Professional Services Marketing by Schultz Mike; Doerr John

Author:Schultz, Mike; Doerr, John
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2012-01-04T04:19:30.143000+00:00

—Paul Dunay, Global Director of Integrated Marketing, BearingPoint

Many admit later how amateurish their USPs sound and sometimes acknowledge that they thought their USP sounded amateurish before they launched their unique-speak publicly. Firm leaders tend to have good common sense radar but check common sense at the door when it comes to self-designated uniqueness.

WHAT CLIENTS REALLY WANT

Much as they might hear otherwise, being different isn’t much of a factor in winning or keeping clients. Often, the “we’re different” message affects them negatively. Consider the fol owing scenario: Your tooth hurts and your dentist is out of town. You need an oral surgeon and you need one fast; so you ask two trusted close friends, Trip and Beverly, if they know anyone.

REFERRAL #1: CLOSE FRIEND TRIP SUGGESTS DR. PHLOX

Trip says that his Aunt Deanna needed oral surgery and went to Dr. Phlox, who has been in the town next door for 20 years and has a very busy oral surgery practice. Word on the street is that he’s pretty solid. When Trip’s Aunt Deanna went in, the doctor took the time to explain the surgery and what was going to happen and answered al the questions she had.

The surgery went fine (as far as they know), and Deanna hasn’t had any problems since. Dr. Phlox is a little more expensive than average; but Deanna says he’s very booked up and established, so it’s understandable.

REFERRAL #2: CLOSE FRIEND BEVERLY SUGGESTS DR. MCCOY

Supposedly Dr. McCoy is wel -known throughout the nation as a cutting-edge oral surgeon, often going where no other oral surgeon has gone before. He has a unique blend of people at his office, and a process for oral surgery and tooth technology that he has pioneered. His results, according to his brochure and web site, are 22 percent better than al other oral surgeons, which is how he justifies his very high prices.

Beverly’s Uncle Pavel went to Dr. McCoy, and al went wel with the surgery (as far as they know), though Uncle Pavel met Dr. McCoy for only about 30 seconds, as he was so busy.

At a gut level, even with Uncle Pavel’s satisfaction, few people would choose referral #2. And many of the dynamics of how clients buy business-to-business professional services are similar to how people choose dentists:

• Should failure happen, the consequences are painful.

• You don’t need the world’s greatest outcome. You just need a very good outcome.

• Since you can’t sample a service like you might sample a piece of gum, you have to rely on reputation, experience, and expertise as proxies for expected results.

• Price is a factor, but you’d rather not skimp when the outcome is important. (Side note: If I had said that Dr. McCoy’s innovations enable him to charge less than half of what other oral surgeons charge, would you have been more interested in buying his services or less interested?)

Innovation in the sense that the doctor does something different than others, or is somehow unique, by and large won’t tip the scales of purchase preference in the favor of the innovator.

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