In my book Marketplace Masters, I explored the market-driven processes, policies and protocols that successful professional service firms have used to their competitive advantage. Now I'm wondering, "What prevents professional service firms from implementing these (and other) well-documented effective approaches?"
Over the past year, I've been struck by the amount of Marketing-oriented dysfunction that I continue to see in professional service firms, regardless of professional sector: poor internal marketing communication; diplomatic and political ineptitude regarding garnering leaders' endorsement of marketing strategies; counterproductive and sometimes truly baffling marketing reporting relationships; not implementing client-endorsed differentiation strategies; under-resourced marketing teams; inexperienced marketing partner leadership; and more "ready-fire-aim" marketplace programs than you'd believe.
What's going on here?
Some of my past research findings, and the painful Marketing struggles that I've witnessed recently, suggest that for most professional service firms a true Marketing DNA is not a given, and that too little is being done to improve effectiveness in achieving substantive marketplace gains. It surprises me that so few professional service firms have taken to heart the Marketplace wake-up call they received from the recession in the early millennium.
There's something about this "DNA" issue that bears further examination. I'm intrigued by some of the content of Gary L. Neilson and Bruce A. Pasternack's new book RESULTS: Keep What's Good, Fix What's Wrong and Unlock Great Performance (Crown: 2005).
The authors report on patterns of behavior that prevent companies from getting the results they want. See if some of the following look familiar:
- Passive-Aggressive (“everyone agrees, smiles, and nods, but nothing changes”): entrenched underground resistance makes getting anything done like trying to nail Jell-O to the wall
- Fits-and-Starts (“let 1,000 flowers bloom”): filled with smart people pulling in different directions
- Outgrown (“the good old days meet a brave new world”): reacts slowly to market developments, since it’s too hard to run new ideas up the flagpole
- Just-in-Time (“succeeding, but by the skin of our teeth”): can turn on a dime and create real breakthroughs but also tends to burn out its best and brightest
I'm sure we could each articulate our own versions of the behavioral DNA described above.
It's clear that many professional firms simply don't have a market-driven DNA; they are undoubtedly driving their CMOs and senior marketing leaders crazy as a result. It's also clear that professional firm leaders can tap into the other naturally positive aspects of DNA of their firms, in order to develop objective, well aligned and factually supported marketing strategies. As part of that effort, CMOs and their teams will have to expand their own personal credibility as leaders who should be listened to. They should also be prepared to wage internal "influence" campaigns in order to harness whatever DNA they can that will help build their firms' marketplace sensibilities.
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