I'm tracking others' insights - on Value Propositions and Differentiation

A tip of my hat to Brian Sommer for his Services Safari blog, which has a focus on "improving professional services." 

He's got three great posts that all address the links between a firm's distinctiveness, client-perceived value, competitive advantage, and targeted marketplace focus.   Each one has a unique angle:

• Resurgence in Big 8 - Sommer comments on a CFO Magazine table that outlines revenue and staff shifts in accounting firms from 2001 and 2006.  Regarding the table's data on revenue per professional, he remarks:  "Buyers of these services should question though the real value they get from an audit staffer billing out 3-6+ times their fully burdened cost though. I’m not convinced that true value is accruing to the clients and that these costs are appropriate."   Brian, you're looking at the power of well-conceived and well-implemented branding to drive pricing UP!
• What Do Clients Want / Like?  - Here's a real gem for marketing leaders trying to find a way to start a conversation with colleagues about analyzing clients' emerging needs and satisfaction.  Referring to a graphic in Global Services magazine, Sommer says it "shows that offshoring is more satisfactory to executives than outsourcing while the latter is used more frequently."  He concludes, "More consultancies should survey their client base like Bain did if only to find out what clients want and how well their services are satisfying clients."  I think I've died and gone to heaven!  And what if these consultancies and other professional service firms went further than that, and also analyzed the relationship of satisfaction to profit margins, and then to innovation opportunities?  Someone get me the smelling salts.
• Building Moats Around Service Firms -- Sommer unveils a key insight about the cultural influences within most professional service firms.  He says,"Service firms are more often known for fast following of someone else's ideas. In fact, fast followers are experts at breaching someone else's moat."  Oh so right!  When it comes to building a durable and pre-emptive competitive advantage, most professional service firms fall back on copying the first movers, many of which didn't build a big enough edge in the first place.  Why?  Because it's hard, and harnessing groups of people to do hard work takes time and cost (gulp!) money.  But the cost of not building a pre-emptive edge is BIGGER. Sommer also says, "When you do see moat building in professional service firms, it often takes the shape of trying to ingratiate oneself to a client and keeping out other service firms via fawning and client entertainment."  Right on again, Brian.  Client relationship management initiatives are smart business, but can only take a firm so far.  The "value" game always wins.