Five Biggest Professional Service Presentation Don'ts

My clients and business associates know I spend a lot of time writing and speaking about differentiation.  Imagine my glee, then, when my friend Ford Harding, author of Creating Rainmakers, wanted to know if I would join him and a consulting friend in coming up with our counsel on a single topic: “The Five Biggest Professional Service Presentation Don’ts” – things you shouldn’t say or do at a competitive presentation of your services to a potential client.

From what angle might we three approach this challenge?  How might our different orientations influence the advice we would give to a client about the same topic?   I said, “Count me in!”   

We are: a) presentation coach Sims Wyeth (www.simswyeth.com/Blog) who can help wet blankets set themselves on fire; b) myself, author of Marketplace Masters: How Professional Service Firms Compete to Win;  and c) Ford Harding, who can bring horses to water and get them to drink (www.HardingCo.com/blog). 

Each of us agreed to post our “Five Biggest Don’ts” simultaneously on our own blogs.  If you want to see the “Five Biggest Don’ts” of the others, just click on their blog links, above. 

To officiate, Ford, Sims and I have assembled a crackerjack panel of fifteen totally objective judges, selected for their diversity along multiple dimensions and their sublime sense of humor.  ;-)

Suzanne Lowe’s “Five Biggest Professional Service Presentation Don’ts”

1. Don’t try to differentiate or position your firm on the spot.  Sorry, pal, your whole firm should have thought of this BEFORE the presentation.  If you find yourself trying to come up with a one-time differentiation or position just for this presentation, it’s evidence your firm really ISN’T that well differentiated or positioned.
2. Don’t promise service offerings or delivery capabilities you aren’t SURE can be delivered, or that are wildly divergent from your firm’s differentiation or positioning strategy.  You’ll regret it later!
3. Don’t copy your competitors.  Your prospects will want you to match your rivals, but this is just asking you to sink to the lowest common denominator. Don't be tempted to go there!  Rather, think of a different, MORE VALUABLE way to delight your prospects.  And make it FIT with your firm’s uniqueness.
4. Don’t forget that one of your bigger competitors may not even be those regular foes you encounter at other presentations.  It may be your own prospects, who may decide NOT to purchase your services if they can do it themselves.
5. Don’t forget to review your value proposition and pricing strategies before you present your fee estimates.  Make sure you substantially challenge yourselves before the presentation to determine where the clients REALLY seek value.  It may be they seek value for something they haven’t articulated.

If you would like to submit additional “Professional Services Presentation Don’ts,” Ford, Sims and I would be glad to pass them on for rating to our totally objective board of fifteen judges.  Just add your comment at the bottom.

(To see a rainmaking expert’s choices for "Presentation Don’ts," go to Ford Harding's blog.  To see a presentation coach’s choices, go to Sims Wyeth’s blog:  www.simswyeth.com/Blog).