| The art of marketing high-qualification services | ||
| A couple of months ago, I listened to a lecture held by a consultant who was trying to make us interested in buying some of his expertise in the field of marketing. He started the lecture approximately like this: “I have put my business cards and brochures here. You are welcome to take some if you think my speech was interesting.” The lecture was a disaster and nobody took any business cards. Apparently, he had never passed the core course of how to market high-qualification services. Sharing knowledge A key word in marketing high-qualification services is to share knowledge. Your role is to be a coach rather than a salesman. Buyers of high-qualification services are usually well-educated and demanding customers. Influencing a demanding customer with sales pitches will generate resistance. Inhibit in the influencing is an implicit critique – I know better than you do. The experienced marketer offers knowledge instead. He commands respect and trust by sharing knowledge and by acting as an expert in your field. It has become popular among finance corporations and players in the financial sector to produce customer magazines. A customer magazine is a good way to offer knowledge. Some of the magazines are very good, but some fall into the trap of making the customer magazine a sales brochure. That is to underestimate the reader. Those who demonstrate their expertise need not, and should not, explain to the customer that they are capable of solving the problems of the customer. Hence, a good customer magazine should offer knowledge. The customers have the qualifications to figure out where they can buy the services, they need. Networking Knowledge sharing is not the only competitive parameter. Another parameter is your network. High-qualification services are traded with confidence. Suppliers of such services are not found in the yellow pages. Advertisements also represent money thrown away. Instead, you ask your colleagues, your auditor and bank for names of good advisors. You search for consultants with good references. As a marketer of high-qualification services, you therefore aim to become recommended and preferably by the nobilities of your trade. It is towards the opinion builders of the trade that you should direct a large part of your marketing efforts. By spreading knowledge to the opinion builders of the trade, the knowledge-based company can win important ambassadors. The network will also return information which is necessary to develop the company. Communication Another important parameter is communication. The knowledge-based company must tell the market what it is up to. At the same time, the products of such companies are not standardized. Your range of services is only fully produced after the customer has made up his mind to work with you. Hence, communication is an interactive process with the customer, who also constitutes a strong and active part in the process. In other words, the external communication is founded on the personal meeting rather than mass media exposure. Since the service range of a knowledge-based company is of an abstract nature, they must provide concrete hints which will suggest how they are able to help the customer. Such concrete statements are very important to first-time buyers of these kinds of services. Choose your customer Another important part of marketing high-qualification services is to choose the right customers, since the development of a knowledge-based company is tightly connected to the nature of its customers. Hence, you should choose your customers rather than wait on being chosen. These two elements should be considered when choosing customers. The right customer affects the image of the company. The right project contributes to the competence development of the company’s employees. Well-executed projects will attract new customers and even new employees. Hence, satisfied customers are the most important ambassadors of knowledge-based companies. Written by Håkan Meyer, Albatross 78 | ||
| Date | 29-08-2008 | |||