Influence

How to market professional services

One of the most vital issues in marketing professional services is building client satisfaction and loyalty. In many of the firms I work with the same results are reflected year after year. Clients seem to be happy about technical competence of firms but are looking for more. An interesting question here was studied by Professor Chebat from HEC Montreal. He studied the client's decision making processes when appointing consulting engineers. His findings are very interesting. For example, when appointing a firm which is the most important to the satisfaction of clients?

A. Quality, that is competence, reliability and communication; or,
B. Value, that is fairness of price, acceptable time and reasonable effort?

Chebat found that clients are more interested in value than quality. Their perception of value is based on the positive perception of the sacrifice or “give” component in the relationship because they are so involved in the project development. It seems in this case technical quality is not irrelevant its just assumed to be at a high level as a price of consideration.

The first impression in a bid

It's only a small part of a bid but it creates a vital first impression - it's the cover letter. I see covering letters contradicting executive summaries and the bid document, it doesn't need to be that hard. - The role of the covering letter is to do four things:

1. Thank the client for the invitation to bid
2. Reinforce your unique value proposition, that is, why us?
3. Identify any administrative issues like number of binders, CD’s included and so forth, and anything you want to draw particular attention to like any special discounts in this case
4. Indicate who the prime contact is

That's it.

How to use a cover letter in a bid

The role of the covering letter is to do four things:

1. Thank the client for the invitation to bid
2. Reinforce your unique value proposition, that is, why us?
3. Identify any administrative issues like number of binders, CD's included and so forth, and anything you want to draw particular attention to like any special discounts in this case
4. Indicate who the prime contact is

Ten characteristics of a winning bid

In the fifteen years I have worked with teams bidding for major work I have found there are ten consistent characterists of a winning bid. Here's my top 10:

1. Be 100% responsive to the client

2. Reflect client key requirements and follow the RFP structure

3. Talk in terms of issues, benefits and say what the features do for the client then provide proof for the claims

4. Show an awareness of the client’s key motivations, issues, problems, and concerns

5. Start with a unique value proposition and continue that theme throughout the document

6. Build on a differentiation strategy that clearly answers both “we can do it” and “we can uniquely do it compared with competitors.”

7. Write for multiple types of readers (executives and technical experts)

8. Integrate text and graphics effectively in a professional and relevant blend

9. Follow claims by answering “so what that means…”

10. Write in conversational language

Follow these top ten and you will win more often.

How to find the competitive sweet spot

Great advice from Alfred Marcus about finding a sweet spot. "Finding and exploiting a sweet spot means combining low cost differentiation in striking packages that bring together exceptional value. A sweet spot is one with virtually no competition due to customer intimacy or product differentiation. But companies that achieve sustained competitive advantage do not just occupy sweet spots. Three other attributes are necessary for companies to be long term winners. They must be agile, disciplined and focused. They combine position, movement, hard to imitate capabilities, and concentration in hard to imitate packages. Agility brings these companies to sweet spots, discipline enables them to defend them and focus enables them to exploit these spots." Find out more from his book Big Winners and Big Losers.

They're only buying when you're not selling

Selling is a business full of paradox and irony. My wife and I were looking for a new car last week, one that could happily fit the new member to our family we are expecting at year end. What shocked me most was how I was reacting when the salespeople approached me. Like many buyers I reacted in three ways. I tried to put downward pressure on the price, I got very sceptical about benefits and I put distance between me and the salesperson. So if you are selling to someone you are then asking them to take on this buying role. The antidote? Just don't sell. See yourself as someone genuinely interested in helping them fix a problem or realise an opportunity. So it’s you and the customer against their problem. That's when they buy from you, when you are not selling to them.