Michelle Golden: Golden Practices

Individual Marketing Plans: The Permission You Need to Start Small

Times read: 69

06/26/08

Golden Practices Michelle Golden

By Michelle Golden - If you've never had a formal, written Individual Marketing Plan (IMP) --or just never had success completing one, try this:

Just Set Small Goals!

1. Don't set goals that are too big even if you feel very enthusiastic about them.

It's great to be eager, but it is far more important that the plan is realistic so there won't be unnecessary barriers to achieving it.

Start off slowly.

If, for instance, you're thinking, "I'll meet with one client or prospect per week for lunch," well, while that only means 4 per month, realize that this is a huge goal if there are currently zero taking place on a regular basis.

You probably won't hit this lofty goal, then you'll feel guilty and dump the whole plan. I see it all the time. It's too much habit to change all at once.

Instead, just start with a smaller goal of 1 or 2 per month.

2. Build slowly so you can get into a routine of scheduling and developing conversation so these lunches are as productive as possible.

Starting with a small goal makes a lot more sense when you realize what is involved in accomplishing your goal: effective communications with people who have the influence to use your services.

Fact is, the time commitment isn't just the lunch. The devil is in the details. The goal includes personally scheduling the lunch and -- if you do the meeting right -- 20-30 minutes reacquainting yourself with the client's file and reading the latest First Research profile on their industry before your meeting.

The QUALITY is far more important than the quantity of your marketing efforts. Don't skip this PREP-WORK.

After maintaining your pace for a couple months, then try adding another.

Yeah, it's simple psychology, but by setting yourself up for some small "wins," you'll end up feeling much better about your planning time and marketing effort.

3. This is so important...make sure you identify, up-front, exactly who you'll call and when.

Don't just plan "go to lunch with one client per month" and file that away. What is it that you can put into your Outlook?

"Call some client sometime this month"??

When, exactly, do you think you'll get around to thinking about who it makes the most sense to ask? Well, you won't.

Each month comes and goes because it takes too much time and energy to think about it on the fly.

So, what do you do? Procrastinate. You'll think about it later, right? Wrong.

Don't feel bad. We all do it.

Define your plan thoroughly the day you make it. Think through the details of the goal on the front-end! Decide who will be Jan, Feb, etc. Even go so far as to put their phone number on the plan itself. Then you'll have no reason to procrastinate.

Try it, it works.

(Originally posted on Golden Practices.)


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Networking Event Follow-up: The Rule of Three

Times read: 105

06/16/08

By Michelle Golden - Bruce Allen suggests that three follow-ups from an event are a lot better than none and I'd have to agree. He says:

One event = one email, one note, one call.

With the best intentions in mind, writing handwritten notes to everyone you've met is a great idea. But it can seem like a monumental undertaking so what happens? Days go by...then weeks...pretty soon months...and then it's a year. No follow-ups made. I hate to admit it, but I've done this, too (sssshhhh).

Bruce, on his blog Marketing Catalyst, suggests this, instead:

Sort through the stack of business cards and select three. Hang on to those three cards and toss the rest into a corner to gather dust (or hand them off to get entered in a database or whatever -- just get them off your desk).

Email one, write a quick note to another, and call the third. You're done. I'd say this can easily be done in about 5 minutes.

This approach makes sense. Sure it would be optimal to follow up with everyone. But because three is better than none, which is what we end up with most of the time, then three sounds great to me.

Bruce's post is #7 in a series of posts on tips for networking at an event. These are excellent bits of advice! Check out the whole series starting at post #1.

(originally posted at Golden Practices.)

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Few Firms Get the Point of Differentiation

Times read: 127

06/09/08

By Michelle Golden - How hard is your firm working to differentiate itself?

Either in your customer marketplace or talent marketplace, it is very likely that while you are trying so hard to differentiate yourselves, you are all doing it the SAME WAY. It's not helping you to be truly DISTINCTIVE.

Noted in a recent post on the What About Clients? blog by Dan Hull is the following telling comment of a third-year University of Chicago law student (at an event attended by law firms of 5-1500 people) when asked:

"Based on websites, brochures and materials sent to law student recruits, could she differentiate between the many firms with which she was interviewing?"

She paused for a long time before answering. Finally, she responded as nicely as she could. "Frankly, based on the materials, all of you seem to be exactly the same."

My theory?

Remember, your brochures, websites, etc, are just words. And pictures.

Distinction is about ACTION.

Your words and images in your marketing materials will only be distinct if they demonstrate what you DO DIFFERENTLY from everyone else.

You can't fake differentiation in a brochure or on a Web site through design elements, taglines and word choices.

So, are you actually DOING anything differently from other firms? Saying you're different is not enough. Be honest. Ask yourself...

Are you really distinctive?

If so, tell the story. If not, you might want to start distinguishing yourself from the rest. Either via specialization, employee policies, unique leadership structure, or something even more powerful.

When you are competing for amazing customers and brilliant talent, you've got to prove you're worthy of them.

(originally posted at Golden Practices.)

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10 Ways to Specialize

Times read: 175

05/22/08

by Michelle Golden

It's one thing to say we specialize and it's another thing to do it. Here are 10 ways to prove you have a specialty and to maximize it:

1. Make the specialty a priority in CPE/CLE, marketing, and service (and SAY SO publicly!)

2. Bring in non-technical experts to speak at exclusive events you host or underwrite. Other industry experts or entertainers mean less work for you, more enjoyment for the audience, and you get all the credit.

3. Attend industry seminars and other events where you see, or even accompany, your clients.

4. Spend ample time developing processes to most effectively (and profitably!) serve THOSE clients.

5. Continuously add and improve products (services) to solve problems inherent in that industry.

6. Read and write for key print or on-line publications of the industry.

7. Explore, teach, and even help legislate about a variety of topics (meaning not JUST accounting or legal topics) within the industry.

8. Feature industry specific websites/blogs, updated often to show day-to-day involvement and expertise.

9. Hire non-financial or non-legal professionals to enhance expertise to industry (e.g. hire a registered nurse to consult with HC clients--some law and CPA firms do this very successfully)

10. Partner with other organizations to provide non-traditional solutions when it’s not practical or profitable to have the resource in-house.

We do at least seven of these. How many do you do?

(originally posted at Golden Practices.)


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Plan Your Marketing Budget

Times read: 298

04/28/08

by Michelle Golden - There should always be a marketing budget...even my three-person company has one.

In fact, I just checked my expenditures and they run 3-5% of current year projected revenues--the amount we generally recommend to firms in growth mode or 'get up to speed' mode.

Maintenance mode would be 2-3%. Invest at least in maintenance of basic marketing "stuff" even if business growth isn't a long term goal. You have to consider routine attrition. If you are in a project business rather than one with on-going or recurring revenue, the amount should be greater than 2-3%.

Marketing budgets should be based on marketing plans.

If there's no plan, the budget essentially becomes the plan. (Much as when firms have no strategic plan, the compensation system "becomes" the strategic plan by driving behaviors in a particular direction.)

In a firm with a marketer but without marketing plans or budgets (and there are many such firms), I honestly have no idea what drives the marketer's job description, but I'd predict the marketer is fairly frustrated wondering from day-to-day what s/he should be doing and whether s/he is having much impact. And so are the partners. (If a partner in such a firm is reading this, your marketer needs a plan--for their sanity and yours and, oh yeah--for your firm to experience progress.)

When we work with firms, we usually combine the plan, time line, and budget into a single document. This keeps things simple. We find it is usually sufficient to break the budget down by quarter--monthly is typically more detailed than necessary for firms under 200 people.

What Goes In The Plan/Budget

I prefer to spend most marketing dollars and, more importantly, time, on things that will result in actually achieving a measurable goal:

• More business from specific existing clients
  
• Specific new clients
  
• Heightened awareness and increased referrals from specific referral sources

I find most firms don't normally include these three categories in their marketing budgets with the exception of periodic canned newsletters, random sporting events, and occasional client seminars.

Instead, firms allocate the bulk of their marketing dollars to the "black hole" of marketing--a category I'll call infrastructure. This category includes such items as brochures, static websites, general advertisements, announcements, newsletters, holiday cards, press/media relations, etc.

Why?

Well, I have a few theories on that. They aren't pretty.

• these items are relatively easy
  
• these items can be easily delegated (require little partner time)
  
• these items keep the marketers busy

The problem?

While these infrastructure things can be useful, even requisite, unlike the above items that require some time and attention of practitioners (for marketers cannot market in lieu of them) none of the infrastructure items can be counted on to result in measurable ROI.

UNLESS, that is, those ads, newsletters, or non-static websites involve disseminating compelling, relevant information about specific areas of expertise to very targeted audiences.

Yep. Specialties. Practice groups. Niches. Whatever you call them. Back in the early 90s, my firm's partners learned it was good to be viewed as "famous" in an industry--so each sought to be famous for something.

Mind you, they stayed generalists in their day-to-day work, but they marketed as specialists. Now, 15 years later, they focus mostly on those specialty areas where they command premium pricing and their reputations make selling the work easy.

Now we are talking!

Niche focuses are where even the black hole of marketing can start to return value. Industry-specific goals and activities. The marketer can help with promotion and lead generation and the practitioners can be there where the rubber needs to meet the road: prospect, client and referral source interactions.

This is the basis for the marketing plan. The plan will drive the budget.

I'll post again in a few days about specific plan/budget considerations.

The main thing to remember now is that marketing budgets and plans are NEVER one-size fits all. They have to consider who you are, who your market SHOULD be, and what you are realistically able to achieve in a given period of time.

Don't spend marketing dollars foolishly, on an ad hoc basis. Make sure every expenditure is wise and part of a cohesive plan. You wouldn't get into a car and start a long trip without knowing your destination. Same thing here. Begin with your destination in mind.

(originally posted at Golden Practices.)


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Not Busy Season, It's "Prime Time"

Times read: 837

03/19/08

by Michelle Golden - In accounting firms, the term "busy season" is synonymous with the period of January to mid-April.

These are the months when professionals talk to clients, referral sources, friends, family, and sometimes just about anybody who will listen, about being swamped, exhausted and "really crazy" right now.

Some professionals are good about not complaining, but you may not know because you simply cannot reach them or get them to call or e-mail you back!

That the firm -- or at least the individual -- is at or above maximum capacity** is a dangerous message to send.

There's a difference between healthy-busy and out-of-control busy. I'm talking about the latter. When winter pallor, dark circles under the eyes, and a shortage of cheerfulness accompany the complaints or lack of responsiveness, it's a real marketing problem.

Clients think, "wow, hope they will find time to take care of me..." or, "hope they don't make a mistake due to haste..." Worse, they may also decide, "I'm not going to refer anyone because then they really won't have time for me."

Another problem with voicing the complaint about the excessive hours for these 3-and-a-half months is that the business owners they are talking to work excessive hours, too, but do so all year around and have little sympathy for their counterparts who enjoy much slower hours through the summer months.

For many years, marketers have worked hard to encourage their CPAs to remember that, while facing their most intense workload in these months, they simultaneously face their peak opportunity to interact with their clients and remind them of the many ways they can assist them.

CPA firm marketers dislike the term "busy season" because it sets the wrong tone--even when it's just used internally. It reinforces anti-marketing mentality at the very worst time.

But my accounting marketing friend, formerly with Goodman & Co, Dan McComas, says his firm coined the term "Prime Time" to describe these active months. The firm held an internal contest to come up with a less off-putting term than "busy season."

Their winning term, Prime Time, is a simple yet solid reminder that people must perform at their very best to stay accessible, friendly, and helpful.

Prime Time is when you and your firm are most visible of all. Don't use it to tell the world you are over-worked and have no room left to serve clients. As they say, "never let 'em see you sweat."

The smartest firms use Prime Time to demonstrate that their service and attitude is so great, clients & referral sources should want to refer all their associates.

**Most firms ARE seriously above capacity particularly with smaller tax return clients and far too many still do returns at prices lower than H&R Block! Firms I talk to know some clients should be shed, but are still reluctant to do anything about it. Meanwhile, firms wear employees down, weaken morale, and observe "turnover" season just after April 15. Yikes!

This observer recommends there are important choices to be made about which work is most important and which work firms cannot afford to keep if employee retention problems are to be corrected in firms. Think about what you might do to make Prime Time more tolerable in your firm.

by Michelle Golden, originally posted at
Golden Practices.

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What's the difference between “marketing” and “selling?”

Times read: 442

03/18/08

by Michelle Golden - Thinking of hiring a sales person or marketer? Not sure what the differences are or which one, if either, is right for you?

Here's the difference:

MARKETING
Marketing is the on-going process of appealing to potential clients and ensuring repeat business from existing clients.

Marketing:
• identifies appropriate prospects
• effectively communicates image and capabilities of the firm
• creates/emphasizes an appeal—a differentiation factor—about the firm
• perfects customer service
• requests feedback from clients on a regular basis
• anticipates and meets needs

Marketing often necessitates cultural changes at every level in the firm. Ultimately, marketing strives to make all interactions with your firm (aka “moments of truth”) into positive experiences.

SELLING
Selling is:
• proactive seeking of prospects
• interacting to qualify prospects
• effective acknowledgment of the prospect’s concerns
• closing the sale—getting hired
• following up and staying in contact when not hired

Successful sellers use active listening skills and demonstrate the ability to meet the prospect’s needs by conveying competence and confidence.

Sellers rely on public perception of expertise and/or excellence—a product of marketing; therefore, they feel obligated to meet these expectations and to follow through impeccably.

As with marketers, successful sellers also create positive moments of truth, even if they are not hired, by representing the firm well.

Marketing and sales overlap slightly, and depend on each other, but they are distinctly different.

Hope this helps clarify a bit. Originally posted as part of my Top 10 Marketing Sales FAQs on my firm's website.

by Michelle Golden.

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What Happens When People Are in Your Lobby?

Times read: 789

03/08/08

by Michelle Golden - It happened again.

I was visiting a new client (a CPA firm). No one knew me yet. The receptionist was fine. Greeted me as one would expect. I was a little early so I expected to wait. She asked if I needed anything and made sure I was comfortable. Then she continued her work.

As I waited for about 10 minutes, I observed that the lobby served as part of the office traffic pattern as well as an open elevator bank. The seating faced the traffic flow.

As more than a dozen people went through, I smiled politely and watched each one. Here's what I took in:

- More than a dozen people passed by, in both directions, within 10 feet of me.

- Most people walked at a slow to moderate pace with the exception of one woman who bustled through.

- Most people looked down as they walked through. Not one person met my eyes or glanced in my direction...nobody said hello or otherwise acknowledged my presence.

- People passing each other did not exchange greetings or smile at each other! Nor did anyone speak to the receptionist.

- No one smiled, whistled, seemed amused, had a spring in their step, or in any way displayed that they were enjoying their day.

What are your impressions about this firm? (I know what mine were!)

Does this seem like a nice place to work? A friendly environment? Like people you want to work with?

What if I were an important prospect? How about a highly desirable job candidate? A perfect referral source?

Could this be your firm? Wouldn't you be mortified?

Do you pay attention to the experience of someone in your lobby? Do people behave the same passing by an occupied lobby as when it is empty?

When people come visit you or your business, it makes you a host. Would you walk in your front door and pass a stranger in your living room without greeting them?

5 minute marketing idea:
E-mail your entire team and remind them to go above and beyond to be friendly and outgoing when people are waiting in your lobby. Link them to this post to save some time typing...

(originally posted on Golden Practices Blog)

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Referral Sources: There's Always a Way to Reciprocate

Times read: 423

03/04/08

by Michelle Golden - The greatest referral source marketing fallacy among professionals is the thinking that you can't reciprocate to referral sources because you don't serve the same type of clients as your referral source.

Guess what? You can ALWAYS reciprocate. You probably just aren't thinking broadly enough. I'll explain.

Depending on your specialty area(s) you may not be in front of the types of clients that someone who refers to you might want to be in front of. It's no matter.

Fact is, you probably KNOW people who know the types of clients your referral sources seek. Right?

All you need to do is connect people. They will take it from there. Especially if they are bankers, insurance or financial advisor types, and others who appreciate and "get" networking. You don't even have to pitch on their behalf, they'll do all that. Just put the people together. Take them to lunch or something and get the conversation started.

Cool thing is, you only need to make the introduction to another potential referral source to please someone who's referred someone to you. And you receive enormous appreciation from both parties!

So don't get stuck thinking your clients aren't right for someone who has been good to you so there's simply nothing you can do. Think deeper to determine who else you know and whom they serve.

And don't forget the power of introducing clients to other clients, either. Especially when it makes sense for them to do business together or benefit in some other way from knowing each other.

Clients are your primary referral source and they will both appreciate you thinking of them and will probably be happy to reciprocate.

When you connect people together, you have done something very valuable. This is the essence of social capital. Give it whirl!


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