Book Review

The Expert's Edge

Published in PM Forum, August 2008

Download PDF copy - 1.2MB

By Carl Friesen, Golder Associates

Many marketers of professional services think of themselves as marketing their firm, which means building its ‘brand’. However, the firm’s clients may well see themselves as not seeking a firm with a strong corporate brand, but rather the living, breathing ‘brands’ within it—its skilled professionals.

Any fee-earner who is able to become a recognized authority through knowledge, skill or track record of solving thorny problems has an advantage over less-recognised competitors. This person will have plenty of challenging, interesting work, can charge a rate well above that of a less-recognized competitor, can bring in work for other fee-earners—and likely, enjoy his or her work more into the bargain. Variously called ‘experts’, ‘gurus’ or ‘thought-leaders’, a savvy marketer will help develop fee-earners within the firm who have such potential.

In this book, Massachusetts, US-based consultant Ken Lizotte lays out a roadmap for helping a garden-variety lawyer, consultant, accountant or other professional gain status as a thought-leader.

In interests of full disclosure, Ken is a friend of mine and about the closest thing I have to a ‘twin’ professionally, in that we do similar work. He has over 12 years experience helping build his clients through published articles and books, as well as other means such as speaking engagements and quotes in the news media.

Ken has written his book from the point of view of an independent professional who wants the rewards of thought-leadership. However, it’s relevant to PM Forum members in three ways. One relates to the organization’s members who are fee-earners and who want to build their own profile. Another is members who are (or who want to be) independent consultants within the professional marketing sector. And the third is the reason I outlined above—professional services marketers need to know Ken’s methodology in order to build up the professional profile of the fee-earners within their firm.

Ken starts with the question, “What is a thought-leader,?” gives examples ranging from Donald Trump to Peter Drucker, and describes the books, speeches, articles, media appearances and original thought that helped them stand above their colleagues.

He then discusses the Return On Investment (ROI) that can help show whether or not the time and money needed to build someone’s profile is worthwhile. This chapter will be useful for marketers who want to demonstrate to management the value of working with fee-earners who would benefit from a better profile as thought-leaders—when management thinks that the best use of the marketer’s time is more on the level of preparing the mailing list for the next client event.

Ken has five ‘pillars of thought-leading’:

• Publishing your ideas in the form of books—much easier in an age of print-on-demand publishing and sales via the Internet—and articles (in magazines read by potential clients)
• Public speaking, which allows personal interaction with potential clients
• Keeping an edge with fresh thinking through original research
• Leveraging the Internet—Web content, and regular electronic mailings
• Vigorous use of the media, including building relationships with journalists.

I find it pertinent that Ken is not just talking about these as abstract ideas. He applies these five pillars to building his own practice, and also on behalf of his clients. This book is a refreshing contrast to many books on professional services marketing in that it shows the value of building qualified individuals as a brand, rather than just the organisation.

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