Stay-in-touch marketing is a vital component of a professional service firm’s marketing system. Therefore, I thought I would spend the next few posts talking about the different ways to stay in touch with our existing customers, referral partners, and prospects. The...
Over on the Hinge Marketing Blog, guest Author Ian Altman shares 3 Keys to Helping Non-Sales Staff Find Qualified New Business. Ian’s post provides some great advice on what non-sales people should do (and not do) to help identify and qualify new opportunities. Since...
Last October, J.D. Power and Associates released their 2010 U.S. Small Business Banking Satisfaction StudySM. While the study focused on banks, I feel the lessons from this study apply equally to accounting, law, and other professional service firms. The study found...
In yesterday’s post about surveys, I made a quick reference to the fact that I believe professional service firms should not limit themselves to automated survey systems (emails, survey sites, etc.) but should also gather feedback from their customers in person –...
It’s getting to be that time of year when we start to think about budgets and plans for the coming year. Will you have a marketing budget in 2011? Here are a few of the common ways I see marketing budgets being set. No budget – this doesn’t mean they don’t spend money...
As a provider of professional services, you spend time trying to generate referrals from customers and strategic partners. You may even have a referral plan. But do you have a plan in place for turning away business? Sounds crazy, I know, But we are all guilty of...
Fall is here and it’s getting to be that time of year when we start thinking about finishing the year strong and start making plans for next year. I’d like to spend the next few posts discussing how you can get your marketing system into shape to help you meet your...
When it come to improving your business building efforts, it's important to know if you have a sales problem or a marketing problem. Sales and marketing are often lumped together, but they require different skill sets and tools in order to be effective. Below are some...
This is the last post in this series about marketing for the newly promoted. Here is what we have covered so far: How to talk about what you do Understanding what your customer really buys Understanding your customers buying process Cross selling – spotting other...
Sales and marketing are often lumped together. This is easy to when marketing and selling professional services because both roles are often assigned to the same person. Sales and marketing are different roles, both with different goals, and requiring different skill...