As my partner Frank Mims V likes to say, “Build a competitive advantage.” Start by asking yourself these 3 questions:
And most importantly, DO YOU KNOW WHY YOUR CURRENT CLIENTS DO BUSINESS WITH YOU?
Clients, referrals and prospects are the only sources of new business. And if you are a professional services firm, at least 50% of your NEW business every year should be coming from clients and referrals. And this must be done in person, at least once. Remember our last post, “Emails don’t end in handshakes.”
And according to Jada Pinkett Smith, “Direct communication is the best way to create relationships.”
This ad from British Airways emphasizes that building and sustaining relationships are absolutely critical for ultimately building new business. So:
“When I was in law school, Marketing meant going to the grocery store!” From a great Chicago lawyer.
And from Barbara Corcoran of Shark Tank fame, “Create a sense of demand, rather than waiting to hear demand.”
Creating value and communicating it to clients and prospects is essential to jumpstarting your revenue. These form the next three of 12 essential practices to accelerate new revenue.
VALUE: Are you building value in your customers’ eyes?
COMMUNICATION: Have you built a customer satisfaction ladder?
TEAM: Have you created a commitment-based culture?
Notice how client-oriented these three essential revenue-accelerator practices are. Let us work with you to make them work for you.
To grow revenue, there are 12 essential practices to maximize. The Key to transforming sustainable revenue to productive revenue lies within the firm’s leaders who should be addressing these 12 critical impact areas. We use them to guide clients into growing more revenue, more clients and opening more doors.
The first three essential practices are:
BRAND — Does your brand identity equal longevity?
LEADERSHIP — Will your current efforts create sustainable revenue growth?
STRATEGY — Do you have an enduring competitive advantage, focusing on 90-day “critical improvement areas?”
WE ARE BACK! With “SINGLE-TASK MARKETING” and business-development services not typically available to small- and mid-sized firmsEach “single task” includes profitable tactics to close more new business rapidly.
Our team made a conscious decision to back away from new work in order to understand where our clients’ needs are moving. These needs have shifted dramatically, due primarily to budget constraints. Intern, these have limited marketing and business development departments from adding the skills and experience necessary for specialized tasks needed to grow new revenue.
For a 30-minute complimentary phone consultation on which of these “single tasks” might help your firm grow new revenue, contact Allan directly.
The message we all too often give to clients is that “you are not really communicating” with your staff or clients. Most often the messages are heard but not understood. Or, as General Motors CEO Mary Bara states, the challenge is “head nodders.” Those are people who say yes by nodding their heads and then doing just what they were doing before. So how do you really get things done?
By explaining the “Why” in order to get the “What” accomplished. And then following up with holding folks accountable for implementation, not just letting them drift off into their past format.
Becoming an effective presenter and communicator does take practice. You need to show how to solve problems, help your staff and partners achieve their goals, contribute to their well being and sometimes even entertain.
Develop an inventory of communication approaches for various settings and concerns. Consider what follow up is needed, and by whom, to implement the matters under discussion. Use collateral and social media where appropriate, whether for internal communication in the firm or with clients.
Clients – ahh – an entirely different set of communication parameters are needed. More on that next post.
Does your firm have an enduring competitive advantage? Number 3 in our 12 essential steps for accelerating revenue growth is all about strategy and how to gain clarity, focus and execution. You need to know:
More in next post.