Why Competitors Can Help You Build Business

What do you think of your competitors?  Do you view them as the bottom feeders who take clients and business away from you?  Are they worthy adversaries who bring value to the clients they serve?  In the professional services industry, the general picture of competitors looks like a battlefield with winners and losers.  We are either the victors or the defeated.  This picture is one reason business developers in professional services firms read The Art of War.

Therefore, why have I implied in the title that competitors can help us build business?   First, we have to step back from competitor as enemy attitude.  Any strategic sales process will include an analysis of competitors. The analysis usually tends to focus on positioning.  How are your competitors positioned with the client you are pursuing?  Do you know their strengths and weaknesses?  How do these compare with the strengths and weaknesses of your firm?  The analysis is one piece of the strategic sales process.  However, this is not the basis for how competitors can help you build business. It is more than positioning.

Since competitors offer similar services and seek the same clients, you can use them as a form of “inside the box” market research.  Smart business developers will use the homework done by their competitors to strengthen client relationships.  It is always harder to reinvent the wheel then it is to borrow the wheels from another car. Sometimes your competitors have pretty nice wheels.

If you are clear about your brand, your services and service delivery, you might want to consider competitors as partners in certain situations.  If you are already the biggest dog in the dog pound, you might not be worried about a larger entrant into your marketplace.  Size, strength and limited service offerings might be reasons to team with a competitor.  In addition, competitors might be different in specific markets and client groups.  When a project comes along which requires some services you don’t provide, but are provided by a competitor, it might be time to start a conversation.   Enjoying success in a new market where you have failed in the past is a good reason for talking with a competitor.  Of course, your firm must first get past the fear of helping a competitor gain ground with your existing clients or in established markets.  The partnership has to be a win-win for all parties, including your client.  After all, we have heard the story about the snake that asked the frog to help him cross the river.  Yes, some competitors will  bite you after you have helped them cross the river.  This part of the process is about being selective and having done your homework.

Vision is another reason for using competitors to strengthen client relationships and build business.  Are there any blind spots in your client strategy?  Everyone has blind spots.  However, your blind spots might not be the same as your competitors. Your competitors might have an understanding of your clients that you have not considered.  Maybe it has something to do with values or preferences that you have not considered.  Think of it as a zero-based review of their marketing and service offerings.  Careful research is required to know these things.  You can use your clients and your competitor’s clients to gather this information.  A client focus group administered by an independent marketing agency could also help.  Gather your top clients and prospects together to discuss their feelings, perceptions and experience using the professional services in your industry.  During the course of the discussions, specific competitors, their brands, services, marketing and delivery will be examined.   Finding out what your clients want in their professional service firm is priceless.  Bottom line: You need your competitors to expand your vision.

Finally, I am not suggesting you create a cozy relationship with your competitors.  What I am suggesting is that the more you know about your competitors, the better you will be able to serve your clients.  Sun Tsu knew this was the best strategy for winning a war.  Today, it is the best strategy for winning more business.

Are You that Good, or Just Lucky?

Sometimes the more successful we are as business developers and marketers, the more management considers alternative scenarios for our success. Has this ever happened to you?

A number of years ago the president of the firm I was working for asked a vice president," Is Tryst that good, or is he just lucky?" When the vice president confided in me, he said he told the president he didn’t know. Not a glowing endorsement of me, but an  answer to remain on good terms with the president.

The reason the president saw the need to ask the question was simple. I worked for an engineering firm responsible for marketing and business development, but was not an engineer. In a 10 office company, the office I worked in was the sales leader the six years I had been leading marketing and business development. In addition, the firm had a feasibility study group with a staff of about 20. After selling a hospital study, the firm didn’t have a project manager and asked me to fill in. At the end of the study I negotiated a $400,000 design project. When the president asked his question, I had served as project manager on seven studies that had generated over $3 million in design fees, in addition to the other business I had brought in, and the president had chosen to join us on our way to the eighth interview.

Was I that good, or just lucky? The president didn't understand the method to my "lucky" performance.

Is the rainmaker who constantly brings in new work simply lucky? What separates hard work from luck? Benjamin Franklin had it right when he said, “Diligence is the mother of good luck.”

Industry professionals, who are riding a streak of bad luck and not penetrating new accounts, winning new projects or being rejected, need to rethink their basic strategy.

This is a dilemma that has faced people for centuries. The Roman philosopher, Seneca, had this to say about it in 50 AD, “ Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” Therefore the key to ending a bad luck streak or continuing a streak of good luck is preparation. How do you prepare? All of our firms might believe that winning is everything.  Vince Lombardi said, "Winning isn't everything. Preparing to win is."

Here are three keys every marketing services professional needs, if they want management to think they are lucky:

1.Networking—Every contact made at a networking event can be the source of future business. The key in both social media networking or face-to-face event networking is developing a relationship.

2.Stay in Touch with Clients—This sounds like a “no brainer”, but “out of sight, out of mind” is not the exception in professional services marketing. Because of their lifetime value, some clients are never out of our minds, but the rest only hear from us when we send out a newsletter or a press release on a new project. Contact those clients and find out how they are doing. Ask them what is going on with their company, their families and their hobbies. If you’re really lucky, your call will come at the exact time they are planning a new project. Otherwise, the call will simply help prepare you for the next project and keep you and your firm at the top of the client’s mind.

3.Training/Education—The only thing constant in life is change. If you don’t change, you can’t grow. Although we understand the reality of these statements, we sometimes feel all trained out. Some of us think there is nothing new under the sun. Our motto, “I have been there and done that.” Honestly answer these questions: Do you know everything about your clients and the industries they are in? Are you simply making contacts or actually developing clients and relationships with social media? Do you know how to measure the return of every marketing investment? How do you filter noise in your communications with clients? Have you developed the best business development strategy for every client? If none of these questions causes pause, you might not benefit from training. On the other hand, the training might connect you with industry professionals who could refer you to the next client.  If you are like most of us, you will now commit to additional training.

Finally, what was my response to the vice president who told me what the president had said? I simply said, “I would rather be lucky than last in company sales.” Sometimes it is good to have a little mystery surround your success. With apologies to Daniel Burnham, without preparation, we have no magic to stir men's blood.