Are You Building A Brand Or Just Making Noise

There’s a lot of competition for our attention.  Email, phone calls, colleagues, meetings, LinkedIn, direct mail…  Here are 3 steps to help you cut through all the static and reach your intended audience.

1.  Think like a customer.

Most marketing messages are all about the seller.  If you’re not providing a solution or creating a need, you’re just making noise.

2.  Target the right eyes and ears.

Marketing activity without a solid plan behind it is just noise.  Knowing who your target audience is will help you craft a relevant and engaging message.  You’ll know you’re on the right track when your message addresses your prospect’s needs and challenges.

3.  Use multiple media.

If you normally send email messages, mix it up and send something by regular mail.  Add an after-hours voicemail with an intriguing teaser.  Consider augmenting your campaign with traditional print or radio ads.  Just don’t stick to the same old thing every time.

The Snapshot That Creates Alignment

Make sure everyone in your firm knows these 3 things:

• Who your ideal client is
• What is important to these clients
• What your value proposition is

From that information, you can produce a snapshot to align the team around who you are and who you want to be.  You may want to include a mission statement that identifies target industries, geographic scope and specialization.  Try something like this:  We help clients in Vancouver’s financial sector reduce risk by deploying audit teams on an as-needed, just-in-time basis.

Creating clarity around what you do will build pride and drive the right kind of activities.

Client Relationships: Shifting From Troubled to Trusted

Sometimes the best client relationships are those that have undergone the refinement of fire.  While there are no shortcuts to developing deep ties, here are 3 best practices to help you redirect a relationship that’s barreling down the wrong track.

1.  Ask questions and listen really well.  Get to know the client company’s objectives and challenges from their perspective.  Make sure you understand well enough to be able to articulate the client’s market position and objectives to your colleagues on the servicing team.

2.  Once you understand the client’s objectives and challenges, paint a very clear picture of how you can assist.  Be honest.  Don’t shy away from the weak areas of your solution.  Point them out and state how you will bolster those areas.

3.  Integrate and stay connected.  Form a cross-functional team within your firm with the goal of developing relationships with their corresponding functional heads on the client’s team: HR to HR, accounting to accounting, etc.

Prospecting for Business: The Change Management Connection

Asking a prospect to consider your company over their current supplier is tantamount to asking them to take on a change management initiative.  Failing to recognize this keeps many otherwise skilled sales people from achieving their objectives.

People are naturally resistant to change.  That’s why all good change management programs start by describing a burning platform.  Some sales people will call this identifying pain.  A nicer way to put it is: What problem will my product or service solve.

If you’re not offering a solution then you will be forced to attract new clients based on price – something no consultative sales person should be willing to do.

Planning For Growth

A strong business plan delivers growth by creating organizational alignment.  This series presents the steps required to create an executable 3-year growth plan.

To be truly powerful, the plan should be constructed by those who will be held responsible for delivery.  Some elements are flexible, meaning the owner keeps it alive by ensuring quarterly objectives remain relevant and compelling.  Other elements, such as those relating to the firm’s vision, values and culture, remain static.

The planning process takes place in three parts: Foundation, Market Expertise, and Execution.  It’s creation is an excellent teaching tool for people of all levels as it challenges one’s market knowledge and provides a running scorecard to compare actual results against targets.

In the first section, Foundation, we record core beliefs, establish baseline metrics and set goals.  They are:

• Vision, values and culture - Who we are and how we make decisions.
• Field of play - Geographic scope, primary industry verticals, and product/service focus.
• KPIs – Key Performance Indicators – The top 3 to 5 measurements that will tell us how we’re doing against plan.
• Profit goals – Pricing strategy, margins or market price points.
• Gap - Current run rate or performance compared to the company’s 12-, 24-, and 36-month goals
• BHAG - Big Hairy Audacious Goal.  A stretch goal that would take 5-10 years to accomplish.

The next section, Market Expertise, covers understanding who your ideal customer is and using this information in your marketing plan.