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Professional Service Firms: What Works Best?
Posted By: ASVP/ChrisB on 8/9/2005 7:32 PM (CST)	1500 Points
A friend recently joined a large, second-tier accounting firm. He was told on day one to join a golf club, alumni organisations, and several exclusive business clubs in town. The firm will pay the memberships. They suggested taking clients and prospects to the theatre, ball games, the races, and for lunch. All this in the name of marketing. He's not convinced. (Me neither). What he's asked me is this: What are professional services firms, accountants and lawyers in particular, doing to market their services? What works? What doesn't? Obviously any program that sees partners and associates spending money on lavish entertainment must be integrated with some kind of opportunity identification and tracking program. and maybe it's that opportunity tracking that is where the rubber really meets the road... What do KHE members think? What have you seen working for professionals? What DOESN'T work? Look forward to your observations!

Posted by: Sans Prix	Accepted Answer
8/9/2005 7:50 PM (CST)
When it comes to 'value-based pricing', there are six things that people value: 1. Financial benefits 2. Temporal benefits 3. Functional benefits 4. Experential benefits 5. Emotional benefits, and 6. Social benefits I have a professional services client and every Friday he takes one of his clients out for lunch. He also tends to invite someone else to lunch who he feels it would be beneficial for his client to meet. Not once, has he ever had resistance to him increasing his professional services fees. And this can be attributed to him providing his clients with social benefits that they highly value.

Posted by: ASVP/ChrisB	Author Response
8/9/2005 8:10 PM (CST)
Jonman That's an interesting point: But I wonder how many of these professionals use the social experience to leverage more value from their client base? My friend observes that professionals are often very reluctant marketers. They seem to feel, to a certain extent, that their professionalism in the world of accountancy, tax or legal advice might be compromised in some way if they are calling prospects, effectively trawling for new business. In short, they'd rather just be doing the work, than selling themselves to gain a new client. How does the lunch, dinner, ball-game social experience help them develop new business, rather than increase the value of existing business? What must they do to ensure this investment has a positive ROI for their professional services firm?

Posted by: ccoldren	Accepted Answer
8/9/2005 8:52 PM (CST)
Chris, I'd first like to direct you to a book I'm re-reading as it is in its second edition -- that is Marketing Professional Services by Philip Kotler. It provides a lot of basic information on marketing practices and is easy to read. It starts at the "soup" and goes through the "dessert." What is of particular impact is that it is often difficult for professional services orgs like CPA and law firms to allocate time to legitimate marketing activities -- or to hire a marketing director. This is well discussed in this book. As for a personal success story, here goes: My company is a professional services company. We started about four years ago. We did not come out of "big business" with contracts in hand. No, no, we worked, and networked, and worked more, and became aggressive seminar, luncheon, conference, and meeting attendees. Again, we WORKED. We met people. We followed up and sent emails and personal notes. We attended the best ones over and over. We didn't keep talking to those we knew -- we gritted our teeth and became key participants at every event, and joined the ones that maximized our exposure. (NOTE: We also began producing what has become a highly regarded newsletter on marketing strategy [more on this later], and we solicited speaking opportunities.] Getting back to networking, we did more than attend, we selectively joined groups and started "working" -- participating in carefully chosen committees where we could show our discipline, our perseverance, and our model of adding value. For the growing professional services company, I believe a focus on these types of efforts can gain (and has gained for us!) positive notoriety over time (the last four years – after two hard years, things started clicking – we were seen as survivors and serious about what we did). Everything else should be built to enhance or support this primary lead and relationship-building effort, WHICH never ends, even as you get busy with business!! Therefore: * Go to association meetings, MIT forums, conferences, chambers of commerce luncheons, AMA, ABA and other trade meetings, VC forums, and other places where your target market is. * So, understand WHO your target market is and go where they are. New ventures? Public companies? Retail owners? Physicians? Biotech start-ups? Whatever and wherever they are, BE THERE. * Talk to them about their business. Ask good questions that uncover problems directly related to your solution. * Have your pitch down (“I help (business owners do this....). Tell me about (your business OR how you approach …).” Have a story to tell about a client with problems and how you and your services were the solution. * Get their business card – this is MUCH more important than handing out yours! Why? Because YOU will actually contact them while they won't. Do so within 48 hours via email or letter and make an impression. Mentioned what you discussed with time and begin to cement a connection. * Participate – as I said above, this is a BIG part of networking! Do not fail to join an organization and a specific committee where you can add value, meet potential contacts, and referrals, and showcase your professionalism first hand. You’ll get to know people and they’ll get to see your work ethic. This works – I know from experience the power of this. But you MUST work it (that's why they call it netWORKing!). Go places every single week and get your face known! As I mentioned earlier, we publish a newsletter that is well received -- we hit on an executive interview formula and write well-researched marketing articles and provide other insightful information. This is NOT "marketing lite." We provide impactful content that takes about 15-20 hours a month between us to produce, edit, code it, and email it to our growth email list (Yes, we work nights and weekends – don’t you?! ). But you know what?? IT WORKS. We have barely marketed the newsletter and it is growing by word of mouth. Why? Because it has substance that is vital to our constituency. A final big push for us was public speaking. In the first two years, we spoke more than 20 times -- at local chambers, business groups, the Small Business Association, and more. We wanted to educate and help people understand the value and necessity of marketing at the strategic level -- that is, understanding the customer. We approached it as a win-win. And from almost every seminar, we got business and referrals. Does this take work? YES. (That's why they call it net-WORKing, right?) Did it work? For us, yes. Service businesses have different characteristics than "hard good" businesses -- the need to build trust in an intangible deliverable that is consumed as it is produced is very high (see my explanation in this KHE answer -- http://www.marketingprofs.com/ea/qst_question.asp?qstID=8976#57292) Therefore, to build trust (and relationships) you DO have to be there. But taking people out to dinner, sporting events, theater, etc. begins to smack of a buy-off after a while. In this day and age, people are savvy to being sold, and they don't like to feel needlessly obligated. They prefer to BUY. Let them see your worth as you attend and participate and add value to the organization and do what you say you will do, and put effort out, not just words. It doesn't take that much more time. But it is MUCH more effective. So, you might ask, where is our company as a business? We’ve more than doubled our revenue every year. I say this not to brag, but to let you know that it can be done. So pull a “Nike” – JUST DO IT. ( I LOVE my job!) Good luck.

Posted by: mgoodman	Accepted Answer
8/9/2005 9:23 PM (CST)
Truly great response by ccoldren. I relied for years on referrals from satisfied clients. That let me rationalize that the best way for me to get new clients was to do a great job for current clients and let them tell their contacts how great I am. I built a practice on that strategy, and I was fortunate that it worked for many years. But lately I've learned that I was the exception to the rule, and the "rule" is that you also need to be an active and purposeful networker. When I was researching *Rasputin For Hire : An inside look at management consulting between jobs or as a second career*, I interviewed a few dozen consultants (and former consultants) from different functional specialties. Virtually ALL of them said the same thing: Networking and research are the keys to selling professional services. The "research" was always learning what a company's problems are, how they deal with important issues, what the likely objections would be, who influences major decisions, etc. And the way they did this research was by networking and mining the social contacts (without being obnoxious about it, of course). Net: I think your friend may want to follow the guidance his company has given him, and think of his mission as being to listen and learn about the needs and attitudes of prospective clients ... while enjoying the social settings and projecting the right professional image to set the stage for a possible future relationship. I don't know if there's ever been a traditional ROI calculation for this kind of marketing, but it seems to have worked in a macro sense for a lot of people. Especially on a local basis, it's the way business is done.

Posted by: KSA	Accepted Answer
8/9/2005 11:38 PM (CST)
Chris, The answers so far have all made very valid points. I'll just share with you my experience (of a number of years ago) with a first tier CPA firm. It sounds like things haven't changed too much. I think there are a lot more effective ways to sell professional services than the 100% push on the schmoozing side of things. Being involved in things like CColdren mentioned, and the networking and research that MGoodman mentioned are much more effective. In my experience, there was such a big push on golf courses, etc in the high-level CPA firms because Marketing and Sales were considered dirty words. As far as the Audit Partners were concerned, the firm was not about to market their services. They just wanted to have someone walk up to them on the 8th tee and ask to have the firm audit their books. So, my advice would be that your friend should not cause waves by bucking the social scene, but perhaps suggest other additional efforts that may make him/her a great contributor by bringing in business outside of a country club. It might work. Maybe things have changed enough. In my situation, I was part of a group of "rowdy consultants who evidently had no idea how to obtain new clients the respectable way". Ah, the stories I could tell..... Kathleen

Posted by: ASVP/ChrisB	Author Response
8/10/2005 12:04 AM (CST)
All very good points, Kathleen. So perhaps the question is not so much what should they be doing instead of getting prospects onto the golf course, it's a question of what they do with them when they get there (and I don't mean whether they throw the game so the prospect wins, nobody will ever believe that!) Assuming my friend has a couple of strong prospects arriving at the golf course on Saturday morning, how can he best prepare for the round of golf, and the lunch or dinner afterwards? How do you go from a "good walk spoiled" to a serious appointment for a business meeting to talk about getting the account, the following week or so? What's the best way to go - how do they handle the next 3-4 hours of conversation, how do they best leverage the investment they are making out there on the fairways?

Posted by: Billd724	Accepted Answer
8/10/2005 12:18 AM (CST)
Chris -- You've uncorked a key question and some outstanding replies! I work with exactly the kind of people you're describing. My typical prospect is someone whose spouse, mother and/or significant other asks, "Honey, if you're so smart, why aren't you more rich?". ;-) The 'professional service provider' challenge is converting their competence into compensation. Unless they gain access to the quantity and quality of opportunities where that can take place, they're going to be frustrated financially. OK, all that said, let me provide some insights to your question. The conventional wisdom of many CPA's and JD's -- two of my favorite groups -- is what you describe: go out often enough, play enough golf, do social events and Voila! . . . business will (magically) happen. Sorry, ain't necessarily so. Many of the professionals I work with erroneously confuse the correlation of doing these kinds of things with the outcomes they seek. They're often independent events! So, what does work? Well, awareness is essential. But not enough. A professional needs ENDORSEMENT as well. The phone book is full of legally licensed, fully degreed professionals, right? But how does one pick one? They usually ask the advice of someone they know, like and trust! In short, after awareness, it's usually endorsement by a trusted source -- often another advisor -- that makes the 'sale' of the advisor and their related services. So the admonition to engage in networking is 'right on'. But that's easier said than done. The 'art' of networking is, in my experience, woefully misunderstood and performed poorly by most of the advisors you've identified. Most would consider the 'golf, opera, and other 'events' as the essence of being a networker or 'Rainmaker'. Again, these events may correlate but don't substantially cause the results the professional's firm is seeking from them. The success (and, rate of same) of a given advisor is a function of their EXPOSURE to members of the marketplace they're seeking to attract, and ENDORSEMENT by others who are trusted sources of information by the marketplace the advisor is seeking to atttract to their practice. Think of it as follows: "E x E <---- Market Members" Basically, the more effective and extensive the relationships an advisor develops with others who are visible, mobile and highly regarded, the more likely the advisor is going to attract new clients. So learning how to build and maintain relationships with people who are able to direct and influence others to the advisor . . . is the critical capability the advisor must develop and deploy. Networking and relationship building are the means to that end. One other thing. ALIGNMENT. The more closely an advisor and/or firm is operating in a manner that reflects, harmonically, the expectations of the marketplace they seek to attract and serve, the more likely they are to do so. Call it management if you wish. I've done exit interviews with clients of CPA, DVM and JD adviors and you'd be blown away at how simple things can cause a relationship to break down and a valued client to slip away. The behavior of a professional or firm toward the client speaks so loudly the printed collateral is never heard. What an advisor SAYS and DOES is KEY to managing the client's experience. And, if that experience is what they expect or, closer to what they want than any other advisor or firm is offering . . . guess what? That is where they're going to go! My fellow advisors above have provided you with some incredibly candid and excellent insights (as usual!). I hope you find what we've said to have been of value and practical use as well. All the best, Bill

Posted by: AndrewS	Accepted Answer
8/10/2005 3:11 AM (CST)
Hospitality most definitely works, in my experience, it can be one of the most responsive and personal promotional tools available, and as marketing people, we all know that marketing must get more personal and quickly respond to business or customer needs. Hospitality does just that. The downsides are that its only suitable for small numbers of customers and can be very expensive, but when you are seen to lavish a large amount of money on one or two important clients on exactly the thing they are interested in, then these weaknesses become strengths! As long as the hospitality is done in the right way, for the right reasons, then it can build long-term relationships with customers, bring prospects onboard, or help to get that vital contract. It must be incorporated into a CRM system (no matter how basic) so the ROI can be tracked. MOST IMPORTANT: Hospitality is not a "jolly" anymore, its a fullt grown up marketing tactic, and MUST pay its way.

Posted by: ccoldren	Accepted Answer
8/10/2005 7:25 AM (CST)
Chris, what insightful, rich comments you're receiving. My colleagues' responses as well as yours prompt me to review a few points. Overall, at "high-service” firms (e.g., accounting, legal, architectural, etc.), the concept of marketing in a more traditional sense is frowned upon. There are "ways to do things" that are accepted in each firm to ensure the overall brand image is not tarnished -- or at least is on par with other high-service competitors. Social networking is a preferred method -- but is mere social exposure enough? Our colleagues even point out this trap -- From Kathleen... "As far as the Audit Partners were concerned, the firm was not about to market their services. They just wanted to have someone walk up to them on the 8th tee and ask to have the firm audit their books." And Bill... "The conventional wisdom of many CPA's and JD's -- two of my favorite groups -- is what you describe: go out often enough, play enough golf, do social events and Voila! . . . business will (magically) happen. Sorry, ain't necessarily so." The truth is, however, that even in "stealth" mode (the "do it and they will come" way of thinking, to slightly revised phase), many high-service firms are doing rather well. So the issue changes from "what's wrong with the club" model?" to this: "How can we make the club model more effective?" This is at the heart of *your* two questions: "Assuming my friend has a couple of strong prospects arriving at the golf course on Saturday morning, how can he best prepare for the round of golf, and the lunch or dinner afterwards? How do you go from a ‘good walk spoiled’ to a serious appointment for a business meeting to talk about getting the account, the following week or so?" Because, as you point out, many professionals are reluctant marketers, the answer I believe becomes one of selling finesse. * Can these professionals be coached on selling? * Can their attitudes be shifted about the networking process? * Are they willing to learn how to do basic pre-engagement client research to understand client issues that are relevant to their practice, and then learn how to broach the subject during a social encounter? Yes, high-service firms have restrictions on marketing, but that does not negate the need for every partner to bring in business. Consequently, learning how to become better at marketing (or selling, cross-selling, and up-selling) your own firm as you relate to the customer in a social setting becomes a training issue. High-service firms that want to leap ahead of their competitors should actively pursue sales training for their partners – to help them market their firms in a way that is both acceptable to their culture and more effective as in acquiring or up-selling customers.

Posted by: thinkmor	Accepted Answer
8/10/2005 8:48 AM (CST)
Hi Chris Firstly, thanks for an excellent question & thanks to everyone for their responses - they are really excellent. I would agree with Conrad about 'sales' being a training issue and concur what Michael mentioned about the importance of research. In my experience, it's the ground work in 'Mind Preparation' after your research - getting targeted PR with pertinent issues, articles, white papers to the circles your customers engage, associations etc to: 1) Educate, inform and identify your brand to prospects minds 2) Articulating your expertise in the customer's mind that are specific to their needs and wants for their organisation that need to happen BEFORE meeting prospective customers to leverage your social, network or business meetings. It's all fine and well providing 'hospitality' but unless your prospective customers have a strong perception of what you do, why you are different from competitors and why ONLY YOU can deliver the results you will not get the ROI you expect. Mind Preparation goes a long way in helping influence prospects to go with you because they feel THEY have arrived at the decision themselves and they will do whatever in their capacity to help you deliver. Research example: A client wanted to target a specific UK crates distributor that had access to a larger European & Global network. We learnt through research the CEO of the UK arm was a walking enthusiast, specifically Highlands. My client firstly completed the ground work and then joined several walking associations. To cut a long story short, the client over 6 months, not only became good friends with the CEO, developed a passion for walking but also gained an annual fee account of £500k per year. They still retain this account 7 years on. The CEO was aware of my clients company before they talked business. Had the ground work not been completed to prepare the CEO's minds, I don't think (who knows?) it would of nearly been as successful as it was. Of course, there are many other elements that contributed to influence the CEO like having the right balance of people's skills, charisma and it helps enormously if you are likeable as a person. This approach might seem extreme but it did work and was worth the effort all way round. I would also suggest that training professional service organizations, in addition to sales skills as mentioned by Conrad, with also the principles of Marketing orientation, Marketing's relationship with Sales & 'Why they Both need to Work Together' will give significant advantages for professional firms over competitors to secure profitable clients long term. Sorry to 'ramble' on but hope this helps some. Zahid Adil

Posted by: Wiglaf	Accepted Answer
8/11/2005 12:57 AM (CST)
Your friend is right to ask these questions, but the general tenor of the direction for marketing professional services is correct. The issue that he should struggle with is who to network with and how much to network with that person. Selling professional services is unlike selling a product. Most of the time, the person buying the service has no means to anticipate the benefits of what they are buying. How can they, the service is custom created for that customer, and each project is unique. Trust, built from famililarity, is the key to winning business in professional services. If you look at the psychological components of trust, they are three fold. Competence, Benevolence, and Honesty. Competence refers to the fact that your friend is capable in doing what he says he will do. That may be indicated by his track record and eduction, but will be hard to fully ascertain when it comes to new customer acquistion. Competence in one field often implies competence in another. Through networking, people see the competence of the professional and begin to develop trust. Benevolence refers to the belief that your friend is willing to supply his services and more in order to help his clients. For new customer acquisition, network helps develop a sense of benevolence as your friend helps others to feel good about themselves, or shows that he cares. Honesty reflects that people believe your friend to accurately reflect reality in what he says and does. Networking allows others to test the integrity of your friend, and develop a sense of his honesty. Networking, through targeted groups, professional organizations, golf outings, and the such, are useful for selling professional services because they allow clients to develop trust in this person. But that isn't a blind call for people to network. Obviously, your friend needs to be thoughtful about who he networks with and where he networks. Not all network groups are the same. You need to look for groups that include executive decision makers, with authority to buy the service, and a need to buy the service. Finding these groups is the first step. Developing your place within these groups is the second step. Uncovering opportunities is the winning step. This approach is practiced by professional service firms. I have personal knowledge of firms doing the above, successfully gaining business, in fields from marketing communications, corporate law, and accounting. The approach is also supported by Patrick Forsyth in his book "Marketing & Selling Professional Services." The approach is not a blind check though. Thought needs to go into which groups, with whom, and how much. Maybe one of the following articles would help: Relationships, Relationships, Relationships http://www.wiglafjournal.com/Articles/2004/2004-10-27-Relationships.htm Networking strategy http://www.wiglafjournal.com/Articles/2004/2004-07-07-NetworkingStrat.htm Investing in Networking http://www.wiglafjournal.com/Articles/2004/2004-07-07-NetworkingInvest.htm As to what doesn't work, the returns to Direct mail and cold calling are very low in professional services. Newsletters help, but slowly. Also, writing articles demonstrate competency, but are insufficient to generate customers alone. Happy hunting, Wiglaf

Posted by: shellycs*	Accepted Answer
8/11/2005 12:58 AM (CST)
I've really enjoyed reading the responses, some really great ideas and comments. From my personal experience, having worked in marketing within the professional service industry for a great number of years, I believe that the smoozing days are over. Gone are the days of the long lunch as clients just dont have the time to be able to get away from work to particpate. I really think that there are so many professional service firms out there that you need to show your expertise to win business. You need to stand out from the crowd. I'm a firm believer in building the profiles of the partners and senior staff at the firm, promoting them on the speaking circuit, getting them to write byline articles for national publications, etc. Share some knowledge, but dont give it all away. Jonman made a very good point, professionals are often very reluctant marketers only because they work on a "billable hours concept" and if they are not billing to a client then they are not driving a revenue and they all have KPIs to achieve. To get their support for marketing activity, you need to appeal to the fact that what they do during billable hours is our bread and butter but what they do during those non billable hours is our future. You also need to appeal to the fact that you are building their personal profile within the industry so it is a career thing for them too - everyone has to get something out of it right? You may also need to encourage management to put some marketing component into their KPIs so you can get their full support.

Posted by: patrickardahalian	Accepted Answer
8/11/2005 5:03 AM (CST)
Clients seldom want a business partner as much as they need a close friend to rely on and trust. Trust is the key word. You play golf and do all that needs to be done in order to build on and create an air of trust around you and who you represent. You have been given some great points here but what is the ROI on trust? Answer: Priceless and incalculable. Try to open your eyes and look beyond the green grass of the golf course and the brown leather of your client's wallet. Trust goes a long way while sitting in Business board rooms and when closing a deal with a handshake. Trust is difficult to earn while being stuck in a business setting, that is why you break away from the mold of the office and show your client that you are trust worthy elsewhere besides the controlled environment of an office. It shows that you are aware of the real world around you and that you can function in different settings. I guess it is the factor that distinguishes a nerd at school from a smart person in class. Smart people are smart everywhere –regardless of the setting, however nerds are smart only when in put a test situation –controlled and predictable setting. Put a nerd on the street and he will not last long, put a smart person on the street and they may last long. Nothing is guaranteed. I really have nothing more to add than what the "gurus" have already told you above.

Posted by: virago*	Accepted Answer
8/11/2005 6:57 AM (CST)
Excellent responses from the experts. I want to take a different approach which may spark some other thoughts. I have been in China for a couple of years and have been involved in a different type of networking than that of the west. There are alot of differences but also alot that the west can learn from what I think are the masters of networking. The Chinese spend 50-100 times more money on 'business entertainment' than that of their western counterparts which in terms becomes their marketing network through relationship and trust. The Chinese network system is a bit like the LinkedIN approach where you use your trusted personal network to be introduced to a prospective client through contacting them directly. This can also take effect in a reciprocity or equally beneficial exchange that 'I give then you give' type of relationship. Most Chinese spend a lifetime nuturing a personal network and rightly so as many can achieve greater rewards. Many influential Chinese Professionals DO NOT spend a cent (or Yuan) on marketing campaigns except through nuturing their network and rightly so - it works! I can give you many examples of this. I think we can learn from this that networking not only on a professional, expert and character level but also involves a personal, trust, reciprocity level. You can't be trusted and personal through a marketing campaign. Only 1 on 1 can do this. I think there is an opportunity to blur the lines between the different cultural approaches and by joing clubs and increasing entertainment budgets for the aim of marketing through creating trust and affiliation then so be it. As thinkmor's example pointed out, trust and affiliation can happen through being more personal.

Posted by: psimone	Accepted Answer
8/11/2005 10:54 AM (CST)
Hi Chris - WOW! You've got so much good info here to give your friend, but thought I'd share my take as well. All the materials, advertising, networking, selling, and high ticket social scene stuff won't amount to nuttin' if the prospect isn't the right one, or given strong reasons why they should do business with any given contact. All the basic functions are the building blocks (save the high ticket schmoozing) which should be coordinated in conjunction with the necessary RESEARCH – as to WHO your best customers are and WHAT their needs are. Then your elevator speech, your materials, your ad campaigns can thoughtfully address those prospects, in the language they are looking for, so they are prompted to see WHY your firm could provide the most value to them (notice I did not say the lowest price or best terms.) And Zahid makes one of the more salient points - the marketing; all the materials and any ad campaigns need to be in sync with the look, temperament and message imparted by the sales team. When everything jives, the system works brilliantly like a finely tuned engine. When it doesn’t … One example of when it falls flat is something that I find happening all the time – the marketing materials say something like “ We’ve sold over 300,000 widgets to date” and the sales team is still quoting figures from 2 years ago. You can network all you want but if your friend just drones on, collects cards and doesn’t follow up, nothing will happen either. Knowing when to be silent, when to respond, how much info to impart, and how much personal banter is required - is part art and part science, which mostly requires lots of listening. To be taken seriously, get noticed and work towards the prospect getting a comfortable feeling about any firm - which amounts to that TRUST word (which many times results in getting the order) it takes lots of work like the others have said. That involves a mix networking, giving seminars, talking at chamber meetings, doing a blog, sending out timely, succinct info that the prospect cares to hear about (via e-mail campaigns or direct mail) following up appropriately and listening what the prospect tells you. The people taking the time to do their homework and a COMBINATION of initiatives, succeed. Last obvious faux pas story: I got a call the other day from a prospective contractor whom I’m not eager to call back. She had great materials, was professional, just the right mix of friendly without being overpowering BUT: I had e/m’d her saying I had obligations and could not contemplate the possibility of hiring her firm till the second week of September, and she called me the next day to chat! Not listening, not getting my business. The formula that always worked for me, when I was hunting cross country selling a service, was: get the materials up to snuff which included doing homework and seeing exactly what my different prospect’s needs were, honing my info-message into a part education and part sales pitch, explaining benefits of my firm, delivering my pitch through thru snail and e/m, networking opps and social functions, giving my prospects space, knowing I was most likely not on the top of their to-do list, persevering patiently and being ready to provide custom data on demand. That’s how I landed new account sales in the hundreds of thousands and multiple millions. So – wining and dining, golf tickets to ball games and other high ticket enticements certainly have their place in the business process – but they should certainly not be the top or only choice for your friend to pursue, no matter what industry he’s in. Otherwise he’s apt to show a huge expense account and not much else.

Posted by: SRyan ;]	Accepted Answer
8/12/2005 2:35 AM (CST)
Chris, this is a "pointless" remark, if you get my meaning. Are you feeling the love here? I suspect that you could have made this a 150-er and you'd still get the quantity and quality of responses that I've read so far. This KHE community does a great job of rallying around fellow Experts. (Someone, please pass me a Kleenex, I'm gushing sentimental emotions.) Trying to think... what advice can I add... Okay, here's a tidbit from personal experience. On the receiving end of professional services, I couldn't help but take notice of the emails I got from a couple of people (lawyers, CPAs, marketers) who forwarded something newsworthy that related directly to ME and MY business. WAY cheaper than lunch or a round of golf. But it made me realize that even though I wasn't a paying client (yet), that guy was thinking of me and seemed to have my best interests at heart. It was a stepping stone toward the profitable relationship, if you will. Shelley ;]

Posted by: telemoxie	Accepted Answer
8/12/2005 7:57 AM (CST)
As a professional cold caller, my position has long been that unique services can we promoted and sold by the phone and other marketing methods, while more generic "me-too" services are best sold through networking. Ask yourself, how many competitors do I have? If you have thousands of relatively undifferentiated competitors, business will be sold thru relationships, and networking is best. Also ask, "In addition to our generic services, do we have any particular areas of specialty?" If you or your friend has a unique particular skill in one area, that particular expertise can be promoted by telemarketing and other means. I would therefore suggest a two pronged approach: networking for generic service offerings, targeted marketing for specific niches. There is a second question you did not ask. As a marketing professional, possibly you wonder how you might best provide a valuable service to your friend and client. I would suggest that networking efforts by the firm could not only be enhanced by training and CRM as described above, but also thru the preparation of some limited but very professional marketing materials. Good luck.

Posted by: rob	Accepted Answer
8/12/2005 8:03 PM (CST)
What more can anyone say that hasn't been said? The best way of doing business is relationships. All the brochures in the world are never going to finish the sale unless their is a trusting relationship behind it. The fancy word for this 'feeling of security' is brand. Which shows how important it is too support the brand with marketing, but the real 'marketing' is done most successfully on a one-to-one, person-to-person approach. Every great business has a story behind it, and 99% of the time it's about the people and relationships that made it happen.

Posted by: ASVP/ChrisB	Author Response
8/16/2005 8:46 PM (CST)
Thanks to everyone for some great inputs. Certainly gives me many ideas to talk though with my friend! ChrisB PS - Shelley - I DO feel the Luurrve!

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