Marketplace Masters How Professional Service Firms Compete to Win

Subjects:

• Business » Management
• Business » Marketing, Advertising, Sales

Reviews:

• Marketplace Masters offers pratical advice for how to increase, in a systematic and disciplined way, a PSF's strategic marketing infastructure. The book's lessons are supported by 15 in-depth case studies, pulled from a variety of professional service industries: executive, search, advertising, HR consulting, legal services, information technology consulting, accouting, engineering, and market research. Furthermore, the insights and conclusions are supported by five years of annual research studies undertaken by the author's firm specifically on the practices of PSFs....[t]his book is geared toward and appropriate for professionals and practitioners; partners, owners, and executives in professional services firms.
  —Journal of Services Marketing 2006
• This book represents some great research. The material on the right way to achieve differentiation is worth the price of the book. Lowe provides ample evidence that the approaches to differentiation used most by most professional service firms are not necessarily the most successful approaches....The author's basic premise is that too many professional service firms are selling the same thing, the same way, for the same price. She claims that you can use the information in Marketplace Masters to move beyond your marketplace nearsightedness. I think she provides a good resource from which firm leaders can derive a better plan of action than they have now-if they have one at all.
  —Journal of Management Consulting/Consulting to Management September 1, 2005

• Endorsement From George C. Friedel,
  Senior Vice President
  Parsons Brinckerhoff: Suzanne Lowe's research conclusion is right on the mark!...This book is a must read for all CEO's. Any professional services firm that makes the corporate commitment to embrace the practical concepts detailed in this book will leapfrog ahead of its competition by better understanding its markets and clients. The factual research case studies eliminate the excuses for avoiding that commitment.
• Endorsement From Thomas A. Curtin Jr.,
  Chief Marketing Officer
  The Segal Company: ...[A] must read for anyone working within the Professional Services arena whose firm is mired in marketing mediocrity. It affords the reader a thorough picture of the unique quantitative and qualitative marketing challenges experienced by Professional Service firms, as well as practical ideas and solutions critical to successful market-driven growth strategy. Though its in-depth research results and insightful, real-life case study examples Marketplace Masters provides a comprehensive blueprint to building a sustainable, premier marketing strategy for Professional Service firms.
• Endorsement From Patty Grimes,
  Director, Client Services
  Torys LLP: ...[P]rovides documented proof that successful marketing strategies will work in professional development firms. Her use of case studies from a number of professions lifts us out of our insular focus on our own industry and gives us direction.
• Endorsement From Arthur Middlebrooks,
  Adjunct Professor of Marketing
  University of Chicago Graduate School of Business: ...[A] 'must read' for leaders of professional service firms. One of the best researched books ever published on the topic of marketing professional services. Packed with practical insights and in-depth examples--read this before your competition does!
• Endorsement From Silvia L. Coulter,
  Chief Marketing and Business Development Officer
  Dorsey & Whitney LLP: The Masters' stories are right on! I found myself having a favorite company with each story I read. Kudos for the groundwork in digging up and plowing through the hows of these successful examples from which we should all learn and apply.
• Endorsement From David Maister,
  Consultant and Author, Managing the Professional Service Firm: Marketplace Masters makes a significant contribution to the professional firm marketing field by crafting a compelling case for the importance of research and analysis in guiding marketing efforts. These topics are not often addressed in other, supposedly comprehensive, marketing texts.
• Endorsement From Al Potter,
  Senior Vice President, Sales & Marketing
  Gilbane Building Company: ...[A]n incisive view of why professional service firms truly are different, especially in the strategy and new business arenas. It offers revealing insights on why these firms often struggle with the challenges of strategy, marketing and business development--in ways that are unique to the realm of professional services....It demonstrates the positive impact of foresight in strategic market implementation, and it backs up its conclusions with hard research and proven trends. Marketplace Masters is a must-read for any principal or new business leader in a professional service company that wants to improve itself or grow.
• Endorsement From Paul Magill,
  Vice President, Marketing
  IBM Global Services: ...[R]ich with case studies, insights and practical advice for anyone seeking to upgrade marketing in professional service firms. While the distinctive culture of professional service firms has generally inhibited their adoption of systematic marketing techniques and processes, this book provides detailed examples of professional service firms that have recently bucked this trend and begun to improve their businesses through disciplined implementation of strategic marketing.
• Endorsement From Tom Markert,
  Global Chief Marketing Officer
  ACNielsen: A brutally accurate assessment of the Professional Services Industry. But wait there's more! Suzanne Lowe offers a cure. Read this one.
• Endorsement From Ken Favaro,
  Chief Executive
  Marakon Associates: Drawing on years of research and a rich array of case studies, Suzanne Lowe conveys the many marketing challenges facing today's professional services firms and offers insightful advice for overcoming them. Her argument that firms must go beyond image-based positioning and branding campaigns to truly differentiate themselves is compelling.

Table of Contents:

• Why Professional Service Firms Must Pursue Marketplace Mastery
• Competing in the Professional Service Arena
• Looking Out
• Digging Deeper
• Embedding Innovation
• Portraits of Marketplace Masters
• Case Studies: Looking Out
• Case Studies: Digging Deeper
• Case Studies: Embedding Innovation
• Becoming a Marketplace Master
• Assess Your Firm's Readiness to Build a Market-Driven Infrastructure
• Make the Case to Build a Market-Driven Infrastructure
• Appendix: The Building Blocks and Competencies of a Market-Driven Infrastructure
• Notes
• Index