A professional services consultant was walking across Westminster Bridge and was shocked to see a rival from another firm on the parapet about to jump. He asked: “Why?”
The second man began to explain – the economy, difficult customers, reduced client list......
“Oh, come down and tell me all about it,” said the first man, “it can’t be as bad as all that.”
Five minutes later they were both standing on the parapet.
Some economic advisors are now saying that we are coming out of the recession, but I wonder how many firms are taking the opportunity to prepare for the upturn, whenever it happens.
Now is the time to review the situation and put in place a strategy to increase market share and be ready to secure those profitable projects when the market picks up.
It is also time to reflect on lessons learnt from the recession. Did you have a wide portfolio of clients or were you just in one market sector? Or worse still did you only have a handful of key clients? Did you have a mix of work from both the public and private sectors? If you are working internationally are you active in the growth hotspots or are you stuck in regions that are struggling to recover?
When considering the way forward you might like to follow my 7 stage process
Stage 1: Select the clients you want to work for. Be proactive. Don’t leave it to clients to come knocking on your door. Consider life time value of clients.
Stage 2: Identify the needs of the target clients. Speak to them. Get to know their industry or market inside out.
Stage 3: Shape your service to suit. Having identified your target clients needs make sure you are able to deliver the service that satisfies their needs.
Stage 4: Communicate your availability and capability to your target clients. You need to differentiate, stand out from the crowd. Put in place a communication campaign, get your key people to network and follow up on the contacts. Review your website; is it fresh and up to date? Look at what your competitors are up to.
Stage 5: Put in place all the material, (updated CV’s, case studies, etc) to enable you to write compelling proposals and give memorable presentations. Perhaps put in place a training programme for your key team members in presentation techniques
Stage 6: Review your service delivery. Conduct feedback surveys. Speak to existing clients. Find out how you can improve your service delivery. You need to keep your competitors out!
Stage 7: Trawl through your projects and gather information, statistics, photographs, obtain endorsements. These can then be placed in pre-qualification documents, proposals and tenders to show off your experience and skill
So take advantage of the quiet times to prepare for the busy times!
Sunday 31 January 2010
Sunday 24 January 2010
A proposal your client can’t refuse. Or can they?
Harry was a single guy living at home with his father and working in the family business. He had just found out that his rich father was seriously ill, and on his father’s death he would inherit the family fortune.
Harry had a plan. He would search for a wife with whom he could travel the world and spend the fortune.
He soon spotted the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. He approached her with a proposal she couldn’t refuse. “Listen,” he said to her, “I may look like just an ordinary guy, but in a few months time my rich ill father will die and I will inherit his vast fortune. Marry me and let’s travel the world together.”
The woman seemed to be very interested, asked for his business card and ten days later, she became his stepmother.
How often have we put a proposal to our client’s believing they just couldn’t refuse, only to find out that they did not find it so appealing and ended up appointing one of our competitor’s.
During the time the client is evaluating our proposal we need to keep in touch to make sure we haven’t missed something and wherever possible give further details and make our proposal more attractive. It’s often when the client goes quite that doubt sets in. It is at these times and our competitors may secure the project we were so convinced would be ours.
So this tells us that it is critical to find out what the actual needs of the clients are. We need to make sure we totally understand their situation, make sure they have the authority to appoint us and know who else could influence the decision. We also need to know who else they are talking to and what our competitors are likely to offer. When we know this we are able to put forward that irresistible proposal, showing we can deliver what our clients require with added value and benefits. We need to differentiate ourselves, set ourselves apart from the competition and never sit back assuming the job is ours until the contract is signed.
Harry had a plan. He would search for a wife with whom he could travel the world and spend the fortune.
He soon spotted the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. He approached her with a proposal she couldn’t refuse. “Listen,” he said to her, “I may look like just an ordinary guy, but in a few months time my rich ill father will die and I will inherit his vast fortune. Marry me and let’s travel the world together.”
The woman seemed to be very interested, asked for his business card and ten days later, she became his stepmother.
How often have we put a proposal to our client’s believing they just couldn’t refuse, only to find out that they did not find it so appealing and ended up appointing one of our competitor’s.
During the time the client is evaluating our proposal we need to keep in touch to make sure we haven’t missed something and wherever possible give further details and make our proposal more attractive. It’s often when the client goes quite that doubt sets in. It is at these times and our competitors may secure the project we were so convinced would be ours.
So this tells us that it is critical to find out what the actual needs of the clients are. We need to make sure we totally understand their situation, make sure they have the authority to appoint us and know who else could influence the decision. We also need to know who else they are talking to and what our competitors are likely to offer. When we know this we are able to put forward that irresistible proposal, showing we can deliver what our clients require with added value and benefits. We need to differentiate ourselves, set ourselves apart from the competition and never sit back assuming the job is ours until the contract is signed.
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