Developing an Unfair Advantage with Your Clients

By Lee W. Frederiksen, Ph.D.

I had a conversation earlier this week with an executive in a professional services firm in the technology sector on the topic of “feedback” and it’s effectiveness in changing behavior. During our discussion I was reminded of an incident a couple of years ago that really drove the point home in a way that only a true story can. The story centers around the topic of cheating…but in a way that you might not expect.

Feedback Defined

Before I tell the story I want to make sure we’re clear on exactly the type of feedback I’m referring to. It’s not siting down with someone and critiquing their performance. Nor is it a performance review or some type of confrontation. Instead, I’m talking about feedback of the sort a behavioral psychologist might refer to it. In this sense, feedback is timely and objective information on performance. It is usually delivered in an easy-to-understand format where current performance is compared to a goal.

Now, the question is not whether feedback works to change performance. Decades of well-controlled behavioral research clearly shows that it does so under the right conditions. For example, feedback has to be frequent, timely, and objective. Adding performance goals and modest incentives also improves performance. No, the real question is about it’s practicality in real-life circumstances.

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Differentiating Your Firm: How One Accounting Practice Embraces Becoming A Commodity

By Lee W. Frederiksen, Ph.D.

Boy, do I have an interesting firm to tell you about. I came across this very cleverly positioned firm In Dennis Howlett’s always interesting blog, AccMan. He always has a thought provoking perspective that is nicely captured by his tagline, “Never knowingly under opinionated.”

The firm he profiled is a UK based accounting firm called Mazuma, and it takes a very counterintuitive approach to differentiating itself.

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Talking to the Government: A Beltway Bandit Myth

By Sylvia Montgomery

Funny thing about myths and urban legends: repeat them enough and they begin to sound like the truth. For example, take the myth that companies can’t learn anything meaningful from decision makers in the government.

Just yesterday, I was having a conversation with a prospect looking to expand in the Federal public sector. I asked, “Have you considered conducting client research with current and past clients and maybe even some of the ones that got away?” The response I got was, “You can’t talk to the government!” At that moment, the myth surfaced its ugly head.

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Can Your Professional Services Website Pass The 3 Second Test?

By Lee W. Frederiksen, Ph.D.

By now almost every executive has heard about how important it is to capture your website visitors’ attention in the first few seconds of their visit. If not, they are gone and the result is a very high “bounce rate.” While there is certainly a lot of truth in that observation, how does it apply to your professional services website? After all, you don’t run a consumer site that sells advertising or pushes discounted electronics.

Do the same rules apply to professional services websites? Yes, but with a twist. When a potential client visits your site, they form a quick impression. Think of it as your 3 Second Test.

Within the first 3 seconds of reaching your site a visitor in your target audience will be looking for positive responses to three critical questions. Miss any one of these and the chances of a positive relationship drop dramatically.

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Does “Selling” Have a Bad Image at Your Firm?

By Ian Altman, Guest Author

How does the staff at your firm view sales? How do you view it? In many firms the internal image is not so hot. This can clearly get in the way of new business development. In this guest post professional services executive and sales guru, Ian Altman takes on the topic with some clear thinking and straight talk. I think you’ll enjoy his helpful perspective…lwf

I was speaking with the managing partner of a professional services company recently about their goals for revenue growth. I asked her how she would rate the selling skills of the firm. She responded that they do not sell anything, but they do invest in marketing.

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Is Your Professional Services Brand Promise a Lie?

By Lee W. Frederiksen, Ph.D.

Is your firm is living a lie? More specifically, is your firm truly delivering on your brand promise?

Your brand promise is what you promise your potential clients you will do. It is either explicit (“your satisfaction is our highest priority”) or implied by everything you do and say, from your tagline to the behavior of your business development team.

Now there are several common ways that professional services firms lie about their brand promise. The most common lie comes in the form of overpromising. Unfullfilled promises are all over professional services websites. Observe all the technical expertise, attentive service and the intense passion for solving clients problems. We are fortunate to be in an industry where everyone is above average! The unfortunate result of this flood of superlatives is that it all becomes unbelievable. Sad but true.

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