Question

Topic: Strategy

Client Presentation And Marketing Proposal

Posted by Anonymous on 11/6/2010 at 1:46 PM ET 125 Points
I work for a company that is involved in the fulfillment and production of deliverables related to client marketing plans. Though for several years now we have been asked by our small clients to build marketing plans. Probably better stated is that our company takes an approach with our initial consultation to educate them on how without a plan just advertising or building a website is ineffective. We spend a great deal of time and energy teaching them about marketing and how to pull all their strategies effectively into a plan. A great deal of effort goes into research and a plan. We have had great success and the niche for this is growing with our clients based on our track record of building successful marketing plans, driving sales and reducing overall marketing and advertising expenditures.

The problem and getting to the question; as a company we don’t have a strategy or selling these consulting services. To be honest we don’t know how. We end up offering it for free as part of our initial consultation on the production side. One would think we could just charge a little more for a premium service on the deliverables with a solid sales pitch, but has not been successful. In some cases they steal our plan and find a cheaper fulfillment company, so we are giving the consulting away for free. So any resources or help on how to sell the marketing consulting and how we present a plan to our clients (for a fee)?

I have 15 years experience in marketing, but on the development and planning side primarily. We even have several people on staff that have a marketing degree which came to us out of college. I need some help on how to turn this knowledge into a profit stream (consult service) for the company.

How/What should be presented to them? How that should be formatted in a manner that we are not giving them the answers for free, but soliciting our services. It seems like it would be simple, but with these very small startup companies they want what we have to offer, but we are not able to sell it or present it in a manner that leads to being able to retain them as a marketing client.

To further add insult to injury when we are successful at educating a client on the need for a marketing plan, they go out and hire a separate marketing firm. In every case the firm has been a complete joke and constantly is leaning on us to do their job. The firms are clueless, but you have to give them credit. They sold the service and we didn’t. Any thoughts and help appreciated.
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RESPONSES

  • Posted on 11/6/2010 at 5:09 PM Accepted
    Most small clients, at least in my experience, don't really value strategy and planning. They just want to "kill something" and move on to the next thing. They don't generally have a long-term strategic view.

    Selling marketing strategy (and planning) is very difficult. Those of us who do that as the core of our businesses often look at companies like yours and wonder why you "give it away," and then we realize that you make your profit on the execution. We are struggling to get paid for the planning, and we don't even have a way to recover our costs during implementation.

    So maybe your strategy isn't so bad after all. You just need to not give away your strategic smarts until the client has made a commitment to your ongoing support services. Instead use case studies that demonstrate the value you bring, rather than specific consulting services, during the selling process.

    This doesn't mean it's going to be easy. But it may be easier than trying to sell small business owners on an up-front investment in something they don't think is important to them.
  • Posted on 11/6/2010 at 5:36 PM Author
    I can see your point and how we felt early on. I also imange some would love to have our problem.

    Unfortunately as you know a lot of time goes into the strategy and planning. After building the business over 15 years often the strategy piece takes longer and more time consuming than the production. Strategy and planning is eating up between 40-60% of our time with the client. Meaning a 40-60% loss in profits for being a premium service provider for free. Combine that with lower price points on execution and greater competition we must find a way to make it work and play in your end of the pool.

    As a consultant you know and as we have seen; client’s questions and need for more direction and help if you do a professional job never ends. So hence we spend a great deal of time offering guidance on any number of marketing related efforts post any production we do and on many things which we do not fulfill. We have a good problem, we have earned their trust and respect. We have proven ourselves and they come back. Unfortunetly spending valuable staff hours on giving away our expertise.


    I can say we have done a great job at having small companies think strategically. It is what brings us so many referrals. Though if we are forced to compete on price for production while offering a premium service we are going to run ourselves out of business.

    Strategy has to be a sellable for us or an up charge strategy, not tied to the product cost.
  • Posted on 11/7/2010 at 2:00 PM Accepted
    I'm not in your business however I face a similar situation in the 1031 Exchange business.

    Perhaps if you deliver in a few different ways:

    1. Strategic planning only at $x. This could even continue when another marketing company is used and they need to lean on you...your firm essentially acts as a Director of Marketing for the client firm and you continue to bill hourly.

    2. Bundle planning and production, giving a discount on planning when the client commits to the production piece. The client can see they are getting a value.

    Since you are getting so many referrals it would seem that your prospects are coming in the door realizing that you are good at what you do. Production can be seen as a commodity (much like a tax return) so it is up to the professional to differentiate ourselves from the low price competitors.
  • Posted by Krista on 11/8/2010 at 12:06 AM Accepted
    Hi mfandel:

    Perhaps the issue is that clients see the deliverables as the true 'product' of your company and the consultation isn't (it's like an add-on so you can sell the proper products aka the deliverables).

    But having said that, your case isn't as uncommon as it happens here in Asia too. Small business owners (lest I call them unscrupulous) do the same things too - they do not respect the thinking that goes into the consultation and take the ideas and get some clown to implement them (though in the end, the implementation bombs and makes them look incredibly stupid).

    As a web design service business, we offer consultation too but after learning from past experiences of horrid suspects and prospects, we've wised up. These days, we charge upfront for consultation which is separate from implementation.

    But in order to charge for consultation, you need to tell the prospect/client upfront first. They don't like surprises in their invoices. If they agree, then you can sit down for an indepth discussion.

    If they disagree, you can still sit together for a discussion but keep it to the minimum without revealing the key strategies. Roughly sketch out what you intend to do without giving away all your ideas (which I know, is sometimes hard to do but it is a must, believe me).

    The other option is to scrutinize the client/prospect. If they don't fit what you want in a client, then there's no need to tell them everything just to win the sale. Some sales aren't worth it. Don't get C and D clients - go for the A listers. Not everyone is a prospect. Some just never want to buy your service no matter what you tell them!

  • Posted by telemoxie on 11/8/2010 at 8:35 AM Accepted
    should you continue to prepare marketing plans before beginning specific projects? Absolutely. This is your proven way of doing business. This ensures that you are making every attempt to thoroughly understand your client's situation.

    Should you share this marketing plan with your prospect? Probably not.

    If your prospect has not paid you to prepare a marketing plan, you have no obligation whatsoever to provide this to them for free. what you have created is an internal document which will provide you with an effective roadmap to perform marketing activities on behalf of your prospect.

    You can tease them with the plan. You can carry it with you to meetings, and you might show them a page or two from time to time. You can show them examples of other plans (for non-competing companies of course).

    if your prospect becomes a customer (e.g. you perform a certain dollar value of work over time) then you might choose to share certain portions of your plan.

    This sort of approach will allow you maximum flexibility in developing and updating and enhancing a style of marketing plan which best helps you serve your customers.

    Your prospect will know that you understand their competition, their key features and benefits, their stylesheet, and so forth. They will be much more comfortable placing future orders with you.

    Certainly you can also put a value on the preparation and the maintenance of a marketing plan. But I would encourage you to set a very high price, to look at the development of the marketing plan as sweat equity, and to get your foot in the door with a small project which will demonstrate your understanding of their business and market and will convince them that you are the marketing communication firm which is most prepared to serve them.

    Good luck.
  • Posted on 11/16/2010 at 12:51 PM Author
    Appreciate the feedback and thoughts. I guess what would be helpful or what I am looking for is some sample proposals to review their format and presentation. Does anyone have sample proposals or quotes that they would be willing to share?

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