Facing a war for talent, economic headwinds, and ongoing digital disruption - there's a whiff of nervousness in the air for professional service firms.
Yes, the rebound out of COVID is threatening to be short-lived and replaced with conditions that are tougher, leaner, and far less predictable.
So, what does this mean for the selling of professional services? What can we expect from the best performing firms in 2023?
For me, I’m confident we’ll see:
- A laser-like focus on profitability and sustainable growth - with firms making strategy and investment decisions based on a critical analysis of financials (incl. lifetime client value), sales performance, acquisition cost, and alignment to desired client profiles.
- The driving of sales efficiency and effectiveness via tech-enabled lead prioritisation, opportunity qualification, relationship mapping, scaled content personalisation, sales intelligence (incl. engagement triggers), appointment scheduling, and more.
- The dropping, referring-off or pricing-out of unprofitable or poor-fitting clients and services. Yes, the client tail is going to be chopped hard as firms double-down on owning their space and delighting high-value clients.
- The use of non-practitioners to drive (not support) top-of-funnel activity, including: client profiling, list building, prospecting, market listening, qualifying enquiries, and content-focused client/prospect nurturing.
- A wave of practitioners supported to build their personal brands on LinkedIn and to use the platform for lead generation and client/prospect nurturing. This support will form part of a broader trend in which we'll see a movement away from a firm-first brand approach to firms enabling the scaled building of individual practitioner brands.
- Ruthless prioritisation, rationalisation, and optimisation of sales and marketing activity - with everything up for consideration. Activity and investment will not stop for the best performing firms (far from it), but a critical eye will ensure alignment to strategy, robust business cases, and maximised utilisation.
- The bundling of productised services into packages for client-types (e.g. fintech start-ups) - with these service bundles provided on a subscription basis. These targeted service bundles will support market positioning, non-salesy cross-selling, operational efficiencies, and improved client service.
- The removal of silos by bringing together sales, marketing and client resources into 'growth' or 'go-to-market' squads that share budget responsibility for new client acquisition and revenue growth. These squads will focus on key clients and prospects, new or high-potential services, and sub-industry niches.
- The development of highly-attractive employee value propositions for senior 'pre-partner' talent - with this talent acquisition part of a multi-year plan to build the books of energetic professionals and grow firm revenue.
What do you think? Any other trends you expect to see in 2023?
Don't be shy if you have ideas.
Insights Led | AI Applied | GTM Specialist
2 年I like it James Fielding, and love seeing the GTM squad reference make your list.?You know that’s a personal favourite of mine. I think additional effort needs to be made to improve lead management and conversion. The flow on impact of having a consistent process in place for identifying, nurturing, and converting leads, will assist many of the downstream activities on your list. Roheet Tauro and I are seeing some impressive work in this space, with models for Propensity to Convert guiding the GTM squads.
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2 年Quite a list James. Too Ambitious for many firms to achieve? All initiatives should start with the client experience in mind. 2023 should indeed be interesting. Too many firms struggle to realise you cannot cut your way to growth!
I Create Financial Certainty for Clients and their Businesses During Uncertain Times, Using Insurance to Solve Personal & Business Problems, Working with Entrepreneurs, Solopreneurs, & Executives. Case Studies Available!
2 年Interesting James Fielding, after taking a few weeks off to enjoy a whole break I am not sure my brain is in 'full gear'. There is a huge shift that feels like a tidal wave, but in reality has been forming a base for years as businesses have tried to understand the future of sales and engagement. With cheap money over and inflation I agree, it will be the year of hard decisions on the corporate front, but on the individual front those who don't take their personal brand seriously are about to be left behind as well. Businesses will start to support the personal brand better, but only if its aligned to the businesses growth plans/targets.