MERGE

Many businesspeople confuse sales and marketing, often using the words interchangeably. Worse yet, marketing and sales teams frequently fight over turf, leaving each other clueless about their respective disciplines.

Selling begins at the point of product launch, while marketing begins well before. Think of a bridge: On one end stands the salesman; on the opposite end stands the client. Marketing is the entire bridge: towers, pylons, cabling—all of it. For the salesman to reach the client to ask for the order, companies build the bridge and pay the toll.

LACK OF PLANNING
Marketing is as much a process as consulting. It begins with the development of a sound marketing plan, and then unfolds as a series of simple actions with predictable results. In time, a well-implemented marketing plan expands your client list, market reputation and firm value. Surprisingly, fewer than 32 percent of the best financial advisory firms have created a plan, and only half of those have implemented it, according to a 2010 readership study by Financial Planning magazine. In professional services, Robert Half Legal found that 83 percent of law firms offer formal sales and business development training to their lawyers, however, few have a formal plan.

Your firm creates value by how you market. It sounds simplistic, but that value is created when you meet a client need. Let me repeat, value is created when you meet a client need. If we agree that a firm cannot define itself by the product it sells, only by the differentiated value it creates for the client, then we have common ground to lay down a go-to market strategy.

Let’s recall the sales call example from the introduction. John assumed his prospect was ready to buy his product based on the cost savings to the company, but the CFO did not see that value because the incumbent matched John’s product and price.

While cost savings is a good value proposition, John didn’t communicate it in a definable way to show he was bringing more value. He uncovered cost savings to improve the company’s P&L, but it wasn’t different and the CFO didn’t see the value (impact) it had on his organization. The incumbent could do the same, and did.

John went directly to the product without framing all of the issues and getting the client to agree with the value gap. If he was focused on cost savings, he could have broadened the scope beyond the deferred compensation plan, explaining the impact it would have on the company, his capabilities, then proving how he could do it with case studies and professional examples. Without the benefit of research, he would not uncover the possibility of a better approach to show his value added. Good value propositions ultimately produce outcomes a client can tangibly grasp in advance—higher revenues, lower cost, reduced employee turnover, improved client retention, or greater operational efficiency—all quantifiably proven.

VALUE AS MARKET STRATEGY
Your ability to demonstrate your point of differentiation; that is, the measurable value you bring to the client—determines success. And it can only be defined from the client’s perspective. You may add an interesting feature or benefit to your service that, in your opinion, screams value, but if the client doesn’t care about it, it is not value-added. To understand value, ask these basic questions:

• Why do clients choose certain solutions and/or sources of services?
• What current cost and drivers dictate their behavior?
• What would cause them to change behavior?
• What unmet or poorly met needs do they have?

Your existing clients are your best source of defining value because value is defined in their minds and from their perspective. Spend time with them and ask what they value, you may be surprised. The only way your firm can justifiably charge premium pricing for your products or services is by creating real value in the client’s mind and on his balance sheet. For example, what you do for the client may empower him to outperform a competitor and grab market share. It may save sufficient resources to allow him to hire needed staff, open a new facility, or fund a blue-sky project. Your firm must continuously improve on and enrich your offerings, which is how you create sustainable value and the framework for your marketing strategy.

THE TARGET MARKET
Begin by selecting a target market. Do you want to serve only those individuals with investable assets over a particular dollar amount? Do you want to serve only technology companies with revenues in excess of $100 million? Do you prefer to handle only qualified plans, insurance or estate planning for a selected market? These are decisions only you can make, based on your skills, resources and market demand.

When the target market is clearly defined, your firm is able to make intelligent investments in marketing, and select the best vehicles for reaching the desired audience. As we will see later, everything you do with your go to market strategy, including your website, will center around your target market.

MARKET POSITIONING
Determine how you want to position your products or services in the client’s mind. Are you the first to market with a new idea? Are you the logical alternative to a competitor? Are you the safe decision? There are many ways to position your product or service vis-à-vis your competition. Above all, be credible and be prepared to defend your position with believable facts.

Be creative by communicating a position that is simple, powerful and memorable. To get it exact, write your positioning down into a compact paragraph, as little as one or two sentences. Keep at it until the language lifts off the page and raises the hair on the back of your neck.

Once your positioning is clear, it is time to develop your value proposition. Jack Welch, former Chairman of General Electric, said, “The value decade is upon us. If you can’t sell a top-quality product at the world’s lowest price, you’re going to be out of the game . . . the best way to hold your clients is to constantly figure out how to give them more for less.” Remember our discussion in chapter 2, a value proposition statement should focus on four key elements: capability, impact, proof and cost.

Ask yourself, how will my client experience the value of my service? As more for less? As the gold standard? As the innovative leader? As full service? The most trusted? Preferred brand? Once this critical step is committed to paper, and you can prove it, create a plan for the marketing activities needed to achieve this desired positioning.

Once you select your target market segment, position yourself and define your value proposition, you are halfway to your go-to market strategy. You are also in the process of defining your brand. You can follow the core Five Cs to develop your go-to market strategy by asking yourself:

1. Client—What need does our target client have that our firm seeks to satisfy?
2. Company—What special core competence does the firm possess to meet those needs?
3. Competition—Who competes with the firm in meeting those needs? Take your blinders off, and look at direct, indirect and substitute products or services.
4. Collaborators—Who should the firm enlist for help; how do we reach them; and how do we motivate them to act in our favor?
5. Context—Which cultural, technological and legal factors limit our abilities to accomplish all of the above?