Marketing For Professionals: How Can You Tell It’s Working?
A few weeks ago, I received a glossy postcard from my accountant announcing a reward if I referred some business his way.
For each new client, he’d send me a sumptuous Harry & David Gift Basket.
Well, several things coursed through my mind:
(1) Is he becoming entrepreneurial?
(2) Do I like the idea of my accountant offering such incentives? Is it in keeping with his staid image?
(3) Will this offer do him any good?
Professionals, like doctors, lawyers, CPA’s, financial services executives, and others, are becoming more entrepreneurial all the time.
A lawyer, who specializes in defending alleged drunk drivers, has a very punchy ad running on talk radio that could have come from Madison Avenue.
His tag line: “Friends don’t let friends plead guilty!”
Snappy closer!
Of course, years ago, lawyers couldn’t advertise, based on ethical strictures, but they were loosened, and now we have some of them branding themselves as “Top Guns” in their respective fields.
Do lawyers and other pro’s who grin at us from the sides of buses, and who sell themselves as vigorously as car dealers, impress us?
Apparently, they do, otherwise they wouldn’t invest in these media.
Back to my accountant and those three questions, above. I interviewed him by phone the other day, and he told me:
(1) Yes, his firm is trying various marketing strategies; and
(2) He hasn’t had to deliver a gift basket, yet.
In other words, his offer hasn’t produced referrals, which come about, as he put it, when clients like you and they decide to talk you up to their pals, who then make contact.
His firm also sends out a quarterly newsletter, but he doesn’t know if this initiative is working, because he hasn’t measured its effectiveness.
And no one has volunteered, “Thanks for the newsletter!”
By the way, I don’t mind if my accountant is entrepreneurial. In fact, I’m going to offer him some coaching.
There are ways of measuring marketing effectiveness, with or without Harry & David’s help!
Dr. Gary S. Goodman, President of http://Customersatisfaction.com, is a popular keynote speaker, management consultant, and seminar leader and the best-selling author of 12 books, including Reach Out & Sell Someone® and Monitoring, Measuring & Managing Customer Service, and the audio program, “The Law of Large Numbers: How To Make Success Inevitable,” published by Nightingale-Conant. He is a frequent guest on radio and television, worldwide. A Ph.D. from USC’s Annenberg School, a Loyola lawyer, and an MBA from the Peter F. Drucker School at Claremont Graduate University, Gary offers programs through UCLA Extension and numerous universities, trade associations, and other organizations in the United States and abroad. He holds the rank of Shodan, 1st Degree Black Belt in Kenpo Karate. He is headquartered in Glendale, California, and he can be reached at (818) 243-7338 or at: gary@customersatisfaction.com
