The 2013 Paradigm Shift in Selling Professional Services

You have passed the mid-point of 2013 and what is happening to your resolution to capture more business this year. This article is intended to create a framework for evolving your 2013 marketing and business development strategies to encompass changes in markets and client preferences.  There is still time for your firm to achieve success in 2013.

I propose five themes that impact every engineering, architecture, CPA and law firm.  The combined effect represents the 2013 paradigm shift in selling professional services.

1.       Sun Tzu Meets Social Media

The Art of War has been the subject of numerous business books over the past 30 years.  The strategies and tactics employed by General Sun Tzu have been used by countless professional services firms to defeat competition, gain new clients and win business.  Firms today who are expanding their social media presence can benefit from another reading of this book.  Sun Tzu believed that strategy was not simply working through an established list, but rather that it requires quick and appropriate responses to changing conditions.  Changing conditions are the essence of our markets today.   Developing new relationships with prospects is probably the best outcome for using social media to sell your services. Using the Art of War as a map in developing your social media strategy will help guide you to success in winning more business in 2012. 

2.       Training Improves Business Development Outcomes

Training has been down across the board for professional services firms over the last four years.  There are two primary reasons why most firms don’t embrace business development training.  Management believes, “we have been there and done that and it wasn’t effective.” When professionals tasked with selling are told about another training program, their response is, “here we go again.”  The response is related to the process and approach taken by most firms.  The process of bringing in a consultant in for one or two days to train key staff and motivate them is not always effective because behaviors and attitudes are not changed.  The enthusiasm fades in a couple of days and people go back to the way they have always done things.  Business Development Professionals does two things differently.  First, we research the company and give the people attending the class a homework assignment prior to the training.  Since it takes 30 days to build a habit, we are now providing a 30-Day Training Reinforcement tool.   Those two differences along with our customized approach to training, are the keys  to our value proposition.

3.       It’s 2013, Do You Know Where Your Value Proposition Is?

A number of years ago McGraw Hill ran a print ad promoting their magazines that featured a businessman sitting on a chair in an empty room.  The text read, “I don’t know you, your company, or  its services.  Now what is it that you are trying to sell me.”  Do clients see you as distinct from your competitors?  In order to be on the top of your clients’ minds, your message needs to be important to them.  Finally, your clients and prospects need to believe that you can deliver on your promises.   In a recent survey of business-to-business clients, the overall value a firm could deliver was rated number one while cost of services was ranked third on the list of selection criteria.  A solid value proposition virtually eliminates fee from the selection criteria and removes your firm as a commidity.  Has your value proposition ever changed?

4.       Do You Nurture a Business Development Culture?

Almost every professional services firm believes that everyone is responsible for marketing.  This is actually code for everyone is responsible for selling and business development.  Does everyone in the organization know what your marketing strategy is and what lies ahead in business development?  Most firms have a weekly “marketing” meeting where only the marketing/business development staff and a few principals attend.  Your internal newsletter might announce new projects, but what about everything that is in the pipeline?  What if one of your IT guys happens to live next door to a key decision maker of a firm in your pipeline?  Couldn’t he help move your strategy forward? 

The other part of the business development culture is in the area of internal communications.  Most firms are proud to claim that marketing begins with how the receptionist answers the telephone.  That was how it used to be.  Today, the telephone systems at many firms go directly to individuals or voicemail.  Do you give everyone a script for the personal message on voicemail?  Is there any training for how people should answer their phones?  The bottom line is helping everyone in the firm take ownership of their role in the business development process.

5.       Giving Thanks to Clients

We just finished the holiday season and many firms spent a lot of time and resources in planning what gifts they would give their clients.  Some firms invited them to a special party or dinner where they were recognized.  These things are great, but are the "one and done" thank you events effective?  Every firm does it, so it becomes the cost of doing business.  For the past eight years I have been bringing a monthly breakfast and dinner to a homeless shelter.  During the Christmas season a few years ago, the director told me that a lot of churches want to do something for Christmas.  She appreciated the help, but reminded me that her residents need something to eat every day.  Clients need to be thanked more than once a year as well.  There are a lot of ways to do this and don’t need to cost a lot of money.  If your firm gives back to the community in areas like Habitat for Humanity or other non-profit assistance programs, find out which programs your clients are active with.  Instead of simply giving a financial donation in the client’s name, consider sending people to the next project.  We have all heard that it is the thought that counts in giving.  Your people interacting with your client’s principals on a community project is priceless.

How does this all come together to illustrate the paradigm shift in selling professional services? In our training programs we like to identify the markets the firm is involved with prior to the engagement and their assessment of each market for the next 12 months.  Higher education, healthcare, governmental, corporate, and K-12 are the markets we have concentrated on.  Our experience in the parking industry spans across all of these markets.  We have seen clients looking for specialists or niche firms to provide services as well as larger firms offering all the required services in-house.  Here is where we see the paradigm shift for selling professional services:

Existing Paradigm	Paradigm Shift
Sell to the client through a rainmaker	Multiple decision makers touched by many
Marketing performance lacked measurement	ROMI requires measurement and strategic focus
In-House staff training  as needed	Corporate BD culture demands outside expertise
Value Proposition as a marketing tool	Value proposition as a key client decision criteria
Client loyalty drives repeat business	Competitors’ strategically attacking
Social Media: an experiment	Social Media: A selling tool
Economic trends cycle markets differently	Culture, socio-economic impacts changing markets

Finally, we welcome your feedback and comments about this article.  Our 2013 Fall seminar and training programs will be built around the content of this article.  Please contact us, if you want to start a conversation about the services we can provide your firm or whether a seminar is planned for your city.