Professional Services
Professional services firms (e.g., law, consulting, accounting firms, advertising agencies) deliver products that are almost entirely dependent upon the quality of the employees. Unlike travel, communications, and other services, the quality of the product delivered is a combination of a number of factors-not only the people involved but the underlying technology (quality of the digital cellular connection), equipment (aircraft used), and so on. While barriers to entry are high, intangibility of the product is still a problem as is the inseparability of production and consumption, to some extent, as clients have to participate in the creation of tax returns, consulting reports, and other products of professional service firms.
A high overall level of technical expertise is a given for a competitive services firm.
Key dimensions for differentiation are: specialized technical expertise (e.g., an accounting firm specializing in performing audits of universities), reputation, and integrity. For professional services, reputation is the key asset because it is the basis for positive word of mouth and reduces the amount of uncertainty inherent in service products. Reputation is the sum effect of the RATER dimensions: reliability, assurance, tangibles (expertise), empathy, and responsiveness. Reputation can also be viewed as the sum of the competitive strategy components of excellence in employee recruiting (inbound logistics), service operations, marketing and sales, and service quality.
Integrity has entered the limelight with the demise of the once-powerful Arthur Andersen accounting firm.
However, technical expertise, reputation, and integrity usually only get a professional services firm into the client's evoked set. To win the account, the challenge is to make the firm's accomplishments tangible to the prospective client. As noted earlier, advertising agencies can create portfolios and reels of their creative work. Consulting firms tout money saved through new processes instituted, law firms note significant cases won, and so on. In addition, expertise can be made tangible. For example, consulting firms often sponsor symposia in their areas of expertise. The us-ual strategy of brand-building works. An example of this is the consulting firm McKinsey, which is one of the most powerful brands in the world. Finally CRM is critical, particularly in a person-to-person business such as professional services.
Posted in: Marketing
0 comments:
Post a Comment