Differentiating and positioning your firm
With nearly 60 delegates from a dozen countries, the Forum's Central and Eastern European Summit - this year in Budapest - is fast becoming 'the' annual event on the continent for PSF marketers. First time attendee Emese Racz had high expectations and wasn't disappointed.
Some firms, like ours this year, used the Summit as a focal point to bring our marketing team together from across Europe. The theme of differentiating and positioning was particularly relevant in today's tough competitive markets where becoming a trusted advisor makes all the difference for market leadership.
The presentations and workshops showed how to differentiate your firm. This is especially important in our region of Central and Eastern Europe because, for more than a decade, it has seen a massive influx of prosperous and professional multinational companies. At the same time, the quality of service provision across the various sectors of industry has improved significantly, as investment has increased and business and marketing strategies have become more integrated in the region.
The theme was also challenging, as most of the attendees were from major global firms. So, paradoxically, many of them offer similar services at similar prices. They also tend to boast know-how and infrastructure typical for established Western organisations, making it difficult to differentiate one from the other. So I am glad there was some healthy debate on this thorny issue in the Q&A following the presentations. I also felt the issue of positioning was slightly less in focus as most of the major firms have relatively favorable market positions.
The presentations were thought-provoking and successful in exploring the theme of the Summit.
Igor Rodin of Deloitte emphasised the importance of client research, which gives a clear and sometimes surprising mirror-image of one's firm compared to the competition. The questionnaire elements can be targeted to reveal differentiating features of a firm, and help in the development of objective and client-generated USP's.
Johnny Dunford of DTZ CEE highlighted the importance of an effective Client Relationship Management system, an area where even the major firms have room for improvement. A good CRM system can build trust as well as create the perception of difference and favourable positioning. The audience agreed but debated the best methods to appear different in the eyes of clients.
Peter Koves
of Clifford Chance gave a rather unconventional but thought provoking talk on managing professional service firms, especially employing practice management professionals to help with marketing the firm or developing business. He argued from his own wide ranging experiences to David Maister's model for professional firms. But it was clear from the discussions that carried over into lunch, that the jury is still out on this.
The workshops after lunch were highly interactive and facilitated by senior marketers from leading firms such as Ernst & Young, White & Case, Domanski Zakrzewski Palinka, and Mmd Public Relations. Participants had a chance to debate the Summit theme, and were eager to exchange their views in groups, with new and existing contacts.
My colleagues and I particularly enjoyed our role play activity in the workshop 'How to avoid the image trap' lead by
Dezso Krisztics of Mmd. This involved an informal brainstorming activity to establish communications strategies for four hypothetical management consulting firms with classic, innovative and 'mad' (creative) approaches to the task. We had great fun building our strategy around the central image of a spoon, and discovered that once we freed our minds from clich associations, and collected ideas from pragmatic, multiple angles, the 'impossible mission' was accomplished and we could all be happy with the outcome.
The Summit finished with a client panel discussion moderated by
Richard Chaplin. The panelists, representing in-house counsel and finance and business directors from major foreign companies, shared their stories (both positive and negative) about how various professional advisors in the region have succeeded or failed to differentiate themselves when offering/delivering services.
Reflecting upon this day, the messages I came away with are that since the major firms offer very similar services in terms of quality, price and expertise, they should focus more on effectively managing their client relationships. Also, and crucially, instead of showering clients with propaganda about how good we are, a much better way of becoming their trusted advisor is to be the BEST LISTENER. In other words, clients remember the conversations where they are most actively involved and attentively appreciated by advisors.
In light of the depth and quality of the presentations and discussions during this Summit, I am really looking forward to what the organisers will come up with next year!
Emese Racz is Regional Marketing Coordinator at DTZ CEE.
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