Feedback Form
Home Features Mastermind Forums About Advertise Blog Network Contact Be An Author

AVOID THE REVENUE ROLLERCOASTER TRAP WITH CONSISTENT LEAD GENERATION

AVOID THE REVENUE ROLLERCOASTER TRAP WITH CONSISTENT LEAD GENERATION

By Mike Schultz and John Doerr

Many consulting, professional, and technology service businesses find themselves trapped in the following vicious, no-growth cycle. The firm is either:

Heavily marketing because they don't have enough leads and new business, or

Heavily billing and delivering, and thus have no time for marketing, lead generation, and selling.
We call this the service revenue rollercoaster. It's a common trap for many professional service companies because when they get busy they can't sustain their marketing momentum...they're too busy with client work. Then, when the client work slows down, they must start marketing from square-one all over again, as all momentum from previous marketing efforts has stalled.

How to Avoid the Trap-Create a Revenue Engine

The ideal role of the marketing function for consulting and professional service companies is to generate a sustainable flow of leads and revenue, helping the company to avoid using only billable resources to intermittently generate leads for their practices when business is slow.

Consider the following six guidelines to help your firm establish and benefit from a sustainable lead and revenue generation engine:

Choose to Avoid the Services Revenue Rollercoaster: The first step in avoiding the services revenue rollercoaster is to realize it exists, and to overtly declare, "We are going to maintain marketing energy by creating a lead and revenue generation engine and avoid the pitfalls of the revenue rollercoaster."

Balance Billable and Non-Billable Resources: When creating a revenue engine, assign a non-billable resource as the senior marketing leader. This person, whether full or part-time, should be able to set strategy for and lead the revenue engine, not merely implement tactics.

Senior billable resources may flow in and out of the marketing team as the busy-ness of their practices dictate, but it is imperative that the revenue engine continues to function and improve under the seamless leadership of a competent senior person.

Understand Services Marketing: The person who heads your firm's marketing efforts doesn't necessarily need to be an industry insider (i.e. you don't need a CPA to run your CPA firm's marketing efforts), but you do need someone who understands how profitable services clients are attracted and retained.

Dedicate Management and Staff: It may be trite to say so, but without senior management support, your revenue engine aspirations will turn into a "marketing department" that buys a few ads, sends some mail, maintains a website, and puts together your glossy brochures.

Senior managers must set the tone, fund the efforts, and involve themselves in the revenue engine. Revenue engines in services firms depend on the energy and efforts of all the professional staff from the partners to the rising stars to the new associates.

Without senior management dedication the billable staff will not involve themselves with the revenue engine. Without the billable staff actively on board and working in concert with marketing you won't have a revenue engine.

Reward Business Development Success: To get billable resources on board and involved with your ongoing marketing efforts, you must first consider what drives their behavior.

For example, if a professional is only compensated on billability, they will only focus on business development when it is absolutely necessary (producing revenue rollercoaster behavior). If they are compensated for some balance of the two, they will be more inclined to balance their energy on both—generating and delivering business simultaneously—thus helping to smooth out the revenue rollercoaster.

Consequences are also important. It's counterproductive if, for example, the most senior person in the firm frowns every time she sees someone not billable, even if the person is actively and energetically engaged in a business development activity that they're incented for and expected to do. Uncover and mitigate these "informal" disincentives to business development.

Maintain Client Satisfaction and Loyalty: According to Fred Reicheld and Earl Sasser in the Harvard Business Review, 'for service companies, a 5% increase in customer loyalty can produce profit increases from 25% to 85%,' and customer satisfaction drives customer loyalty.

As your marketing efforts take hold and you grow, make sure you continue to focus your firm on maintaining loyalty and satisfaction. Though many don't, all firms should formally measure client loyalty and satisfaction. Marketing should have a major role in client satisfaction and loyalty measurement, and in driving firm behavior to increase satisfaction and loyalty.

By maintaining client satisfaction and loyalty, you smooth out the revenue rollercoaster because you increase your chances of the phone ringing with a new project waiting for you on the other end.
Consistent Lead and Client Generation

Avoiding the revenue rollercoaster by implementing a revenue engine takes time, focus, energy, funding, and, most important, organizational change. It can, however, be the key to breaking the vicious no-growth cycle of marketing/billing/marketing/and billing that traps many professional service firms.

By implementing a sustainable revenue engine you not only avoid the revenue rollercoaster trap, you wholly reverse it. Once business development and marketing energy are simultaneously sustained, success breeds success. Sustained marketing efforts tend to snowball over time; the longer they're sustained and continuously improved, the greater the payoff.

In this case, that success is measured in consistency of leads, revenue, and profit to your firm.





AVOID THE REVENUE ROLLERCOASTER TRAP WITH CONSISTENT LEAD GENERATION - To learn more about this author, visit Laurie Stafinski's Website.

Like this article? Share it with your friends

Article Feedback
 Article Feedback No article feedback found.
  Leave Your Feedback
article feedback

Article Feedback
George Ludwig
George Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website

Staging Diva
Debra Gould, aka The Staging Diva®, is President of Six Elements Inc., an internationally recognized home staging company. Inspired by many requests from aspiring home stagers wanting to start similar businesses, Gould created the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program. Gould has trained over 1000 Staging Diva Graduates worldwide to start staging businesses. Buying decorating and selling six of her own homes in four years lead to an interest in real estate staging which she turned into a career with the launch of sixelements.com in 2002. Since then she has staged hundreds of homes in addition to teaching home staging training. Gould is the author of several home staging resources including a series of popular ebooks made up of a Design Guide, Color Guide and Portfolio Guide. For more information about Debra Gould visit stagingdiva.com. - Visit Staging Diva's Website


To learn more about the Evan Elite Author Program please contact us.

About The Author


Laurie Stafinski
(Visit Laurie's Website) These articles are provided by the experts at Rai nToday.com, the premier online source for insight, advice, and tools for growing your service business. RainToday.com’s offerings include: articles; interviews; research; premium content, interviews, and tools; webinars, seminars, and conferences; and Rainmaker Report, our free weekly e-newsletter read by over 37,000 professional services marketers, business developers, leaders, and practitioners.

Laurie Stafinski is a Platinum author on EvanCarmichael.com
About The Author

View Author Blog
View Author Blog

View Author Video
View Author Video

Free Downloads


Laurie Stafinski's

Complete
List Of
Sales
Articles

Name
Email
If you enjoyed this article, get Laurie Stafinski's Complete List of Sales Articles For FREE!

More Laurie Stafinski
STAYING TOP OF MIND WITHOUT BEING A PAIN IN THE NECK
COLD TO GOLD GETTING THE MOST FROM COLD CALL SET MEETINGS
WHATS MISSING FROM SERVICE FIRM MARKETING STRATEGIES
THE TOO SALESY PARADOX WHY PROFESSIONAL SERVICE PROVIDERS CANT SELL AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT
GENERATING LEADS BRAND RELATIONSHIPS AND TRUST AT THE SAME TIME
SERVICES SELLING I DIDNT RAISE YOU TO BE A SALESMAN
INCONCEIVABLE 7 MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT PROFESSIONAL SERVICES LEAD GENERATION
PROPOSAL WRITING STAY ON TARGET PROPOSALS WITH FOCUS WIN NEW BUSINESS
YOU CAN LEAD A HORSE TO WATER BUT YOU CANT MAKE HIM SELL OR CAN YOU
TOP 10 LEAD GENERATION MISTAKES MADE BY PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
Free Downloads


 
 
 


Evan Elite Authors
Leanne Hoagland-Smith  
Joe Dager  
George Ludwig  
Evan Elite Authors

Become An Author
Have you written articles that would be of value to entrepreneurs? Become an expert on our site by publishing them! Expose yourself to a wide audience, drive more traffic to your website and get more sales! Click Here for details.
Become An Author

Evan's Latest Video
Modeling the Masters: Learn the true secrets behind Walt Disney's business success factors & grow your company! Video produced by Phanta Media
Evan's Latest Video

Business Opportunities
"Learn straight from Evan how you can Make a Full Time Income (And More) from a Website"

How to Start An Online Business

Click Here To Learn More
Business Opportunities



Evan's Newsletter
Get advice & tips from famous business owners, new articles by entrepreneur experts, my latest website updates, & special sneak peaks at what's to come!
Name:
Email:
Evan`s Newsletter

Free Downloads
Success Worksheet Icon Success Worksheet
FREE Realestate CSS Template Icon FREE Realestate CSS Template
Program Health Check Icon Program Health Check
Success & Happiness Icon Success & Happiness
Networking Royally Icon Networking Royally
Free Downloads - Complete List

Entrepreneur Tools and Guides
Guide To ERP Software / Business Management Software
Guide To ERP Software
Business Management Software
 
Top 50 Productivity Blogs To Watch In 2008
Top 50 Productivity Blogs
Top Blogs To Watch In 2008
 
Entrepreneur Tools and Guides

SEO For Africa
SEO For Africa
Beatrice Adasewa Nkawkaw, Ghana,
Beatrice Adasewa
Nkawkaw, Ghana
SEO For Africa

If I Were A Startup...
Lee Segal, >1,800% Growth in 5 Years
Lee Segal
>1,800% Growth in 5 Years
Brian Scudamore, $200k to $8 Mil in 5 years
Brian Scudamore
$200k to $8 Mil in 5 years
If I Were A Startup... - Complete List

Famous Entrepreneurs
Martha Stewart, MLSO
Steven Spielberg, DreamWorks
Steven Spielberg
DreamWorks
Famous Entrepreneurs - Complete List

Entrepreneur Advice
Jeffrey Gitomer, The Sales Bible
Jeffrey Gitomer
The Sales Bible
T. Harv Eker, Millionaire Mind
T. Harv Eker
Millionaire Mind
Entrepreneur Advice - Complete List

Popular Articles
(Premium Authors)

     2 Tips For Internet Marketing Beginners About Making Online Income
By Cynthia Minnaar
     6 Good Reasons To Start An Online Affiliate Marketing Business
By Cynthia Minnaar
     How To Avoid Failure With Online Business Opportunities
By Cynthia Minnaar

Have A Suggestion?
Toronto Salsa Classes / Toronto Salsa Lessons Email us your ideas on how to make our website more valuable! Thank you Sharon from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for your suggestions to make the newsletter look like the website and profile younger entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez and Sean Combs!
Have A Suggestion?

More Evan Carmichael
More Information