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May 2004
Welcome to The Marketplace
Master,TM a monthly
email publication from Expertise Marketing, LLC.
About this issue
This month we invite you to ask yourself eleven
tough questions that will help you start thinking
about marketplace mastery.
Follow-on issues will explore these eleven competencies
in greater detail, providing you with food for
thought as you work to help your firm achieve
success.
Talk Back:Let
us know how many of these 11 competencies
you use in your firm. How well do you
think you're applying them? Which ones are working
best and why? We may even feature you in an upcoming
issue!
Suzanne
Lowe
Author, Marketplace Masters: How Professional
Service Firms Compete to Win
President, Expertise Marketing, LLC
Eleven Questions for Marketplace
Masters
How do you master your marketplace? Extensive
research has identified eleven areas where professional
service firms can focus their efforts to achieve
a competitive edge. How many are you aware of?
Market Research -
Are you setting a place at your table for market research?
Our research shows that professional service firms
with a formal marketing research budget
are 2 to 5 times more effective in implementing client
attraction and retention programs.
Forecasting and Trends Analysis
- Do you conduct trends analysis on your marketplace,
or just on your own internal processes? You need to
know where your marketplace and your clients
are going.
Competitive Intelligence
Gathering - What is your competition
up to? You can be sure that they've got their
eyes on you. If you want to become a market
leader, you’ll have to jump on this bandwagon.
Differentiation -
How is your firm really, truly different from the
competition? Beware of choosing just the easy ways
to differentiate your firm - it often
reaps the least rewards. The least-used, more difficult
methods often have the biggest impact.
Data Mining - Are
you getting the most value from data about your clients?
Many firms aren't. But those that do are two to three
times more likely to be effective in attracting
and retaining clients.
Aligning Marketing Strategies
with Culture - What is your firm's personality?
And are you using the client attraction and retention
methods that work best for your culture?
Identify your firm's cultural DNA and choose strategies
that work within it.
Account Management &
Relationship Management - Are you building
account plans and managing relationships
with clients in a way that helps you achieve your
growth goals and maintain a leadership edge in the
marketplace?
Measurement and ROI
- What's the ROI of your strategic marketing
initiatives? Professional service firms are
increasing measurement of promotional tactics and
marketing management efforts. This trend will continue
to grow.
Research & Development
- Are you using a structured R&D process
to monitor and manage the shelf life of your services?
Are you taking steps to continually innovate your
service portfolio? Successful PSFs have created a
formal research and development pipeline in order
to stay ahead of competitors.
Technology and New Services
- Are you using technology to enable or support entirely
new intellect-based services? Firms
that truly innovate—and not just repackage service
delivery—will lead with intellect-based services.
Rewarding Innovation
- Does your firm offer incentives and rewards to motivate
your people to innovate? If not, why not?
Professional service firms must be ready with innovative
services that meet their clients’ needs even
before the clients know what these needs will be.
Your feedback is important to us. Please contact
us with your comments and questions.
