Barbara Walters Price

Interesting Insights from Suzanne Lowe: The Role of the CMO

Suzanne Lowe's blog, The Expertise Marketplace, is a must read for serious professional service firm marketers.  She had two very interesting posts related to the role of the CMO.  Great stuff. 

I am a firm believer that if a CMO actually steps out and leads rather than waits for directions from the partners, then he or she can earn a seat at the strategy-setting table.   I'm a member of my firm's board of directors (the only non-fee earner on the board) and one of its senior people.  It took time, but I got there because I 1) stepped out and led the charge, continuously seeking input and involvement from all members of the firm and communicating our efforts and ROI;  2) made it a point to get involved with our analysts and really understand what they do so I could identify future trends and opportunities for us; and 3) woke up every day thinking about what we could do to make the phone ring with the right prospects. 

If I did it, you can do it too!  Along that line, take a minute to read these two posts and add Suzanne's blog to your aggregator.

Money quote from "A CEO's CMO":

Certainly, professional firms increasingly need great CMOs, not just good ones.  Yet too many CMOs are still viewed as master communicators, and either aren't required to become more effective executive-suite strategic partners -- or don't insist on it.

Money quote from "We Didn't See It Coming":

Isn't helping our firms to better navigate their future marketplaces exactly what professional service marketers should be doing?  If we can't find a way to do this, aren't we all still in the "we didn't see it coming" boat?  I don't think professional service marketers need to become expert futurists, but I do think we need to find resources that will help us bring practical, more fact-based scenario planning into our firms' corporate and marketing strategy efforts. Yes, it takes time, and it will require professional service firm leaders to recast their previous notions of strategic planning.

Marketing Directors: Great Advice for Your Career

I was recently forwarded an article entitled Two Big Things: How to Achieve Lifetime Job Security in Your Marketing Career by Eric Gagnon, president of GAA, a sales and business development consulting firm.  A few excerpts I found interesting:

Job Security Tip #1:  Focus on Your Tradecraft, and Don't Listen to the Grand Master Strategist Baby Geniuses of Marketing (GMSBGOMs)

Most of what's written about marketing these days is puffed up, pretentious high-concept fluff that's irrelevant and potentially fatal to your career ...

What he is basically saying is:

Marketing is Mostly Tactical

Sure, the high-concept elements of marketing strategy are important - positioning, trends, pricing, distribution, etc., but once they're set in your marketing program, the rest is all tactical: The process of marketing execution that drives all of the deliverables and activities of your marketing program.

Tactical marketing execution is where the game of marketing is won or lost.

Eric goes on to give us job security tip #2:

Job Security Tip #2: Never Forget that Marketing is Accountable to Sales...

When a marketing manager is working with their sales VP to develop ads, mailings, and deliverables that effectively sell their company's product, and these marketing activities are keeping the company's sales team supplied with a steady stream of high-quality leads, and the marketing manager is out in front, looking for ways to open new business opportunities in the marketing program, the marketing department is never asked to justify itself.

The Role of Marketing is to Serve and to Lead

As a marketing professional, your job is both to support sales in the here and now, by producing deliverables and marketing programs that generate sales response-inquiries, leads, and orders-for your company's (or client's) sales team, and to get out in front of your marketing program to anticipate and capitalize on new, future opportunities: Creating a new promotion for your product in a new market, developing a new marketing program to publicize a new compliance or regulatory change that can be met by your product or service, launching an innovative promotional offer to counter a competitor's new product announcement, and preparing a high-level business development presentation for a major corporate partner are but a few examples of ways you can keep your marketing program forward-looking, to anticipate and capitalize on future opportunities.

As a marketer in a professional services firm, keep the broad themes here in mind:

• Execution.  Don't give your partners fancy talk about branding, instead, do those things every day that make the phone ring with the right prospects.
• By serving, you lead. It's your job to help your professionals sell and market.  You've got to be there supporting and leading the efforts.  One way to add value that is overlooked by many is to keep a watchful eye on future trends, alert your professionals to those opportunities, and then take advantage of them.

If these excerpts interest you, e-mail me for a copy of the article and make some time to check out GAA's website.  I'm glad to have found Eric Gagnon, who is a raging, but ultimately sane voice in the marketing wilderness.

Have a great weekend,

  Barbara Walters Price

Marketing Directors: Perfect Way to Present Your Professionals

Our firm, Mercer Capital, is in the process of designing/developing a new website which is no small undertaking.  Our site is huge for a professional services firm and a bit complex.  It is also quite good at turning visitors into buyers.

One of the things you do when you're undertaking such a project is to look around and see if anyone out there has good ideas ... and then you steal them (imitation being the sincerest form of flattery, of course).  Well, we're about to flatter McKonly & Asbury, a CPA firm located in central Pennsylvania.  I absolutely love how they have presented their professionals.  It's just what we've been looking for. 

I've blogged before about the pitfalls of group shots as defined by everyone being in the same room and told to say "cheese" instead of grouped together via Photoshop as on the McKonly site. 

In that same post, I discussed the value of appropriate dress.  Check out the subtle change in attire when you click on an individual professional on the McKonly site.

McKonly & Asbury have done a masterful job of presenting their professionals. Their marketing director should be praised.  Congrats and be warned, we're going steal this concept for Mercer Capital's new site. 

Should You Write a Book?

As some of you may know, the professionals of my firm, Mercer Capital, write books.  Our most prolific author is our CEO, Chris Mercer, who has penned four of the five we have so far published.  I am very happy to report that these books have been very important to us in generating new business and in building our brand. 

So, I was interested to read about "The Business Impact of Writing a Book" a new publication by RainToday.com ($149 for downloadable version).   Over 200 authors, notably all professional service providers, were surveyed and some of the findings were interesting.

It was reported that 84% of the authors report either very strong or strong improvement in their ability to differentiate their services as a result of publishing their books.  53% of authors also reported that they were able to charge higher fees for their services as a result of publishing their book.   In addition, the authors claimed that average direct revenue received from publishing their books (money from the book sales) was $210,728; however, the average indirect revenue received (from related services such as consulting, speaking, et al) was $1,194,082.

Pretty heady stuff, huh?

Lest you get too excited, David Maister weighs in with his opinions about the marketing benefits of professionals authoring books and he's less than enthusiastic.  David says:

In today’s world, it makes no sense to take nine months, on average, to get your material together and the same amount of time again (amazingly) to get it through the process of publication. Then begins the complicated business of marketing the book and by that time, the thoughts contained in the book are largely historic. By the time you’re in print, the odds are high that someone else has already put similar thoughts into play online.

... Books are so 20th century!

David believes that you get more bang for your buck on-line through websites and blogs and RSS technology. 

While I am skeptical of some of the statistics in the RainToday.com publication, I do disagree with David Maister to a point and I told him so.  I reprint my comment to his post here:

Mr. Maister – I appreciate your thoughtful post but disagree to an extent. Printed books can be quite beneficial if they are highly targeted. My firm, Mercer Capital, has had great success with self-published, highly niched books. We know who the targeted readers are and what their issues are. A book is still much more impressive (and cost-effective) than a 4-color glossy brochure or a collection of articles – although articles are important credibility builders and should be part of the marketing mix.

Books, however, are not the be-all-and-end-all. Smart professionals leverage content in various ways – whether turning articles into books or turning blog posts into books or turning printed books into e-books or podcasts.

The CEO of my firm and our primary author, Chris Mercer, has a blog (www.merceronvalue.com) which he is using to draft his next book on the subject of buy-sell agreements. We will self-publish that book which is, in my humble opinion, the only way to go unless your name is Tom Peters, et al. We have published with a major publisher and it was a nightmare. After we send the book as our gift to potential referral sources, we’ll sell it directly and via Amazon and recoup our printing/marketing investment several times over. And, if past experience holds true, we’ll gain new business from the book we sent as a gift. Then, after we exhaust our inventory of printed books, we’ll present it as an e-book with updated content.

So, please don’t give up on the idea of authoring a book as outdated. I thought audio cassettes were yesterday’s news until I found out that Simply Audiobooks began offering cassette tapes as well as [CDs] in their Fall 2005 campaign because, according to their research, they were still in demand. I believe books with targeted content are still in high demand as well and can be leveraged to be a very effective marketing tool.

Here's a bit of guidance from a lady (me) who has been there and seen book publication work for her professional service firm:

1. Professionally produced printed books are beneficial for marketing your services and building your reputation.  People still tend to think if you've gone to all the trouble of writing a book, you must know something.
2. Authoring books is labor intensive and the whole process can take too long to complete if you let it -- so don't let it.  How?  See #3.
3. Niche your content according to the needs of your clients.  This guarantees that the book gets read by the people you want to read it.
4. Focus on shorter books.  If the word "tome" can in any way describe your idea for a book, stop now!  You're wasting your time and energies.
5. Printed books are not a panacea.  You have to produce a professional product (inside & out) and then you have to get to work marketing the book.  Speaking of marketing, be prepared to give away a lot of books.  Shorter books cost less on a per piece basis than a glossy four-color brochure.  Remember, NO ONE THROWS AWAY A BOOK.  Almost everyone throws away a brochure.
6. Self-publish, self-publish, self-publish.  This means that you'll have to handle all the details such as finding an editor, book design, and finding and working with a printer but these are not as difficult to accomplish as you might imagine.  Keep in mind that when you self-publish, you control the marketing and receive much more than the standard author's cut of 12%-15% -- and that is priceless.  See Dan Poynter's site for all you need to know about how to self-publish. 
7. Amazon is your friend.  It's easy to get your book on Amazon. 
8. If you have a blog, use it to develop content for your book.  You can test out ideas, gain valuable feedback, and speak directly to your market about their issue. 
9. Make sure the end product looks like a book.  A booklet held together with staples is NOT a book and these rules do not apply to booklets.
10. Leverage, leverage, leverage.  See my comments to David Maister's post again for some ideas on leveraging your content.  The Internet provides numerous ways you can use to push existing content to your audience. 

And, as a bonus: 

Sell your book before you write and publish it.  Announce your book and take pre-orders.  This outside pressure forces you to finish the book and it is a helpful gauge for determining the quantity of books to print.  It's also helpful from a marketing viewpoint because you can begin to reap the benefits of authoring the book (articles, speaking engagements, perception of you as an authority on the topic) before the book is complete.

Remember, a book is a good idea if it is tightly niched and focused on meeting client needs and solving their problems.  If that's the case, get to work today.

  Barbara Walters Price

Be Ruthless with Your Time, Not with Other People

I recently finished reading a book entitled "Accept No Mediocre Life" by David Foster.  David is a founding and senior pastor of Bellevue Community Church in Nashville, Tennessee (and he has a blog - Fostering Hope).  I would recommend the book to any Christian.  Some of it is a bit trite but there are real pearls of wisdom to be found and it will cause you to stop and reflect. 

One passage in the chapter "I Will Treat Time as Life" struck me:

The real breakthrough for me came the day I realized I couldn't do the first three (be passionate about God, compassionate with people, and patient with myself) if I was unwilling to be ruthless with my time.

As the author points out, we're usually ruthless with other people and compassionate with our time.  I know I waste far too much time on things that make no difference.  Take control of your life.  Don't focus on efficiency (getting more done in less time) but effectiveness (getting done those things that really matter).

To again quote from the book:

... time is a gift, wasting it is a sin, all of us don't have the same amount...

Something to reflect on this Monday morning,

    Barbara Walters Price 

Rainmaking: Guy Kawasaki or Charles?

Guy Kawasaki has a  post titled "The Art of Rainmaking."  His basic premise is simple: "Sales fix everything."  In other words, if you have sales, you have cash flow and when the cash is flowing, lots of things can be fixed, ignored, or forgiven. 

Guy then goes on to a list of eight things to do to make it rain.  While there are good and valid points in the post, I do not totally agree with the premise.  Instead, I find that agree with one of Guy's commenters, a fellow named Charles.  So, see Charles' comments below then read Guy's post and decide for yourself:

Marketing Directors: The Value of Letting the Other Guy Win

Renowned coach, Marshall Goldsmith, has launched a blog and I'll be a regular reader.  One of his first columns, "Let Others Win," struck a chord with me.  In the post he described a dinner conversation:

The two men at dinner were clearly on the same wavelength. One of them was my friend Jon Katzenbach, the former McKinsey & Co. director who now heads his own elite consulting boutique. The other was Niko Canner, his brilliant partner. They were planning a new venture. But something about their conversation was slightly off. When Niko floated ideas, Jon tended to interrupt him. "That's a great idea," Jon would say, "but it might work better if you . . ." and then he would share a different way to tackle the issue. When he finished, Niko would pick up where he left off, only to be interrupted by Jon again. Back and forth it went, like a long rally at Wimbledon.

He went on to write:

Ordinarily, I keep quiet, but Jon was exhibiting classic smart-person behavior. When Niko left the table, I laughed and said, "Jon, perhaps you should just go with Niko's ideas. Stop trying to add so much value to the discussion."

In my experience, one of the most common challenges that successful people face is a constant need to win.

Marshall makes a great point and one worth noting when he says:

The problem is, while they [leaders] may have improved the idea by 5%, they've reduced the employee's commitment to executing it by 30%, because they've taken away that person's ownership of the idea. Therein lies the fallacy of added value: Whatever is gained in the form of a better idea may be lost six times over in the employee's diminished enthusiasm for the concept.

Why should marketing directors care about this idea?  As stated earlier, Marshall is a very successful and world-renowned coach.  And, I've never known a successful marketing director who wasn't, at their core, a coach.  In our role, we have to convincingly persuade partners and often cajole associates or other junior level professionals while leading our marketing staff.  It's a balancing act but one that is rewarding if you focus on letting the other guy win.

Letting the other guy win means embracing the marketing/biz development ideas of others and adding that 5% of extra value behind the scenes - without verbally stepping on the idea and without claiming any credit for the extra added value.  Speaking of credit, give credit to others lavishly - we all instinctively know this but many find it hard to do.  You have to make others look good so that ideas will come from every corner of the office (you don't have a monopoly on good ideas and the more ideas, the better). 

At the end of the day, it's your job to implement ideas that make the phone ring.  Therefore, it's not your job to come up with all the ideas.  Don't put that pressure on yourself.  You add real value by knowing when an marketing/biz development idea has legs and then to making it happen. 

Remember, if the phone is ringing, you are a genius.  And if you are giving the credit to others, you are a secure and gracious genius.

Have a great day,

  Barbara Walters Price

What Do Psychologists Know that Economists Don't?

This struck me as interesting - "Psychologists may be more-successful investors than other presumably smart people, like physicists, mathematicians, and even economists. In a study of shareholder behavior, psychologists were found less likely to follow the 'herd' instinct to buy shares of stocks they deemed overvalued. As a result, psychologists earned three times as much as economists and physicists did in a stock exchange simulation, reports economist Andreas Roider of the University of Bonn. Could there be other life applications for this finding? http://www.uni-bonn.de/en/News/72_2006.htm"

Hap tip again to Dan Miller's 48 Days for the source info.

Selling Tip: PDF Your Marketing Material and Put It In a Central Location

Sometimes we overlook the easiest things.  In this age of e-mail communication, do you have your marketing material in a pdf format and is it stored in a central location so you and your colleagues can access it whenever you are talking to a prospect? 

It is a powerful selling tool to send a prospect information on your firm and its services while you are talking with them on the phone.  Most people have access to e-mail while they are speaking with you.  While listening to them and discerning their needs, send them marketing information pertinent to your discussions.  It demonstrates that you are interested and that you have the capabilities to successfully handle the engagement.  If appropriate, you can ask them to open one of the documents you have sent and you can walk them through the information found there.

Examples of marketing materials that should be in a pdf format:

• Corporate brochure
• CV's for all professionals
• Case Studies (Success Stories)
• Tombstones
• Brochures or other collateral describing individual lines of business
• Newsletters
• Articles
• Overheads from speeches

None of this is hard to do.  Make it a point to create pdf files of all the marketing material you have that would be helpful in a selling situation and then centralize it, communicate that it's there, and update accordingly.

Hugging Booths - Where is the Value in That?

"Futurist Faith Popcorn predicts we will have Hugging Booths in the near future. That’s right; as people form more relationships in virtual rather than real communities, the loss of the human touch may be keenly felt. To make up for it, airlines may hire actors to greet you with a hug and financial advisers may increasingly hold your hand through tough times--literally. But even some of these services could be automated: Look for mechanized hugging booths where phone booths once stood, says Popcorn."

For all you CPAs and attorneys, as well as other professional financial advisors, notice the line "financial advisers may increasingly hold your hand through tough times--literally."  Ha! 

But, maybe this can be a new marketing opportunity - a new way in which you can add value to your client relationships!  You can be on the cutting edge of client service with a tag-line such as "Holding Your Future Together."  Have mercy! 

Hat tip to Dan Miller's 48 Days for the source info.