Part 6 (2/2)

Guard 1: What?! A s, carryin' a coconut?!

Arthur: It could grip it by the husk!

Guard 1: It's not a question of where he grips it; it's a siht ratios! A five-ounce bird could not carry a one-pound coconut!

As this scene frouard proceeds to tel Arthur that to s 43 times per second

Arthur's response: ”I'm not interested”

Service business leaders who are interested in realistic ets, and iet them done When ith clients to help them build their plans, we're often presented with the plan from the last yearand the year beforeand the year before that The coressive” when, in reality, they're castles in the air: Insufficient budget Il -conceived staffing Unrealistic time frames No internal experience or skil s to complete the work And no commitment from the firm as a whole to make sure everyone understands expectations and consequences

In terht plan to spend 350,000 to ”get our naoal with little ROI)

Another un business developer; and after they ramp up for a quarter, they'l sel 2 reat, but is not likely to happen-just a castle in the air) These strategies are based on gut feelings and desires for simple fixes, and supported by spurious, or spuriously applied, research and data

Those service business leaders that get in touch hat they need to do for lead generation (and, thankfuly, there see serious headway Stil , there are too , because they're out of touch with the reality of what they need to do for lead generation and why they need to do it Thus the lukeware 3: Lack of Will The third, and perhaps theand business developet it done This beco implementation and more about the seriousness of the whole coh the first-year associates-about growing the firhest levels

”We in the ' a the lawyers in the firm It's realy a fundamental principle in our depart with a purpose-rather than si'-tend to ith us When we receive requests for random brochures or broad market research, we look first for a clear purpose Lawyers either lose interest or beco Officer at Perkins Coie

How do you know if your firrow? Look around for these teltale signs:Regardless of the planning process, people (even the leaders and planners theet done

There's a cynical mood at the company with a silent (and sometimes not so silent) majority who believe the coress

Energetic and focused people bent on top performance and success are hired, become frustrated, and then leave the fireo anywhere

People put in enough hours to get by, but not enough to break new ground or achieve peak perforardless of how many hours people work, there is an overal lack of passion, energy, enthusias or business developanizational lack of wil -the coer problees 1 (perfors you can realistical y do soe 3 (lack of wil ) is not an issue

That's not to say that chalenge 3 isn't so e ement

8

Brand-What It Is; Why Bother ”I don't knoho you are

I don't know your company

I don't know your company's product

I don't knohat your company stands for

I don't know your company's customers

I don't know your company's record

I don't know your company's reputation

Noas it you wanted to sell me?”

-Famous McGraw-Hill advertisement The concept of brand is a touchy one for most professional services fire, spending strictly to increase your brand awareness creates hot discussion around theconference tables The debate usual y goes so like this: Brand advocate: We know our services are as good as or better than any of the other fir beaten by wel - known fir Just last e ca-name firms And we al knoere perfect for this deal!

I even heard last week that Acned up with one of our co to meet Acme's CFO, Katherine Janeway, for a year and a half; but soot the calPerhaps CFO Janeway checked out our web site after one of the cal s If she did, I don't bla us away comparatively

We need to et known, and that we present ourselves row this place like we should We need wash People buy from us because of relationshi+ps, our people, and e have done and can do, not because of our logo, our tagline, and our web site I can't think of any better way to waste ti stuff

Repeat business, referrals, and a tea hard in the field to y and effort in these simple, tried-and-true areas This brand stuff is soft

So who's right? Mike May, fory at Accenture, puts it like this: ”The only probleu-hardyou known

It's not In other words, they're saying they have 'al the reach we need with personal energy People wil know us by our people,' and so on

That assuet an opportunity, are sent out for the opportunity, win the job, and get known Brand's established and enhanced The problem with that approach is that it's diffuse and not scalable

”What a brand does for you is it draws clients to you It gives you ether for you in the market So, I think the issue between the two is atogether for you in a very cohesive package You know that the best client in the world can remember only a few sound bites at any one time; 150 consultants in the field, or 150,000, wil never establish the reach and consistency you need

”Thus, with the brand you have leverage and consistency”

Disagreements like the one ilustrated in our brand advocate/skeptic scenario question the energy and effort that should be put into brand at a professional services fir of what a brand can do for a firrow This is because it's difficult to ible return on invest As a result, e offluff

This is so strip, Dilbert is sent fro to work a stint indepart in the clouds like angels Above the entrance to the depart Two-drinkpartners and CEOs are going to listen to the fuzzy, design-sensitive, ”Let'scrowd? The sood for them Both for company leaders and for 's effectiveness and necessity), the question comes down to this: ”What can a brand actualy do for a professional services firm?” In other words, ”Why bother?”

Both forand for the hard-nosedpartners, here are the answers: Brands increase sales effectiveness If a potential buyer says, ”I know your coreat value and treating clients exceptional y wel ,” you'l be in much better shape than if they recite for you, word for word, the McGraw-Hil advertiseure 81

Figure 81 Brands Increase Sales Effectiveness The McGraw-Hil Companies, Inc Reproduced with permission of The McGraw-Hil Co decisions havethe purchase from the buyer side When your prospect asks around and hears, ”Yes, I've been fol owing their research for years They're a leader in the space,” or ”I've worked with them before-they're as solid as they come,” it'l be much better for you than if they hear a chorus of ”Nope-never heard of theenerate leads If prospects know and respect your company and reputation, they'l be more likely to accept an invitation to an event, an offer to download a nehite paper, or a rando them to have lunch and discuss business If they've never heard of you, the o unnoticed and untouched (until the h over ties for a while, but then you're starting to establish-dare we say-a brand)

In the Welesley Hils Group and RainTodayco in Lead Generation,22 we asked 731 leaders in professional services businesses about their lead generation practices In this study we found that the wel -known respondent coeood” or ”excel ent” at generating leads for their services

(See Figure 82) In total, the 30 percent of companies that considered theet market benefited from the impact of reputation reach, while the 70 percent of coht of theure 82 Companies' Overal Ability to Generate Leads, by Reputation Reach in Target Market Lest anyone tel you differently, brand recognition and reputation help when it coeneration Ful y 65 percent of wel -known coeneration, whereas only 44 percent of the not wel -known co leads If you are wel -knohatever lead generation tactics you employ are likely to work better, and the brand itself can