My Big Question #1

Recently I moderated a panel discussion of CMOs at an annual conference of law firm senior marketers and marketing partners. We surveyed the 150+ attendees on the following question:

What is the most difficult barrier your firm faces in improving Marketing and Business Development effectiveness? Their answers spoke volumes!

• None/Not enough measurement of programs or people = 25%
• None/Not enough incentives and rewards = 25%
• Poor/less than optimal systems capabilities (i.e., contacts database, intranet) = 21%
• None/Not enough communication,training and/or professional development = 29%

Are you surprised at how evenly these “Barriers to Effectiveness” answers stacked up? What does it mean, that no one answer was foremost among these four?  

What are your own opinions about the most difficult barrier your firm faces in improving Marketing and Business Development effectiveness? Add your votes to our poll here. I'll report back as soon as we get enough responses.

My big question to you is this: If you were the executive manager of your firm, would you fix all these barriers at once? Or would you pick one to start with first? Which one?

I’ll share my own opinion on Monday.

Comments

[Traci Gibson]

Hi there,

I am a marketing consultant/ freelancer looking for a way to evaluate the business model of a professional service firm (which caters to the nonprofit industry). They do no marketing & so far business has been stable; yet their client base is going through transition due to the economy and less philanthropic $. The client feels the need to "look at their business differently" & determine whether the way they currently do business is still viable in today's changing environment.

Can you recommend a relatively "simple" framework for analyzing a professional service firm's business?

[Suzanne Lowe]

Let me get this straight: you are a marketing consultant for a client that does no marketing? I certainly hope I've misunderstood your post!

[Traci Gibson]

You've got it! The client does NO marketing or business dev't-- they've been very fortunate & even "proud" of the fact they haven't had to do any of this before for at least the past 10-15 yrs. Highly-respected in their market, the Client has business "knocking at their door"-(as they say, we just "pick up the phone" and get new business). They've been the premiere service provider in their market for fundraising consulting services. However given the economic pressures on their nonprofit client base & new pressure from a competitor relaunching in their market, they realize the need to look at their business "differently"--from a marketing perspective. Their business is still strong (although they're starting to see the term of their consulting assignments decrease substantially); and want to be proactive in confronting changes to their future growth.

As a starting point the client wants to know if the way they do business is still viable in today's changing environment. That's why I'm searching for a good framework in which I can analyze the way conduct their business. In short, what are the framework components to be used in evaluating PSFs?

[Suzanne Lowe]

Traci, please understand that I'm not being puffed up when I refer you to my first book, Marketplace Masters. (Take a look at my website for more details about its contents.)

In that book, I outlined the 11 components that you should look at when evaluating a professional service firm. It is absolutely all about how a competitively effective PSF conducts business in today's changing environments.