Have you ever gone on a blind date or danced with a stranger? The blind date is filled with mystery and intrigue. It doesn’t matter how the encounter was started, your response is directly related to a positive outcome. It can be nerve wracking, but remember the other person is having a similar response. Both parties are at risk. A wedding is the furthest thing from their minds at the initial encounter.
The same is true in the professional services industry when one business wants to interact with another. There is always a first meeting and it often feels like you are dancing with a stranger.
Everything that comes in between is the interesting part. When you’re dating, you’re gathering information about each other: what you both like to do, eating and entertainment habits, recreation, family, job, and even hobbies. This courting process can take some time. Sure, there is always love at first sight, but that doesn’t work for a majority of people. Even when it does, additional knowledge does come in handy, especially when you’re discovering the things that you do well together. Your heart says a lot about developing this relationship, but so does your head.
It's no different when it comes to professional services marketing. You need to deepen your relationship with prospects over time, interacting in a variety of settings, learning more about each other's needs and capabilities while progressing seamlessly from one interaction to the next. Many firms will call this a strategic approach to business development, but not every firm employs it. Like travelling on the road to a lifelong relationship with another person, you need to know when to commit more resources to the relationship as well as when to pull back and give the prospect some space.
When you are courting, it is a process of nurturing the relationship. In your business it is the same thing with every lead you come across. You have to dance with a lot of strangers before you find the ones worth developing a deeper relationship.
The process for professional services firm is defined as building a relationship with qualified prospects who are not yet sales-ready, regardless of budget, authority, or timing – and of ensuring a clean hand-off to principals at the right time. Just as in dating, lead nurturing can be described with defined stages, including:
1. The Prologue
2. First Encounter
3. Dancing
4. The Proposal
5. Negotiation
6. The Wedding
The Prologue
The introduction is the first time your future client hears of you. It is up to an associate, vendor, mentor, website, social media profile, or some othermatchmaker to make you seem interesting and attractive. You don't have direct control over the introduction, but the more you can do to
influence it, the better. Just as a nice haircut and a manicure prepare you for that first date,
every marketer should prepare for that introduction.
Discover Your Ideal Prospect
The first step in the introduction should be to determine your ideal prospect. Just as you
know you like tall, dark and handsome, you should also know that the best prospects for
your services and solutions are companies in the United States with 100 or more employees,
in the pharmaceutical and healthcare verticals. It’s not usually this simple, but having an idea
of what your ideal prospect looks like will help you focus your marketing. If you know that tall, dark and handsome is often at your alma mater’s tailgate parties, you’ll probably want to be there, early and often. In other words, network where your ideal prospects congregate.
Build Your Brand
If you’re wondering whether branding matters in professional services marketing, a 2010 branding report says the answer is yes, concluding, "If you are well known, whatever lead
generation tactics you employ are likely to work better." In fact, 65% of companies that claim
they are well known report being good or excellent at lead generation, while only 44% of the
not well known companies report being good or excellent.
Brand matters because buyers of professional services are still people and emotions impact economic decisionmaking. Your prospects are overwhelmed with choices and information – more than any buyer could evaluate rationally. This means that no matter how disciplined a buying process is, emotional brand impressions do influence vendor selection. Web 2.0 is also changing the way marketers build their brand. With the growing popularity of blogs, podcasts, social media and the like, buyers would rather talk to each other, instead of listening to a marketing message. So take advantage of this by creating thought leadership, using Web 2.0 techniques.
Create Thought Leadership
One way professional service firms can build their brand is by helping buyers research early in the sales cycle, demonstrating that they are trusted advisers who understand the prospect's problems. By using thought leadership to engage prospects early, you build awareness and increase your chances that the prospect will respond to future demand generation efforts.
Creating thought leadership helps your prospects learn more about you, your background
and how you think. It helps build the foundations of a relationship: familiarity and trust. At
this stage, don’t hide your thought leadership content behind registration forms. Set this
content free to allow it to spread virally.
Write White Papers
White papers are used at almost any stage of the pipeline, from lead generation to customer retention. They typically range from four to eight pages, and shouldn’t be more than
12 pages long. According to Michael Stelzner of Writing White Papers, “A white paper is a persuasive document that usually describes approach of an article and weaves in
persuasive corporate messages typically found in brochures.” And studies have shown that white papers are highly viral; that is, they are passed around by 60% of technology professionals. According to a study by MarketingSherpa and KnowledgeStorm, this is because white papers are considered to be credible resources for thought leadership and subject matter expertise.
Create eBooks
As an alternative to white papers, consider eBooks, defined by David Meerman Scott as the
"hip and stylish younger sibling to the nerdy whitepaper." An eBook delivers the content in a
form that's designed for quick scanning and reading online. The content tends to come in
more bite-sized chunks (as in a presentation). With newer versions of Microsoft PowerPoint,
audio can be added to each page/slide.
Use social media
Social media continues to grow in popularity, and has become another conduit to your
prospects. Sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn and MySpace allow people to build online
relationships by joining groups, chatting and commenting about products and services. On
LinkedIn, for instance, you frequently see questions from your network asking for
recommendations for services and consultants.
Blogging is a great way to build thought leadership and, therefore, your brand. Your blog
should fill the information needs of your prospects and invites comments from readers.
Podcasts – essentially audio clips of you speaking instead of writing, or of an interview with
another thought leader – are a great attachment to your blog. RSS feeds and content
formatted for mobile devices such as Blackberry, Treo and iPhone extend your blog’s reach.
The YouTube phenomenon cannot be forgotten. A funny or clever short video that goes viral
can quickly build your brand.
The First Encounter
The first encounter is all about making a good first impression. Remember, you don’t get a second chance to make a good first impression. Don't come on too strong or you'll scare your prospect away. Who would say, “will you marry me,” after their first dance? Think about philosopher, Toby Keith, when he wrote that “sometimes I want to talk about me”. Don’t make the first encounter all about you. Use the precious time as an opportunity to learn more about your prospect's wants and needs, as well as to share some relevant information about yourself.
The prospect might be in the early stage of the selection process so carefully plan the delivery of information. If you know where the client is at, you might want to go with thought leadership information. Either way, they should be short and to the point. You’re trying to make a good first impression.
Develop case studies
Also known as success stories, case studies are short, one or two page documents that
vangelize a client’s success and ROI from use of your solution. Sections typically include
an introduction, challenge and solution. And don’t forget to include a compelling client quote or two and a short section at the end that tells about your services and company.
Dancing
Prospect development starts here. Your prospect has shown at least some interest in you. You don't want to ruin a good first impression by calling too often or asking for
too much commitment too soon. Instead, develop the relationship by sharing additional information at the right time. If tall, dark and handsome responds to your overtures,
you want to talk to him and try to gather more information: Is he single? Is he interesting? In professional services relationships, it’s much the same: make offers of more information at scheduled intervals and determine the level of interest at each stage. The goal, of course, is to get agreement from your dance partner that the relationship should move to the next level.
Share relevant third party information
You don't need to create all the lead nurturing content yourself. You can demonstrate how well you understand each prospect's wants and needs by sharing relevant third party content with them. This can be as simple as emailing a news article and saying "Based on our conversation last week, I thought you'd find this interesting."
Make it personal
Remember, the goal of "courting" is to build a relationship with a real person. Buyers of professional services are people, so the human touch matters. John Nesbitt in his best seller Mega Trends, wrote that as our culture became more dependent upon technology, we would need to have more human interaction. He coined the term: Hi Tech=High Touch. Lead nurturing is a conversation, not a series of disjointed campaigns. Personalize email responders and landing pages. Make sure each step connects with the prior one. And except for webinar invitations, don’t make the same offer twice in one email flow.
Make it personal. The goal of courting is to build a relationship
with a real person.
The Proposal
When identifying your ideal customer, marketing and business development must work
together to determine the best indicators of success, in terms of what
the client looks like (markets,services,geography, etc.). During this discussion,
you should also determine the activities that result in agreement-ready
lead. For instance, if a prospect fits your demographic target, responded to your email, and asked for more information, you might give him a 5 or 6 on readiness to move forward. If he asked for your assistance in writing the RFP or talks to you about project-specific budget issues, you might put the prospect at an 8 or 9.
Use customer references
Client references are always excellent ways of closing new clients. Marketing should
cultivate and nurture existing clients and gain permission to use them as references. Care
should be taken with references to ensure any single reference isn’t over-used. Remember
that they’re doing you a favor. Get these references published on LinkedIn as well.
The Wedding
The Deal. The Close. The Win. Ultimately, making the sale is up to your
principals, but by implementing a sound nurturing and scoring process,
you have helped them by establishing a relationship and positioning your
company as a leader with the prospect.
The same is true in the professional services industry when one business wants to interact with another. There is always a first meeting and it often feels like you are dancing with a stranger.
Everything that comes in between is the interesting part. When you’re dating, you’re gathering information about each other: what you both like to do, eating and entertainment habits, recreation, family, job, and even hobbies. This courting process can take some time. Sure, there is always love at first sight, but that doesn’t work for a majority of people. Even when it does, additional knowledge does come in handy, especially when you’re discovering the things that you do well together. Your heart says a lot about developing this relationship, but so does your head.
It's no different when it comes to professional services marketing. You need to deepen your relationship with prospects over time, interacting in a variety of settings, learning more about each other's needs and capabilities while progressing seamlessly from one interaction to the next. Many firms will call this a strategic approach to business development, but not every firm employs it. Like travelling on the road to a lifelong relationship with another person, you need to know when to commit more resources to the relationship as well as when to pull back and give the prospect some space.
When you are courting, it is a process of nurturing the relationship. In your business it is the same thing with every lead you come across. You have to dance with a lot of strangers before you find the ones worth developing a deeper relationship.
The process for professional services firm is defined as building a relationship with qualified prospects who are not yet sales-ready, regardless of budget, authority, or timing – and of ensuring a clean hand-off to principals at the right time. Just as in dating, lead nurturing can be described with defined stages, including:
1. The Prologue
2. First Encounter
3. Dancing
4. The Proposal
5. Negotiation
6. The Wedding
The Prologue
The introduction is the first time your future client hears of you. It is up to an associate, vendor, mentor, website, social media profile, or some othermatchmaker to make you seem interesting and attractive. You don't have direct control over the introduction, but the more you can do to
influence it, the better. Just as a nice haircut and a manicure prepare you for that first date,
every marketer should prepare for that introduction.
Discover Your Ideal Prospect
The first step in the introduction should be to determine your ideal prospect. Just as you
know you like tall, dark and handsome, you should also know that the best prospects for
your services and solutions are companies in the United States with 100 or more employees,
in the pharmaceutical and healthcare verticals. It’s not usually this simple, but having an idea
of what your ideal prospect looks like will help you focus your marketing. If you know that tall, dark and handsome is often at your alma mater’s tailgate parties, you’ll probably want to be there, early and often. In other words, network where your ideal prospects congregate.
Build Your Brand
If you’re wondering whether branding matters in professional services marketing, a 2010 branding report says the answer is yes, concluding, "If you are well known, whatever lead
generation tactics you employ are likely to work better." In fact, 65% of companies that claim
they are well known report being good or excellent at lead generation, while only 44% of the
not well known companies report being good or excellent.
Brand matters because buyers of professional services are still people and emotions impact economic decisionmaking. Your prospects are overwhelmed with choices and information – more than any buyer could evaluate rationally. This means that no matter how disciplined a buying process is, emotional brand impressions do influence vendor selection. Web 2.0 is also changing the way marketers build their brand. With the growing popularity of blogs, podcasts, social media and the like, buyers would rather talk to each other, instead of listening to a marketing message. So take advantage of this by creating thought leadership, using Web 2.0 techniques.
Create Thought Leadership
One way professional service firms can build their brand is by helping buyers research early in the sales cycle, demonstrating that they are trusted advisers who understand the prospect's problems. By using thought leadership to engage prospects early, you build awareness and increase your chances that the prospect will respond to future demand generation efforts.
Creating thought leadership helps your prospects learn more about you, your background
and how you think. It helps build the foundations of a relationship: familiarity and trust. At
this stage, don’t hide your thought leadership content behind registration forms. Set this
content free to allow it to spread virally.
Write White Papers
White papers are used at almost any stage of the pipeline, from lead generation to customer retention. They typically range from four to eight pages, and shouldn’t be more than
12 pages long. According to Michael Stelzner of Writing White Papers, “A white paper is a persuasive document that usually describes approach of an article and weaves in
persuasive corporate messages typically found in brochures.” And studies have shown that white papers are highly viral; that is, they are passed around by 60% of technology professionals. According to a study by MarketingSherpa and KnowledgeStorm, this is because white papers are considered to be credible resources for thought leadership and subject matter expertise.
Create eBooks
As an alternative to white papers, consider eBooks, defined by David Meerman Scott as the
"hip and stylish younger sibling to the nerdy whitepaper." An eBook delivers the content in a
form that's designed for quick scanning and reading online. The content tends to come in
more bite-sized chunks (as in a presentation). With newer versions of Microsoft PowerPoint,
audio can be added to each page/slide.
Use social media
Social media continues to grow in popularity, and has become another conduit to your
prospects. Sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn and MySpace allow people to build online
relationships by joining groups, chatting and commenting about products and services. On
LinkedIn, for instance, you frequently see questions from your network asking for
recommendations for services and consultants.
Blogging is a great way to build thought leadership and, therefore, your brand. Your blog
should fill the information needs of your prospects and invites comments from readers.
Podcasts – essentially audio clips of you speaking instead of writing, or of an interview with
another thought leader – are a great attachment to your blog. RSS feeds and content
formatted for mobile devices such as Blackberry, Treo and iPhone extend your blog’s reach.
The YouTube phenomenon cannot be forgotten. A funny or clever short video that goes viral
can quickly build your brand.
The First Encounter
The first encounter is all about making a good first impression. Remember, you don’t get a second chance to make a good first impression. Don't come on too strong or you'll scare your prospect away. Who would say, “will you marry me,” after their first dance? Think about philosopher, Toby Keith, when he wrote that “sometimes I want to talk about me”. Don’t make the first encounter all about you. Use the precious time as an opportunity to learn more about your prospect's wants and needs, as well as to share some relevant information about yourself.
The prospect might be in the early stage of the selection process so carefully plan the delivery of information. If you know where the client is at, you might want to go with thought leadership information. Either way, they should be short and to the point. You’re trying to make a good first impression.
Develop case studies
Also known as success stories, case studies are short, one or two page documents that
vangelize a client’s success and ROI from use of your solution. Sections typically include
an introduction, challenge and solution. And don’t forget to include a compelling client quote or two and a short section at the end that tells about your services and company.
Dancing
Prospect development starts here. Your prospect has shown at least some interest in you. You don't want to ruin a good first impression by calling too often or asking for
too much commitment too soon. Instead, develop the relationship by sharing additional information at the right time. If tall, dark and handsome responds to your overtures,
you want to talk to him and try to gather more information: Is he single? Is he interesting? In professional services relationships, it’s much the same: make offers of more information at scheduled intervals and determine the level of interest at each stage. The goal, of course, is to get agreement from your dance partner that the relationship should move to the next level.
Share relevant third party information
You don't need to create all the lead nurturing content yourself. You can demonstrate how well you understand each prospect's wants and needs by sharing relevant third party content with them. This can be as simple as emailing a news article and saying "Based on our conversation last week, I thought you'd find this interesting."
Make it personal
Remember, the goal of "courting" is to build a relationship with a real person. Buyers of professional services are people, so the human touch matters. John Nesbitt in his best seller Mega Trends, wrote that as our culture became more dependent upon technology, we would need to have more human interaction. He coined the term: Hi Tech=High Touch. Lead nurturing is a conversation, not a series of disjointed campaigns. Personalize email responders and landing pages. Make sure each step connects with the prior one. And except for webinar invitations, don’t make the same offer twice in one email flow.
Make it personal. The goal of courting is to build a relationship
with a real person.
The Proposal
When identifying your ideal customer, marketing and business development must work
together to determine the best indicators of success, in terms of what
the client looks like (markets,services,geography, etc.). During this discussion,
you should also determine the activities that result in agreement-ready
lead. For instance, if a prospect fits your demographic target, responded to your email, and asked for more information, you might give him a 5 or 6 on readiness to move forward. If he asked for your assistance in writing the RFP or talks to you about project-specific budget issues, you might put the prospect at an 8 or 9.
Use customer references
Client references are always excellent ways of closing new clients. Marketing should
cultivate and nurture existing clients and gain permission to use them as references. Care
should be taken with references to ensure any single reference isn’t over-used. Remember
that they’re doing you a favor. Get these references published on LinkedIn as well.
The Wedding
The Deal. The Close. The Win. Ultimately, making the sale is up to your
principals, but by implementing a sound nurturing and scoring process,
you have helped them by establishing a relationship and positioning your
company as a leader with the prospect.
