Marketing The
Professional Service Product 

 

In our last newsletter we explored the four Ps of Marketing as they apply to professional services.  Here we explore the diversity of Product.

Professional service marketers have a unique challenge – defining the product.  Granted, it would be cleaner to focus on the service that is provided to the client as the true product, but we know that other factors – other products, shall we say, are essential to client development and retention.    

Polishing Talent 

The quality of the service, and the success of our firms, rests solidly upon the talent of our principals and associates.  Much of our firms’ success depends upon how carefully we groom our talent.  Smart marketers make professional development a key component of their business development plan.  We need to know the tools that principals employ to chisel their skills and we should take active roles in referring young professionals to resources that will allow them to excel. 

While many firms may relegate professional development to human resources, its significance to the bottom line demands active involvement from the marketing department.

Harnessing the Value of Personality

Professional service marketers have long recognized that relationships are essential to opening doors and developing long-term business associations.  The role that personality plays is significant and is also one of the more difficult to manage.

Rainmakers are both born and cultivated.  The natural-born rainmaker is a marketer’s dream – a person who easily relates to people and effortlessly builds valuable relationships – and partners with marketers to perfect business development efforts.  But sometimes the cultivated rainmaker is even more valuable.  These professionals can prove to be more focused on strategy and are better suited to taking direction.  It falls to the marketer to develop and manage these diverse personalities to the benefit of the firm.

Specializing in Your Client

Most professional service firms promote specialties through practice groups or industry expertise.  Marketers are tasked with identifying the specific strengths of the firm’s partners and associates, and then identifying the qualities that differentiate them from competitors.  The key is to focus on the client’s objectives – tell them how your specialty will move their business forward.   

Service Modules Expand Gains

Have you identified services that can be marketed as independent modules?  Wills, divorces, payroll services, audits, conceptual design – what can you offer for a fixed cost?  Take the time to develop a product description, evaluate costs and assign a client value.  Ensure you have the resources to deliver.  Now decide how to market the service modules – start with current and past clients.  Then explore Web-based and traditional marketing efforts, keeping in mind your target audience. 

Conclusion

Some call us crazy, but those of us who thrive on marketing professional services know that we make a difference every day.  Our products are unpredictable and, in most cases, our managing principals don’t really understand what we do.   The true marketing professional is still relatively new to the professional service arena which has traditionally relied upon talented administrative assistants to perform marketing duties.  Marketing professionals are driving a more sophisticated model of business development and retention, and we all stand to learn much from each other.