Take just a moment and think about your past projects.
Think of all the projects your firm completed in the last year — both the great projects and the ones that caused too many late nights — and mentally put them all into a pile. Now sort them, one by one, into categories by the kind of work your firm completed on each project. Be as specific as you can.
There are a few good reasons why positioning your professional service firm as “full-service” doesn’t work. For one thing, it is impossible to be everything to everyone. Not only is it exhausting for your technical team, but you’ll find clients are more often disappointed than delighted. Clients need you to define in very specific terms what your firm can do for them.
Describing your firm as “full-service” runs counter to how the rest of the consumer-driven marketplace works. Think about it. As consumers, we choose to buy the best and most reasonable option in the marketplace that meets our primary need all the time, several times a day, each and every day. I’ll use example as an illustration: airline tickets.
I’ve come to the realization that most service-based business professionals don’t respect their clients. It could even be said that you hold contempt for the very clients on whom you depend on for financial success and economic well-being. That’s disturbing to consider, but I think it’s true.
How do I know you’ve lost respect for clients? Because you don’t tell them how your work benefits them. Furthermore, you’re willing to work on projects that are just outside your best skill set all because you fail to stand on solid positioning.
Why did you get into business? Without knowing you what you do, I’d guess that you like to solve problems. Very specific problems for very specific customers. You solve these problems not only because you like to, but you do it to earn an income. This is where many service-based businesses fall short of performance expectations. Because the fewer client problems you solve, the less profitable you are, and the more dissatisfied you become. Want to solve more problems, and earn more income? You need to be properly positioned in the marketplace.