I recently had the opportunity to attend a meeting where the speaker claimed to know exactly how to do just that. Having been lied to in the past by more than one slick marketer, I was admittedly skeptical.
It turns out that the speaker, Dr. Lee Fredricksen won me over. He has done the research to back up his claims, and makes his case in his book SpiralingUp (which is available for FREE, immediate download in ebook format) in which he describes how his studies of 350 professional services firms found that one segment of the marketplace grew up to 9x faster, with 50% higher profits while spending less than average on marketing!
I highly recommend the book for more details.
Here are the things that the high growth, high profit firms had in common:
- Specialization – this allows them to clearly differentiate their offerings so that their clients really know what they do.
- Client Centric – The “target market” for these specialized services is small. This allows the firm to dig deeply into the needs of these clients and to understand them well.
- Research – Regular, formal market research – This one surprised me. These high growth firms are intentionally seeking knowledge through formal research studies on a quarterly basis about the needs in the marketplace.
- Marketing Focus – Their marketing strategies hone in on the first three points. Finally, on the basis of what they learned and prioritized in the first three, they can market effectively to a small number of prospects.
The book is very informative, and Dr. Frederiksen has made the studies as well as the conclusions available for download.
Clarity and focus on client needs are key parts of Raising Your Game. What will you do to apply this in your business this week? Let me know – comment below!
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