Accountants, lawyers, engineers, nurses, doctors, project managers, and a host of other professional services providers are often too focused on providing service than they do marketing. Many of them believe that it is a waste of time to try and sell their services when they can really invest that time in improving their skills and serving more clients. Some are outrightly shy of advertising, and there's no persuading them to focus on selling or advertising.
Professionals like these prefer to have another person handle the sales and marketing aspect of their business while they focus on serving their clients. While this is good, the truth is that they may be letting opportunities for growth slip by. Besides, selling and advertising are not as difficult as they are often perceived to be. Professional services providers occupy important positions on the market, so if you're looking to win more clients and grow your business, you must be willing to focus on business development — and actively, too.
So it's time to put aside the excuses of not having enough time, lack of marketing experience, or being afraid of cross-selling your services or products to existing clients. From our experience dealing with professional services firms, here are some important marketing tips we think can help you reach more clients in your industry.
1. Focus on quality service/value
The most effective way to win more clients and retain existing customers is by providing real value to your customers. People naturally gravitate towards the best. In your conversations with clients, you want to let them understand how important providing value is to your organization and how much you invest in satisfying your customers. As you make an effort to solve the problems of your customers and answer their questions, you'll be harnessing one of the greatest marketing tools ever.
You can provide this as testimonials or case studies on your website. Referrals are great, but let them also see for themselves that you're committed to providing them with the best solutions. Ask relevant, insightful questions that show your clients that you understand them. It's easy for them to build confidence in you knowing that you have the skill and experience it takes to deliver quality and that they can count on you.
2. Sell as you serve
Many engineers, accountants, lawyers, and the likes often think that marketing or selling means that you have to sound spammy or trade your values for an unending quest to empty your customers' pockets. On the contrary, marketing is providing your customers a reason to do business with you or come back after their first encounter. That doesn't have to be hard.
While there are hard and dry salespersons out there with mostly more words on their lips than value to customers, the approach of a professional services provider can be different and more interesting without feeling like you're selling. Yes, you can market your company as you serve your clients in many ways. For instance, asking related questions and offering solutions based on the services and products you sell can go a long way to bring you more businesses. Also, consider having consultative conversations with your prospects to educate them and provide expert opinions without being salesy. That can help you gain their trust and build confidence in your brand.
Also consider preparing for sessions you have with your clients, making yourself more accessible, building more creative solutions, meeting deadlines and delivering as promised, focusing on solving more problems, and acting with your clients’ best interest in mind. All these not only help you sell better but also help to build stronger relationships with your prospects.
3. Research your buyers and understand their needs
An effective online marketing tactic is learning what consumers in your niche are looking for. One of the best ways to do this is by conducting keyword research. This tilts more on the side of SEO and inbound marketing. Therefore, you may not be interfacing physically with customers in this case. But it can be a very efficient way to improve your online marketing strategy.
Although many professional services firms do not focus so much on digital marketing, it is undoubtedly better than traditional marketing in terms of potential for awareness, engagement, advertising, and even ROI. You can advertise based on your budget per time and you can also automate many aspects of your campaigns. The benefits of researching your buyers are that it enables you to build more targeted campaigns and provide relevant offerings that solve their specific needs.
4. Create multiple opportunities for customers to connect with you
In addition to the above, it's important to make it very easy for customers to reach out to you. You can focus on providing quality services, to begin with. This will allow them to refer your business among persons within their circles. Again, you can consider sending out promotional and educational emails that will be beneficial to clients subscribed to your emails.
Use ebooks, whitepapers, monthly newsletters, and other kinds of resource materials to keep the conversation going. In all, be sure to keep the quality of your services high and be responsive to inquiries. People usually appreciate quick responses to inquiries — and that can be a unique selling point for your firm, without even engaging in active marketing.
There's more
To learn more about connecting with more clients, solidifying your relationship with existing customers, and improving your marketing strategies, feel free to reach out to us at the Mission. Having worked with several professional services providers in many different industries, we bring loads of experience to boost your marketing performance.
At Mission HR, we use our profound market insights and expert guidance to help you improve your marketing results and business productivity. We are experts at assisting businesses to implement the best growth strategies successfully. As leading partners in the PEO, HR, payroll, and benefits outsourcing marketplace, we also provide result-oriented services for small and medium-sized organizations and government contractors.