The editors of RainToday.com, an excellent site for those who market and sell professional services, recently released their 2009 benchmark study on how clients buy professional services. In their nine minute podcast, they talked about the top 5 ways buyers find their professional service providers.
The research involved asking 200 buyers of professional services (law, accounting, consulting, technology, training, among a whole range of services). The sizes of the buying firms were small to a billion dollars in revenue. The survey identified 27 different methods by which buyers choose professional services.
Here are the top five:
(1) Referrals from colleagues (79% of respondents)
(2) Referrals from other service providers (75%)
(3) Personal recognition or awareness of the buyer / brand / reputation (73%)
(4) In person seminars (66%)
(5) Presentation at a conference
Here’s what the findings mean to me.
(1) Your own client base is your greatest source of leads. It tells me that I’d better have the kind of support that keeps them happy and I’d better find opportunities to keep talking with them.
(2) People in the industry talk. Sounds like it would be prudent to look after our professional relationships
(3) Having a presence is important and being known is very important. This means that speaking engagements, writing articles and sharing and helping others is critical toward developing a prominent brand.
If you’d like some unique ideas about seminars, drop me a note at david_blumenthal@msn.com and we’ll set aside some time to talk about some unusual and really effective seminar development approaches taht will generate immediate opportunities.
Strategy Insight 