INSIGHTS FROM OUR WORK
Social campaigns, webinars, event sponsorships, and other programming can create reach and visibility. The trap is expecting those activities to reliably create one-to-one relationship building with the executives actually making buying decisions. The inherent problem with these channels is that as marketing activities, they are designed for scale. True client development relies on deep trust with individuals inside specific accounts. The good news is that firms do not need to choose between reach and relationship depth. Done properly, they can have both.
Since January 1 of this year, H2A Partners has conducted 55 one-to-one interviews with Fortune 1000 executives, including CIOs, CTOs, CHROs, Heads of Strategy and M&A, Chief Digital Officers, and other C-suite leaders. The goal has been to understand a simple but increasingly important question: in a market flooded with AI programming, what actually merits executive time, and what gets dismissed as just “more of the same.”
Engaging C-suite executives and enticing them to attend events has always been hard. It is made more so in a world that is now AI all the time, and where everyone is competing for the attention of the same leaders on the topic. Taken together, this has made getting the right people in the room more difficult than ever. So, what does great look like in an environment where appetite to engage decision makers is high and yet the signal to noise ratio makes attracting them difficult?
The last 6-12 months have been full of indicators of a slowdown and large-scale change across the consulting and professional services landscape. Among these are Deloitte launching its “biggest reorganization in a decade”, PwC naming its new US Senior Partner and increased attention on the ‘up or out’ model as a means to manage headcount. As a result, we’ve seen the desire to find new work among all firms higher than ever.
One of the evergreen questions our clients ask is: “what are the key factors that drive executive buying of high-end professional services?” The answer to this question is critical because it determines how to market, sell to and connect with these potential buyers and has become all the more important in the face of market head-winds. So here’s the good and the bad:
Active cost-cutting is all around as the global economy faces serious headwinds in the form of stubborn inflation and geo-political uncertainty. At the same time, we are hearing from our clients about tremendous pressure to grow. Squaring the circle of these competing demands isn’t as hard as many will make it and those that succeed will do things faster, better and simpler than the rest.
Not surprisingly, we are now hearing of slowing deal pace, longer decision cycles, and in some cases freezes on new contracts. So, we a ask the question again: Do you have the relationships with clients and potential clients that you’d like and that will serve you and them in the months ahead?
As is often the case in the lead-up to spring, the world begins to come back to life. We see similar signs of life as our clients begin to consider and plan for in-person gatherings. For the many who are suffering from ‘Zoom-fatigue’, the notion of meals and experiences with colleagues is more than welcome.
With the arrival of fall we are seeing the lingering and even the return of pandemic restrictions across many geographies. Given this, we take stock of the lessons from the last year to inform what have now become sound client engagement practices no matter what the coming months may bring. Here is our short list of three immediate to-do’s for marketing and sales leaders in professional services, B2B, and beyond.
The year 2021 is likely to see many remaining off of planes and still working from home. While the vaccine offers tremendous hope and promise, its deployment across the West will likely not see a return to normal before summer even in the most optimistic scenarios.
One of the more common questions we are asked is how do I stack up to my competitors? We do a tremendous amount of work helping our clients answer this question and preparing them to win in competitive situations.
Event marketing has always had elusive returns. So, we at H2A propose you drop “events” from your playbook and never look back.
To put a finer point on it, your event lift is likely killing you, taking a toll on your team, and its impact is likely negligible.
At H2A, we are not big on New Year resolutions. We are more of the “try new things all the time to improve performance” types. That said, we know many business leaders are making their lists for things to do in 2019. In that spirit, and regardless if you wear a B2B or B2C hat, here is a list we hope you find worth exploring if not a bit inspiring (spoiler alert: it has a bias toward doing less but doing it better).
There’s seldom a day when we don’t hear the mantra that “our clients come first”. Indeed, time and again we see the tremendous sacrifices and efforts made by those we serve providing great solutions, products, and services to their customers. This often means long days, late nights, long flights, and a drop-everything attitude to ensure the best possible outcomes for the clients and customers that are the life-blood of their businesses. That said, we see that many organizations miss the forest for the trees by prioritizing the wrong things — ideas, service models, add-on services — all while reciting the “clients come first’ mantra”. A fix is needed, and we provide some suggestions here.
In this edition capturing observed trends across professional service firms (PSFs), we provide an answer to a question we are getting with increased frequency: Do we need a CMO?
The discussions we find ourselves in typically start with some basic questions:
How do we develop a firm-wide marketing strategy?
Do we actually need a firm-wide marketing strategy?
Can a CMO be successful in a role where direct reports are aligned to take direction from practice and geographic leaders?
Where should decision making rights for marketing actually be held?