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Meet the MasterMinds: Mike Schultz on Marketing Professional Services

Mike Schultz is co-president of Wellesley Hills Group, publisher of RainToday.com, and coauthor of the book, Professional Services Marketing: How the Best Firms Build Premier Brands, Thriving Lead Generation Engines, and Cultures of Business Development Success. Based on extensive research, Schultz's book offers an experienced-tested approach to marketing professional services.

We asked Schultz about the state of professional services firms’ marketing and what they can do to improve it.

McLaughlin: How would you rate the current effectiveness of services marketing? Is it getting better, worse, or just muddling along?

Schultz: The question reminds me of the man who had his head in the oven and his feet in the freezer. On average he felt just fine. The quality of professional services marketing is all over the place, and I expect it will continue to be.

The quality of professional services marketing is all over the place, and I expect it will continue to be.

What is changing is that years ago firms didn’t have to be competitive with marketing and selling. If they did good work, the phone rang and they continued merrily along. That’s changing as the world gets more and more competitive.

On the highest end of the spectrum, the firms that must compete every day or get their clock cleaned by the competition are stepping up their efforts and quality, but they’ll have to keep getting better if they want to win. It’s a race with no end. You can’t stop running.

McLaughlin: Based on your research, is there a marketing strategy that you believe most every professional should use?

Schultz: Besides the obvious ones--like seeking repeat business and referrals--I think every service firm needs to figure out how to get clients to sample their work in depth. Sometimes this is a seminar where the client can interact intensively with the firm for several days. For other firms it can be an analysis or assessment service. And others may have a research offering they sell and present.

I think every service firm needs to figure out how to get clients to sample their work in depth.

Whatever it is, interacting deeply with clients on smaller (but still effective) projects gives them the sense of your value, your trustworthiness, and your commitment to their success in a much more powerful way than simply saying that you do something. What you can demonstrate carries much more weight.

So figure out what your demonstration service is, and then market that.

McLaughlin: What do you advise for professionals who struggle to make enough time to serve clients and market their practices?

Schultz: Quit whining. We all have 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. Firms depend on rainmakers to bring in the business. Some people make rain, some people don’t. All too often, however, some people make seemingly plausible, but ultimately lame, excuses for why something can’t be done, or an obstacle can’t be overcome.

Yet other people do it. It is possible, and it can get done. The question is, are you willing to make the necessary changes in your daily work behaviors to make it work? Lots of people aren’t, but those that do are the most successful.

McLaughlin: Is there a "classic" marketing mistake that most firms make?

Schultz: So many to choose from…let me give you five to start with.

At the top of my list is trying to come up with a "Unique Selling Proposition." It makes me want to keel over and die when I hear, “We’re a different kind of consulting firm, offering a unique blend of people, process, and technology to do yadda, yadda yadda” and similar cliams. The mistake here is when people use some wacky novelty as their “unique” differentiator, or when they say something is a differentiator that everyone else says, such as “We only use experienced folks on projects.”

A second mistake is not entering a market because there’s a competitor in the space. Presence of competitors means presence of buyers. Look for places where people spend money and get in those games. It’s the rare provider who carves out an “I’m the only player” niche and can make enough money.

Another common error is spending too much money on advertising and public relations when so many other tactics work better.

Another common error is spending too much money on advertising and public relations when so many other tactics work better.

And then you have the firms that call themselves thought leaders when they don’t speak and publish regularly, or what they publish isn’t particularly good.

Last, but not least, is claiming, “We just rebranded the firm” because they redesigned their logo, web site, tagline, and letterhead. Branding is about getting known as a leader in a market. Many companies that “rebrand” spend a year drawing new pictures for their logo when they should be spending on getting their presence felt in the market. They didn’t rebrand; they redesigned their identity. Their brand is often still completely irrelevant to the market at large.

McLaughlin: Of all the choices available to professionals to market their businesses, are there any tactics that don't seem to work as well as others?

Schultz: I’m not sure I’d head down the path of skywriting, Tupperware parties, or publicity stunts. I mean, who wants to see an accountant streak at a baseball game? Regarding the rest of the more standard tactics, there are uses for all of them, but every tactic is not for every firm.

Typically I see an over reliance on advertising and public relations, and not enough effort on seminars and events, direct mail and email, using the telephone, and developing thought leadership.

These latter options get lip service all the time, but not the serious efforts they need to succeed. Meanwhile, companies will spend 80 percent of their marketing budget on ad campaigns that are a complete waste.

Picking a good marketing tactic doesn’t mean you can make it work.

One last thing that’s important to note: Picking a good marketing tactic doesn’t mean you can make it work. I’ve seen every tactic implemented poorly only to have the tactic itself condemned when anyone who knew what they were doing would have seen a mile away that it had no chance to succeed as it was executed.

McLaughlin: How effective have the newer social media tools (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and so on) been for professional services providers?

Schultz: For some firms they’ve been great. I know firms that have generated real business from these tools. But you have to understand them for what they are, and understand each site and tactic individually for how it should be used.

These tactics are just another way to communicate with individuals and groups, create new relationships, and nurture the relationships already in place. To know if they’ll work for you, you’ve got to ask yourself the core, traditional marketing questions like—Where are my buyers? How do they spend their time? How can I make connections with them? If social media comes into the answers to these questions, then they should become a part of your marketing.

McLaughlin: If you could give a professional service provider just one piece of advice about how to market most effectively, what would it be?

Schultz: Before you go about any marketing tactic (or your overall marketing strategy), ask the question, “What will it really take to make this a success?” I see firms that want to build rainmaking skills and a culture of business development success. So they contract for a two-day training seminar to solve the problem. If they asked, “What will it really take to make rainmaking a success here?” they’d learn that it takes a lot more.

I’ve seen direct marketing fail because the firms didn’t ask what it really takes to make direct marketing successful. If they did, they’d change their whole approach. Same goes for building a marketing communications platform, discovering brand messages, building web sites, and so on. Ask that one question and you’ll find yourself succeeding more often, and avoiding some of the all-too-common pitfalls that derail services marketing efforts.

McLaughlin: Thanks for your insights.

You can find out more about Mike Schultz at www.RainToday.com.