Are you the leader of an accounting, technology or law firm and you’re seeking to grow your firm, but you’re not sure what are the right market opportunities, or how to go about pursuing them?
Well, if so, there is one key activity that your firm needs to take, to gain clarity to these questions.
Hi, I’m Michael Haynes, business growth specialist for small and medium B2B accounting, technology and law firms.
If you’re looking to understand what are the right market opportunities for your company and how to best go about taking advantage of them, then the one key activity your firm needs to take, is listening to the market. Listening to the market is about getting an in-depth understanding of the industry and geographic markets of those that you currently serve, as well as those that you seek to serve.
Now, why is listening to the market so important? Well, it’s quite critical as the B2B professional services market is characterised right now by two key things.
One, there is increased competition, as there are a whole bunch of new players entering in, with new business models, new practices, so it’s making markets very crowded and very competitive, and there’s also a lot of marketplace uncertainty. Hence, it is vital that your company, be it an accounting, technology or law firm, really understands the landscape it’s dealing with.
Secondly, the buyers of our professional services that we’re providing, our buyers are seeking that depth of expertise, as they’re looking for insights, guidance with respect to the right market opportunities, best practices strategies and solutions to build and grow their businesses. Hence why it’s so critical that your company listens to the market.
So what exactly should you be listening for when listening to the market? Well, first you want to understand market performance.
So are those markets growing or shrinking?
What are the revenues like?
What’s the profitability like?
Secondly, you want to be understanding trends within those industries and markets. – So what are the industry economics like?
Are there new technologies that are emerging?
Are there legal and regulatory changes or requirements that need to be addressed? – What about customer trends?
Are there changes in customer requirements, behaviour preferences requirements?
And the third element you want to be getting an understanding of is understanding your competitors.
When undertaking your competitor analysis, it’s very important that you undertake it from a buyer’s point of view and by that I mean, you have an understanding of the alternatives that your buyers are considering.
So they may be considering direct competitors. – So other accounting, technology, law firms, which are having similar offerings to yours, or they may be looking at indirect competitors that might have different offerings but same outcomes. You want to be mindful here in the world of professional services, of the likes of fractionals, consultants and freelancers, as well as even potentially your clients doing the work themselves in-house.
Now, in terms of what to be looking for when undertaking your competitor analysis, some of the topics you want to be getting an understanding of, including are what are the objectives that your competitors are pursuing?
What are their strategies? Key initiatives?
What are some of the key capabilities they have, such as skills, expertise, methodology?
What sort of resources they have with respect to talent, funding, equipment?
Of course, we want to get an understanding of, you know, what they’re providing to the marketplace in terms of product, services, program solutions.
You want to understand how they’re delivering, in terms of what channels they’re using, customer experience they’re providing, service and support.
As well if you want to understand how are they promoting to and engaging with buyers within the marketplace, and that is very important as well to understand.
So where can you go to gain information about market performance, trends and competitors?
Well, a great starting point are your industry and professional associations of those target industries and markets that you’re serving. These industry professional associations are a repository with the likes of articles, reports, newsletters, case studies. They’re conducting events such as webinars, panels, all of which can give you great insights on the industries and markets that you’re serving.
Other great sources of information include your industry publications, the competitor websites themselves. Now, in terms of your competitor websites, be on the lookout for any strategy presentations and reports announcements to the market.
You may also want to consider looking at some of the reports and executive summary that can be found on the websites of some of the large consulting firms such as your Bain’s, McKinsey’s, your Forrester and Gardner, who are regularly doing research and analysis on industries and geographic markets.
Also, be sure to consider the likes of CEO and peer advisory groups, as well as online communities.
For more information on how you can be doing your listening to understand the industries, markets and customers that you’re serving, please connect with Michael on LinkedIn
Get your B2B Go-to-Market Playbook for SME Professional Service Firms.
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