Professional Services Marketing Wisdom: How to Attract, Influence and Acquire Customers Even If You Hate Selling

Professional Services Marketing Wisdom: How to Attract, Influence and Acquire Customers Even If You Hate Selling

by Ric Willmot
Released July 2014
Publisher(s): Wrightbooks
ISBN: 9780730309994

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Book description

Effective marketing tactics and strategies for professional service providers

If you own and operate your own professional services firm—in accounting, finance, law, or another field—you know just how important marketing is to the success of your business. If you can't get your name out there, you won't have any customers to call your own. This handy guide offers a comprehensive plan for attracting and acquiring clients for small and even one-person firms—no marketing degree required. The strategies and tactics here are fun, easy-to-understand, and doable right now. All you need to bring is enthusiasm and commitment. You'll learn how to identify potential clients, explain why you're their best choice, grow your market share, get great referrals, designate which clients are long-term, profitable keepers, and much more.

  • Features easy-to-implement marketing tactics and strategies for small professional services firms in any industry

  • Ideal for anyone who runs a small firm, as well as professionals in larger firms who want to climb the ladder

  • Shows readers with no marketing background how to boost their businesses

  • Negates the need for expensive and often ineffective external marketing or sales consultants or branding and public relations firms

    • For anyone who runs their own firm, Professional Services Marketing Wisdom offers unbeatable guidance on attracting and keeping the clients that small firms need to survive and thrive.

    Table of contents

    1. Cover
    2. Title Page
    3. Copyright
    4. Dedication
    5. About the author
    6. Acknowledgements
    7. Introduction
    8. Chapter 1: Identify the clients you want and deserve
      1. Identify the most appropriate market, segments, industries and client types
      2. Assess the long-term value of a client
      3. Determine the value of a client beyond direct fees
      4. Decide whether to specialise or generalise
      5. Strategies for isolating new targets of opportunity
    9. Chapter 2: Why you're the best choice for your market niche
      1. Know when it's time to expand
      2. Offer new services to existing clients without losing credibility
      3. Maximise your fees working within your niche
      4. Increase fees using 29 proven techniques
      5. Create an agile advantage
    10. Chapter 3: Establish thought leadership and attract true buyers
      1. What thought leadership is and how it directly affects your fee levels
      2. The tangible and intangible value of the client testimonial
      3. How the right publicity can establish you as an expert in your field
      4. When writing articles is appropriate, and how to do it easily and well
      5. Dive deeper than simply publishing
      6. Identify your past ‘hidden’ activities to help develop your credibility further
      7. Put all your thought leadership activities together to create greater credibility
    11. Chapter 4: You're in the relationship business
      1. Derailed by mindsets
      2. Establish a unique brand
      3. Radio interviews
      4. Employ public speaking to promote your practice
      5. Sponsorship opportunities
      6. Trade and professional associations
      7. How to elicit emotional priorities
      8. How to handle the media
    12. Chapter 5: Establish great acquisition sources and dominate your market
      1. Acquisition channels
      2. Who has the authority to engage you?
      3. Why you must provide value early
      4. Develop a memorable brand that will attract clients to you
      5. Reach out laterally to maximise your efforts
      6. How to retain the client and their business
    13. Chapter 6: Develop market share without spending a fortune
      1. Create the fundamental value proposition that differentiates you from your competitors
      2. Finding fertile fishing waters
      3. Implement the whirlpool to automate your lead generation
    14. Chapter 7: Ensure repeat business, recommendations and referrals
      1. Think ahead and plan for the fifth, sixth and seventh sale
      2. The keys to cementing relationships that generate further sales
      3. How to get a referral every time
      4. How to attract quality referrals to keep your pipeline full
      5. 10 steps to quality referrals
      6. Use the Referral Whirlpool
      7. Research into referrals
      8. Summary of research results into referrals
    15. Chapter 8: Communication, influence, persuasion: customer centricity
      1. Control the conversation by asking questions
      2. Break mental barriers and get the client thinking your way
      3. Understand the psychology of influence and why it's important
      4. Build support and momentum for your work among others
      5. Define your organisation's principles, ethics and values
      6. Customer-centric culture
      7. The productivity paradox
    16. Chapter 9: Rules for results in relationships and proposals
      1. What you must do to improve your success before you send a proposal
      2. Develop agreement before writing a proposal
      3. Why you don't want to be a ‘used car salesman’
      4. Suggest options that are valuable for your client and provide more revenue for you
    17. Chapter 10: Selective acquisition: choose the keepers and release the others
      1. Design your own Client Assessment Profile
      2. Relinquish the wrong type of client — and the reasons for doing so
      3. Build high value to justify your price
      4. How and when to raise your fees
      5. Negotiate lower fees, when appropriate, without losing credibility
      6. The dentist's model
      7. Discounting
      8. Deeper into discounting
    18. Chapter 11: The internet, technology and social media
    19. Appendix: Tools and resources
    20. Special thanks
    21. Index
    22. Learn more with practical advice from our experts

    Product information

    • Title: Professional Services Marketing Wisdom: How to Attract, Influence and Acquire Customers Even If You Hate Selling
    • Author(s): Ric Willmot
    • Release date: July 2014
    • Publisher(s): Wrightbooks
    • ISBN: 9780730309994