Presentation at the Australian Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong on Marketing Professional Services in Asia

1. Marketing Professional Services in AsiaAustralian Chamber of Commerce HK, 22nd October 2009 Robert Sawhney Managing Director SRC Associates Ltd 1 www.srchk.com

2. The State of Play Financial crisis Globalization Demanding clients (end of high leverage)? Dissatisfied seniors and juniors Opening of emerging markets Competitors External ownership (UK 2011) LPO Social media and Web 2.0 www.srchk.com 2

3. What one GC thinks! Pfizer GC, Amy Schulman talks about law firm-client relations www.srchk.com 3

4. How PSFs are Different! Product resides in the structural, social, and humancapital of firm – knowledge and learning key Key marketer is the professional who interacts with client Differentiation is harder to achieve – ‘we do better audits’ Branding at the individual, practice group, and firm level Marketing and BD coupled together – misunderstanding? Professionals don’t take easily to being ‘managed’, strategy bottom up and involves all or no one (are they interested)? www.srchk.com 4

5. And the difficulty of… Fundamental misunderstanding by professionals of what marketing is Growth of 10% per annum, who needs it? Strong resistance by seniors Belief in conflict with professional ethics and association guidelines Combined role of producer/manager Short term orientation and lack of longer term strategic thinking www.srchk.com 5

6. Marketing and client value Firstly – what marketing is not: Promotion Clever logo and new brand name Run by the marketing/BD people Something that can be turned on and off according to prevailing conditions In its entirety, something that cannot be measured using ROI www.srchk.com 6

7. Cont’d What it is: A business process about creating client value A firm culture that has the most significant impact on firm performance The guiding force for strategy and strategic management The bed rock of firm performance (market orientation) www.srchk.com 7

8. Me arguing with someone! http://www.thenewlawyer.com.au/article/firm-marketing-inspires-email-vitriol/493687.aspx#comments www.srchk.com 8

9. We are now in the ‘value’ era Clients want their PSF to be more commercially oriented and demonstrate the value they provide (i.e. cost savings, risk mitigation, business improvement) According to HBR (March 2006): value propositions should have a resonating focus with clients that identifies a few key points of difference (with points of parity) www.srchk.com 9

11. · Expertise - knowledge and experience

12. · Relationships - clients and other stakeholders

13. · Reputation - expertise, experience, and engagement

14. · Service - processes, services, and engagement

15. According to the authors, a sustainable strategy can be built around these four factors whereby they create a virtuous cycle of innovation, organisation learning and knowledge management, as well as access to new markets. The authors' research demonstrates clearly that for a firm to create differentiation that means something (ie value perceptions to client), a firm must spend time on factors aside from technical quality of work.www.srchk.com 10

16. Research in Hong Kong for Law Firms(Source: Asian Counsel Magazine, 2009) www.srchk.com 11

17. What marketing really is: Bed rock of firm performance www.srchk.com 12

18. What Does it Mean to be Market Oriented? Marketing is a business philosophy that puts creating and delivering customer value at the heart of all that an organization does It is an organization culture that acquires and disseminates information-cross functionally and across hierarchies, and acts upon that information This sharing and information coordination tolerates no functional silos www.srchk.com 13

19. Thank You! If you want any of the full references for work cited or have any questions, please feel free to contact me: bob@srchk.com, www.srchk.com Blog: www.marketingasia.typepad.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/robertsawhney LinkedIn – Robert Sawhney www.srchk.com 14