I recently learned of yet another firm offering some CPA Cool.

Each June for the past 10 years, Welch LLP has participated in the Ottawa Dragon Boat Race Festival. The festival is a significant event in our community whose primary purpose is to promote Dragon Boat racing, cultural diversity and raise money for local charities. The team is made up of students, auditors, managers, partners, clients, family and friends. It is always a fun day and a great team building activity.

Photo caption: Everyone working as a team is the key to success in dragon boat racing. Partners Bill Irwin (Tilley hat) and Garth Steele (fishing hat) get into the rhythm of the boat as members of the “engine room” part of the boat.

After working with professionals for years and years, we’ve heard a lot of the same promises. Most firms claim to provide great service, technical excellence or expertise, high quality, and so on. Words like “service,” “excellence,” and “quality” have lost their meaning.

At a time when client referrals may be slowing down and your competitors’ clients may be shopping for a better fit, you can’t afford to look like the firm down the street.

Differentiation is a work in progress composed of:
• What you say you are or aspire to
• What your community knows about you
• What your clients depend on
• What your competition does not own

Our clients are focusing more and more on differentiating themselves in the marketplace. When we create a set of themes to distinguish their firm from competitors, we start by listening to four audiences: the firm itself, clients AND prospects, the competition and the community at large. Addressing these four groups through objective interviews will lead to clarity about your firm’s competitive differentiators. The results may surprise you.

Firm and Client Messages
Sometimes the messages we hear from clients and from the firm leadership are very different. For example, a law firm might focus internally on the big settlements they’ve won, on their awards and on how good they are at what they do – but this isn’t what their clients remember. For one firm we worked with, the clients said, “I never wanted to sue anyone. At the worst time in my life, these people saved me.” We focused the firm’s new messaging on the benefits named by this firm’s clients.

Client interviews should be done by an outsider to the firm and with only those clients you want to clone. Firm insiders carry too much knowledge and opinion about your firm to objectively interview and report the views of clients. An outsider will provide more objective and detailed feedback because the viewpoint is fresh. In addition, your best clients hold the key to discovering how to attract more clients of that caliber.

At this point you can also talk to prospects about what they’re looking for in a firm. You may know prospects who are willing to talk to you, or you can ask your outside interviewers if they can locate prospects in your key industry to interview.

This phase ends with a list of all the feedback and messages about what your firm values internally, what your clients value and what prospects assume is your value in the market.

Competitor Messages
The second step in the differentiation process is to create a list of competitor messages. To do this, look at competitors’ websites and print materials plus information that came up about competitors in the client/prospect interviews. You can also hire a secret shopper of your competitors to find out how they talk about themselves.

Often when we’re researching competitors in an industry, we’ll find that there are messages shared by multiple companies. For example, a recent competitive analysis found these messages flooding an industry: “highly skilled,” “highly ranked,” “high-performance.” Those phrases are from three different competing firms!

Take these competitor messages and put them side-by-side with all the messages that came out of your firm leadership and client interviews. Eliminate any message that is already overused by competitors.

Does this mean you can’t use any of the messages your competitors have? No. If there’s a value that’s strong for your firm — if you really do have exceptional customer service — and your competitors claim the same thing, come up with a new way to speak about the service you provide and how it thrills and delights your clients. Share some customer success stories to demonstrate this differentiator.

Community Knowledge
Lastly, competitive differentiators show up in your community. Some firms are already known for a level of charitable participation, a landmark building, an outrageous personality or some other unique feature of their community involvement. If you’re working on your differentiation internally, you may already be aware of what your community knows about you. Is it consistent with the messages from clients and prospects and your leadership? Is there something new to add?

Using Differentiators
At the end of this process you should have a list of three to five elements that distinguish you from your competitors. State them as phrases that are easy to remember. The end goal isn’t to have some words that your people parrot out at networking events, but for each person to remember the core ideas that differentiate your firm.

For example at Ingenuity one of our consultants might say, “We market people, not products,” while another might tell you, “I know that your ability to promote your knowledge directly impacts the growth of your firm.” These are two versions of the same idea – one is less personal but catchy and might be used as an introduction to a large group; the other version creates a personal connection.

When you give people core ideas, they can customize these to fit the situation they’re in at the time. The same ideas can be represented on your website, in public relations and community participation and also in the ways your clients talk about you when giving referrals.

In an information-flooded world, the beauty of clearly stated competitive differentiators leads to consistent branding and client expectations. If you want to be prepared for the next upswing in growth, all of the people associated with your firm need those messages on the tips of their tongues.

Clarify your firm’s competitive differentiators with team Ingenuity. Contact our Growth Consultant Kristy Gusick at 651-690-3358.