Professional Services Marketing Part 6

Lack of consequences and incentives is a particular chalenge for professional services organizations because many don't see marketing and business development as a core component of their jobs. Client work and bil able hours trump everything: * "But I got bil able and couldn't do that."

* "Wel , I didn't make those cal s [or write that article or attend that board meeting] because I got busy."

* "Sorry, I just didn't do that. On to other things."

* "Because I got caught up in al the leaders' requests for help with proposals, I didn't get the white paper project done."

If you want people to take your marketing and sales plans seriously, there have to be both incentives for taking action and consequences for not taking action.

People in organizations take on the behavioral traits of the leaders. If the leaders take anything, marketing included, seriously, then the rest of the team wil fol ow suit. Leaders at service companies take new thinking and new ideas seriously. They take client projects and client service seriously. They take sel ing deals that are in their pipelines seriously. Note to leaders: If you want the rest of your firm to take marketing seriously, you need to as wel . Marketing and lead generation are often the redheaded stepchildren, pining for, but not getting, the attention they need.

Back in the day, police in Great Britain didn't carry guns. Robin Wiliams once asked what they yel when they're chasing a suspect. "Stop . . . or I'l say 'stop' again!" (We're sure the suspects shook in their boots.) If you want people to fol ow plans and hit goals, put some teeth in the consequences for not delivering. When it comes time to tel people which way the bus is going, let them know that either they're on the bus or they're not. If they're not, there wil be consequences. When team members don't deliver on their part of a client project a.s.signment, they get unpleasant visits from management pretty quickly. Can you say the same when it comes to fol owing through on your marketing commitments?

Incentives are important as consequences. Simple as it might sound, you have to reward people who implement wel. You'l find treatise after treatise on how to reward successful and productive staff members. Find them. Read them. Reward loudly. If you do, the rewards for your business wil be energy, pa.s.sion, and growth. If not, wel , there's always next year.

What happens without the right consequences and incentives? Status quo.

* No incentive compensation: "Why should I sel ? I need to bil anyway."

* No consequences for not sel ing: "Wel , I guess I'l try, but what's the worst that wil happen if I don't succeed? They are not going to do anything about it."

* No consequences for not increasing leads: "Wel , I work in marketing, but I guess I'l just wait to be told to do something-or work on something that doesn't produce results."

* No consequences for not delivering on any goal: "We're supposed to create thought leadership, but the subject matter expert isn't responding to me, so I guess that's off my plate for now."

Skills and knowledge Have you ever been at a business development meeting with a newbie running the show while you sit back and enjoy the ride? How does the newbie seem? Confident in her abilities? Comfortable that she'l win the new client?

And how does she fare running that first meeting? Does she talk the right amount? Ask the right questions? Folow the wel-worn protocols of first-time business discussions? How's her body language . . . confident and relaxed?

Rainmakers need skils and knowledge in order to find and win clients. With the right skils, they can walk the client through the new business development process with savvy, ease, and confidence. With the right knowledge, they can ask the right questions and craft the right solution set for the client.

Marketing skil is no different. Without the ability to implement specific tasks with alacrity and a keen eye, you'l not only get anxiety, you'l also get everything that comes with it: poor quality, poor decisions, inaction, and slow progress.

The tools of marketing are a finite list. Just because you know what those tools are doesn't mean you can do anything with them. Think about how a great heart surgeon becomes great: preparation in col ege, four years of medical school, years of internships and residency, rotations through many programs and different surgical areas, specialization in heart surgery and years of study under more experienced surgeons, and very high-stakes successes and failures. Then you're ready to let that surgeon work on your heart. Many don't make it that far.

Marketing and rainmaking might have their own nuances and time frames, but the paralel works.

What happens without skils and knowledge? Anxiety.

* "Do I real y have to pick up that phone and say something to someone I don't know?"

* "I'm not going in there; you can't make me go in there."

* "There's no way I know what to do or say to actual y bring in a new client like you do."

* "I am not ready to run a brand study . . . implement a marketing campaign . . . coach a professional in business development . . . build a marketing plan . . . build a great presentation."

Unfortunately, many professionals won't admit any of these feelings, so they never deal with their anxieties and move their careers forward.

Selection and a.s.signment Have you ever seen someone fail in a marketing or business development role when almost anyone (except the hiring manager) could have predicted that this person was not the right fit for the job? There are quite a number of roles that people have to play: the technical expert, the lead generator, the closer, the client relationship manager, the marketing leader, the marketing specialist, and so on. Whatever the case, you need the right people in the right roles.

For example, you may have selected someone in your firm who is going to be a great rainmaker: ready for strong relationships, ready to bring the solid new clients into the firm. But don't a.s.sign him to the cold cal ing: He simply shouldn't (and often won't) succeed at it-it's not the right fit.

"It's not just about selecting the right people, it's about making sure the team continues to be the right people over time. If you do have to counsel someone out of the firm, I have rarely dealt with that issue where the person doesn't agree that it's right for them to move on. Then I hear from them a year later that they have a great position for them and they're thrilled."

-Mike Sheehan, CEO, Hill Holliday What happens without the right selection and a.s.signment? Chronic underachievement.

* "Twenty years in the business and now they expect me to run my own campaigns . . . develop PowerPoint slides . . . attend networking events . . . make cold cal s? I don't think so."

* "How do they expect me to sel to engineers? I'm not an engineer."

* "Al ready for my first day in business development! What do you mean my territory is Aroostook County, Maine?"

* "Glad to be here as the new managing partner. What's up first? Building our marketing?!? You've got to be kidding me. How am I supposed to run that?"

Motives and preferences (att.i.tude) Let's say you take care of the other five influences noted in this chapter: Expectations clear. Resources available. Compensation set. Skil s in place. Right people-right jobs. Al of this is great, and necessary, but you stil need a team with the fire in the bel y. You need people with focus and drive to be successful in business development. If they're not motivated to build a practice, there's little a firm can do to light the fire of focus and drive.

What happens without motivation and preferences? Mediocrity.

* "Nine A.M. already . . . time to start working. Five P.M. final y . . . time to go home!"

* "Look at al the money I can make! Too bad I don't care about money."

* "They've trained me . . . they're paying me . . . they told me what to do. Unfortunately, I just don't want to. It's not for me."

If you're looking to build a culture of business development, make sure you attend to al of the factors that affect human performance. Miss one of these factors for any reason-inattention, lack of time, unwil ingness to invest, political difficulties-and you'l severely limit your success.

Fortunately for you, it's the rare services firm that does focus on al six factors. If yours is the one that goes the extra mile-and plugs al the holes that would eventual y have sunk the boat-better get ready to hire more bil able professionals. The tide's going to come in, you'l be shipshape, and you'l need more people to get al the new client work done.

Challenge 2: Disconnect with Reality The second factor leading to lack of marketing and business development performance is a disconnect with reality. In most service businesses, leaders are in touch with the daily realities of their client projects and their internal staffing. They're often out of touch with (1) how the landscape of their own industries has changed, (2) how the buying cycle at client businesses has changed, and (3) how their own marketing and lead generation activities need to change if they want to grow and stay compet.i.tive.

A lot of service business leaders feel pressure-from their compet.i.tors, from their shrinking revenue and margins, from internal staff, from increasing commoditization in their industry-to do more marketing and lead generation. Unfortunately, they too often take the easy ways out: * Throwing money at advertising and graphic design.

* Redoing their web sites just for the sake of changing the look.

* Delegating bil able staff who are currently not so bil able to become marketers or rainmakers to 'get some new business!'

* Pushing their services rather than truly understanding why clients buy from them.

* Trying tactic after tactic without a clear idea of how the tactic connects to prospects or to real results.

Firms also often need a reality check for how much they can actualy get done. One of the reasons many marketing and lead generation plans are not implemented is that they have too many priorities. When plans have too many priorities, they have no priorities.

GETTING IN TOUCH WITH REALITY.

Guard 1: What?! A swal ow, 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 simple question of weight ratios! A five-ounce bird could not carry a one-pound coconut!

As this scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail continues, the guard proceeds to tel Arthur that to maintain airspeed velocity, a swal ow has to beat its wings 43 times per second.

Arthur's response: "I'm not interested."

Service business leaders who are interested in realistic marketing and lead generation activities, budgets, and implementation plans get them done. When we work with clients to help them build their plans, we're often presented with the plan from the last year . . . and the year before . . . and the year before that. The company leaders describe them as "aggressive" 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 terms of goal setting, one company might plan to spend $350,000 to "get our name out there" in advertising (a weak goal with little ROI).

Another might say, "We'l hire a big-gun business developer; and after they ramp up for a quarter, they'l sel $2 mil ion in new business" (which sounds great, 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 with what they need to do for lead generation (and, thankfuly, there seem to be more and more of them) are making serious headway. Stil , there are too many service firms that aren't executing, 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 lukewarm efforts at executing their own plans.

Challenge 3: Lack of Will The third, and perhaps the most debilitating, factor leading to lack of marketing and business development performance is that the organization lacks the wil to get it done. This becomes less about marketing implementation and more about the seriousness of the whole company-from the leadership through the first-year a.s.sociates-about growing the firm, being the best they can be, and competing at the highest levels.

"We in the marketing department work with the 'coalition of the wiling' among the lawyers in the firm. It's realy a fundamental principle in our department. Lawyers who are serious about working with a purpose-rather than simply 'doing marketing'-tend to work wel with us. When we receive requests for random brochures or broad market research, we look first for a clear purpose. Lawyers either lose interest or become part of the coalition," says Kevin McMurdo, Chief Marketing Officer at Perkins Coie.

How do you know if your firm lacks the wil to do what it needs to do to grow? Look around for these teltale signs: * Regardless of the planning process, people (even the leaders and planners themselves) doubt that anything is going to get done.

* There's a cynical mood at the company with a silent (and sometimes not so silent) majority who believe the company is not serious about improvement and progress.

* Energetic and focused people bent on top performance and success are hired, become frustrated, and then leave the firm.

* There's a history of flavor-of-the-month management initiatives that never seem to go anywhere.

* People put in enough hours to get by, but not enough to break new ground or achieve peak performance.

* Regardless of how many hours people work, there is an overal lack of pa.s.sion, energy, enthusiasm, and hustle.

If, indeed, your marketing or business development implementation chal enge is based on an organizational lack of wil -the company is just not serious about growth-you've got bigger problems than you can solve through marketing planning. Chal enges 1 (performance environment) and 2 (connection to reality) are things you can realistical y do something about, especial y if chal enge 3 (lack of wil ) is not an issue.

That's not to say that chalenge 3 isn't something you can't tackle, but it's a big mountain and it's less about marketing and more about change management.

8.

Brand-What It Is; Why Bother "I don't know who you are.

I don't know your company.

I don't know your company's product.

I don't know what 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.

Now, what was it you wanted to sell me?"

-Famous McGraw-Hill advertis.e.m.e.nt The concept of brand is a touchy one for most professional services firms. Unless you have mil ions to spend on taglines and image, spending strictly to increase your brand awareness creates hot discussion around the marketing committee or executive meeting conference tables. The debate usual y goes something like this: Brand advocate: We know our services are as good as or better than any of the other firms out there, but we keep getting beaten by wel - known firms with more aggressive marketing. Just last week we came in second fiddle to one of the big-name firms. And we al know we were perfect for this deal!

I even heard last week that Acme Industrials just signed up with one of our compet.i.tors to a six-figure contract. We've been trying to meet Acme's CFO, Katherine Janeway, for a year and a half; but someone else got the cal . Perhaps CFO Janeway checked out our web site after one of the cal s. If she did, I don't blame her for not cal ing us back. The other firms are blowing us away comparatively.

We need to make sure our name is out there more, that we get known, and that we present ourselves much better than we are doing now, or we'l never grow this place like we should. We need more brand!

Brand skeptic: That brand stuff is hogwash. People buy from us because of relationships, our people, and what we 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 time and money than to spend it on this marketing stuff.

Repeat business, referrals, and a team networking hard in the field to make contacts-we need more energy and effort in these simple, tried-and-true areas. This brand stuff is soft.

So who's right? Mike May, former Global Managing Partner for Strategy at Accenture, puts it like this: "The only problem with the second argument is that it a.s.sumes that the people-working-hard model is scalable in terms of getting you 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 a.s.sumes that the people get 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 more of those opportunities. It starts to bring it al together for you in the market. So, I think the issue between the two is a matter of scale. . . . The brand basical y pul s everything together 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 il.u.s.trated in our brand advocate/skeptic scenario question the energy and effort that should be put into brand at a professional services firm. The disagreements often stem from a lack of understanding of what a brand can do for a firm's ability to gain new clients and grow. This is because it's difficult to make a direct and tangible return on investment (ROI) calculation based on brand and marketing. As a result, marketing in many firms stil suffers from the image of marketing as soft, immeasurable, and consisting mainly of brochures and marketing fluff.

This is sometimes marketing's own brand. In one Dilbert coming strip, Dilbert is sent from his normal a.s.signment in engineering to work a stint in marketing. When he arrives, he finds the marketing department to be surrounded by Greek columns with marketers floating in the clouds like angels. Above the entrance to the department hangs a sign: "Welcome to Marketing. Two-drink minimum."

What kinds of hard-nosed managing partners and CEOs are going to listen to the fuzzy, design-sensitive, "Let's make an emotional connection"

marketing crowd? The smart ones wil , if they know what's good for them. Both for company leaders and for marketers (who need to make a better case for marketing'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 for marketers defending their reason for being and for the hard-nosed managing partners, here are the answers: Brands increase sales effectiveness. If a potential buyer says, "I know your company-you have a reputation for providing great 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 advertis.e.m.e.nt highlighted at the beginning of this chapter and in Figure 8.1.

Figure 8.1 Brands Increase Sales Effectiveness The McGraw-Hil Companies, Inc. Reproduced with permission of The McGraw-Hil Companies, Inc.

In addition, we al know that large buying decisions have multiple people influencing the 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 s.p.a.ce," 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 them," or worse.

Brands help generate 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 new white paper, or a random telephone cal inviting them to have lunch and discuss business. If they've never heard of you, the messages can often go unnoticed and untouched (until the messages build up enough over time and they've seen these messages for a while, but then you're starting to establish-dare we say-a brand).

In the Welesley Hils Group and RainToday.com research study What's Working 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 companies were significantly more likely than their "hidden gem" and "best-kept secret" counterparts to say they were "good" or "excel ent" at generating leads for their services.

(See Figure 8.2.) In total, the 30 percent of companies that considered themselves "very wel-known" in their target market benefited from the impact of reputation reach, while the 70 percent of companies that thought of themselves as "not very wel -known" didn't.

Figure 8.2 Companies' Overal Ability to Generate Leads, by Reputation Reach in Target Market Lest anyone tel you differently, brand recognition and reputation help when it comes to lead generation. Ful y 65 percent of wel -known companies report being "good" or "excel ent" at lead generation, whereas only 44 percent of the not wel -known companies report being "good" or "excel ent" at generating leads. If you are wel -known, whatever lead generation tactics you employ are likely to work better, and the brand itself can make the phone ring.