Part 1 (2/2)

This book is written for professional services firms of al sizes Which concepts from the book you use and how you apply thehout the book we provide exae and shout Specifical y for the purposes of this book, we spoke with (and thank) a nu:Mike May, professor at Babson Col ege, former Partner and Co-Vice Chairy business at Accenture

Kevin McMurdo, Chief Marketing Officer, Perkins Coie

Paul Dunay, Global Director of Integrated Marketing, BearingPoint

Mike Sheehan, CEO, Hil Hol iday

Ed Officer, Grant Thornton

In his book Blink,3 Malcol” You can think of thin slicing as the ability to discern what's realy i quickly, often without a lot of information Who can thin slice? Typical y people with years of experience, and ht like a step-by-step pri and sales engine, there is no substitute for experience, talent, skil , and passion Many of the coy develop with clients and earning their trust-require the right kind of thinking and the right kind of experience

Whether you're the fir leader, sales leader, or individual contributor on the teaht experience you'l be able to make the best decisions as quickly as you should, discern the paths of success froer, and be able to reapplus experience yields the ability to thin slice or just plain competence, who is to say?) While we provide concrete, specific advice and exahout the book, our hope in Professional Services Marketing is that we influence your thinking The experience (and hustle, passion, and intensity), you'l have to provide yourself

We al know that professional services firms used to rely solely on repeat business and referrals to fuel growth Long as theythey had to do was hang out a shi+ngle and al the sel ing they had to do was answer the phone when it rang, those days are gone The shi+p has sailed The parade's gone by The cheese has e coe of it

-Mike Schultz and John Doerr

1

What Marketing Can Do for a Fir were done perfectly, selling, in the actual sense of the word, would be unnecessary

-Peter Drucker

Question: How does a CEO fix his coy probley aining popularity inin like it's supposed to, thepartner (or president or COO) doesn't offer ht on what to do, but turns up the volu!

This can be funny if you aren't (1) the target of the e and the rant that typical y accompanies it, (2) desperate for revenue, and (3) frustrated because you know that, no matter how loud the yel , it won't do h the door

Before we ”do so,” let's explore what it can do for a professional services fir at a professional services firm produces essential y four measurable outcomes:4 1 Conversations with potential buyers

2 Better odds of winning client engageeher fees for services

4 Increased affinity with the actual and potential workforce

Service firet the respect they deserve from firht think, it's because they don't deserve the budgets they have and don't produce the business impact that warrants esteem fro these business outcoets as youFirm leaders (or you, if you're the leader and the marketer): Demand these outcomes Get behind initiatives that produce these outcomes And if you are pitched a course of action that doesn't serve these -room floor

Fir decisions, and irams, when they keep their eyes on the first three prizes Throughout the course of this book, il explore in depth how fir to achieve these outcomes

Before we do this, it's i can do for firms

Generate New Conversations with Potential Buyers Cal it lead generation, cal it business develop, or cal it any other name; firms need to create conversations with potential clients before they can ht sound basic-because it is Stil , the concept of creating an external conversation, one that can produce a new client and new revenue, too often doesn't find its way into the internalconversations at the firm

Why? Because for many firms, repeat business and referrals used to be sufficient by therow revenue While repeat business and referrals are stil necessary for firms and are often stil the major way service firms fil the front end of the business developer sufficient to sustain current revenue levels or grow the fir referrals, less competition, and simpler industry dynamics, many professional services firms operated less like businesses andthe phone was pretty eneration they did Tied

To exaed, the Welesley Hils Group and RainTodaycom surveyed 231 buyers of professional services across a nuether, these buyers represented over 17 bil ion of services purchased in the previous year

In this survey we asked buyers questions in two principal areas: 1 How do you identify and engage discussions with providers of professional services?

2 During your decision-e (or not engage) a particular provider of professional services?

The results, published in How Clients Buy: 2009 Bench from the Client Perspective,5 included data on the methods buyers use to find potential service providers (See Figure 11) Based on our research, we can see that referrals are stil the topindustry dynamics, service businesses remain relationshi+p businesses built on foundations of trust Service buyers seek referrals froues and other service providers, even when they know they can find providers themselves, because they want to knoho their trusted friends and advisors trust When buyers receive a name from someone they trust, the service provider is the beneficiary of transferred trust froure 11 Methods Buyers Are Very/Somewhat Likely to Use

to Initially Identify and Learn More about Professional

Service Providers

For example, let's say Ji co officer (COO)

Ji market share to other domestic providers

Mary: When I was at ManuCorp, Jim, we ran into the same proble, and it turned out ere losing share based on three factors, two of which we never even considered Once we knee were dealing with and implemented the turnaround plans we conceived with Steve and his teaive him a cal and see if he can co Jinificant advantage in winning an analysis and strategy engagement because of the trust that Mary has transferred to Jih the referral Transferred trust is the power of the referral and why it's so much easier and quicker for service providers to win business fro third in our findings-the only other reater than 70 percent-was ”personal recognition or awareness” of the provider This has nuenerate new conversations In the world of nition and awareness: brand As a concept, brand is often ued about in professional services firrow a firm is indisputable (How to establish a brand [as wel as how one should think about brand at a professional services firh 14) As we h to satisfy rowth desires The next most popular methods buyers use to find service providers are conference and seminar presentations This is true for a number of reasons (we cover this in some detail in Chapter 16); but for now, suffice it to say that public speaking can be a very powerful co conversations in the eetting good ones Who does get thereat speakers, who are thought leaders in particular areas, or who are known to be an attendance draw (again, they have a brand) How can one develop said brand aside fro it to luck and hope? The best way is s over an extended period of time

Even as we move down the list of methods buyers use to identify potential service providers, the methods are stil used quite frequently by buyers Five or six out of every 10 buyers are using providers' web sites and Internet searches, reading news stories both online or in print, visiting conference exhibits,case studies

Even those ated to the bottom of the list, such as ”telephone cal from rep of service firm” (47 percent very or somewhat likely to use), ”mail” (42 percent), and ”e-mail sent froenerating conversations if eood old days”

-Mike Sheehan, CEO, Hil Hol iday

MARKETING'S FOUR MEASURABLE OUTCOMES

Marketing can deliver: 1 New conversations with potential buyers