Expertise Marketplace - Professional Service Firm Marketing Blog

"Weak on Transitioning Prospects to Sales"

In his June 15 "At Large" newsletter column summarizing the recent 2009 Association for Accounting Marketing annual meeting, Rick Telberg summarizes the top 10 tips that emerged from the conference.  Guess what was number one?

"Firms do a good job of marketing but are weaker on transitioning prospects to sales, wasting the firm’s marketing investment."

Am I allowed to be just a little satisfied that that's the main topic of my upcoming book? It suggests a framework to address just this challenge, and provides 11 case studies on how successful professional firms are addressing it.  

The Integration Imperative: Erasing Marketing and Business Development Silos -- Once and for All -- in Professional Service Firms will publish next month. Watch for announcements and ordering details here.

What About Loyalty to Clients?

Did you catch the June 5 New York Times article "A Study in Why Major Law Firms are Shrinking"? The article quotes a White & Case lawyer:

"Market forces have replaced 'the social contract,' a top partner there said: 'camaraderie is 'not terribly strong,' because 'people are very scared.' "

. . . "The loyalty of the institution to its people, and vice versa, isn’t really there anymore — it’s a different animal from what a lot of us were used to. It’s much more of a business now and less of a true partnership. The problem is we’re supposed to all be in this together. But at some point, you stop and think: ‘Well, maybe we’re not.’ ”

This article nails directly many of the points I'll be addressing in my upcoming book, The Integration Imperative: Erasing Marketing and Business Development Silos -- Once and for All -- in Professional Service Firms. 

One thing is clear: Law firms like this, and firms in other professional sectors, allowed the balance between their internal and external focus to become terribly skewed.  In the quotations from the anonymous partner above, there's not one mention of clients and their needs. 

What happens when a professional firm becomes too inwardly focused?  You guessed it -- it gets "surprised" by the marketplace. I'll wager that part of their myopia stems from their internal silos, which kept them from connecting their marketing and selling functions to real client value.

My take: there's nothing wrong with a firm refocusing itself toward astute business goals. These and all professionals can indeed have fun again, and hopefully next time the clients will be a bigger part of the picture.

Is it really "thought leadership" -- or just great design?

I just read a Booz & Co piece (authored by Munich-based partner Gregor Harter), entitled "Who Would Ever Want to be a CMO?" This white paper is targeted to the consumer goods world. Harter says, "Simply dazzling consumers with great creative is not enough anymore." 

It gets me wondering about how PSF marketers approach the packaging of thought leadership. Stay with me here....

Senior marketers know how hard it is to encourage their revenue-generating practitioners to develop truly cutting edge intellectual capital. And today's hypercompetitive markets require a continuous feed of new thought leadership output for search engines and opt-in marketing programs.

Won't PSF marketers inevitably have to fall back on nifty packaging and cool graphic design to catch clients' attention? Are we distributing thought leadership that really isn't good but sure looks good? Are we about to fall into the same trap that consumer goods marketers did?

What can we do to avoid it?

(I know what I would do .... what about you?)