Part 8 (1/2)

To have delivered mil ions of dol ars in recovered costs fro companies, costs that your clients didn't know they were entitled to? If so, where are the case studies and testi experts on consumer product innovation? If so, where are your articles and books? When are your industry conference keynote speeches?

To be a unique firood is your reasoning for that?

Let's assu expert on consumer product innovation You have a rich library of primary research you've conducted and case studies you've written You have a history of publishi+ng excel ent articles in top publications on the subject, and your book on innovation is in its third edition You run an active innovation research center Credibility rating: very good

On the flip side, anything that wil cause anyone-be they clients, prospects, partners, or potential employees-to question the credibility of what you say puts you at a disadvantage

”The real-world story is you've got to get the organization to understand that there is a difference between just asserting so and real research”

-Mike May, Professor at Babson College, for Partner of the strategy business for Accenture Buyers wil ask, ”Are they reliable?” Buyers want reliable service providers In yourand business development processes, you can do a lot to influence a buyer's perception of your reliability And how do people judge reliability? They do so largely based on your history ofyour promises For example, in the Wel esley Hil s Group and RainTodaycom's How Clients Buy study, we asked buyers to reflect back on the past few times they purchased professional services So late to s, and 30 percent reported that the provider did not respond to their requests in a ht ask yourself, what exactly is ”timely”? For al intents and purposes, it doesn't matter The buyer's perception of you, should you not respond to requests in what is deemed to be a ti particularly reliable If that's the buyer's perception of you, then it's a part of your brand

The ood hands with you, the more clout (substantiation) any claims you make wil have with them For exaarded research, books, and articles on the subject but hasn't read theeneral but no deep connection or emotional resonance (necessary to build trust) yet

In a second case, soarded articles, books, case studies, and research and is thoroughly fains the foundation for stronger connection, e your intel ectual capital is good, your credibility improves as wel )

In a third case, you've never worked with a buyer as a client, but you've spent a year working with the co business develop counsel, and helping thein to ith you, their level of security to entrust you with soun to bloom

In a last case, you've worked with soh thick and thin and several touch-and-go situations You've coood and difficult times This client always believes that you have his firm's best interest at heart, and you've demonstrated this to be the case numerous times in difficult situations

Now your connection and level of trust is very deep Your value proposition strength is based on three legs of a stool: resonance, differentiation, and substantiation Figure 94 shohat happens when one of those legs gets taken away

Figure 94 Coth In Chapter 10 we examine how you can uncover the essence of your brand attributes that wil contribute to developing your value propositionYour Key Brand Attributes To do a cos success

-H J Heinz, printed on the back of a ketchup bottle When it co, one very simple question seems to trip up firm after firm That question is: What should we say about ourselves?

We know froes of our value to the market and clients in a nuest possible es, we must combine resonance, differentiation, and substantiation With or without this knowledge, firure out what the core coraure 101 offers you a reviehere we have been to this point In Chapter 14 we'l address how to approach coes fro blocks In this chapter, you'l learn how to discover what those building blocks are for you and how to categorize theure out what to say about yourself

Figure 101 Value Proposition Strength and Delivery Nine Questions: Finding the Strength of Your Value Proposition In order to articulate the rowth by connecting with theyou sel , you first need to answer nine questions dealing with two topics: value and differentiation

You need to know your clients' and your eneral category of firms and services

2 Your fir particular proble certain proble in the future but do not perceive as priorities

You need to know your clients' and your markets' perception of your overal distinction in the et services similar to yours or to solve the problems you solve in other ways Thus, you need to find out what different options clients and decision : 6 Different categories of cooals)

7 Specific companies that can help solve problems

8 Specific services available to help solve problems

9 Other options available to help to solve problems, such as internal staff

Let's look at each of the nine questions in turn in the context of different exaes to the market

Question 1: What value do clients and decision ory of company and services?

It's no secret that the phare But the question is: What do specific buyers in the industry value about ? Do they value functional expertise, such asor industry experience, in the pharmaceutical industry? Are they likely to buy services froe? Does it et the value they wanted out of consulting? When they got good value the 4 out of 10 times, what did that look like? Would they likely spend ht leaders, or wil experiences of the team win out?

The dynaet markets wil drive the specific questions you need to ask about the category of your fir andfor your firm

Question 2: What is the value clients and decision et market perceive about us as a firm?

If there is a fundamental question to which every service firm should know the answer, this is it

You should knohat your clients think of your cos, drive opportunities for service i, and shapeto the market In almost al cases when you speak with clients, you'l learn perceptions about your firm's personality and what it's like to ith your team You'l learn how they perceive the value they receive fro with your firm You'l learn how they think you're distinct

It is important to stress that what you think you know about how clients perceive your value and how they truly perceive the value you offer are often worlds apart In our ith professional services firms, we often interview our clients' clients One of our clients, a row faster than just through referrals The firreat service and believed its value was comparable to or better than what other like fir to the fir, froo was nothing more than a tax planner He providedthe business or ebb and flow of cash flow in ynothing It is important for a smal business to understand its risk profile and balance sheet My comptrol er and I devised a formula with our current CPA firm [our client] to be debt free This al owed us to rowth decisions, not knee-jerk We weren't laden with debt and didn't have to chase cash flow They were very progressive They do think outside the box They are very creative in the way they assist in capital planning, handle al facets of the business, and are very fa”

This is great stuff to hear froly its value as a partner and advisor cah Talk to clients (or have someone do it for you) towith clients, you should knohat the buyers and influencers across your markets think of your company

Perhaps they don't know about your company at alWhile it's not i and be successful at business develop the buyers and influencers in youron to your ”hidden gem” or ”best-kept secret” status24Perhaps the marketplace's perception is that you are a specialist in a particular industry or service area: ”Oh, they're great at technology consulting, but they don't have a strategy capability” This is the chal enge Mike May at Accenture (Andersen Consulting at the ti, with little strategy capability, was very good at and known for technology, process, change ration The then chaira to have four coy, and process Our value proposition to clients is we're going to bring those together seauess what? We don't have the strategy thing we need to build on”'

Many firs by different buyer sets, and see the opportunity to grow in a number of areas

Before you answer the question of how to influence the thinking of the market, you first need to know: What do they think?

Question 3: What value do clients and decision makers in the market perceive about the specific services we offer?

This question gets less attention than it should (or no attention) in many service fir fir When you ask clients about the value of the banking audit service, you may find that your audits consistently find ways to save them tens of thousands of dol ars in hidden areas as you help thehten up processes You may find that they value your auditors' commitment to their success, evidenced by the auditors' consistent extra effort and wil ingness to talk theical y about their business

”Marketing coal industry are often disconnected from what the lawyers really need We have produced our share of brochures, carefully written with, by, and about our attorneys Our clients didn't really care about them Firms that first take the time to understand their clients and ths) will be better able to develop strategies that will row”

-Kevin McMurdo, Chief Marketing Officer, Perkins Coie For aprocess helped increase supply chain efficiency by 25 percent This is a very tangible value of that service, indeed, that you can build upon in your

In another scenario, let's say your firive you their thoughts on each service They nal the opportunity (or need) forthe other services25 Question 4: What value do clients and decisionthe particular problems that they currently have?

This question uncovers the value of solving explicit needs, needs that clients already know they have assu firm If you were to say to your clients or buyers in the market, ”Tel me about your priorities as they relate to people practices for the next year,” you ht hear that they need to:Decrease unwanted turnover by 20 percent