There are few business sectors as crowded as the professional services market and even fewer where so many of the competing players in it are so barely distinguishable from each other. So few firms can credibly answer the dreaded “so what’s so special about your firm?” question at the end of the pitch, despite being asked it more and more as clients become increasingly demanding and discerning. It’s a test for the bathroom mirror – try it – would you buy it?
A professional services firm’s brand isn’t simply a tagline or a slogan – it’s what the firm stands for – a ‘proposition’ to the market of what the firm will deliver for its clients and what it will be like to work with. In this sense every firm has a brand, like it or not, but few firms can say that they are pro-actively managing it as source of sustainable competitive advantage in the market.
Arguably, the proactive management of a professional services firm’s brand was, for many years, a luxury rather than a necessity – partly because very few competitors were thinking much about it either, but mostly because there was more than enough work to go round. Of course this has changed and like it or not just ‘turning up’ is no longer going to cut it as a growth strategy for the future.
Some firms have already woken up to the challenge and take their brand very seriously at leadership level; developing the clarity of thinking based on client feedback to articulate their difference and then having the courage to express what they stand for in everything they do: pitches, client work, behaviours, recruitment, training and of course their marketing and business development activities. Like herding cats? Well yes it is but a few stellar firms are managing to communicate their difference as well as any of the textbook corporate brands such as Apple or Virgin to great commercial success.
The next few years will see an unprecedented amount of change in the market as the gaps between the stronger firms and the rest widens. Firms that are clear about their competitive advantage will continue to thrive at all levels of the market by creating a ‘virtuous circle’ where better performance, attracts better people, who do better work and attract better clients, which in turn creates better performance etc, etc. The winners will – in part – be those that manage their brand reputations actively and expertly, passing the bathroom mirror test with flying colours. See how Saffron have helped some of the world’s best known professional services firms stand out and stand for something distinctive in their fields.
