Tag Archives | Marketing

Checking the Foundation

By Michael W. McLaughlin on January 10, 2012 in Managing Your Business, The Guerrilla Consultant

If you’ve ever bought or sold a house, you know that, as part of the deal, a home inspection will have to be done so buyers know what they’re getting into.

The inspector assesses the foundation of the house, the walls, floors, plumbing, and so on. Then, you get a report on ways to shore up the place.

As you kick off the New Year, take some time for a structural inspection of your business. In many cases, you’ll find that the key to better performance is in making small changes to how you do business, not in implementing some grand new strategy.

To find those opportunities, turn your attention to three parts of your business: your intellectual property (or content), your marketing approach, and your service offer.

Read the rest of the article in this month’s issue of The Guerrilla Consultant.

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Do You Call Yourself a “Trusted Advisor?”

By Michael W. McLaughlin on May 26, 2011 in Client Relationships, Marketing

In their bestseller, The Trusted Advisor, David Maister, Charles Green, and Rob Galford made the case that professionals need more than just technical expertise to succeed. They must also have the ability to earn the trust and confidence of clients.

As the term Trusted Advisor became part of the language of the services business, a funny thing happened. Some firms started using the term as a marketing slogan. Here are some examples:

“Like you, we are much more than ‘just’ service providers to our clients. We are trusted advisors.”

“___________ provides these solutions by being a trusted advisor to our clients. “

“Before we become your trusted advisor, we discuss your values; goals; personal, professional and institutional relationships; assets; and interests.”

Even HP got into the act with a splashy press release:

“The HP Trusted Advisor service offers HP consulting experts who work closely with clients to consider all aspects of business operations, IT infrastructure and facilities, as well as the enablement of technologies, such as cloud and green computing.”

Becoming a Trusted Advisor marks a stage in the development of your relationship with a client. It’s a state you aspire to achieve, not something to assert as your marketing catchphrase. That’s like calling yourself world-renowned; someone else needs to give you the label.

Adopting Trusted Advisor as your slogan masks a real problem: You are basing your marketing strategy on an unsupported claim, and that’s likely to fall flat in the market. Just because you declare yourself to be a Trusted Advisor doesn’t mean prospective clients will see you as such.

Your marketing goal must be to find highly credible points of differentiation for your business. And there are many options to do that, from marketing your ideas to touting your people. Making unsubstantiated assertions could be the weakest marketing strategy of all.

So why continue to use it?

If you want to learn more about the authors of The Trusted Advisor, you might be interested in my interviews with them on various subjects:

David Maister on Strategy and the Fat Smoker

Charles Green on Who and Why Clients Trust

Robert Galford and Regina Maruca on How Legacy Thinking Makes Better Leaders Today

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What’s Your Ideal?

By Michael W. McLaughlin on May 11, 2011 in Client Relationships, Marketing

If you are looking to grow a services business, the effort can seem akin to pushing a two-ton boulder up a mountain with one arm. The market is crowded, strong competitors lurk around every corner, and price competition seems relentless.

You can sidestep those obstacles by defining precisely who you want to work for and what you’ll do for your clients. You might be saying to yourself, “well, that’s obvious.” But I’m not suggesting that you define your business by the clients you have and the work you can do. I’m saying to define your business—and your marketing strategy—by the work you want to do.

Marketing your business takes drive, determination, and passion. You need a ton of motivation to get up early and work late to get and keep your business on track. Long term, you’ll only put out that level of energy for clients and issues that you’re truly passionate about. Once you’re pursuing your passion, crowded markets, tough competitors, and price pressure become secondary concerns.

Who Is Your Ideal Client?

One thing you can do to ease your path to profit is to make good decisions about how you’ll go to market. Your first step: define your ideal client. Once you figure out who those clients are, then you can design marketing strategies to reach them.

Your ideal clients might be executives with specific titles, like CEOs, CFOs, or CIOs. Or maybe your ideal client leads a particular business function in sales, marketing, or manufacturing. For some, reaching the ideal client means directing marketing efforts toward specific companies.

What Do You Want to Do

But you shouldn’t stop with identifying your ideal client. Step two is to define your ideal project too. What issues or problems do you want to help with, what impact do you want to make, and how will you structure the way you work with your ideal client?

Granted, you won’t always get to work with the clients you really want. But you should market your business as though you can. It’s the prospect of working with those ideal clients that will keep you focused on building your business, even after the toughest day.

No service provider must give in to the notion that the market is saturated. Focus on your ideal client and project and you’ll get a boost in your innovation, marketing energy, and results.

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The Fallacy of Standardization

By Michael W. McLaughlin on April 12, 2011 in Managing Your Business, Marketing

It’s fairly common to hear the advice that service providers should package their services into product-like offerings. That is, if they want to grow their businesses more quickly, close sales more easily, and rack up the profits.

The reasoning is that clients will have an easier time understanding and buying a “product” than grasping the benefit of a pure (intangible) service offer. To make the buyer’s job easier, each service offer should have a standard methodology (not a bad idea), a brand name, canned “deliverables,” and a set price. That way, clients would know exactly what they were getting, thereby simplifying the buying process.

As a marketing strategy, standardizing your offerings does accomplish one goal: it helps clients evaluate what you’re offering. As a sales strategy, though, the standard offer usually falls flat on its face.

I don’t remember a client ever saying, “Just give me the standard package of services you give to everyone else.” Clients want new ideas that are relevant to their unique situations. That’s what they pay for. Your standard offer may get the door open, but the actual solution you design is what leads to differentiation—and the sale.

If you rely solely on a standardized “product” for sales, you strip the innovation from your service and risk landing on the pile of commodity providers who compete solely on price. To find the path to growth, you need the right balance between standardization and innovation.

It makes sense to describe your services in an understandable way by referring to a service name, an approach to delivering the service, and the benefits others have achieved. But if you try to sell any off-the-shelf service as-is, you’re leaving out the most important part of the service—your own creativity.

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What’s in a Name?

By Michael W. McLaughlin on April 4, 2011 in Client Relationships, Managing Your Business, Marketing

It’s easy to overlook little things that make a big impression on clients. The job titles we use on business cards, email signature lines, and web sites, for example, convey a world of meaning to others, some of which isn’t helpful.

Take the title Business Development Manager, which seems harmless enough. The problem is that many clients will get the clear message that your aim is to develop your business, not theirs.

The same holds true for Account Manager or Sales Executive. You’re sending clients a seller-centered message, when they’re looking for someone who puts their interests at the center of the conversation.

Some people recognize this problem but make it worse with their solutions. Instead of Client Relationship Manager, for instance, they go with something lame like Chief Synergy Detector or the Grand Marshall of Morale Boosting. Besides making people roll their eyes, these titles are less useful than the run-of-the-mill ones.

So what do you use instead? If you feel that you must use a title (which I’m not convinced everyone needs to), begin by thinking about titles that reflect what you do for clients, not what you do for your business.

Maybe you’re a Supplier Productivity Specialist, Online Marketing Strategist, or a Leadership Development Manager. With such a title, you can use your calling card or email signature line to help convey your value to clients.

If you’re not inclined to use this kind of title, you have two options. Either dump the title entirely, or use a simple one like Consultant, Associate, Principal, and so on. Whatever choice you make, be sure it’s for the benefit of the client, not you.

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If You Are Really Different, Why Aren’t You Differentiated?

By Michael W. McLaughlin on March 23, 2011 in Managing Your Business, Marketing, Selling

Most consultants I know believe they are different from everyone else in the market, which makes sense. After all, who thinks they are just like every other service firm out there?

If everyone believes they have unique abilities, why do so many service firms look exactly alike to prospective clients? I can think of two reasons.

First, copying the practices of other companies in the services business runs rampant. People search for “best practices” and competitive intelligence to piece together how they want to communicate with the world. Instead of using that information to build a unique spot in the market, they “borrow” the ideas of others. The result: most service firms look identical to clients.

Second, in an effort to reach as wide a market as possible, lots of service companies generalize the description of their service offerings to the point that all meaning is lost. Think consultants who “manage change” or “design business strategies.”

Granted, what many consultants actually do for clients is similar. Web designers, for example, offer similar services to their clients. The same holds true for marketing strategy firms, cost reduction specialists, and copy writers.

So, what’s the source of differentiation in a crowded market of me-too companies? For a rich source of differentiation, consider how your business does its work.

Clients are usually in the market for a core service like a training program, an operations assessment, or a new marketing strategy–with the hope of achieving a desired future state. And most consultants’ marketing communication does a good job of highlighting core services.

But most clients also value the distinctive benefits of working with a particular consultant. Those extra benefits present opportunities to differentiate any service offer.

Consultants have more options for differentiating their core service offers than channels to watch on TV. For instance, some clients will appreciate your twist on designing a blogging strategy, but they may really value how you create self-sufficiency once you leave. Or, your prospective clients may like your hands-on approach to rolling out a training program, but they also value your quarterly follow-up program to measure results. The possibilities for finding points of differentiation are endless.

As you look at how you’ve differentiated your business, ask yourself three questions:

Is my service offer just a me-too one? You can review the web sites of other service providers as one way to answer this question.
What are the unique ways I serve my clients? What are the aspects of your work that your clients value? Your approach to projects, how you interact with others, and the way you deliver your services offer lots of opportunities to differentiate your business.
What one new thing could I do to differentiate my offer? Start with something small and build it out. Begin with one area of new value that you can describe to clients.

Keep in mind that there is no such thing as a commodity service, as long as you clearly communicate to your prospective clients all of the things you do for them–and how you do it.

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Perspective

By Michael W. McLaughlin on March 16, 2011 in Client Relationships, Managing Your Business, Marketing

I’ve never met a client who said, “Just get me any consultant in here.” Clients want a trustworthy person who knows their industry, business, and the issues they must tackle. In response, most professionals make a critical mistake in communicating their expertise. They focus only on what they’ve done, not on what they think.

You can show a prospective client a laundry list of relevant past clients and summaries of the projects you’ve completed. Showing clients what you’ve done is a good start, but it’s not enough. You also have to demonstrate how you think.

One way to capture your client’s imagination, and differentiate your business, is to show clients how you see the world–to express your particular point of view.

Often, that perspective is about where your client’s industry (or business) is headed in the future. Instead of resorting to clichés like “the rate of change is accelerating,” offer a definite view about what your clients can expect in the future. Make a logical and believable case, based on extrapolation of facts and trends, about how your clients’ businesses are likely to change next year, in five years, or in a decade.

You don’t have to rely only on forecasting the future. It’s equally powerful to have a strong view on how clients should be doing things in the present. Maybe you focus on three key challenges your clients are grappling with now. Create a point of view that defines those issues, points out the implications of maintaining the status quo, and offers a general approach for addressing those issues.

Whether you’re talking about the present or the future, be specific. Avoid generalizations like “succession planning will become more important in the next three years than ever before.” Instead, tell clients where and in what ways succession planning issues are likely to be most acute.

Don’t tell clients that leadership skills will be in short supply as baby-boomers retire. Tell them which skills they will need to lead their organizations in the future and how to cultivate those skills.

A bold, forward-looking perspective can engage clients in a dialogue about their issues and your ability to help them. If you want to convince clients that you know your stuff, few things work better than a thoughtful perspective on what matters most to them.

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4 Strategies to Build Your Business with Your Existing Clients

By Michael W. McLaughlin on March 7, 2011 in Client Relationships, Consulting Process, Managing Your Business

Once you’ve started a project and it’s going well, it’s common to look for new ways to help your client. In many cases, though, the highest hurdle in uncovering new opportunities is the client’s lack of knowledge about other ways you can bring value.

I’ve actually seen a consultant ask a client sit through a discussion of his firm’s capabilities to help the client learn what his firm could offer. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you why that’s a dumb idea. Still, if you want to build new business, you have to do something to get things moving. Here are four strategies to help.

Be Curious. Ask lots of questions. When you’re meeting about the project, use some of your time to ask about company issues, new priorities, and, recent developments. If you’re not devoting a part of every meeting to discussing the client’s business, you’re missing an opportunity. Your curiosity–and the knowledge you gain–will demonstrate your commitment to your client’s business and lead to discussions of new projects.

Be a Conduit. Find ways to share the experiences of others with your client. Offer to connect your client to others you’ve worked with who share similar issues, for example. Tap your network of people and resources and freely share ideas and solutions. If you want your client to think of you when there’s a new opportunity, you’ll need to be viewed as a source of ideas and value.

Be a Catalyst. Bring innovative ideas to your client on a regular basis. Don’t focus only ideas that you think will lead to the next sale. Bring your best ideas–and practical ways to implement those ideas–on any issue your client faces. Take initiative. Collaborate with your client to find ideas and high-value projects you can work on together. As soon as you’re viewed as a someone who can translate ideas into action, you’ll get better access to others in the organization and more opportunities for new projects.

Be Consistent. Be in touch with your clients, whether there’s a project opportunity or not. Don’t wait until there’s a sales lead to make contact. Bring ideas, be a conduit, and be curious, even if it doesn’t lead to an immediate sale. Your behavior between the sales is your client’s real test of the type of consultant you are. Pass that test, and you can expect to see opportunities come your way.

Of course, you won’t sell anything new if you’re not delivering your services flawlessly. So, be sure your project is humming along before you focus too much attention on looking for new work.

Taken together, these 4 strategies are a “client-first”–not a “sales-first”–approach to managing relationships, educating your client, and finding new opportunities for projects. it’s not easy marketing to existing clients, but with a client-first mindset and these 4 business-building strategies, it will be more productive and profitable.

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Ann Handley on Content Rules

By Michael W. McLaughlin on February 25, 2011 in Books, Managing Your Business, Marketing, Podcasts

I interviewed Ann Handley, author of the fast-selling new book, Content Rules, How to Create Killer Blogs, Podcasts, Videos, Ebooks, Webinars (and More) That Engage Customers and Ignite Your Business.

Ann is the Chief Content Officer of MarketingProfs, which provides strategic and tactical marketing know-how for hundreds of thousands of marketing and business professionals through a full range of online media. We talked about the concepts in her new book, with an emphasis on the specific tactics any of us can implement to build a more effective content.

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