Grow Your Service Firm: The Expert - in brief

All roads seem to lead to the notion that the well-managed expert business can win over the clients…

People like to buy from an expert and not from a follower…

One accountant is better than another in the mind of a client only because the client thinks that he is…

Marketing is not a battle for the product but for the mind of the customer…

One-minute rant

Most service firms, PSFs (Professional Service Firms) and firms in general think that the key to business success is their technical skill-set; however, they don’t understand:

• What people really buy
• What people really need from them
• What people really want from them
• The importance of a good bedside manner
• The importance of demonstrating benefits/proofs/testimonials
• The business development process!

Most ‘professionals’ were trained to be technically excellent, but no-one told them how to run a business.

Tip of the day

You should become an expert – become an expert in the world that you work in.

Become an expert

People hate buying from a ‘follower’ or an ‘also-ran’ but love buying from an expert… whether you are an accountant, a homeopath or a plumber, you can do it…

And because everyone will know and see you as the expert… they will ask you to do the work and they will pay a premium price!

So what does an expert do?

• An expert focuses
• An expert writes
• An expert possesses
• An expert knows
• An expert speaks

As well as the five attributes above there are two additional, yet underpinning, concepts:

• An expert has an ‘ology’ 
• An expert uses testimonials and endorsements.

The interesting thing about these various aspects of being the expert is that they all interlock and inter-weave. More of this later in Part Two.

Once you clarify your specialisation then you can walk and talk and write about it (using the same case studies or examples) to confirm your expert status. Each element of The Expert! model supports the others.

Experts present themselves in the position of authority or knowledge; they tend to be seen as what some might call ‘positioners’. They present themselves as ‘positioners’ (where they set out to adopt a specific position in the eyes of the customer) rather than ‘prospectors’ (where ‘prospectors’ are chasing work and clients).

The purpose of most expert activity is to command respect rather than to hustle for business. Often, experts take on what can described as an ‘education-based’ marketing approach to attracting new clients; and this education includes giving away valuable information and advice rather than giving a sales pitch.

The mindset of the successful expert is that:

• Their activity gets them the prospects that they want
• They maintain their dignity and professionalism because they are not using heavy-handed sales techniques… they let interested parties come to them – a client pull/attraction approach
• They are educating and showing people how their expertise can help
• They establish credibility and this recognition is a key driver in personal satisfaction
• They have a systematic process for communicating and for delivering work, which means that they are not constantly re-inventing the wheel.

So, what’s holding you back?

Most people are happy to run with the pack. However, in this age of mediocrity you only have to be five per cent better than the competition to stand out… and if you stand out then people remember who you are… so go for it!

Why do we need The Expert! model?

Put simply, most professional service firms make life very difficult for themselves.

The really small ones have no idea how to run a business; they spend most of their time struggling to find clients; the larger ones may be more successful but also struggle to keep clients in an ever-changing world where the clients, competitors and staff seem to be constantly changing their behaviour.

Question

When most firms in your industry look pretty similar (actually almost identical) then why should people bother to buy from you when they can buy from the competition?

Summary

All roads seem to lead to the notion that the well-managed expert business can win over the clients…

An Excerpt from Grow Your Service Firm

How to Win a Business Award

Over the past few years I have been a judge for numerous national business awards and competitions: start-ups, growing business, fast growth, bio-tech, working with the ‘good and the great’ to recognise and celebrate the achievements of individual businesses and their owners.

The process of judging is always a humbling affair; it involves a lot of highly-heated debate as well as a lot of laughter. The refining and narrowing down of a group choice to one winner is not as scientific as a one would like, but at the end of the day the best business wins.

There is a lot of similarity between the way that job applications get handled and award applications get dealt with.

The sifting process

The first sift is very binary and somewhat cruel, depending on the award. Someone sifts the big pile to create a short-list. This is more about putting people in the rubbish bin than anything else. 

So simple questions are addressed:

• Are they applying for an appropriate category?
• Do they fit all entry criteria?
• Have they followed the entry guidelines and presented their case properly?
• Are they a good example/case study of their category?

Those that don’t meet the above get cut; it’s as simple as that. 

The pile then gets filtered again to start picking out the exceptional from the ordinary – amongst all the noise some entries always stand out as being better/different/more interesting. 

More than anything this is a marketing exercise – you are being judged on your ability to tell your story in a compelling way that will attract the judges’ attention and demonstrate that you are a worthy contender. Speaking bluntly, too many applications are simply ghastly.

The judging panel

At the judging panel, the judges work in small groups and all they have to go on is the competition applications, a quick look at the website, Google, accounts (on the web), and maybe a brief presentation from the contestants. In a very short period of time, with limited access to information, a decision is made.

A little like Dragons’ Den or X-Factor, the judges apply their own criteria to what they see. That’s all there is to go on. Constant reminders of the judging criteria or the specific category criteria are referred to but the judges will select according to their own experience, wisdom and belief as to who is the most worthy or appropriate winner.

So, at the last judging panel, we passed over the application that had been faxed in and printed in Arial 9 in the first place as it was totally unreadable. We passed over the hand-written one put together while watching Eastenders I suspect. Likewise, we were highly suspicious of the ones that didn’t fill in all the boxes (you must know this year’s turnover?) and those that didn’t stack up, probably because of mistakes (surely you realise that gross profit cannot be bigger than turnover).

Clearly, judges are individuals and will apply their own filter and prejudices to what is presented to them but you need to make it easy for them to see why you are the right choice. So, present your application clearly, fill it in thoroughly, and make it easy for them to understand your business model and your story. Most importantly, market your business so that it stands out, enabling the judges to crown you their winner.

Top-performing companies are the most fertile source of new jobs..

Top-performing companies are the most fertile source of new jobs... so ignore the rest?

This study confirms my comments in Start-Ups Are A Waste of Time and Money

In any given year, the top-performing 1 percent of firms generate roughly 40 percent of all new jobs. 

• so-called "gazelle" firms (ages three to five) comprise less than 1 percent of all companies, yet generate roughly 10 percent of new jobs in any given year. 
• The "average" firm in the top 1 percent contributes 88 jobs per year, and most end up with between 20 and 249 employees. 
• The average firm in the economy as a whole, on the other hand, adds two or three net new jobs each year.

"Because fast-growing young firms account for a disproportionate share of net job creation, policymakers who are worriedly poring over unemployment projections might instead seek to foster the creation of more high-growth firms," said Robert E. Litan, vice president of Research and Policy at the Kauffman Foundation. "While some new companies will undoubtedly fail, high-growth firms must be started somehow, and the more quickly they are launched and in larger numbers, the faster both output and employment will grow."

See High-Growth Firms Account for Disproportionate Share of Job Creation, According to Kauffman Foundation Study

Design Your Own Robert Craven Workshop

We are planning to run some more workshops before the summer gets into full swing and we need your help!

Before we schedule any events we need to know what you, the client/customer wants from us. To that end I am asking for less than 1 minute of your time to complete this quick survey

Why should you fill in this survey?
Because you are feeling:

1. Generous - to help us run better programmes
2. Selfish - to make sure you get what you want
3. Fortunate - to receive a 10% discount on any tickets you buy for these events
4. Lucky - to have your name put in a prize draw to win a copy of one of my books
5. Very lucky - to have your name put in a prize draw to win a ticket to one of the events.

Thanks for all your help (in advance).

If you know anyone who might want to complete the survey, please do forward this email to them.

Robert

Click here:

Design Your Seminar Survey »

Web survey powered by SurveyMonkey.com

Directors' Centre Online Business Club Update - 25% DISCOUNT SALE

25% DISCOUNT SALE ON MEMBERSHIP EXTENDED TO INCLUDE 28TH MAY  Here is the latest Business Club update:    Checklist: The Employee Charter A template to help your business implement an employee charter. Video: Sheryl Sandberg - Harvard Business School Keynote The COO of Facebook encourages women to aim higher in the business world. (Full Members Only) eBooks: A Great Online Business Book Resource We have found an excellent online site that holds over 1000 eBooks for businesses across many industries. (Full Members Only) Video: Margaret Thatcher's Biographer Charles Moore gives his first full-length talk about Margaret Thatcher's biography since her death. eBook: Paid Search Primer A complete guide to implementing your own search engine advertising and marketing. (Full Members Only) Article: 10 Things That Big Businesses Envy In Small Businesses Robert Craven looks at the advantages that small businesses have over big ones and how they can work together. Video: Vincent Stanley: The Responsible Company Patagonia's head of marketing discusses why they became a leading environmentally-friendly company decades ago. (Full Members Only) Video: Jason Goldberg - You Can't Iterate Yourself A Business Model The CEO of Fab.com talks about how he turned a failing gay social network into a popular online retailer. (Available to both Lite and Full Members)  Forward this email to friends and colleagues so they don't miss out!   Join the Business Club on social media:  See the latest update now at www.directorscentre.co.uk ________________________________________________________________ Join Our Mailing List!

Can Someone Else Do Your Social Media For You?

CAN SOMEONE ELSE DO YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA FOR YOU?

 

Social Media seems to be a real can of worms for many. I made my position pretty clear in a recent ebook, I am not a social media guru*.

There are countless reasons why so many people don’t grab hold of the social media nettle. Quite rightly they see it as too confusing, a diversion, not core business, for losers, damaging the brand, a red herring, too time consuming to learn.  All or any of these can be true. Just depends on how you approach it.

More importantly, there is a certain size of business where social media can be really powerful and you don’t have the skill or resource to roll out a sensible social media strategy. Those businesses typically have the semblance of a marketing strategy and marketing team; the business might be 3-10 employees… with a fairly clear marketing message but they just don’t have the skills or resource or time to apply to a decent SM campaign. More importantly, without the experience of designing, implementing and rolling out a campaign they try to do things from first principles and just get lost.

So,can someone else do your social media for you?

Well my first response is ‘no’.

In my business I am proud that if you see a tweet, a blog, an article, a like or a video, then I can guarantee that it has come from my computer, from my desk, from my fingers. For me it is important that that is the case. But for some other businesses it is possible that you could out-source some of the work.

Some people just do not know where to start in putting together a social media strategy. What is the purpose? What can be achieved? What platforms should be used? How can they made to inter-connect? What works? What doesn’t?

Applying social media to a business can be an educational process, showing the difference between inbound and outbound promotion. It can help the business review and revitalise the entire marketing message, helping the business define its specialisation and gain clarity about who it seeks to reach (both customers and potential partners). It gets you to clarify whether to curate or create material, it gets you to figure out how to engage with the right audience. All this and so much more.

There is clearly an opportunity here. And there is no shortage of players out there. And then the potential customer has the next problem of figuring out who to choose. Well, that’s another story.

Of course it is possible to outsource your social media. The difference between out-sourcing and employing can be negligible. The issue is about getting someone on board who will deliver on your behalf. That means results.

Where does leave you if you are thinking about how to make social media work for you? Well you need to find a supplier that has the requisite skillset: the strategic thinking, the marketing skills, the back-office to deliver. What we find is that often we set–up a social media campaign, hand over the skills and walk away.

Social media is tremendously powerful if delivered well; it is not all smoke and mirrors. The trick is to acquire.hire/beg/steal/borrow/rent the skills you need to make your social media deliver the results your business is capable of.

 * Since writing the book we have been inundated with requests for help. So, maybe I need to change the title of that original book to ”I am not a social media guru but I do not how to help you get more attention and more sales using social media”. It is a clumsy title but describes the situation a little better.

Surf’s Up – The Surfer’s Guide To Management

Surf’s Up – The Surfer’s Guide To Management

Surfers come in all shapes and sizes but the really good ones are “obsessive”.

Go to Cornwall and you'll see the beginners, the vulnerable and the plodders floundering on the waters' edge. The 'real surfers' are far from the beach taking the big waves.

Surfers are always looking for the next big wave - They constantly scour the sea for the next wave - they look ahead, behind, beside, above and below for any clues as to where the next wave will come from. They constantly read the currents, undertows and rips of each beach. They are constantly aware and responding to minute changes in the weather and the immediate environment (including other surfers) - they recognise that their lives might depend on their ability to understand and respond to the environment. So, while they might try to plot a general course, their real interest (they have a nose for it) is in looking for the next big wave.

Good surfers are able to catch waves that others miss - They see, or rather they make, opportunities where others see none; they always seem to be in the right place at the right time.

Good surfers don't take risks but rather they do take calculated risks - Like good strategists, surfers recognise the need not to try and take every wave; they specialise, concentrate and focus their efforts to be as effective as possible - the 80/20 rule applies out with the waves as much as it does in the commercial environment.

Success and failure go hand-in-hand; the more you practice the luckier you seem to get - It takes practice to be able to successfully tackle the big waves: you start on the nursery beaches and work your way up to the really challenging waves. The big waves are not for the faint-of-heart; big excitement also means big danger!

Good surfers make it look so easy - Kelly Slater makes surfing through the rolling barrels of Tenerife and Hawaii look so very easy. Do not kid yourself - years of practice, hard work and learning from your mistakes are required before you can make it look so easy.

Spurts and fallbacks - The environment is not smooth. There are huge oscillations and short-lived surges for the surfer to conquer - the skill is to be able to spot trends, and harness your own strength to capitalise on often short-term movements - invest your energy to live to fight another day!

Relative power - Like most growing businesses the surfer lacks power relative to the market (waves) - surfers are often pushed and buffeted and seem to be as likely to go backwards as forwards - energy must be used to effectively leverage your own power. Use the power of the current and the wave to your own advantage.

Exploiting the environment - The skill is in recognising the surges and not to be thrown by them. The good surfer exploits the wave, no matter how temporary the advantage may appear to be. Watch a surfer as they paddle out to sea against the waves - no unnecessary energy is expended.

Flexibility and responsiveness - The surfer is able to tap hidden depths of physical and mental flexibility and responsiveness. The sea is unpredictable. You need to be able to react to whatever the elements might throw at you.

Entrepreneurs, like surfers, are driven by specific psychological attributes; some might describe these as flaws. Many have an all-consuming need to prove something to themselves and to others. Many suffer deep down from low self-esteem; some are profoundly insecure, always trying to prove that they can do better than the opinion that they hold of themselves.

Cary Cooper's description of entrepreneurs could be a description of a surfer - they are 'bounce-back' people with a powerful desire to achieve. They do not get distracted by either success or failure; they just plough on, never satisfied and constantly in fear of 'being found out'. Often after one success, they need to do it again to prove it was not a fluke.

Rupert Steiner's book, My First Break, goes on to explain that entrepreneurs see failure as confirming inner fears, but they do not give up. Instead they pick themselves up and attempt to show that they can get it right a second time - many do not care about anything other than the business in hand - it can be like a drug.

Steiner says that 'real entrepreneurs can never stop... once the buzz from the original fix has faded, many are on the look-out for their next fix'. Sounds like the classic surfer to me!