Expertise Marketplace - Professional Service Firm Marketing Blog

Grief + Gratitude

I am slowly returning to action after my daughter's death a month ago. It's hard, but good, to work with my wonderful clients and colleagues. So, yes -- I am grieving -- but also grateful.

I co-authored this article this summer, with Diane Schmalensee from Schmalensee Partners. It's just out now, in the latest issue of Marketing Management magazine.

The article, "Building C-Suite Skills," reviews the multiple capabilities that marketers need to develop in order to advance toward the C-suite. It offers a special focus on cross-functional, or T-shaped skills.

My company is 15!

I just realized my company, Expertise Marketing, celebrated its 15 year anniversary on January 1. Just for the heck of it, I decided to take a look at where I've been. There's a lot about which I can be proud. 

• I've worked with more than 170 separate clients, from global enterprises to start-ups and individual practitioners. (There are many great clients who are not on my website list of clients, because of the competitive sensitivity of our work.) Some of my clients have worked with me for more than eight consecutive years. One client hired me for seven separate consulting projects over several years.
• In January 2006, I launched this blog. Since then, I have published more than 265 blog posts. (And I ran a private blog for clients for about a year before that.)  
• I launched a monthly online newsletter in May 2004. I just published Issue # 81!
• Starting from a single line of business (consulting services only), my revenue now comes from four sources: 1) consulting; 2) my membership-oriented CMO group facilitation; 3) speaking engagements and client workshops; and 4) my books and studies.
• I've contributed to two books (Marketing Professional Services and Bull's Eye), and written two of my own (Marketplace Masters and The Integration Imperative). 

I've stayed true to the name of my company: Expertise Marketing. From the beginning, I figured I'd better develop and market my own expertise too. This approach has not only served as a fantastic R&D engine, it has also helped me develop thousands of new relationships. 

I've stayed ahead of my competition. Fifteen years ago, I didn't know any other consultants or firms whose focus was on the cross-section of professional service "industries." Now there are many. And yet, none are really my competitors. My biggest "competitor" is more likely a firm that considered working with me, and then either decided not to move forward at all, or undertook its work in-house. 

In the early days, I thought I wanted to build a traditional consulting firm, with me as the head of a team of leveraged resources. Even though the people on my team were awesome (I'm talking about you, Brian!), ultimately, that model didn't feel right. Since then, I've assembled a team of crackerjack entrepreneurs whose work supports my company. They include: 

• My virtual assistant Kyle Sheldon-Chandler of KSC Virtual Assistant Services. Kyle and I have worked together for seven years now. She reminds me everyday that learning and laughter are the rule for business success. 
• My e-marketing guru Andrea Harris of Minerva Solutions. I started working with Andrea in October 2003. Andrea's the best digital marketing communicator I've ever seen. 
• My financial team Laura Glennon of Greater Boston Bookkeeping & Financial Services, and Jim McCusker of James McCusker & Associates. They help my company keep track of the money! 

The most important person on my team is my wonderful husband John, who has encouraged me to take risks, and to "stay on target" toward making a meaningful contribution in the field of professional services marketing. 

And so here's a toast . . . to my family, my clients, my friends, my colleagues . . . and to me!

Where are you going? A personal reflection

For this post, I'd like to talk about how our personal journeys shape our professional legacies. To know where you are going, I think, it helps to have perspective about where you came from. 

Most of us don't have to look too far. But for me, having lost my Dad when I was young (he died when I was 14, and Mom a few short years later), knowing how my immediate ancestors shaped my journey was always a little more challenging. I became a genealogy buff. I discovered some amazing connections.

But it wasn't until last week that I had a clue about how my Dad's work nevertheless threaded its way into my own. Sure, I knew I inherited his entrepreneurial streak. But I think, now, that there's more.

My Dad was a film producer in the 1960s. His specialty was educational and promotional films. I have a framed picture of him in my office, gesturing at a 3-D model of what would become the 1964 New York World's Fair. In the photo, he's standing between Robert Moses and Walt Disney. Heady stuff.

That picture was all I had from his professional world. But that changed last week. After numerous attempts, over many decades, to find his films, all of a sudden I found two of them on the web. Two of them! Both are black-and-white, long, and oh-so-dated. (In this one, my Dad makes a cameo at 24:30.) These films are 50 years old, and I had never seen them. It was like having my own personal "Field of Dreams" moment.

(Even more spine-tingling: my daughter now works for the New York City Parks Department in the very same Administration building (The Olmstead Center) whose groundbreaking my Dad chronicled in one of these films.)  

But beyond the incredible thrill of finding two of my Dad's films, both offer a look at how marketing worked in those days. The clients (Robert Moses and the World's Fair Corporation) wanted to portray the "players" (governments, corporations, religions, individuals) as optimistic, energetic and globally oriented. These were exactly my Dad's personal brand qualities!  No wonder they chose him, repeatedly, to help promote their ambitious projects. Sure enough, by the end of the films, you believe people are inherently good, and that the World's Fair is going to be enormously fun.  

My work is to help professional and business service firms develop strategies to compete and grow more effectively. As I guide them to address their challenging organizational structures and cultures, broken processes, under-resourced teams, copycat competitors -- and more -- I always want to portray optimism, positive energy and a global orientation.

This is where I came from. This is where I want to go. 

Who Becomes a Legend?

Over the holidays, when I was on vacation, I was gratified to be recognized as one of the top gurus in professional services (and the only woman on the list). (Thank you, Ian Brodie!) First on Brodie's list (with great justification) was David Maister, who this week announcedhis well-deserved retirement.

Brodie said his criteria were "most influential writers, advisors and consultants to the professions – particularly when it comes to strategy, marketing and business development." 

Notwithstanding the fact that this was one man's opinion, Brodie's "top gurus" list calls an important question: why was Maister included on this list? Why was I?  

I think it's a couple of factors. First, and I have followed Maister's lead on this, is the idea of giving away one's intellectual capital. I have never worried that I couldn't eventually make a decent living while creating and sharing my expertise. "Giving it away" appears to increase one's stature and influence.

Second, of my own accord, I've endeavored to push the envelope in the arena of professional services marketing and management strategy. Call it curiosity, or intolerance to the status quo, but I want to continuously shape the future success for professional service firm growth. "Pushing the envelope" appears to increase one's stature and influence.

What are the other factors that make professionals recognized as influencers?

A nod to Patrick McKenna

A few days ago, I posted a long thank-you list, expressing my gratitude to people who helped me with my new book, The Integration Imperative.  Buried in that list was Patrick McKenna, who deserves a special nod for his early enthusiasm for my work, encouragement to forge ahead and incredible network of senior-level professional service firm relationships, one of which led to a case for my book!

Patrick, you're the man!

My heartfelt thanks for helping me with The Integration Imperative

I'm getting many compliments about having just published The Integration Imperative. But I couldn't have done it without the help of so many people!  Such as....

My 2006 co-authored study advisors:

In 2006 I co-published with Larry Bodine the findings of a significant research project, "Increasing Marketing Effectiveness at Professional Firms." Larry’s enthusiasm and generosity helped create a viable springboard for this book. Also, I am indebted to the many hundreds of research respondents whose input helped form or verify the concepts that appear in this book. The “Increasing Effectiveness” research was guided by professional service firm management and marketing leaders Anne Malloy Tucker, Russ Molinar, Debbie Stojanovic, Wendy Miller, Karen Hoy, David Fondiller, Allison Held, Isidora Lagos, Don Spetner, Anne Elvgren, Jason Dinwoodie, Sally Glick, David Bruns, Marianne Swallie, Teresa Poggenpohl, Maxine Friedman, George Friedel, and Cherie Olland.

My 2006 study collaborators:

I'm grateful to several “Increasing Effectiveness” study collaborators for assisting in the questionnaire’s distribution and promotion: Michael McLaughlin (“Management Consulting News”); Mike Schultz and his RainToday colleagues; and the wonderful staff at the Society for Marketing Professional Services and the Association for Accounting Marketing. And, as with my earlier research initiatives, my crackerjack statistician George Zipf helped set up the questionnaire and conducted substantive analysis of the data.

Feedback on The Integration Imperative themes:

I tested my ideas about the book’s potential themes with a number of professional service marketing in-house leaders, consultants, and management experts. I could not have written this book without their invaluable advice and generous sharing of viewpoints. They are Bill Viehman, Charles Agin, Ron Worth, David Harkleroad, Ford Harding, Jayne Bates, Judi Nitsch, Karen Courtney, Kate Kirkpatrick, Tom Kiely, Ken Lizotte, Mark Beese, Mary Garrett, Sally Glick, David Fondiller, Patrick Lamb, Michael Reilly, Regina Maruca, Bill Matassoni, Sharon Clark, Teri Schram, Tom Rodenhauser, Ben Machtiger, Terrie Perella, Tom Kuczmarski, Bruce Marcus, Marc Busny, Wendy Miller, and Becky Sue Epstein.

Referral sources and interviewees:

In my search for professional firms whose integration case studies could best illustrate the book’s structural frameworks and cultural models, I interviewed more than one hundred people. Their referrals to potential case study sources helped me choose the most powerful examples to feature in the book. I also held discussions with numerous authorities in organizational behavior, human resources, industrial psychology, performance management and compensation. In every case, even with people who had never talked to me before, these individuals endorsed my pursuit of the integration topic, and encouraged me to push ahead to complete the manuscript. They include: August Aquila, Dan Archabal, Ray Bejarano, Allan Benowitz, Gordon Braun-Woodbury, Roger Brossy, Jan Cooper, Susan Cronin, Gale Crosley, Kevin Doyle, Paul Dunay, Jean Egmon, Sally Feldman, Matthew Grant, Gary Katz, Tom Kiely, Thomas Lah, Biff Maddock, Claire Muhm, Joanna Nikka, Heidi O'Gorman, Mike Oliver, Dick Patton, Vince Perro, Ronald Pol, Susanne Rheault, Larry Richard, Bill Scott, Marilyn Scott, Larry Stybel, Barbara Sullivan, Laura Hine, Tom Wilson and Bill Westwood.

Case study contacts:

I could not have produced the book’s case studies without the enthusiastic involvement of a small team of people at each of the companies profiled. They are: Michael Franzino and Michael Distefano, Hilary Dyson, Ana Dutra and Marnie Kittelson of Korn/Ferry International; Mark Beese, Larry Wolfe, Jennifer Kummer, Brittaney Schmidt and Emily Hager of Holland & Hart; Janice Barnes, Bill Viehman, Eileen Jones, Manuel Cadrecha, and Phil Harrison of Perkins+Will; Scott Jensen, Chris Schmidt, Rick Anderson, Heather Kean, Marilyn Monserud and Amy Esary of Moss Adams; Mary Garrett of IBM; Sylvia Wheeler, Bruce Beverly and Denise Coleman of Haley & Aldrich; Tea Hoffmann, Jerry Stauffer, Kim Low, Laura Hine and Susan Wagner of Baker Donelson; Dave Kipp and Craig Toder of Ross & Baruzzini; Nancy Grimmer, Sarah Stanley, Charles Doyle, Paul Uber and Molly Kelly of Jones Lang LaSalle; Jessica Reiter, Russ Stepp and Susan Newton of R.W. Beck; and Frans Cornelis and Ineke Brandenburg of Randstad.

Thought leaders' work:

There were also several people whose intellectual capital is featured in this book, and whose sharing of study reports, charts, and slide presentations helped make my own content even stronger. For their generosity I am indebted to Diane Schmalensee, David Stone, Bob Buday, Tom Kuczmarski, Cindy Commander, Meagan Wilson, Jane Stevenson, and AAM's Granville Loar.

Also, I referenced a small number of firms whose work to increase their go-to-market effectiveness served as excellent examples of the book’s “Doing Things Differently” points. For letting me showcase their work, I am grateful to Susan Arneson and Carl Roehling of SmithGroup; Jeff Durocher of RHR International; Ed Kasparek of Thornton Tomasetti; Jay Wager of Wolf, Greenfield & Sacks; Kate Kirkpatrick of Gensler; and Jim Lanzalotto, formerly of Yoh.

On a personal note:

My journey to complete this book could not have been completed without a fine team of specialists in editing, book production, graphics and publishing. Regina Maruca’s early enthusiasm for my pursuit of this book motivated me more than I can express. With her writing and editorial experience, Marie Gendron helped me begin to articulate my ideas in a coherent way. With his graphic design acumen, Scott Williams helped me envision ways to visually represent the book’s themes. I was fortunate to work with Nancy Benjamin and the Books by Design team; each team member applied her extensive experience to the book’s packaging and production. Lois Wasoff added her top-notch publishing law perspectives. I am enormously appreciative to John Butman and Ken Lizotte, who unselfishly provided me their invaluable book-publishing consulting expertise. I offer my heartfelt thanks to professional services management guru David Maister, who reviewed my manuscript and gave me important advice regarding the book’s structure.  I am also indebted to Patrick McKenna, for his very early and sustained enthusiasm for my work, incredible global referral network, robust thought leadership, and tremendous professional colleagiality. (What a fine combination!)  
 
My Expertise Marketing team lent professional passion to every step of the book’s creation, especially Laura Glennon, Andrea Harris and my crackerjack virtual assistant, Kyle Sheldon-Chandler.

Behind all of these many individuals stands my family, without whose sustained investment of personal time, energy -- and love -- I could not have forged ahead. Each of them gave me courage to forge ahead, and every moment reminded me of all that is good. They include: Elisabeth Townsend and Jeff Greene, for being my incomparable book buddies from start to finish; the other cherished members of my Squam Lake family; and my amazing siblings Julie and Jim. My incredible husband John and my precious children Kerry, Elaine and J.B. each offered unconditional enthusiasm, patient listening when I talked about my subject and my publishing journey, and heartfelt encouragement when I flagged during challenging moments.

More arm twisting, more often

My blog has been silent for a few weeks.  I might as well confess now that I had hoped to be more active, but my second rotator cuff surgery of the year has sidelined me.  Unfortunately, this time it was my right shoulder, my dominant side, and I have learned voice recognition software in order to communicate.  Actually, it's not as bad as I thought.  No more spelling errors!

Stay tuned, then, for some fantastic physical therapy stories ... all tied of course to marketing somehow.