Perhaps one of the most telling characteristics of a
successful business owner is the “what’s next” attitude. The understanding that you can’t just sit
back and enjoy the spurt of growth you happen to be experiencing right now; the
knowledge that unless you’re always moving forward, you’ll soon be moving
backward.
So how to move forward?
Well certainly one important step is understanding how your clients’
needs are changing and figuring out what you can do to help them. Developing the right services and knowing how
to take them to the market is a challenge many firms struggle with; consider
the following concrete action steps to make this challenge a little less
daunting.
First step forward – needs
You have a great source of information to help you figure
out what the market needs: your
clients. And it costs nothing. Get together with a few of your clients and
ask them some questions about what challenges they’re facing, how their
business is being affected, what obstacles they’re running into in dealing with
the challenges, what kind of help they need, what they’re willing to invest in
help, etc.
Add to the information you get from your clients by doing
secondary research: use web sites,
industry publications and conferences, social media and even your competitors
to figure out what people are talking about and struggling with.
Next steps –
evaluate, prioritize, focus
If more than one new service idea bubbles up from your
research, you need a systematic process to narrow the list and decide which to
pursue. Factors like the level of demand
within your current clients, your ability to hire the expertise you need vs.
having to acquire it through a merger or strategic partnership, how easy or
difficult it will be to differentiate your offering from competitors, and the
long-term revenue potential all should be considered.
You’re almost there –
define the service
Before you’re ready to launch a new service, help ensure
your success by defining the scope of the service very specifically:
·
the process you’ll use to deliver it
·
the timing for the client, the frequency of
delivery
·
the “package” you’re delivering, including the
name of the service
·
key deliverables and benefits to the client,
·
pricing.
Train your staff on these elements so all know how to
talk about the service in a consistent manner and those delivering the service
will do so with consistent quality.
Your launch to the
future – taking the service to market
Consider beta testing the service with one or two good
clients to refine your scope and develop marketing messages. When you’re ready to go to market, define the
target market, develop the key messages – benefits, differentiation – create
materials you need, including a testimonial from your beta test, and then get
your messages to the target market.
Conversations with clients, direct marketing campaigns, seminars,
webinars – there are a variety of ways to do this. Finally, measure your results to make sure
you’re reaching your sales goals and getting a positive return on your
investment.
If you’d like more detail on any of these ideas, take a look
at our article on this topic: Your
Future Firm Starts Now: Success
Strategies for Launching New Services.
And, if you’re interested, call us at 319-447-6400 or email info@thewhetstonegroup.com to ask
for our free New Service Evaluation Checklist.
We hope it will help you answer the question “What’s Next?”
and keep your firm moving forward.
