Diversifying Your Services. A Marketing Idea Whose Time Has Come

The recent announcement by executive search giant Heidrick & Struggles to shrink it's recruiting practice by 45% and focus on consulting caused me to think about the role of diversifying services during these uncertain economic times.

As common sense would dictate, consultants and advisors who offer only a single program or service are at a distinct disadvantage, especially during times like these when prospects are cautious about investing money. So let's talk about some different approaches. Perhaps these will stimulate some thinking and discussion within your own organization.

One way of approaching unbundling your services is to consider the steps that clients take in order to solve the types of problems you advise on. For example, a common approach is to conduct an initial analysis for a reduced fee, and then offer a variety of services that will enable the client to actually implement the recommendations. This cafeteria-style approach to offering services and pricing them accordingly usually winds up being both good for you and for your clients. It enables new clients to minimize their risk while allowing you to build trust and credibility. As all of us would undoubtedly agree, the first assignment with a new clients should be just that-only the first assignment. By unbundling your services you are likely to find that both the total number of clients you do business with increases, as does the total dollar they invest. Moreover, by offering this portfolio of services one can more readily dominate or become the preferred provider within a specific niche.

Another way of broadening your services is to think about what takes place at the client prior to them having a need for your services? What are the problems that occur before you are called upon? For example, in executive search the issue that causes a company to go outside for talent is usually the fact that there are no viable internal candidates. Although this may seem like a blinding grasp of the obvious, it does point out the need for advice around the issue of succession planning. This is where Heidrick & Struggles plans to place their focus.

However diversifying one's services into completely new areas is not without risk. While Heidrick & Struggles' new focus on succession planning certainly makes sense, it does now place them in competition with new rivals including well-established firms such as McKinsey. However, given the rather bleak horizons for executive search over the next 12-16 months, diversification of services is a prudent course of action. Success will largely depend upon their ability to persuade those who know the firm by reputation to think of them as a "top tier" resource in a field with which they have not been traditionally associated. Obviously effective communications and marketing will be key for their success.

Those who are offering traditional coaching services may wish to consider adding additional services that will enable their clients to actually implement their solutions. Granted, for many clients, the advice will suffice, however there will be a percentage who find that implementation is more complex than they thought. Coaches are in an advantageous position to provide assistance in this regard as long as they have marshaled resources that will enable them to do so. As we've discovered at Gentle Rain, resources such as Elance have made the process of adding skills to one's team a far simpler process than it has traditionally been.

Finally, an old idea that is seeing a resurgence in popularity is to offer workshops and training programs on one's area of expertise. Many advisors and consultants abandoned this model primarily due to the expense of marketing, and an increasing reluctance on the part of prospects to take time out of their busy day to attend events. Fortunately the advent of webinars has made offering your knowledge (for a fee) a far easier proposition. It's my opinion that all consultants and advisors should be including web-based seminars as a part of their portfolio of services. Naturally this can be a tool for both generating income as well an "early-stage" method for attracting prospects.

I think the main takeaway from the Heidrick & Struggle announcement is that this is a good time for all of us to think about diversifying our services. The precise steps we take will largely depend upon the growth objectives we each have.

I hope this give you some good food for thought that will prove to be helpful to you in the year ahead. And as always, please do not hesitate to reach out to me if I can ever be of assistance.

Thanks
Mark