X marks the spot
The third annual PM Forum conference, held in London, tackled the dilemma facing many professional service marketers: how to differentiate your firm from the competition. Maybe it's all in the X-factor...
Stand up. Shake your hands at your sides. Shake them in front of you. Raise them over your head and shake 'em. Rub your ears, your forehead, your cheeks. Now give a great big smile to the person nearest you. Feel silly? Feel different?
Richard Oakes, the first speaker after lunch at the 1998 PM Forum Conference differentiated himself from all the other speakers by making us exercise before launching into his topic. This little game, to get the creative juices flowing, was his X-factor. The one thing that set him apart from the other speakers.
Do you have an X-factor? Does your firm have one? If you have answered yes to either of these questions then you know that you are a long way toward differentiating yourself/your firm from the competition. If you have answered no, then, according to every speaker at the conference, you better go hunting for it - that treasure that defines yourself, your organisation and your clients.
Of course, each speaker had a slightly different idea or method by which to achieve this goal. Andrew Atherton, of the Durham University Business School, had even carried out research on the subject. Andrew and his team interviewed 32 business owners and decision-makers in Scotland and the North East. The results showed generally positive attitudes to the input from professional service providers. The survey did identify, however, specific perceived problem areas of each type of service provider:
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Accountant - 'narrow' view of business;
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Banker - high costs of doing business;
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Lawyer - can lack 'business savvy'.
The study also showed that as the needs of a business changed over time, relationships with service providers tended to hit rocky waters when the providers did not recognise and deal with these changes. The business owners tended to want continuity within the provider's team and they wanted the team to develop their knowledge of the business and industry alongside the managers within the business. Firms that differentiate themselves, therefore, are those that keep in tune with their clients and understand in what areas they need to excel at varying points in time. This point quite naturally leads to the recommendations made by business writer Alan Mitchell, the first speaker of the day. You can read his thoughts on differentiation on page 12 of this edition of
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Jill King, Human Resources Director, South, at KPMG, heads a virtuous circle of aligning KPMG's brand and culture with reality. She strives to position the firm as an employer of choice, thus basing the success and growth of the firm on an ability to attract and retain the best employees. Through an exhaustive research, training, monitoring and reward programme, the mission of Jill and her team is to make staff proud to be associated with the firm, to help define its values and to live them. In return for taking care of them, Jill is confident that KPMG employees will take care of their clients and KPMG will thus differentiate through its people.
Several of the other speakers echoed Jill's enthusiasm for using a positive internal environment as the basis for creating an X-factor within a firm. Jill's colleague, David Standard, KPMG Marketing Manager for Corporate Finance, based in the Leeds office, claims that the X-factor comes from the energy within the firm, generated by the individuals. According to David, the four keys to creating energy are enjoyment, positivity, passion and enthusiasm. These emotive influences elementally must first stem from the hiring process, as you need employees to subscribe to the belief system of the firm to ensure the energy is being channeled in similar directions. David emphasises that employees must still feel that they are autonomous but they must want to share their energy with their clients, thus infecting them, making the client feel good about himself, about the individual and about the firm.
Amongst all the enthusiasm however was a word of warning: the X-factor is not an instant accessory. Jonathan Lewis has been the Chief Executive of law firm DJ Freeman since 1993. He has spent the last five years managing a process of change, intent on building a different firm. Jonathan feels that they have succeeded in arriving at X. The professionals of DJ Freeman now define themselves as 'lawyers who understand business.' Strategy and good practice is not enough. The simple phrase however, helped to focus management on a vision a summary of the base values of the firm. They thus created a basis from which to determine quality standards, the ideal employee, training essentials, how to service clients and an approach to the marketplace. Jonathan humbly admits that the firm is by no means finished, but they have a firm eye on their future - they know how they want to be differentiated.
Cindy Godwin is marketing manager with accountants Cooper Lancaster Brewers.
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