An interview with Terrie Wheeler
Growing Your Business In A Tight Economy

Terrie Wheeler has been marketing professional service firms for over 15 years including several years leading the marketing efforts of major law firms from the inside.

As President of Professional Services Marketing (PSM), a consulting firm founded in 1996 - - dedicated exclusively to working with professional services firms, Terrie walks clients through the strategic business and marketing planning process. This process includes developing and implementing creative strategies to increase revenue by expanding relationships with existing clients, attracting new clients, and increasing name recognition and awareness of the company or firm in the marketplace.

In January of 2003, Jim and Terrie sat down to talk about her suggestions for "Growing Your Business in a Tight Economy."

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Introductions (3:37)

Tip #1 -- Keep Your Eye On The Ball (7:07)

• View your business strategically...plan
• Plan at the firm-wide level, practice-segments, and individual practitioners
• You can't plan your future until you understand your past
• Focus most efforts on the practice group segment

Tip #3 -- Target Your Audiences and Your Messages (5:48)

• Know who is best suited to being one of your clients
• Keep your target small, selective, targeted

Tip #2 -- Know How You Got Here in the First Place (7:20)

• Imagine you woke up tomorrow morning with no clients. What would you do?
• It was your network that you got you here.
• Don't wait until you have time to market/network.
• Be careful of having one client represent too much of your business.
• Identify criteria to attract the clients you most want and can best serve.

Tip #4 -- Show Them, Don't Tell Them (6:13)

• Clients want to see that you have already done what they need you to do for them
• Provide summaries of your work; maybe provide this in advance of your first meeting
• Use your meeting to build rapport and establish a relationship
• Clarify your process; make the intangible as tangible as you can
  • Would you like me to explain my process?
  • I must understand my own process before I can explain it.

Tip #5a -- Focus on Building Relationships (3:42)

• 95% of your business will come via a past satisfied client or other referral source
• Identify the quality of your contacts
  • "A" level -- Direct connection to business referrals
  • "B" level -- Indirect connections
  • "C" level -- No apparent business connection, but important in your life

Tip #5b -- Continued [Focus on Building Relationships] (10:22)

• These are real relationships
  • You must like and respect the people in your network
  • People like to do business with people they like
• Have a process for staying in touch with people; then use it to stay in touch
• What matters most is developing a strategy that works for you

Tip #6 -- Reinvigorate Your Sales Strategy (9:12)

• Like it or not, you need a sales strategy
  • Identify how you've approached the market place in the past
  • Who are we going to target?
  • What are our messages?
  • How are we going to get in front of our targets?
• How do we attract new clients?
  • Look for personal connections; Who do you know?
• Set up a tracking system

Tip #7 -- Be a Stickler for Responsiveness (5:46)

• Return all client calls that same business day; clients judge your ability based on your overall responsiveness
  • At least acknowledge their call
• Return all calls from prospects that day, too
  • Establish expectations with referral source
  • Update your referral source, too
• Be the first one making a referral

Tip #8 -- Exceed/Manage Your Client's Expectations (2:00)

First, clearly establish your client's expectations at the beginning of a project
• Second, exceed them -- deliver on your promises and then some
• It's not about giving a Cadillac when they've paid for a Geo

Tip #9 -- Focus on the Media (2:04)

• There's no better way to establish name recognition
• What does your target market read and listen to?
• Be a source of credible information for the media.
• Third party credibility (someone else saying you're good) is very powerful.
• Money spent on advertising can be a poor investment.

Tip #10 -- Communicate with Your Clients (2:43)

• Clients need to know what your offer as well as what you're presently doing.
• Communicate what makes you unique.
• Include the internet/e-mail but don't obsess on it.
• Avoid fluff and irrelevant communications.
• We're communicating with you (the client) to serve you, not to serve us.

Tip #11 -- Use Your Invoices as a Marketing Tool (1:59)

• Include the details that explain the value you provided.
• You don't want your client asking themselves "What are we getting for this money?"

Tip #12 -- When in Doubt, Ask Your Clients (4:59)

• When you're planning major strategic moves, include input from your clients
  • If we offered service "X," would our current clients want it?
  • Avoid advertising in places that your target market/current clients do not access.
• Don't ask for your client's opinion if you're not going to consider it or act on it.
• If you do a survey, especially if it gathers positive information, share it with your clients.

If you'd like to read Terrie's comments about all 12 tips, click here.

To send a question to Terrie by e-mail, click here.

To visit Terrie's Professional Services Marketing's web site, click here.