How your professional services firm can find its niche and thrive

Although the word ‘differentiator’ is often overused, it’s an incredibly important concept. For example, if you need a lawyer for your business, you want to go to the best corporate lawyer, not the best firm according to the Legal 500 or whatever. You want to go to the best person. If you asked me to recommend a lawyer, I’d ask, “What’s your need?” Once I know your need, I can tell you the best person to go to. That’s why it’s essential for every professional to have a differentiator.

The best way to find a niche is to do an analysis of the marketplace and determine the market need. Many of us that go into this situation and say, “let’s just give the client what we think they want” rather than necessarily finding out what they really need. Once you’ve determined the market need, go and find the experts in your firm whom fit the bill and who you can put forward as fantastic mouthpieces for it. But here’s the caveat – find people who are good at building relationships. I don’t want to send you to somebody that’s technically brilliant on a particular issue but can’t engage or communicate effectively.

When we work with a new client, I start off by almost ignoring the structure and management and all that stuff – the real key is determining exactly what you do that there’s a market need for, so that somebody will see you’re different. When you’re different, you get remembered and recognised, then you become an expert. You attract more work that way and of course it’s then much easier to deliver the story about your firm.

If I walk in to meet you and say “Hi, good to meet you, I’m an accountant.” Then you immediately think “Oh really, fine – next!” Whereas if I say, “I’m representing the Institute of Directors, I’m an Ambassador for small and medium-sized businesses”, the next question is normally “What does that mean?” I’ve already differentiated myself. You know I’m an accountant, but I’m leading with something different. This is the kind of thing every firm should be doing – trying to capture something that makes them different and memorable.

After many decades leading and advising businesses in the Thames Valley, believe me, there have been plenty of harsh lessons. Here’s a great example of what not to do: Many years ago I pitched to a cracking business that asked if I could come and talk to them about their audit requirements. The Chief Executive was a fellow Scot that came from a place about two miles from me and we had gone to the same school. I had this thing in my hand, and all I had to do was to fill his need – he wanted an audit firm. I bowled in and proceeded to tell him what a fantastic firm of business advisers we were and that our tax knowledge was great. The accents were good – we understood each other and came from the same area. I came back to the office and said “Guys, this is in the bag”. The guy phoned me that afternoon and said “Ross, you came in and sold us what we didn’t want, we’re not going with you.” It was a fantastic lesson – I should have talked audit as that was his first need!

One of the big lessons there is: listen more and speak less. Really listen to what the client says and don’t get ahead of yourself. I did all the analysis on the industry before the meeting, then went and sold him what he didn’t want. I didn’t find audit exciting, so I should have taken my most technical audit person with GAAP and International Accounting Standards to the meeting and just let them speak. I would have seen two technical people discussing a matter which was effectively what the client wanted, and we would have got the job. That initial work could have led to a whole raft of added-value services. It’s a lesson I’ll never forget!