Part 11 (2/2)
PerfornitionRespectSafetyServiceSmartnessSolutionTraditionTrustWealth
Wisdom37 Sometimes service firms use specific words that focus on need areas or hot buttons Aht be: AdvisorassuranceAuditCashFaInternal controls
InternationalSarbanes-OxleySmal businessTransitionValuation In your area, ns any of these terms so much that other firms can't also associate with them? Can't think of any firms? Or maybe you just think of a number of CPA firms that play in these fields Even if you could oord in a service industry, we suggest that it should be a side benefit of winning and satisfying clients, not a goal in and of itself
Maxi Number One in Revenue or Market Share ”Your co in any market where it cannot be the best”
-Philip Kotler38 ”Be nuet out”
-Jack Welch39 What CEO heads into his board oal is to become nu nuet to set, and it certainly sounds good However, in service businesses, being nuoal to set Revenue and reater success and higher profits
Service firms should focus on client loyalty and reputation if they want greater revenue and profit growth Publication after publication (however, not branding publications!) by wel -respected authors and acade the Service-Profit Chain to Work”
(Harvard Business Review) and Fred Reicheld in books like Loyalty Rules! 40 echo this es of these publications are not h of an i coument for client and employee loyalty We rees with the ”being nuranted laws of branding that business people blindly fol ow
Be uniquebe oppositeoordbe nuorythe list goes on These guiding principles are easy to reurus) and easy to latch onto
Take care, however, that you act only on the guiding principles that wil do the most justice to your business and the people that comprise it In the end, it is up to you to knohich laws apply to you and which laws areOf course, as much as it pains us to say it, even the lae espouse should be evaluated based on the particular circu Brand and Marketing Messages The poet is the sayer, the namer, and represents beauty
-Ralph Waldo Emerson Once you have a sense of the value you want to convey, you begin the task of announcing who you are to the , distinct, and to the point Unfortunately, too often, the fol owing is the result: If you're looking for a different kind of accounting firm, look no further than Smith and Jones With our focus on specific client industries, our energetic and hardworking professionals, and our deep financial experience, we help our clients achieve what they truly need: results While results are the goal, it's our co value-added service that helps our clients succeed and sleep better at night At Smith and Jones, your success is our nu needs, we have you covered
Youas you read this value proposition: The book's authors visitedcopy for inspiration! Those sneaky little devils In truth, we did and we didn't Over and above visiting service firm web sites every day for this book's research, we visited over a thousand web sites across professional services fields, including law, accounting, consulting, architecture and engineering, technology services, and others For the most part (but not always
read on), firms sound relatively the sa it up and not bother? Hardly You should spend serious ti out exactly what you want to say A core brand promise statement is essential as an u
Fires that they believe are unique and potent because they worked so hard to get there But they engagethe special dyna for professional services What do they end up with? A ”different kind of [insert service type] firests their focus on relationshi+ps, results, and trust-a firm you can depend on for your e that sounds like so many others
We understand how fir Ask 20 clients and hear the same comment about your firm as to what buyers find ”different” and ”valuable” about you, and-tah-dah!-insert into your
Whereas the concepts you include in your ht be what your research shows to be true about your fir perspective as people think they wil be For exaht say that your attorneys, accountants, consultants, and the like are ”different from other firms they've worked with because of the level of servicequality of peopledelivery of resultson-time delivery” (True You heard it) The proble, and that's what their clients said as welOnce 10 co their hats on ”different because of the level of service” or ”different because of results” or ”different because of our people,” the e of difference loses its potency (Not helpful) What's a fir We assu of your attributes of similarity, attributes of distinction, and attributes of experience (If you don't, you're not ready to start crafting brand es yet) You knohat it is about those attributes that resonate with buyers and are different from the other available options in theyou claiure 141) Now you have to take these concepts you know about your firht y and craft various es
The first concept es cascade from most basic to e type
First, you have positioning ely be used to establish initial fit and connection with buyers For e for differentiation but, by itself, doesn't deliver diffentiation
With your identity-logo, firm name, and your corporate look and feel on web sites and in brochures-you can establish (or fail to establish) an initial connection Buyers (and influencers, referral sources, and potential employees) ue
People can often tel fro-time, or somewhere in between They typical y knohich they need If you are in their league, but you don't look like you're in their league, you've got a large hurdle to jump
Buyers also can tel the difference between a quality look and feel and a cheap or home-done look and feel You can think of look and feel quality as shi+ning your shoes and wearing a nice suit Show up to a client's office with old scuffed shoes and a wrinkled suit that doesn't quite fit, and you have an initial-impression hurdle to jump
Why juure 141 Value Proposition Strength and Delivery At the saht to corporate identity than is warranted assu with shi+ned shoes and a nice suit You stil haven't gotten anything done for the client yet Corporate identity is si that you need to do in order to put yourself in the right league and thus establish initial fit
Corporate identities often include taglines: brief phrases or slogans that serve to set a preht in a professional service firline convey a key piece of perfor and keeps on ticking-Tiht-FedExEngineered like no other car in the world-Mercedes-Benz Emotional resonance? Yes
You are now free to o-Kel ogg's Eggo wafflesJust do it!-Nike Can a tagline make much of a dent in either performance or emotional resonance for a service fir spend, it's just not worth the effort (and the effort that can be excruciatingly painful) for a service firline
”I fir over 100 line”
-Mike Sheehan, CEO, Hill Holliday This is not to say we're anti-tagline Do we think Ernst & Young wil be negatively affected by its ”Quality in Everything We Do” tagline? No But we hope the fir up with that one Do we think KPMG is negatively affected by its ”Audit Tax Advisory” tagline? No
It helps to establish initial fit-an umbrel a under which the company can describe the rest of its services
Even with slines can often serve to help establish initial fit
Circadian Technologies: 24/7 Workforce Solutions (”We work around the clock at ood fit”)Everon Technologies: Your Virtual IT Departht place”)Hol and and Hart: The Law Out West (”I live out west I need a law firlines that focus on emotional or performance resonance don't necessarily do firms a disservice, either But they often fal flat because the concepts behind thelines” list)
A brand proanization, service line, or person uses to convey the essence of the value it delivers to clients Companies often use this as the foundation stateraph or two, but it can also be a short series of concepts, bul ets, or sentences that describe the firm Brand promise statements are often accos like ”e believe,” ”our mission,” and ”our values” They're also accompanied by overal firers, and descriptions of service lines and industry specialties
You can use any and al of these -type statements to describe the essence of your firh-level, not in-depth communications serveelse
With these types of et to the elevator pitches and one-pager types of descriptions, firms typical y address five W's and one H:What you do
Whom you ith
Where you operate
When it's the right tis
Why clients should care