6 Big Ideas for Marketing Services Professionals

1. Mirror , mirror on the wall, who is the Best Marketer of them all?

It is a funny thing about mirrors.  What you see is what you get.  What does your reflection tell you about your skills as a marketing services professional?   When Michael Jordan was winning championships for the Chicago Bulls, a reporter asked him whether he thought he was the best player in the league.  His response might help you understand your reflection.  He replied, “I don’t think I am better than the other players and I don’t think any player is better than me.”  Humility is  not always recognized as a strong suit for a superstar.  Everyone working with a team needs to know when to be humble.  If you have a problem with that, try the Jordan rules.

2. What are your limitations? 

Everyone has had the opportunity to take a personality test like Meyers Briggs or DISC.  The question every professional has to answer is whether you need to strengthen your weaknesses or build upon your strengths.  I like the idea of building on strengths. However, just as Clint Eastwood philosophized in the “Dirty Harry” movies, “A man’s got to realize his limitations,” resourceful  professionals realize that sometimes it makes sense to look for ways to strengthen weaknesses.  You might try self-taught programs and reading industry books.  Some people rely on a coach.  Others look for courses that cover the areas where improvement is needed.  The point is to do something , create a plan and track your progress.

3. Are men better listeners than women? 
Some studies would indicate they are not.  Yet, listening sets the tone for relationships and emotional connection. It allows empathy and creates interpersonal bonds. Successful people don’t master speaking but rather listening.  Has your success trajectory hit a brick wall? Listening skills might be what is holding you back.

True listening is more than an auditory process. It takes in all senses especially those involving hearing and observation. As a communication process, it commands about 45% of a marketing professional’s time.  Information is key to performance. Without listening, you can’t gather information.  Think about how quick your brain responds to listening.  People speak at about 125-250 words per minute. Hearing is faster at about 350 to 500 words per minute but processing and analyzing  what has been taken in is faster still at 800 to 3000 words per minute.  Studies show that more than 35 percent of businesses think listening is a top skill for success. Yet, less than 2% of people have had formal education with listening.

If improved listening skills could increase your success rate with clients, what would that be worth to you and your firm?

4.  Keep Your Credibility
I hear complaints all the time about people who don’t show up to appointments, are late for meetings, abandon projects, don’t respond to emails and phone calls as promised, and don’t honor commitments. These bad habits destroy credibility and trust.

Credibility can be lost in a blink of an eye and it can take weeks, months and even years to regain it.

Here are 5 easy practices that will greatly increase your credibility and trustworthiness.

1. Do what you say
2. Finish what you start
3. Be on time
4. Be polite and treat people with respect – say please and thank you
5. When you make a mistake, admit it right away and fix it right away

Amazing things can happen to your career when you follow these simple steps.

5.  Are you a Sun Tsu marketer? 

Is there anything professional services marketers can learn from The Art of War?  If you believe you are in a war against your competitors, the economy, regulations,  or company resources, there is a lot to learn from Sun Tsu.   Here is a taste of what you will learn, “To make yourself invulnerable to defeat lies in your own hands, but the enemy himself must provide you with the opportunity to defeat him.”

6. Make video part of your marketing strategy?  

Are you and your firm in the video age?  Industry professionals are starting to grasp the advantage that video provides in presentations and on websites.  If you haven’t made the transition, here are a couple of easy steps to get you going.    

Create sharable content.  Videos are shared when they educate or entertain.  It is often a good thing to do both.  Since YouTube is the second largest web search engine, use keywords.  Put keywords in Title Tag, Video Description, Category Listing, Keyword Tags, Subtitles, and Captions. 
Share socially on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.  Measure the results using Google Analytics. 

How to Create a Measurable, Client-Centric Marketing Plan

As marketing services professionals begin planning for 2011, what is the number one question on the mind of management today? In an economy that is staggering and an industry where the unemployment rate is greater than the national average, a higher return on their investment in marketing is probably at the top of the list.


In other words, the strategies and tactics in your 2011 Marketing Plan need to be measurable. But, it is more serious than that. The plan must also breakdown how you will acquire, retain and grow client value. Yes, it needs to focus on clients.

Most firms believe they already focus on clients. If this is true, then why do we spend 80% of our marketing resources acquiring the 20% of new clients that are needed each year to replace lost clients?

The answer to that is simple: It costs at least 5 times as much to gain a new client as it does to keep an existing client. But it still begs the question: How do we keep existing clients?  You need to bridge the gap between marketing and business development, and you need to measure results.

Measurement can be a tricky thing when it comes to marketing performance. Some firms already measure the results of marketing, but are they measuring the important metrics? It reminds me of the quality craze in the industry when every firm was using quality as a way to differentiate. The firm I was at adopted the Phillip Crosby model. Everyone from clerical up to management was tasked with charting some aspect of their work. It soon became clear that there were a lot of things that could be measured, but not all of them were beneficial for improving job performance or quality.

The same is true in marketing. For example, the number of proposals written or hit rates could be measured. Obviously, these are metrics that are directly related to the number of new jobs. However, what if all of the new projects are coming from existing clients? If your overall hit rate is 70% and all of the projects come from clients who are at 100%, your effective new client hit rate might be at 35%. Is that a metric your company can prosper with? We can look at a different scenario to prove this point.


What if your new projects are falling in one market or service sector when your mission is to find work in multiple markets and service sectors? On the outside the return on marketing investment looks rosy, but when you peel back the results, the future does not look as good.

This is the paradox of measuring return on marketing investment. On one side you have to build client loyalty and on the other you need to find projects in multiple markets and service sectors. For many firms it means taking a new approach to market planning. It must start with the 2011 Marketing Plan.

The framework of the plan—Objectives, Goals, Strategies and Tactics—remain the same. Measurement happens in the details. When you review strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, you must start at the beginning with market research. What does your firm research prior to developing an annual marketing plan? Remember the three types of research: Secondary, Syndicated and Primary.

Are these essentials included in your annual market planning activities? In my seminars and workshops, I always like to use the story of Alice in Wonderland. Remember when she comes out of the hole and she asks the caterpillar which way she should turn? The caterpillar answers, “Where are you headed?” Alice replies, “I don’t know.” Then the caterpillar says, “Then it doesn’t matter which way your turn.”

Marketing plans without a foundation of research represent the same dilemma. It is no wonder that most industry marketing plans are simply copies of the previous year with new numbers.

Like I said at the beginning of this blog, 2011 is the year to get serious because management is serious. Management is no longer giving a rubber stamp to market planning as usual. They want measurement that is effective. Although they look at the bottom line, they recognize the business needs of feeding all service sectors and markets as well. Maybe they have even challenged you to look at new markets.

Business Development Professionals has developed a new workshop to help marketing services professionals with 2011 marketing plans. “Create a Client-Centric, Measurable Marketing Plan to Acquire, Retain and Grow Client Value” is the one learning experience that will help you achieve management’s expectations as you document the return on marketing investment (ROMI).

The Workshop will be held in Chicago on December 3 and Philadelphia on December 7. It will also be held in four other cities next January and February. For information call (610) 908-5143 or visit the website: www.businessdevelopmentpros.org