Marketing Isn’t About Us

It’s About Them

What is the purpose of marketing? While credentials are helpful, the profession needs to reevaluate the strategies used. In this article, Rod Burkert reminds us of what the profession may consider to market the services effectively.

Have you wondered why it’s getting harder to reach the leads and prospects we want to sell to and serve? What if almost everything we’ve considered to be marketing … is wrong?

Let me give you a bit of history.

We first complained about certain valuation organizations’ very existence. The IBA came first. Then the ASA. Apparently two organizations was all the industry needed. Because when NACVA saddled up, it was an interloper. And the AICPA … well, they were so late to the game that many people believe it was just a money grab. Not a productive conversation.

Next, we argued about standards. Whose standards are “better”? What does that even mean?

And do our clients care? (We were told they do.) That effort was a tremendous diversion. And what changed?

Then, we debated credentials. As if a credential, by itself, makes one person a better valuator than another. Or as if our clients think a credential is the most important reason for picking an expert. (We were told they do.) More time—and opportunity—lost.

I am not saying that organizations, standards, and credentials are unimportant. But the sniping had been going on for most of my valuation career.

And I fear the mistake we made is conflating these sideshows with marketing. Imagine the strides we might have made as a profession if all that time and opportunity would have been invested in a unified campaign to make buyers of our services aware of who we are and what we do.

So, would we like it to be easier to reach the leads and prospects we’re hoping to sell to and serve? Then how about we focus on understanding what issues matter to them? On where they are and where they’re going? On fitting into their world? And at the end of the day, delivering a client experience and a valuation report meets their wants and needs?

Because marketing isn’t about us … it’s about them.

Let me leave you with something I call the BVFLS Serenity Prayer:

Success is the product of persistence and percentages.

If I am persistent, I can make my audience of leads and prospects aware of me.

And if I keep showing up, that audience will understand who I am and what I do.

Which will get them over three critical hurdles:

1. Confidence: They believe what I say.
2. Competence: They believe I can do what I say I can do.
3. Benevolence: They believe I have their best interests in mind.

But at the end of the day, I recognize that people will hire me when they need my services, not when I need their business. And at any given time, only a small percentage of the universe needs my services, even if I am the best at what I do.

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I help BVFLS professionals turn the practices they have into the practices they want—by focusing on strategies and tactics to help them better market, sell, and deliver their services—with an assist from AI. If you want some help with that, e-mail me at rod@rodburkert.com.