Integrating Marketing and Business Development In Professional Services Firms Findings from a 2007 Bloom Group Survey December 2007 The Bloom Group www.bloomgroup.com
Design & Demographics Professional services firms in North America and Europe : 224 in all Designed to assess integration between marketing & business development groups Survey intent: Understand how well marketing and business development are working together in professional services firms; Whether collaboration between the groups matters/provides better results; Most effective ways for marketing and business development to work together Three areas explored: Structure of each group Extent and nature of collaboration between the groups Effectiveness of each group and the team Total of 18 questions answered by 224 respondents
Design & Demographics Professional services firms in North America and Europe : 224 in all 57% 43% Operations European North American 22% 8% 22% 11% 10% 27% Size of Firm (by annual revenue) > $1 billion $501 million - $1 billion $101 - $500 million $51 - $100 million $26 - $50 million < $25 million
Design & Demographics Professional services firms in North America and Europe : 224 in all 37% 20% 16% 5% 5% 17% Type of Firm (by sector) Law Accounting Management consulting Training & development IT services Other Roles (Marketing and business development) 23% Chief marketing officer/head of mktg 27% Other marketing managers 10% CEO/managing directors 5% Head of business development 15% Other business development managers 6% Head of practice/service line 14% Other
Who conducts your firm s business development / sales activities? Business development is usually not a separate function 15% Personnel who specialize in biz dev (and do not work on projects or generate fees) 56% Sales people dedicated to biz dev and project people who sell 28% Same people work on projects, generate fees & sell (with no employees only focusing on biz dev)
But, there usually is a marketing function How is your marketing function(s) structured? 5% Marketing resides with 6% No formal marketing practice/service lines function 47% Marketing both centralized & decentralized 42% Central marketing function (serves all practice/service lines)
What is the reporting relationship between marketing and business development? In most cases, marketing and biz dev do not report to each other 34% Both report to top of firm (CEO or MD) 23% Both report to same practice/service or business unit head 16% Both report to different people 8% Marketing reports to biz dev 8% Biz dev reports to marketing
To what degree are your marketing and business development activities coordinated and integrated? 1 = Not at all 2 = Infrequently 3 = Sometimes 4 = Most of the time 5 = Always Marketing and biz dev are usually on the same dance floor Slight majority say they strongly coordinate/integrate marketing & biz dev: 41% 13% 54% But nearly half do not have strong coordination/integration: Coordinated/integrated most of the time Coordinated/integrated always 34% Coordinated/integrated only sometimes 9% Coordinated/integrated infrequently 2% Coordinated/integrated not at all 45%
but they aren t always cheek-to-cheek To what degree are your marketing and business development activities -Targeting the same clients? -Promoting the same services? -Working off the same business issues-oriented marketing campaign? -Working off the same timeline of activities? -Working off a common client/prospect database or CRM system? Target the same clients or services Work off the same client database Work off the same marketing campaign Work off the same timeline of activities Always or most of the time 76% 59% 58% 42% Sometimes, infrequently, or not at all 24% 41% 42% 58% 1 = Not at all 2 = Infrequently 3 = Sometimes 4 = Most of the time 5 = Always
Which of the following statements best characterizes the way your firm markets its points of view (POVs)? Three-quarters of firms develop POVs used by both marketing & biz dev 75% Marketing and biz dev both leverage the POVs to maximize market awareness and leads 15% Marketing does not take POVs to market 10% Marketing takes POVs to market, with no participation from biz dev
Which statement best characterizes how your firm (or practice) spends its marketing resources in taking your firm s POVs to market? Few firms focus their marketing resources on one or a few select POVs 53% Firm somewhat focuses marketing resources on fewer POVs over the course of a year 34% Firm markets many POVs over the course of a year, without focusing resources on one or a select few 14% Firm focuses marketing resources on one or a select few POVs per year
Estimate how your firm allocates marketing & biz dev resources between -Creating market awareness -Generating new client relationships Resources are fairly evenly split between key marketing & biz dev activities 34% 30% 38% -Selling new client engagements CREATING MARKET AWARENESS GENERATING NEW CLIENT RELATIONSHIPS SELLING NEW CLIENT ENGAGEMENTS Publications, conference sponsorships and presentations, books, PR, website, articles, etc. Seminars, webinars, and other marketing events your firm hosts or sponsors Telemarketing to set-up meetings, sales calls, proposal research and writing, sales presentation development, sales collateral, etc.
How would you describe your firm s definition of the role, responsibilities and accountabilities for the following jobs -Sales/biz dev people -Corporate-level marketers -Practice/service-level marketers -Practicing partners with sales responsibilities 100% 100% 90% 80% 80% 70% 60% 60% 50% 40% 40% 30% 20% 0% 20% 10% Half of firms feel roles are very clear or clear, but the other half aren t confident 0% Sales/biz / people biz dev people Corporatelevel marketers Corporate-level marketers Practice-level marketers level marketers Practicing partners who sell Practicing partners who sell Very clear Very clear Clear Clear Somewhat Somewhat clear Somewhat unclear Somewhat unclear Very unclear Very unclear
Who is in charge of managing the process of creating demand for your firm s services? -Marketing head One-third of firms don t have an individual accountable for managing demand creation 33% Managing demand creation Practice/service-line head -Sales head -Practice/service head -Another individual -No one person 20% 8% 6% Marketing head Sales head Another individual 32% No one person
How would you best describe the relationship between marketing & biz dev functions in your firm? Marketing & biz dev functions are in synch in the majority of firms Majority say marketing & biz dev are in synch: 19% 46% 65% Functions are totally in synch Functions are mostly in synch But one-third aren t quite there: 31% 5% 36% Functions are sometimes in synch Functions are mostly out of synch
To what degree is your firm (or practice) ful at -Creating awareness with target clients about your expertise and services? -Generating new relationships with prospects (short of getting them to buy)? -Getting prospects to ask for a proposal following a sales call? -Winning those proposals? -Maintaining relationships with past clients? 1 = No 2 = Little 3 = Moderate 4 = High 5 = Very high Creating awareness On four key metrics of effectiveness, only a minority of firms have strong performance New relationships Ask for a proposal Winning proposals Maintaining relationships No No 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Little Little Moderate Moderate High High Very high Very high
To what degree is your firm (or practice) ful at -Developing compelling intellectual capital and effectively packaging it for marketing programs? -Measuring the effectiveness of your marketing programs (inquires and sales calls generated, etc.)? -Measuring the effectiveness of your biz dev programs (sales calls made, proposals issued, proposals accepted)? 1 = No 2 = Little 3 = Moderate 4 = High 5 = Very high Few firms are highly ful developing IC and measuring program effectiveness Developing & packaging IC Measuring marketing program effectiveness Measuring biz dev program effectiveness No No Little Little Moderate Moderate High High Very high Very high 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Rate the obstacles to coordinate the activities of marketing & biz dev in your firm, in terms of their difficulty -Firm doesn t recognize need to coordinate marketing & biz dev -Marketing reports to sales -Sales reports to marketing 1 = Not an obstacle 2 = Minor obstacle 3 = Moderate obstacle 4 = Major obstacle 5 = Huge obstacle 80% 70 60% 60 50 40% 40 30 20% 20 10 0% 0 The greatest obstacle to coordination of marketing & biz dev is perceived lack of need 26% 31% 32% 68% 28% 28% Firm doesn t Marketing recognize need reports to sales to coordinate marketing & biz dev Sales reports to marketing Not obstacle Obstacle Minor obstacle Minor Moderate obstacle Moderate Major Huge Major obstacle Huge obstacle
Rate the obstacles to coordinate the activities of marketing & biz dev in your firm, in terms of their difficulty -Lack of common measures of effectiveness -Lack of common incentives -Lack of a common demand-generation process -Lack of a common customer relationship management system (CRM) 1 = Not an obstacle 2 = Minor obstacle 3 = Moderate obstacle 4 = Major obstacle 5 = Huge obstacle 100 90 80% 70 60 60% 50 40% 30 20% 10 0% 0 Lack of common measures, incentives and process are massive obstacles for firms 12% 16% 16% 27% 86% 83% 80% 68% Lack of common measures of effectiveness Lack of common incentives Lack of a common demandgeneration process Lack of a common CRM system Not obstacle Obstacle Minor obstacle Minor Moderate obstacle Major Huge Major obstacle Huge obstacle
Conclusions The structure of the relationship between marketing & biz dev is relatively consistent Structure Business development is rarely a stand-alone function In most firms, personnel who work on projects/generate fees also have some level of responsibility for business development activities Marketing is almost always a formal, defined function It s unusual for business development and marketing to report to each other
Conclusions Firms have considerable opportunities to improve marketing/biz dev collaboration Collaboration Firms are evenly split between strong and not strong coordination/integration of marketing and business development groups Marketing and business development target the same clients in the majority of firms; only half use the same database and campaigns, and less than half use the same timeline for activities Both groups typically use the same POVs to maximize market awareness and leads, but don t focus resources on a single viewpoint or select group of viewpoints
Conclusions Firms also have considerable opportunities to improve effectiveness for better results Effectiveness Although half of firms feel business development/marketing roles are unclear, the majority still say the functions are in synch Only a minority of firms feel they are highly ful creating awareness, generating new relationships, getting prospects to ask for proposals, and winning business Few firms are highly ful creating compelling intellectual capital The greatest obstacles in coordinating marketing and business development activities: lack of common measures of effectiveness, common incentives or a common demand-generating process
About Us The Bloom Group specializes in the marketing of professional services firms by helping to determine clients best growth opportunities, creating integrated sales and marketing plans, developing robust intellectual capital, and executing critical marketing programs that build awareness and client relations. Visit www.bloomgroup.com/insights.htm for our insights on the growth of professional services organizations: Making the Most of Your Firm s Publications From Electric Brochure to Online Lead Generator: Powering Up the Professional Services Website Why Great Writing Matters to Professional Services Firms Making a Business Book Pay Off Outsourcing Marketing: Can it Work in Professional Services? Using Events to Generate Business Using Surveys to Generate Market Demand Building a Winning Sales Deck Becoming a Credible Source for the Media Why Focus is Crucial to Growth Competing on Thought Leadership: The Seven Hallmarks of Compelling Intellectual Capital Case Study Research: The Overlooked but Indispensable Tool in Attaining Thought Leadership
Contact Visit us @ www.bloomgroup.com To discuss the results of this survey, contact us: Robert Buday Founding Partner Boston 508.497.3411 bbuday@bloomgroup.com Bernie Thiel Founding Partner Cleveland 216.902.8300 bthiel@bloomgroup.com A special thanks to PM Forum for their role in generating survey responses. The PM Forum is a 4,000 strong regionally based members' association dedicated to raising the standards of professional services marketing and to enhancing the credibility of marketers working in professional service firms worldwide. Visit www.pmforumusa.com.