I
see that Alexander Consulting
works with product companies trying
to transition to services. Do
you work with freestanding services
organizations as well?
Absolutely.
AC specializes in helping all
types of services enterprise,
be they a consulting firm, engineering
services organization, financial
services firm, or a start-up e-commerce
company. As an example, a global
finance consulting firm hired
us to train all of its Texas regional
consultants with their core consulting
skills. The result was more effective
consulting delivery as well as
increased competence and capability
across client accounts.
Some
of your articles reference "s-business."
What does that mean?
S-business
refers to organizations that push
services, whether they sell products
or not. This includes both professional
services firms and support organizations.
Our research has shown that the
s-business market is roughly $450
billion dollars. Wow! This is
an incredible opportunity and
a great reason for any company
to start thinking about how to
use strategic services as a vehicle
to drive more revenue and to create
competitive advantage. If you'd
like to learn more about s-business,
our new book, S-Business: Reinventing
the Services Organization, is
due out in this summer. In it
you will find terrific examples,
best practices, strategies, and
recommendations as to how to build
a successful s-business for your
company. If you'd like to be notified
when it's available, drop us a
line at info@alexanderstrategists.com.
I
work for a support services organization
that is a large subsidiary of
a global technology consulting
firm. Do you offer services related
to market intelligence and customer
research?
Yes,
in fact, we completed several
highly successful market intelligence
engagements for clients in the
software marketplace as well in
the process industry. For a global
process industry client with strong
OEM relationships in the appliance
sector, we defined the market
potential and views of various
segments of the customer and consumer
base related to the development
of a new services monitoring device.
We
are a product company that has
a CRM offering and feel we need
to transition to become more of
a total solutions company. Lately,
our clients have been asking for
other services that we don't currently
offer but it seems like this is
where the future lies. How can
we address this challenge?
Our
approach is to first conduct a
Readiness Assessment against Six
Critical Success Factors: Strategy,
Operations, Selling, Marketing,
Delivery, and Talent. From this
assessment, we craft a strategic
blueprinting session and develop
a go-to-market plan to reach anticipated
targets and goals. A transitional
process like you described can
be quite a challenge, and knowing
the various types of strategic
actions to take can not only reduce
the risk of failure but also create
a solid plan to be successful.
Partnering
seems to be a hot topic of late.
We'd like to become more adept
at developing alliances and partnership
relationships. What can we do?
During
these interesting economic times,
it makes a lot of sense to look
around to determine how you can
partner with others, e.g., 1+1=3.
Our approach is to develop a Channel
Relationship Plan for our clients.
This encompasses everything from
creating a criteria-screening
process for the selection of potential
partners through to the development
of a formal partnership relationship.
The process acts as a catalyst
for any organization seeking new
ways to create revenue with partners
during transitory market times.
We
are a software company with a
growing professional services
group and need to strengthen our
market messages and go-to-market
plan so that our customers can
better understand the complete
array of our professional services
offerings. What approach should
we take?
One
of the biggest challenges most
services groups face is to align
the marketing operations to services.
This is particularly true for
companies that tend to market
products as the primary message.
It is important to note that services
marketing is different. Defining
appropriate services market messages,
tailoring market collaterals to
those messages, and building a
marketing plan and process that
clearly articulates the specific
services offering are all vital
to successful services marketing.
The result is increased awareness
and understanding of services
offerings as well as stronger
lead generation and internal marketing
synergies between product and
services.
My
company wants to have a best-in-class
professional services group, but
we are at a loss as to what constitutes
best practices for professional
services. Can you offer some insight?
We
are frequently asked by our clients
to conduct an audit on a yearly
basis on all of their professional
services to make sure that the
services are aligned with customer
needs, wants, and expectations
as well as with industry best
practices. We utilize a multi-point
data collection approach with
these types of assessments. For
example, for one client seeking
certification from a large professional
services organization, we interviewed
clients and consultants, conducted
focus groups, and reviewed all
documentation and processes. We
also captured key insights from
the executive team as to the future
direction for services. In addition,
based on our proprietary database
of best practices and global research
on high-performing services organizations,
we were able to present an accurate
benchmarked scorecard for the
client. The result was a clear
direction for the services group
to follow on their road to being
the "best of the best" in professional
services.
My
product sales group is pretty
good at selling products but lousy
at selling services. Can Alexander
Consulting train them to sell
services successfully?
As
you know, this can be a challenge
for any company. In fact, research
has shown that only 7 out of 10
product sales guys can actually
make the transition to selling
services successfully. However,
our experience with many of the
product sales groups we have trained
to sell professional services
is that they can make the transition.
Our services selling program focuses
on the all-important aspects of
how to sell professional services,
including developing client relationship
skills, sales techniques, and
how to successfully sell services
to "C-level" buyers. Our workshops
are designed for product sales
groups as well as for technical
services and consulting staff
who need new tools and strategies
to sell services with delivery
implementations.
We
have a company meeting coming
up in a couple of months. Do you
do any conference speaking?
Yes.
Please click
here to see an overview
of the topics we present as well
as a list of our upcoming public
workshops.
I
see that Alexander Consulting
works with product companies trying
to transition to services. Do
you work with freestanding services
organizations as well?
Absolutely.
AC specializes in helping all
types of services enterprise,
be they a consulting firm, engineering
services organization, financial
services firm, or a start-up e-commerce
company. As an example, a global
finance consulting firm hired
us to train all of its Texas regional
consultants with their core consulting
skills. The result was more effective
consulting delivery as well as
increased competence and capability
across client accounts.