The
Marketplace MasterTM
is a monthly email publication on professional service
marketing from Expertise Marketing, LLC.
About This Issue
Last month we discussed some of the common reasons
why
a firm should differentiate itself from its
competitors.
Continuing our theme of differentiation, this
month we show you which approaches our research
has shown to be the most successful and which
are less successful.
Talk Back: We want to hear
your feedback on the issues raised by these
newsletters. See below for this month's Talk
Back feedback. 
Suzanne
Lowe
Author, Marketplace Masters: How Professional
Service Firms Compete to Win
President, Expertise Marketing, LLC
The Top 10 Differentiation
Approaches
Most professional service firms embrace a marketing
strategy that includes differentiation, but many
do so unsuccessfully.
They embark on initiatives that they expect will
help them reach their goals, but the reality is
that many of their efforts fall short.
We found that the more operationally "deep"
the differentiation strategies were (for example,
those requiring the implementation and alignment
of human resources, financial, change management,
technology or training and development processes),
the more successful they were. |
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Rather than dwell on the "why" in this month's
article, we will cover the "what" —
what works and what doesn't. Those used frequently are
shown in blue.
The Top Ten Differentiation Approaches that Work
- Embarked on an advertising campaign (used infrequently)
- Added new-to-our firm services that blend into the
services of another industry (used infrequently)
- Implemented a formal relationship management program
to strengthen our bonds with current clients (used
infrequently)
- Merged with another firm (used infrequently)
- Embarked on a public relations
campaign (used frequently)
- Entered into joint ventures, alliances
or referral networks with firms that extend our services
(used frequently)
- Added new-to-our-firm services
that are within our industry (used frequently)
- Created a new visual identity (used
frequently)
- Hired specialized individuals (used
frequently)
- Improved or evolved our current
services (used frequently)
The Bottom Sixteen
- Acquired another firm (used infrequently)
- Developed new risk sharing arrangement with clients
(used infrequently)
- Created new divisions or subsidiary companies (used
infrequently)
- Increased the speed of our service delivery (used
infrequently)
- Decreased our prices (used infrequently)
- Eliminated services (used infrequently)
- Increased our prices (used infrequently)
- Sold parts of the firm (used infrequently)
- Developed new-to-the-world services (used infrequently)
- Developed a new positioning (used
frequently)
- Repackaged current services (used
frequently)
- Communicated our firm's positioning
through a new motto or tag line (used frequently)
- Trained professionals to follow
our proprietary methodologies (used frequently)
- Reorganized practices or lines
of business (used frequently)
- Added new variables to our prices
(used frequently)
- Used new techniques and tools to
"deliver" our services (used frequently)
At Malcolm Pirnie, Inc., an environmental engineering,
science, and consulting firm, the leaders incrementally
differentiated the firm by making a series of choices
to distinguish its service offerings from its competitors.
The firm's results as of the writing of Marketplace
Masters were impressive:
- Pirnie became one of the most honored firms
in the environmental profession, recognized for engineering
excellence in competitions nationwide; many of these
projects reflect the firm's differentiation strategies.
- Always profitable, the firm doubled in size
since its initial forays into differentiation.
- Its employee retention has been higher
than industry norms.
Over 15 years, the firm proactively and repeatedly
pursued small changes that led to big transformations.
Yesterday, Malcolm Pirnie provided requested engineering
services. Today they are a performance improvement consulting
enterprise — improving clients' physical facilities
and operating, business and even political functionality
by employing a discreet set of policies and organizational
structures that demonstrate its independence and objectivity.
Interested in reading more? Send a note to info@expertisemarketing.com
to ask for a copy of our differentiation case study
on Malcolm Pirnie.
Take the confidential, web-based Marketplace Masters
professional
service firm differentiation assessment test for
instant feedback on whether your firm is doing differentiation
right.
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Talk
Back
Jason Dinwoodie, Director of Communications
for Orrick,
Herrington & Sutcliffe offered up some
observations during the June PM Forum in New
York:
"It's critical for professional service
firms to distill down the fundamental differences
between positioning and differentiation. This
is a challenge, especially when clarity is
so critical; too often we get mired in words
and images. Given the intangibility of our
services and their complex nature, professional
service marketers need to share these concepts
with our firm-wide colleagues in a way that
is both accessible and enlightening."
What differentiation and marketing approaches
work for your firm? We want to hear your thoughts
and observations, and feature your firm in an
upcoming issue. Write to us at talkback@marketplacemasters.com.
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us with your comments and questions.
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