What Service Professionals Can Expect in 2012
What Service Professionals Can Expect in 2012:
While we didn’t return to pre-recession times in 2011, we did see more businesses emerging from their shelters. They put aside their defensive-only approach and began to pursue new business. For many that involved more content marketing, inbound marketing, and social media marketing activities. They published more articles, white papers, blog posts, and reports to establish themselves as industry experts and attract prospective buyers.
As they did that, however, many began to look “on paper” like the other firms in their industry. What they published didn’t differentiate them and actually contributed to the wall of noise many of us experienced in publications, on websites, and on social media networks.
The challenge professional services firms face in 2012 is how to stand out from the crowd—be heard above the noise—and capture the attention and limited dollars of, as sales strategist Jill Konrath calls them, crazy-busy buyers. Read on to learn what RainToday’s publisher and contributing editors say service professionals must do to overcome that obstacle and grow their business.
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The Year of Sales
Mike Schultz, Publisher of RainToday and Co-President of RAIN Group
Mike Schultz, Publisher of RainToday and Co-President of RAIN Group
Selling is becoming more and more important. Websites are looking better, and it’s easier and cheaper to create them, so you don’t know if it’s a seven-person firm or a 70-person firm. Plus, firms of all sizes are producing more articles, white papers, and blogs. It’s harder for customers and clients to differentiate firms based on those things. That means sales conversations are going to set you apart.
The fact of the matter is when prospects pick up the phone and call a firm, and they say, “Hey, I want to talk to you guys about x, y, and z,” the experiences they have immediately when you answer the phone or call them back are what will differentiate you from the other similar-looking firms.
They get a sense of whether: These guys were bright. These guys listened to me. These guys cared about my needs. These guys did a thorough needs discovery. These guys shared with me not feature, feature, feature but relevant things that were helpful for me to think about what I want to do. These guys called me back. These guys didn’t. These guys were arrogant. These guys weren’t. This guy was like a mouse on the phone.
There are all of these things that happen that can cause their perceived value of you to shoot way up or way down and also build their belief of whether you can deliver on the things they want you to deliver on.
Additionally, if you’re not able to communicate your value to prospects, someone else will get their business.
I think 2012 will continue to be the year of sales where whether you have full-time salespeople, you have business developers, or you have partners and consultants that need to sell, the more that you can help them sell, the more successful your firm is going to be. You’re not going to get very far if you don’t have people who can sell.
Value, Value, Value
Robert Croston, Vice President and Principal Consultant of RAIN Group
Robert Croston, Vice President and Principal Consultant of RAIN Group
As we are likely to see painfully slow economic growth in 2012, many professional service firms will concentrate on capturing a larger piece of a static, or even shrinking, pie. To do this, most firms realize they will need to sell better.
This was largely the case last year. However, in 2012 we will see greater refinement in the approach service firms take toward sales. While many firms have become more proactive in their outreach, they will still face an urgency issue: Why now? Why you? And, most important, where’s the value?
To open stingy wallets and move skeptical prospects forward, the focus in 2012 will be on selling the value of a solution and illustrating the impact it will have on an organization. If you are selling value, you can kill three birds with one stone by driving immediate consideration, positioning yourself as distinct, and clearly demonstrating ROI.
Winning Firms Will Be Advisers and Publishers
Michael W. McLaughlin, author and Principal with MindShare Consulting LLC
Michael W. McLaughlin, author and Principal with MindShare Consulting LLC
Maybe it’s a cliché to say that we’re awash in information. But it’s hard to paint a true picture of today’s world without that reference.
Think about it: More data was transmitted over the Internet in 2010 than in all previous years combined, according to researchers at Intel. It’s a safe bet that the numbers didn’t shrink in 2011.
Every minute, 48 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube; each day, 200 million tweets are sent out; and every month, more than 7 billion photos are uploaded to the Internet. More than 4 billion devices are connected to the Internet, and that number is expected to reach 15 billion in just a few years.
The mind-boggling stats have profound implications for professional services providers in 2012 (and beyond). For starters, we have to re-double our efforts to remain effective information filters for our inundated clients.
Also, clients will become increasingly dismissive of those who try to market services by publishing over-simplified stuff like, “The 7 Secrets of Servant Leadership” in 300 words or fewer.
Service providers who rely on thought leadership to generate business will have to ratchet up the quality of what they produce; and they must be ready to distribute that content across the many channels clients will use.
Winners in 2012 will be both client advisers and publishers. They’ll apply the same uncompromising standards to their publishing activities as they do to client service. They’ll work tirelessly to put the “thought” into thought leadership.
They’ll stress substance and depth in their marketing content, not volume. They’ll be generous with their best ideas because they realize that’s the way to get clients to notice. And they’ll treat the communities they create through their publishing and marketing activities like clients—those they will listen to, serve, and eventually convert into buyers.
The Demise of Nice Salespeople
Jill Konrath, author and sales strategist
Jill Konrath, author and sales strategist
Crazy-busy decision makers have absolutely no interest in working with relationship-oriented salespeople who willingly go the extra mile to take good care of them. Instead, they want to work with savvy professionals who bring them high value on a regular basis.
To be one of those people, sellers need to sharpen their personal expertise in areas relevant to their customers. Then, they need to proactively bring customers fresh ideas, insights, and information to help them achieve their business objectives. Salespeople need to realize they are the differentiator, not their products or services.
In short, being nice is simply no longer sufficient in today’s business environment.
Be Prepared for Volatility
Vickie K. Sullivan, author and President of Sullivan Speaker Services
Vickie K. Sullivan, author and President of Sullivan Speaker Services
The key word for next year: volatility. Watch for done deals to be derailed because of buyers’ overreaction to unexpected events. Many people are still cautious and will default into doing nothing in response to outside forces, such as the economy or an unexpected dip in cash flow.
My suggestions to deal with this are two-fold: first, pack your pipeline full of opportunities so that your firm can quickly fill the void. Second, be prepared to give buyers’ compelling reasons for why it’s still good for them to move forward. The more specific the reasons are the better. Listen to the buyers’ stories and then explain what will happen if they wait.
Continued Unemployment Will Lead to More One-Person Firms
Charles H. Green, Founder and CEO of Trusted Advisor Associates
Charles H. Green, Founder and CEO of Trusted Advisor Associates
I do not believe 2012 will look materially different from 2011. But more of the same is meaningful nonetheless. It will mean:
- One more year of unemployment for a great number of talented people
- One more year of experience for all of us with new technologies
- One more year experience for all of us using social media
Those three items alone mean:
- More one-person firms will seek to do business, especially in professional services
- Marketing will more and more resemble networking
- Social media will stratify into more-personal and less-personal groupings
- Consortium-bidding will become more common and effective
- Personal collaboration skills will be at a premium
What do you think? What ideas do you have for standing out among your competitors? What other trends do you predict for 2012?
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