your target client audiences and recognize market opportunities. Figure 1.6 shows how conducting systematic marketing research on target client audiences can have a dramatic effect on firm performance.
Figure 1.6 The Value of Market Research on Growth and Profitability of Professional Services Firms
The study looked at three groups of firms: those that did no systematic research into target client audiences, those that did occasional research, and those that did frequent research (at least quarterly). The results were striking. Doing at least some marketing research increased both growth and profitability. But doing frequent research resulted in still faster growth and greater profitability. What's going on here?
As you better understand your target audience, you can anticipate their emerging needs, understand how to better communicate the benefits of your services, and eliminate approaches that offer little promise. In the absence of this type of intelligence, you have to make critical decisions based on anecdotal evidence, best guesses, and instinct. Not a winning formula.
Now that we've explored marketing's chief benefits, it's time to dive into the process itself. And that begins with good planning.
Notes
1. Lee W. Frederiksen and Aaron E. Taylor, Spiraling Up: How to Create a High Growth, High Value Professional Services Firm (Reston, VA: Hinge Research Institute, 2010).
2.How Buyers Buy (Reston, VA: Hinge Research Institute, 2009).
3. Lee W. Frederiksen and Aaron E. Taylor, Spiraling Up: How to Create a High Growth, High Value Professional Services Firm (Reston, VA: Hinge Research Institute, 2010).
4.How Buyers Buy (Reston, VA: Hinge Research Institute, 2009).
5. Mike Schultz and John Doerr, Fees and Pricing Benchmark Report: Consulting Industry 2008 (Framingham, MA: RainToday.com, 2008).
6. Lee W. Frederiksen, Sean T. McVey, Sylvia Montgomery, and Aaron Taylor, Online Marketing for Professional Services (Reston, VA: Hinge Research Institute, 2012).
2
Marketing Planning
Plans are nothing; planning is everything.
—Dwight D. Eisenhower
Regulation play in the 1925 U.S. Open ended in a tie between Willie Macfarlane and golf legend Bobby Jones. Their first playoff round also ended in a tie. Jones then lost the Open by one stroke to Macfarlane in the second playoff round.
In the first round of the tournament, on the eleventh hole, Jones's approach shot had slid off the front of the green into the high rough. As his practice swing swept through the grass near his ball, Jones saw the ball had moved. Nobody else saw it. Still, Jones informed his playing partner, Walter Hagen, that the ball had indeed moved, and he assessed himself a penalty stroke.
After the round, folks lauded Jones for adhering to the rules. His response: “You'd as well praise me for not breaking into banks.”
Business, like golf, doesn't always go according to plan. When setbacks happen at professional services firms, strong leaders do not look the other way or let themselves off the hook. When profitability flags in a division or practice area, these leaders hold themselves and the team accountable.
Less often, however, do leaders assess themselves penalty strokes when the firm fails to craft or execute a marketing and business development plan that will help the company succeed. Year after year, business leaders at the vast majority of service firms dedicate much blood, sweat, and tears to the delivery of strong client work, recruitment of great people, and investment in technology for the company. Marketing and business development, however, remain the redheaded stepchildren.
We are not saying that service firm leaders should focus any less on client delivery and the strength of their internal teams. After all, the backbone, and the essence, of any service firm is the quality of its people and assets (see “Competencies and Assets” section in Chapter 10).
Still, creating and improving the overall concept of the service, communicating the firm's value to the market, and doing it in a way that displays excellence in the strategy and tactics of marketing rarely get the attention they deserve.
It is no longer debatable that strong marketing and business development can have a major impact on the success of the professional services firm (although we still see firms argue long and hard about this very topic). Even in firms that agree that marketing is needed, a chasm lies somewhere between that knowledge and strong marketing plan development and execution. Firms that rarely fail to deliver to clients fail to deliver the best marketing plans that (1) can get implemented, and (2) when implemented, will make the most positive difference for the firm. This failure is avoidable.
A Marketing Planning Process for Services Firms
As you build your marketing plan, address each of the seven planning phases shown in Figure 2.1. This process will help you gain buy-in from each of the necessary stakeholders by involving them in the process and by producing a plan that makes the most sense for your firm.
Figure 2.1 Service Firm Marketing Planning Process © RAIN Group.
Phase 1: Alignment with Firm's Goals
If you know where the firm is going, you can build a marketing and sales plan to reach that goal. Many a marketing plan has failed to get adopted (or got adopted but didn't get funded when push came to shove) because the marketers wanted to “change the face of marketing” and ramp up activities, only to be told by management, “Thanks for the aggressive plan, but now let's get back to reality.” However, many a firm has not reached its growth goal because it did not build a marketing plan that could plausibly build a strong-enough brand and deliver enough leads and new clients to reach the revenue goal.
When considering your growth goals, get all stakeholders together—marketers, leadership, management—and agree on growth goals that are aligned with your overall firm strategy and goals.
The one big question to ask is: What are our revenue and growth goals?
