- ISBN13: 9780470438992
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
Praise for Professional Services Marketing “This book is that rare thing: simultaneously wise, practical, readily accessible, and data-driven. A necessary addition to your reading.”
—David Maister, author of Managing the Professional Service Firm “Professional Services Marketing will certainly become the bible of the field in short order! Without a doubt, the most useful compendium of marketing insight for the practicing professi… More >>
#1 by Amir Rezaizadeh on June 23, 2010 - 11:29 pm
This an excellent book; however, the writers frequently refer to studies and reports and provide URLs for those studies and reports. However, those URLs merely refer to pages on their company’s website where the reports can be purchased at exorbitant prices. Unlike books and scholarly material, these materials are not readily available at public or university libraries. Such gimmicky, if not unethical, tactics are better suited to snake oil salesmen than two authors who represent themselves and profession as more than that of used car salesmen. I also think it shameful that their publishers to have allowed such behavior or to have published a book without properly checking the references.
Without access to the studies and reports, a reader has no way of verifying the veracity of the claims the authors make.
Rating: 1 / 5
#2 by M. Cooch on June 23, 2010 - 11:30 pm
Anyone running a professional services business should add this book to their shopping cart NOW! I’ve had the privilege of working with Mike and John for the last six years to develop the marketing strategies at my business and the results speak for themselves – Inc. 5000 two years in a row. Apply the concepts in this book and they will work for you, too.
-Mike Cooch, CEO, Everon Technology Services, LLC
Rating: 5 / 5
#3 by Joel M. Ungar on June 24, 2010 - 1:57 am
I lied. I didn’t read all of it. I stopped at page 56, when the authors got on board the billable hour train – 4 sentence “…there’s nothing inherently wrong with the billable hour.”
I disagree 100%. And therefore I stopped reading.
Most of what I read before page 56 was ok – nothing overly original, and certainly nothing great enough to make me want to read past their support of the billable hour.
Rating: 2 / 5
#4 by John Gibbs on June 24, 2010 - 4:53 am
The cover is uninspiring and the title generic, but this book by Mike Schultz and John Doerr is an outstandingly useful book. Conventional wisdom says that only the top one or two firms in the market can be profitable; this book says that many highly profitable professional services firms, big and small, can be successful in the same market. Conventional wisdom says you have to have a unique methodology and strong differentiation; this book says that there is usually very little to differentiate professional services firms.
According to the authors, good marketing should deliver new conversations with potential buyers, better odds of winning client engagements, higher revenue per engagement and client, and increased affinity with the actual and potential workforce. Effective branding increases sales effectiveness, helps generate leads, generates premium fees, facilitates repeat business, attracts top talent, and increases the value of the firm.
The book is filled with helpful advice on marketing, including the use of different communication methods (the authors strongly recommend writing a book), the importance of demonstrating value, selling with integrity, and building relationships with people you can help and who can also help you. As I read the book, I found many ideas which will be directly useful in my context, and I expect that other readers will do the same.
Rating: 5 / 5
#5 by J. Calloway on June 24, 2010 - 5:01 am
Professional Services Marketing delivers on the key marketing factors of branding, lead generation, and culture. As a writer and consultant on building brands, it’s a pleasure for me to recommend this book as being a model for how to differentiate. The book clearly differentiates itself from other books on marketing because Schultz and Doerr offer ideas and strategies specific to those in professional services. This isn’t your typical “one size fits all” approach to business. These guys know their audience (as you should) and they deliver value (as you should). They also hit my personal hot button – culture. No strategy will work unless the culture supports and drives the behaviors and actions necessary to advance that strategy. Professional Services Marketing lays out how to develop a rainmaker culture – a culture, in the authors’ words – “of business-development hustle, passion, intensity, and success.” Hmmmm…..are hustle, passion, and intensity really appropriate to the marketing of professional services? As this book makes the case beautifully, they are not only appropriate, but absolutely key to your success. This book absolutely delivers – really excellent.
Rating: 5 / 5