Sentinel Way was created to address the common challenges faced by leaders of professional services firms who want to grow their businesses. We overviewed some of the common challenges in a recent article. Simply put, when it comes to building an effective growth strategy, leaders often don’t have the time and attention it requires. As a result, they put several different growth tactics into play without investing the time to review performance and see what’s working.
Scattered tactics
When leaders begin to consider growth strategy, they often want to try many different things. They jump right in, and the B2B digital marketing tactics and ideas for lead generation campaigns come before the strategy is built.
Maybe they heard a peer in another firm was having success with one tactic, so they started there. Or a big lead comes in from a channel partner, so they want to double down on the firm’s partner strategy. Or they read something on LinkedIn about a new tactic that is “sure to increase their pipeline by 10 times”. They don’t stick to anything for long enough for it to succeed.
Because they’re lacking a unified go-to-market strategy for consulting services, the ideas and opinions of leaders and staff guide the tactics. Someone has a random idea and then the leaders make it happen (making more work for the staff). It’s not to say that the ideas are bad. It’s that, without committing to a professional services marketing plan, they’re no way to measure its effectiveness and progress toward goals.
Failure to measure
Executing multiple tactics at once makes it hard to understand what’s working. Often, when there at multiple tactics at play, leaders haven’t set up benchmarks or systems of measurement.
Objective data helps paint a picture of how the tactic is performing. It guides strategy and lets leaders know if they need to double down or step away. In this process, enough data must be collected to draw accurate conclusions. If the data set is too small, the results might be misleading.
Lack of strategy
Ideally, growth planning starts with discussions on what success looks like and what metrics will demonstrate that success. However, that is not always the case.
Leaders might want to increase brand awareness, find qualified leads, deepen their relationships with customers, or improve conversion, so they try various tactics that address these things. Some things work and others don’t, but because they don’t have effective measurements in place, they’re making decisions based on how they feel things are going, instead of relying on objective data.
If multiple tactics are in play, it also may be taking a toll on the staff who are doing extra work to execute tactics, without getting the satisfaction that their time and energy is paying off.
What to do instead
If any of this sounds familiar, it might be time to redefine your growth strategy. But where to start?
1. Establish your priorities and set up goals
When setting out to create a professional services marketing plan leaders must define what’s important for the company and what they’re trying to accomplish. Consider the company’s lifecycle and the next stage of growth.
Different objectives and relevant metrics could include:
- Brand awareness – evaluate traffic to their B2B website and social media mentions
- Increased lead generation – measure cost per lead and conversion rate of lead pages
- Customer acquisition – measure the return on ad spend and customer acquisition cost
- Customer retention – track the customer lifetime value and net promoter score
2. Quantify
Once priorities are established and objectives defined, success needs to be quantified. Sometimes quantification is as simple as leveraging existing web analytics or the company’s CRM. Other times, the measurement might require manual entry of activity, like with front-line sales staff social selling on LinkedIn.
3. Report on the data
Make your data widely available to all relevant parties. Everyone should be aware of what’s working and what isn’t in real-time if possible. Reporting should offer context such as targets and numbers from a previous period.
4. Talk about it
Make time for leaders to review and digest the performance of the tactics. This group can then make informed decisions on what should happen next, such as doubling down on a promising tactic or adjusting an initiative that is falling flat.
5. Adjust accordingly
Once decisions are made, create an action plan to implement changes. Ensure that there are clear owners of each task, set deadlines, and update goals as needed.
A lack of a unified B2B digital marketing plan can have detrimental effects on the business. Time and money are wasted, and decisions are made on a whim. Instead of experiencing growth, the business stagnates.
Sentinel Way works with professional services companies as expert growth strategy consultants, leading them on their growth journeys. From strategy to execution, across sales and marketing, Sentinel Way offers experience, best practices, and a culture of continuous improvement to professional services companies who are looking to grow into their chapter. If you need help creating and aligning an effective growth strategy, reach out about scheduling a growth consultation.
Are you curious about ideas for measuring your growth tactics? Take a look at our recent article.
