A professional services consultant was walking across Westminster Bridge and was shocked to see a rival from another firm on the parapet about to jump. He asked: “Why?”
The second man began to explain – the economy, difficult customers, reduced client list......
“Oh, come down and tell me all about it,” said the first man, “it can’t be as bad as all that.”
Five minutes later they were both standing on the parapet.
Some economic advisors are now saying that we are coming out of the recession, but I wonder how many firms are taking the opportunity to prepare for the upturn, whenever it happens.
Now is the time to review the situation and put in place a strategy to increase market share and be ready to secure those profitable projects when the market picks up.
It is also time to reflect on lessons learnt from the recession. Did you have a wide portfolio of clients or were you just in one market sector? Or worse still did you only have a handful of key clients? Did you have a mix of work from both the public and private sectors? If you are working internationally are you active in the growth hotspots or are you stuck in regions that are struggling to recover?
When considering the way forward you might like to follow my 7 stage process
Stage 1: Select the clients you want to work for. Be proactive. Don’t leave it to clients to come knocking on your door. Consider life time value of clients.
Stage 2: Identify the needs of the target clients. Speak to them. Get to know their industry or market inside out.
Stage 3: Shape your service to suit. Having identified your target clients needs make sure you are able to deliver the service that satisfies their needs.
Stage 4: Communicate your availability and capability to your target clients. You need to differentiate, stand out from the crowd. Put in place a communication campaign, get your key people to network and follow up on the contacts. Review your website; is it fresh and up to date? Look at what your competitors are up to.
Stage 5: Put in place all the material, (updated CV’s, case studies, etc) to enable you to write compelling proposals and give memorable presentations. Perhaps put in place a training programme for your key team members in presentation techniques
Stage 6: Review your service delivery. Conduct feedback surveys. Speak to existing clients. Find out how you can improve your service delivery. You need to keep your competitors out!
Stage 7: Trawl through your projects and gather information, statistics, photographs, obtain endorsements. These can then be placed in pre-qualification documents, proposals and tenders to show off your experience and skill
So take advantage of the quiet times to prepare for the busy times!
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