Situations like these are exactly why the Hinge Research Institute conducts its annual High Growth Study of the consulting industry in partnership with Deltek. Consulting firms—like all other professional services firms—are still experiencing significant uncertainty. Over 300 consulting firms participated in this year’s study. Their top concern for 2023? Unpredictability in the marketplace, followed closely by a shortage of top talent. Today’s consulting firms are eager to find new ways to raise their visibility, attract new clients and expand their existing client base, but they often don’t know how. One of the best ways to achieve business growth is to learn from the strategies and tactics of the industry’s most successful firms. We call these organizations “High Growth Firms.”

In this article, we highlight a few of the findings from the 2023 High Growth Study: Consulting Edition by outlining the four key advantages of High Growth consulting firms that helped cement their path to growth and profitability. Focusing on what you can control in an uncertain environment will help consulting firms like yours develop a marketing system that delivers powerful results year after year.

To purchase the full report and unlock additional insights and advice, click here. (Use the discount code, GROW50, and save 50% on a report purchase.)

Defining High Growth Consulting Firms

The Hinge Research Institute defines a consulting firm as a “High Growth” firm when it has a compound annual growth rate of 20% or greater over a three-year period. What is impressive is just how fast these firms are growing. In the figure below, we see that High Growth consulting firms grew four times faster than their Average Growth peers.

Not only are the fastest growing firms far outpacing the No Growth and Average Growth consulting firms, High Growth consulting firms are also twice as profitable.

Key Advantage 1: Technology

This year’s data revealed that High Growth firms adopt and use business development and marketing software at a greater rate than their slower growing peers. While digital transformation has been a buzzword in the consulting industry in recent years, the best performing firms are walking the walk. Many consulting firms are likely helping their clients with their digital transformation strategy and implementation. And many High Growth firms have turned these skills inward and are enjoying the benefits of a successful digital transformation. The figure below shows that High Growth Firms are over 3X more likely to have gone through digital transformation than their No Growth peers. There are still many firms, however, that have yet to complete their digital transformation and enjoy the fruits of a fully deployed system. This is a key advantage now, but eventually the pack will catch up to the leaders.

The study also highlights which business development technologies are used by High Growth firms to improve efficiency and use data to understand the evolving needs of clients and prospects. In this way, consulting firms can deliver a more customized solution with greater efficiency to their clients—a win for both sides: better deliverables using fewer labor resources.

Key Advantage 2: Talent

At Hinge, we have been hearing from our consulting clients that it is taking longer to close new business, and prospective clients are pressing for the same value at reduced costs. At the same time, consulting firms are fishing in the same pond for the top talent to meet these higher client demands. In this year’s study, we found that to catch the best people, you need a great company culture built on transparency, authenticity, and team-focused initiatives. We also found that High Growth firms are doing a better job of building that company culture, as illustrated in the figure below. Having a desirable company culture might be the final deciding factor when top candidates are deciding between multiple offers.

In the study, we dive deeper into which activities and benefits are most critical to building an appealing company culture. We also explore what specific skills employees at top consulting firms need to meet today’s client needs. We also explore what skills High Growth firms are most likely to outsource, and why.

Key Advantage 3: Marketing

This year’s study dives deeper than ever into High Growth firms’ top marketing priorities, top marketing techniques, use of social media, and how they have expanded the role of the marketing team into non-traditional areas.

There is one question that is on most consulting firms’ minds: “How much should I allocate to my marketing budget?” The figures below show that High Growth firms are spending more on marketing and are seeing a substantially greater number of digital leads.

A crucial way High Growth firms generate those high-quality digital leads is by producing a steady stream of high-quality educational content. In fact, this was the number one priority for all consulting firms in the study. But it’s not enough to simply produce content. You need to produce and promote it correctly. Check out this recent post by Lee Frederiksen to learn why and how a content-based marketing program works.

Key Advantage 4: Strategy

One last advantage enjoyed by High Growth firms is in the realm of strategy. One key differentiator of High Growth consulting firms is that they look forward to the future instead of turning to the past for guidance. With the level of uncertainty in the current market, no one has a crystal ball to make sense of it all. But some key challenges are beginning to emerge, as you can see in the figure below. High Growth firms’ top three concerns are marketplace volatility, increased competition and downward price pressure on services. While there is a great deal of agreement in this list between High Growth and No Growth firms, note the areas where No Growth firms differ most: the need for new skills, managing a remote workforce and generational changes. These are issues that many High Growth firms have already dealt with. The biggest area of difference for High Growth firms—automation/artificial intelligence—is an indication of how these firms are looking further ahead than their slower-growing peers. High Growth firms usually see the tide coming in before the others. Firms can look at this list to gauge where their business challenges stack up. Is your firm worried about the wrong thing and putting too much effort into something that won’t solve future problems?

The full report also examines the role of M&A in the consulting industry, what topics and trends consulting firms want to learn more about in 2023, the way High Growth firms versus No Growth firms are approaching ESG (and why), and how conducting research can inform your firm’s key strategic decisions.

Putting the Data to Work

As we’ve learned over the eight consecutive years we have conducted this study, the marketplace is ever-evolving. If you are feeling the challenges of an uncertain marketplace, you are not alone. Uncertainty is the number one business challenge facing professional services firms today—and consulting firms are no different. What separates High Growth consulting firms from their No Growth peers is the sophisticated marketing system they’ve built to drive growth and profitability, year after year. You can use the data in our report to help your firm navigate the uncertain times ahead and start to build that successful marketing system. And if you need some support, be sure to reach out to us here at Hinge.

The post 2023: How Consultancies Can Win in an Uncertain Environment appeared first on Hinge Marketing.

Hinge’s annual research study on the fastest growing AEC firms showed that while many firms adapted to the chaos caused by the Covid pandemic, many were hesitant to celebrate, and even successes could add strain: pointing to ongoing labor and supply chain constraints and continued uncertainty surrounding U.S. legislation.

In the newly released High Growth Study 2023: AEC Edition, we dig deeper into how one exceptional group of AEC firms is continuing to find growth and profitability in the face of heightened uncertainty and risk. (You can use the discount code, GROW50, to save 50% on your research report purchase.)

About the Study

This year’s study examined 120 Architecture, Engineering & Construction (AEC) firms, representing a combined revenue of over $8 billion and more than 22,000 employees. Firms of all sizes, global regions and key executive positions were represented in the study, with the vast majority of firms doing business in the United States.

While marketing spend declined among AEC firms this year, the study showed their median growth rate increased by almost 50% over the previous year. While the AEC industry has always shown a low investment in marketing relative to overall revenue, the data suggests some firms are finding ways to fight through the fog of uncertainty.

Technology

Perhaps one of the greatest advantages of High Growth AEC firms is when it comes to technology. Simply put, the fastest growing AEC firms are more digitally mature with more than 50% of the firms surveyed automating or managing their main processes with technology.

Furthermore, High Growth AEC firms are utilizing marketing and business development technologies more than their no growth peers—and especially when it comes to customer relationship management (CRM), enterprise resource planning (ERP), and business intelligence (BI). High Growth AEC firms are more frequent users of technology to track and attribute their marketing and business development activities than their No Growth counterparts. In fact, they are almost twice as likely to use metrics to evaluate the success of their events and thought leadership content.

And while they might be more frequent users of technology, this year’s full study showed that AEC firms are actually less focused on automation and artificial intelligence than other professional service industries surveyed by Hinge.

It will be interesting to observe the impact of “tipping point” applications like ChatGPT have across professional services. While these systems are unlikely to replace actual expertise or quality thought leadership content, they may very well democratize qualitative elements and provide opportunities for efficiency at scale. Many less publicized, but similarly powerful tools are already integrated into BI, communications and data platforms. This will be an important technology to monitor and potentially harness for a competitive edge as others adapt and adopt at a slower pace. These technologies have already been transformational in B2C, B2B and media – professional services will not be too far behind.

Strategy

So how do high growth AEC firms and no growth firms differ as they look toward the future? While mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and succession planning will likely still play a part in AEC firms’ future growth strategies, this year’s study found that High Growth AEC firms are looking to learn more about technology-driven topics and trends such as automation, artificial intelligence, the internet of things (IoT), and smart buildings. Their no growth counterparts are still focused on established tech, like BIM.

In addition to technology, high growth AEC firms are planning to focus more efforts on far-reaching market trends like ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) and green infrastructure.

Marketing and Business Development

It comes as no surprise that high growth AEC firms are investing more in marketing than their no growth peers in order to drive their growth and profitability, but where do they see the most bang for their buck? Let’s compare and contrast marketing priorities and application of techniques to begin our assessment.

Perhaps one of the greatest learnings from this year’s study is where high growth AEC firms are prioritizing their time next, because after all, they must be doing something right! Social media marketing, a low-cost, low-effort digital technique, was identified as their top priority for 2023 while three times as many high growth AEC firms than no growth firms are utilizing social media advertising. (See Utilization of Marketing Techniques) This focus comes as the industry continues to adapt to the after-effects of a global pandemic and its impact on in-person event strategies. The fastest growing AEC firms are also prioritizing creating content and SEO. And firms are conducting more keyword research, using a programmatic, intentional approach along with publishing written blog posts.

The AEC study also found that most No Growth AEC firms had low SEO maturity while High Growth AEC firms had implemented a high performing SEO program. This is not just the reporting of “traffic increases”, but the understanding of engagement and positive impact to business KPIs (including recruiting). Over 68% of the High Growth AEC firms surveyed rated their SEO maturity at a mid or high level. The SEO programs at No Growth firms, however, are largely undeveloped, unstructured, and ad-hoc.

High Growth AEC firms are increasing the marketing team’s involvement in developing opportunities, researching target audiences, and developing the firm’s employer branding because marketers have the skill sets to do so.

Talent

This brings us to recruiting. As the war for top talent has cooled slightly in other professional service industries, the challenge maintains its #1 status for AEC firms. But High Growth AEC firms are increasingly more focused on specific elements of the talent challenge such as: general changes in the workforce/succession planning, managing a remote workforce, and the expansion of new competitors. Identifying generational changes and the cultural, operational and skillset shifts they bring is an especially astute (and practical) insight.

This year’s study also found that high growth AEC firms are still more likely to consult with outside agencies and freelancers to ensure their marketing needs are met and they can cover any critical skills gaps (e.g., design,strategy, SEO, copywriting.)

In Closing

While some AEC firms have introduced new tools and techniques to address an increasingly digital marketplace, others continue to struggle, searching for the perfect recipe to sustain growth.

But one thing has become clear: when it comes to digital engagement, business intelligence and opportunities for automation, having maturity, quality and measurable performance in each of these areas is key. Those AEC firms that use more digital marketing platforms and use them more proficiently, are experiencing more growth and at a faster pace.

(You can use the discount code, GROW50, to save 50% on your research report purchase.)

The post Top Insights from 2023 AEC High Growth Study appeared first on Hinge Marketing.

However; even with all this uncertainty and unpredictability, the High Growth Study 2023: Law Firms & Legal Services Edition from the Hinge Research Institute shows that there is still a set of law firms that are experiencing dramatically more growth—and profitability–than other law firms. We call them “High Growth” firms.

How are they doing it?

In this year’s High Growth Study: Law Firms & Legal Services Edition, we dig deeper into how this exceptional group of law firms delivers consistent, on-going success. We examine the technologies they use and how those technologies drive growth. And we dive into the role that marketing plays in a law firm and how it impacts a firm’s overall performance. We also go deep inside the war for talent—exploring the role culture plays in attracting and retaining professionals, and we identify the kinds of programs that are most likely to make a positive impact.

About the Study

Every year, the Hinge Research Institute conducts a study of professional services firms to identify emerging trends and determine what the fastest growing, most profitable firms do differently. The study is comprised of more than 700 participants from six core industries and then is broken out into industry editions of the study. Law firms & legal services is one of those industries and industry participation made up 11.3% of the overall study. The other five industries are: accounting & financial services; architecture, engineering, & construction; consulting; government contracting; and technology & software. As shown in the chart below, respondent firm size based on annual revenue was fairly equal across for size categories. Full research reports are available for sale for each of the six industries. (Use the discount code, GROW50, and save 50% on a report purchase.)

As the following figure shows, most of the law firm report respondents were from the United States but there was representation from around the world.

About half of the respondents (50.1%) had the title of owner, CEO, president, or partner. More than 26.0% of the respondents had marketing or business development responsibilities. The rest of the respondents had operations, financial, or attorney roles.

Meet the High Growth Firms

In our research, High Growth firms are defined as those firms that achieve at least 20% compound annual growth over a three-year evaluation period. These firms are then compared to firms that experienced average or no growth over the same time frame. This allows us to identify strategies and practices that are associated with faster and more profitable growth.

This year, the High Growth law firms in our sample experienced a median growth rate of 36.0%. This contrasts significantly with 8.0% median growth increase that Average Growth firms saw. No Growth firms averaged a 6.0% decline.

The enviable performance of the High Growth law firms is not limited to their exceptional growth rates. They are also more profitable. High Growth law firms showed an average profit of 32.0%. By contrast, No Growth law firms showed an average profit of 22.0%. High Growth law firms are 45% more profitable than No Growth firms. Imagine if your law firm were 45% more profitable.

So, how do these High Growth law firms generate greater growth and profitability in a crowded and unpredictable marketplace. Our research identified key advantages in four critical domains: Technology, Talent, Marketing and Business Development, and Strategy.

Let’s dive into a few key findings and conclusions from the High Growth 2023: Law Firms & Legal Services Edition research.

Key Advantage #1: Technology

As High Growth law firms and legal services are moving towards integrating processes across departments, it should come as no surprise that both No Growth and High Growth firms use accounting and financial management technology at similar levels of engagement. However, what is surprising is how much more High Growth firms use other business technologies than No Growth firms. In almost every business development technology category, High Growth firms have a higher level of engagement. But there are a few categories where High Growth firms are using the technology significantly more than No Growth firms. Some of those categories include: project management, CRM, time & expense tracking, and marketing automation. These technologies are giving the High Growth firms new levels of effectiveness and efficiency that lead to greater growth.

The research shows that the High Growth firms have a higher level of digital maturity with these technologies which is leading to more processes being streamlined and fully integrated across departments. Vast amounts of inter-departmental data are providing insights across the law firms and legal services.

Key Advantage #2: Talent

It was very apparent in our research that High Growth firms are more likely to engage with outside agencies, firms, or freelancers for all services compared to No Growth firms. The High Growth firms can handle more projects and can keep projects moving ahead by leveraging outside resources that may not take as much time to hire or bring up-to-speed. They realize that they do not need certain specific expertise in house on a full-time basis. They may only need that expertise for several months or a few hours per week. Some of the areas where High Growth firms are using outside skills and expertise to grow include: website improvements, marketing materials development, research, SEO, and strategic development.

Key Advantage #3: Marketing and Business Development

According to the 2023 research, High Growth law firms also differentiate themselves from No Growth firms when it comes to growth by spending more on marketing and getting more leads from digital sources. High Growth law firms and legal services spend 33% more on marketing than No Growth firms. This means more of an investment in resources, including more access to technology, talent, and marketing channels. This larger investment also delivers more digital leads. In fact, as you can see in the following figure, High Growth firms generate twice as many leads from digital sources than their No Growth peers.

Digital leads are more important than ever. According to other research from the Hinge Research Institute, referrals are declining in many industries. Even as face-to-face lead generation activities such as conferences and networking events are experiencing a revival, High Growth firms are also enjoying a steady stream of digital leads to supplement unpredictable lead generation from other channels. High Growth law firms and legal services have realized that they can no longer rely on just a couple of channels to generate all of the new business they need in these times.

Key Advantage #4: Strategy

When it comes to anticipated business challenges in the next three to five years, there are several challenges where High Growth firms and No Growth firms do not see eye-to-eye. A shortage of top talent and the need for new skills are the two top challenges for High Growth firms. Yet, while 50.0% of High Growth firms see a shortage of top talent to be their top challenge for the next few years, only 13.6% of No Growth firms feel that way. The need for new skills was the #2 challenge garnering 40.0% of High Growth firm responses. This #2 challenge was only selected by 22.7% of No Growth firms.

This makes sense. High Growth firms are facing a situation that No Growth firms are not—high growth. The rapid growth that High Growth firms are seeing demands top talent and new skills to keep with delivering an ever-expanding volume of quality work. The No Growth firms’ #1 challenge is unpredictability in the marketplace. The #2 challenge for No Growth firms is unreasonable client demands. No Growth firms have more focus and sensitivity on not growing. There may be position vacancies that are not backfilled. There may even be an organization right-sizing. Then on top of that, No Growth firms still must deliver as much—if not more—to keep existing clients satisfied and not lose business.

With these different perspectives comes different strategies. High Growth firms are building pro-active strategies that may include offering higher salaries, larger bonuses, more paid time off, etc. They are focused on handling increases in compensation costs. No Growth firms are building reactive strategies that may include projected full-time employee, part-time employee, and contractor reductions. They are focused on making decreases to budgets, expenses, and compensation.

Even though High Growth firms and No Growth firms are embracing the future differently, both are using research as part of their future strategic plans. Both groups realize that research reduces uncertainty and uncovers valuable information about target clients and competitive environments. Conducting research on a regular basis allows law firms and legal services to identify shifts in buyer behavior and determine which changes are likely to persist and which are likely to be short-term blips.

We Live in an Age of Uncertainty…and Change.

If you are working for a High Growth law firm or legal service in these unpredictable times, congratulations. Hopefully you have validated growth tactics that your firm has already put into place. Or maybe you learned a new one that you can add to your strategy for even greater success in the months ahead.

If you are part of a law firm or legal service that saw average or no growth over the last year or two, now is the time to turn those challenges into opportunities. Embrace new thinking and priorities. Follow the research. In fact, I would recommend that you purchase the High Growth Study 2023: Law Firms & Legal Services Edition report that this article is based upon. Learn more about the technology, talent, marketing and business development, and strategy advantages that the High Growth firms have. Get findings, insights, and tips that you can apply immediately. The High Growth firms in this research found ways to work around uncertainty—and grow. You can too. Purchase the Law Firms & Legal Services Edition, or any of the other five industry editions, today. (Remember to use the discount code, GROW50, to save 50% on your research report purchase.)

The post 2023 Research: High Growth Law Firms Grow 4.5X More Than Average Growth Firms appeared first on Hinge Marketing.

A Model for Sustained Success

High Growth technology and software firms recognize that there is no magic bean that will produce sustained growth and profitability. No one technique, on its own, will fill the pipeline or build the talent pool required to produce consistent success. Instead, it requires a system of interconnected marketing techniques, programs, and technologies—and the skills to deliver them effectively. This study reveals how the highest performing firms build, tune, and maintain their marketing systems, so you can learn how to turn your marketing program into a powerful system that performs year after year.

What Drives Exceptional Company Performance

High Growth technology & software firms are growing at a rate nearly four times faster than their No Growth peers. But there’s an additional important distinction, and that is in profitability. The figure below shows that High Growth technology & software firms are nearly twice as profitable as their No Growth peers, earning an average profit of 17%.

What makes High Growth firms so successful? How are they able to generate exceptional growth and profitability in a competitive and unpredictable marketplace? Our research points to key advantages in four critical domains:

1. Technology

One in five High Growth technology & software firms report a high level of maturity in the digital tech stacks.

High Growth firms truly separate themselves from their slower-growing peers in the maturity of their digital technology. 55% of No Growth firms are in one of the two earliest stages of maturity, where their core processes are still largely manual. The majority of High Growth firms on the other hand operate in a model where their core processes are automated and connected, or where their entire digital ecosystem extends into the consumer journey to deliver customized experiences. And 20% of High Growth Firms report a high level maturity in their tech stack. Firms with a broad adoption across platforms that connect multiple processes, and the discipline to track a wide range of performance metrics are in a much stronger position to know where to allocate their marketing and business development dollars and resources.

2. Talent

High Growth firms are more likely to secure access to specialized skills by partnering with outside talent.

High Growth firms routinely use outsourcing to minimize the risk of the industry’s perennial talent shortage, giving them access to the skills they need to deliver exceptional performance and growth. Among the specialized skills High Growth firms are most likely to outsource, in descending order, are:

3. Marketing and Business Development

High Growth firms spend more on marketing and generate a higher portion of their leads from digital sources.

On average, High Growth technology & software firms allocated around 13% of their 2022 revenues to marketing and business development, not including staff compensation. High Growth firms also differ in the composition of their leads, generating nearly half of their leads from digital sources. No Growth firms get less than a third of their leads through digital channels.

Traditional marketing isn’t going away anytime soon, but a strong digital presence can make a firm’s traditional marketing even more effective. For instance, in a traditional network setting an executive who can refer new contacts to a website full of valuable educational content has so much more to offer than one who does not.

4. Strategy

High Growth firms are more likely to conduct research on their target audience regularly.

Professional services firms across all industries and growth categories have access to a powerful weapon that can eliminate much of the risk in their go-to-market strategy. That weapon is target audience research. Firms that consistently study, track, and measure the learning and decision-making behavior of their audiences—and then use those findings to inform their marketing and business development decisions—are more likely to grow faster and be more profitable. Why? Because this type of intelligence helps firms address their market’s evolving needs more quickly and directly. To learn more about these findings, see the 2023 High Growth Study Executive Summary.

High Growth software & technology firms understand this advantage, and they are more likely to conduct regular research on their target audiences than their No Growth peers.

Building a marketing system that consistently performs at a high level, eliminates risk through target audience research, and drives both growth and profitability takes time. It also takes the right technology and the right people. While the investment can be significant, it can pay for itself many times over.

Consider the High Growth firms in this study as a model for firms like yours, helping you address a wide range of challenges and pointing you to the most productive areas to apply your attention and marketing dollars. In short, you can look to these High Growth firms as you develop a system that will allow your business to thrive in today’s challenging environment.

For more detailed insights, you can purchase the Technology & Software Edition, or any of
the other five industry editions, today. (You can use the discount code, GROW50, to save
50% on your research report purchase.)

The post The Four Secrets to Growth and Profitability for Technology & Software Firms appeared first on Hinge Marketing.

Like all good marketing initiatives, brand tracking should start with a fundamental understanding of your buyers. Our research shows that, while asking a friend or colleague for a recommendation remains—barely—the top way businesses search for a new professional services firm, this approach is being overtaken by digital methods such as web search, and reading online articles/blog posts.

As digital communications continue their steady rise in prominence, it’s imperative to understand how your target audience searches for insights and expertise to address their business problems.

Brand Tracking Tools

Once you understand your buyers’ search channels you can choose the appropriate tools to monitor your brand.

Today, tracking your professional services firm’s online brand is more important than ever. And while the latest marketing technology can often be overwhelming, marketing professionals may already have many of the tools they need to track their digital brand over time.

What is Brand Tracking?

Brand tracking is the process of measuring changes in brand perception over time. It quantifies a return on brand investment and supports brand strategy decisions.

With enough data and the right tools, you can measure this perception almost instantly. For example, consumer brands with large social followings can track their brands in real-time using social listening tools to measure what is being said about their brand, campaign, competitors, and product or service. Unfortunately, most professional services firms don’t have a large enough social following to make this kind of real-time brand tracking practical.

But that doesn’t mean professional services firms can’t utilize brand tracking.

Brand tracking in the B2B space boils down to two main approaches:

1. Gathering/monitoring experiential feedback
2. Surveying your buyers

Both approaches are critically important. Firms that deploy both of these techniques are far more likely to achieve superior results from their brand tracking efforts.

Gathering and Monitoring Experiential Feedback

Capturing the right information at the right time is essential to a successful inbound marketing strategy — and it’s equally important in brand tracking. In-the-moment experiential feedback allows you to take the pulse of your brand. 

By understanding your buyers’ search channels (see chart above) your firm will know which channels you need to monitor for critical experiential feedback.

Brand Tracking Examples

For instance, many professional services firms leverage their website for lead generation. Potential buyers are willing to exchange an email address for premium content — a critical milestone on the buyer’s journey. Measuring content downloads is a good example of operational data that can be tracked over time. But how valuable was the content they downloaded? One way to find out is to send a simple automated follow-up email asking if they found the content useful. Combining these metrics will tell you the quantity of downloads and the quality of the content.

Other methods of collecting experiential feedback include embedding listening posts within your marketing content. For example, you might ask for feedback from your webinar attendees, or put a 1- to 2-question popup survey on your website. Simple techniques like these can help you understand how your buyers view your firm. You can also monitor comments and reactions to digital content, such as blog posts or LinkedIn posts, to gauge audience sentiment toward your brand.

These are just a couple examples of how experiential feedback can be collected at key listening posts along your buyer’s journey. While experiential feedback is a great way to monitor buyer engagement with your brand, it doesn’t always paint the full picture. To get a more holistic understanding of how buyers view your brand, you’ll need to conduct a brand tracking survey.

Surveying Your Buyers

Do you have a solid understanding of how your buyers view your brand today? If you do, then you probably already know what your key performance metrics are. If you don’t, consider conducting a brand survey to establish your firm’s baseline performance. Once your brand baseline is established, your firm will have a great starting point to track brand performance over time.

Only by understanding how buyers see you — your strengths and weaknesses — can you know where to focus your attention. This is where a  brand survey of your audience comes in handy. The data you gather allows your firm to establish powerful baseline metrics such as:

• Visibility/Awareness – How visible is your firm in the marketplace?
• Consideration – Would your prospects consider using your services?
• Relevancy – How relevant are your services to clients?
• Value – How valuable are the services you provide?
• Delivery – How well do you do what you say you will do?
• Loyalty – How likely are your clients to work with you in the future?
• Referrals – Have your clients referred your firm?
• Reputation – How good is your reputation in the marketplace?
• Visibility – How visible is your firm in the marketplace?

Quantitative vs. Qualitative Tracking

To accurately track your brand performance using a brand survey, you will need to ask a mix of quantitative and qualitative questions. Quantitative questions, such as likelihood to refer (NPS) or level of client satisfaction, are asked on a numeric scale and can be averaged across participants. These types of questions are easy to track over time by comparing the delta in averages across multiple brand surveys.

Open-ended (qualitative) questions are also important to include in brand surveys, but they are often more difficult to track. One way to quantify open-ended questions is to categorize the responses into categories or common themes. You then can measure the percentage of participants who mention these common themes, and monitor the changes in those percentages over time.

Tracking Your Competitors

Brand surveys can also be used to keep an eye on the competition. Within the survey you can ask respondents to list all firms they identify as a competitor to your firm. This method demands unaided responses and will likely yield a small number of responses. These are the competitors that are top of mind to your respondents.

You can also use an aided competitor question in which you provide a list of competitors and ask the respondent to select the ones they are aware of. Aided questions are helpful since respondents who are unable to think of a competitor are likely to recognize one or more if the names are in front of them. 

Like the baseline questions about your firm, both aided and unaided brand survey questions can be tracked over time. 

Brand Survey Methods

In B2B brand tracking, there are two main methods of administering a brand survey. The first method is to survey a group of your clients and/or prospects. Typically this is done by emailing a survey link or calling respondents to ask for participation. Using an impartial third party research firm (such as Hinge) for these types of brand studies usually delivers greater survey participation and more insightful, unbiased results. If participation is low, a firm can work with a sample provider to screen and purchase prospects. 

The second common brand survey method is to conduct a post-project survey at the conclusion of an engagement. Post-project surveys are important for understanding your brand perception, and they can also be used to measure firm performance. 

Brand Survey Length and Cadence

Brand surveys, whether standard or post-project, should typically be no more than 10-15 questions in length and last about 5-10 minutes. It’s important to keep these surveys short because respondents are often busy and can become irritated—and less likely to participate in the future—if the survey drones on for too long. 

Standard brand surveys should be administered roughly once a year. In the B2B space, a firm’s client base or prospect list may not be large enough to handle monthly or even biyearly surveys. It’s also important to avoid overburdening your prospects and clients with surveys, as it might negatively affect your brand perception. Lastly, brand tracking surveys can be both timely and expensive. From a financial standpoint alone, it might not be practical to conduct a brand survey multiple times a year.

How to Use Your Brand Tracking Results

Have you maintained your strengths? Are you addressing your challenges? What changes should you make to your brand strategy? By measuring key performance metrics, brand tracking tools can inform the answers to tough questions like these before it’s too late. 

To compete in today’s fast-changing marketplace, you need to continually take the pulse of your target audience. Only knowledge will equip you with the information you need to stay relevant in their minds. Brand tracking gives you essential tools to collect and make sense of these changes. It also offers a powerful way to quantify the return on your firm’s marketing investment.

Free Resource

The Professional Services Guide to Research

Learn More

The post Brand Tracking for Professional Services Firms appeared first on Hinge Marketing.

This intense dynamic of increased responsibility coupled with unyielding marketplace uncertainty is causing many to reassess their marketing strategies and budgets.

At the highest level of this reassessment there is an important question to answer: Is now the time to lean down and make cuts to marketing efforts or is it a time to expand and increase marketing investment?

In this article, we will review findings from Hinge’s latest research report, the 2023 High Growth Study, and present a research-backed answer to this question. Spoiler alert: the research suggests you should NOT cut your marketing budget this year.

The Marketing Advantage of High Growth Firms

Benjamin Franklin is often quoted as saying, “an investment in knowledge pays the best interest.” This is why Hinge continues to invest in conducting our annual High Growth Study.

Understanding the challenges outlined above, we want to provide professional services marketers with practical insights to guide them as they continue to develop their marketing programs. At the center of the study is a focus on the marketing behaviors of the world’s fastest growing professional services firms (we refer to them as the High Growth firms). We want to understand how some firms are growing 3X faster than their average growth peers.

So when it comes to this question about marketing investment and resourcing, what do the High Growth firms do? Well here’s the headline: Despite an industry-wide pullback in marketing spending, High Growth Firms are investing more.

First, let’s comment on the industry-wide pullback. As you see in Figure 1 below, for the first time in four years, our High Growth Study has measured a decrease in the amount of revenue professional services firms are dedicating to marketing. 

The reasons for this pullback no doubt relate to some of the primary challenges faced by professional services firms (marketplace uncertainty, a shortage of top talent, etc). But not all firms are pulling back on their marketing efforts!

As we’ll explore below, there are three important ways that High Growth firms are continuing to invest more in their marketing and business development efforts than their competitors. Let’s break each of these research insights down one-by-one.

Insight 1: High Growth firms spend more on marketing

One result we have seen across years of High Growth studies—as well as some of our industry specific budget studies—is that the High Growth firms dedicate more revenue towards their marketing initiatives. Our research prompts respondents to consider a marketing budget that does not include compensating employees. For example, below in Figure 2, High Growth firms reported dedicating over 17.5% more of their revenue towards marketing than No Growth firms.

Insight 2: High Growth firm employ more marketing talent

As we mentioned above, much is asked of today’s professional services marketers. The standards of modern marketing programs increase every day. High Growth firms have responded to this challenging marketing environment by employing more marketing talent inside their firms. Beyond simply spending more on marketing, they are diversifying their marketing capabilities and positioning themselves to accomplish more.

Here’s what the data says: While No Growth firms employ 1 marketing resource per 34 team members, High Growth firms employ 1 for every 20.

By employing more internal marketing talent, the High Growth firms open doors for more sophisticated marketing campaigns. An increased number of specialists (website, SEO, graphic design) ensure that firms can truly build integrated marketing plans that work.

But as we’ll see in the next insight, employing internal talent is not the only way High Growth firms leverage talented specialists.

Insight 3: High Growth firms outsource more to fill critical gaps

The third area where High Growth firms stand out from their peers is in how they work with outside agencies, freelancers, and consultants. In nearly every category that we researched, High Growth firms were more likely to consult with resources outside of their firm for marketing support. You can review these categories in Figure 3 below.

What are the main points of emphasis here? Well there are some categories where High Growth firms were far more likely to work with an outside firm than No Growth firms. Let’s look at the data another way and see what we can learn.

Here are the top 5 categories ranked by the largest delta between High Growth and No Growth firms:

• Thought leadership content (120%)
• Research (116%)
• Strategy development (72%)
• SEO (67%)
• Graphic design (53%)

As a leader overseeing marketing activities, now might be the right time to reconsider reinforcing your marketing efforts with outside support. Specialized skills like graphic design and support with search engine optimization (SEO) can be a great place to start if those are pain points for your team. But High Growth firms put emphasis on working with consultants that help them with the big picture of their marketing programs—support or advisory in the creation of high-quality thought leadership content, research to help them reduce uncertainty and guide decision-making, and/or consultation with developing their marketing strategy.

What’s next?

Let’s return to our original question… Is now the time to increase or decrease your firm’s investment in marketing? If you look towards what the High Growth firms are doing, then it’s hard to see a case for anything other than increasing investment.

Consider the three insights together: High Growth firms dedicate a higher percentage of revenue to marketing, employ more marketing talent internally, and are also more likely to outsource and work with agencies. This three punch combo may shed some light on how these firms build marketing programs that drive their firms towards greater growth and profitability.

In your particular scenario, it may be unrealistic to try to increase your marketing investment in all three of these areas right away. Increased investment does not mean losing your strategy. You still need to take a strategic approach to building their marketing plans. Without a strategic plan, your marketing efforts may be scattered and ineffective. You want a marketing plan that allows you to continuously measure your progress, adjust your approach as needed and make data-driven decisions.

But if there is an internal discussion about your marketing investment, use this data to your advantage. Also, take a look at some of the additional resources provided below and reach out to us here at Hinge if you’d like to discuss growing your marketing plan with us. We’re here to help.

The post Why You Should NOT Cut Your Marketing Budget This Year appeared first on Hinge Marketing.

With all these challenges the question arises, “Is it still possible to find success in this environment?” This year’s edition of the High Growth Study provides a resounding yes to that question. There is a group of firms that continues to find robust growth and exceptional profitability even in the face of heightened uncertainty and risk. We call them High Growth firms.

In this year’s study we dig deeper into how this exceptional group of firms is continuing to find success.

About the Study

Every year, the Hinge Research Institute conducts a study of professional services firms to identify emerging trends and determine what the fastest growing, most profitable firms do differently. This year’s study taps into a robust sample.

Over 700 firms participated, representing the six industry groups shown below. Full research reports are available for each of the industries. The sample contained firms of various size ranges, and they do business in every region of the globe.

Meet the High Growth Firms

High Growth firms are defined as those firms that achieve at least 20% compound annual growth over a three-year evaluation period. These firms are then compared to firms that experienced little or no growth over the same time frame. This allows us to identify strategies and practices that are associated with faster and more profitable growth.

This year, the High Growth firms in our sample experienced a median growth rate of 32%. This contrasts with 10% median growth for Average Growth firms. No Growth firms averaged an 8% revenue decline. The average median growth rate of all firms surveyed was 13.0%.

The superior performance of these High Growth firms is not limited to their exceptional growth rates. They are also more profitable. High growth firms showed an average profit of almost 25%. By contrast, their No Growth peers showed an average profit of less than 10%. High Growth firms are almost two and a half times more profitable.

What makes these exceptional firms so successful? How can they generate greater growth and profitability in a crowded and unpredictable marketplace?  We identified key advantages in four critical domains: Technology, Talent, Marketing and Business Development, and Strategy.

Let’s review some of the key findings and conclusions.

Key Findings and Conclusions

In an age of uncertainty there are strategies to reduce risk.

If you are feeling the challenges of uncertainty, you are not alone. Unpredictability in the marketplace (40.6%) is the top concern across all professional services firms. This is an increase over last year’s record levels. And sadly, given the factors driving this uncertainty, it’s unlikely that it will be abating anytime soon. 

Many High Growth firms have found ways of working around that uncertainty. One of those strategies is to conduct regular research on your target audience to track their ever-shifting concerns and priorities. This strategy gives them the advantage of reducing the level of uncertainty and replacing it with solid information about their target clients and their competitive environment. 

Other strategies employed by High Growth firms include using more automation to give them more flexibility and the ability to adapt to changing circumstances and engaging more outsourced talent to close important skills gaps. The chart below shows that the High Growth firms are much more likely to use outsourced talent for a wide range of marketing needs. In cases where the need for specific talent is variable over time or the required skills are hard to find, outsourcing is often the smart choice.

Corporate culture looms large in the evolving battle for talent.

The pitched battle for top talent that started last year intensified this year. Finding and retaining top talent is the second most frequent business challenge (37.6%) cited by professional services firms. Some firms find themselves with more business than they have staff to service.

The results show that High Growth firms have an advantage with corporate culture. The staff at these firms are more likely to be satisfied with their corporate culture than are the staff at slower growing firms. This is significant in that our previous research has shown that dissatisfaction with culture is one of the top drivers of turnover.

The full industry reports list a range of techniques that firms use to enhance their corporate cultures—and identify which ones are favored by employees of High Growth firms. They may be strategies that you may want to consider for your firm.

High Growth firms also use more technology and outsourced services to leverage their people and give them greater flexibility when faced with talent shortages.

Digital maturity is becoming a driver of growth and profitability.

Digital technologies are offering a range of opportunities for firms to increase their productivity and flexibility. This year’s study clearly documents how High Growth firms have embraced this opportunity. The following chart shows that High Growth firms have a higher level of digital maturity then do their No Growth peers. They are more likely to use digital technology across a wide range of business processes (details of the types of technologies used are available in the full industry reports).

This digital advantage is also apparent when it comes to the topic of a large-scale digital transformation. High Growth firms are twice as likely to have already completed a digital transformation.

The digital advantage enjoyed by High Growth firms is perhaps most evident in the marketing area. They not only are leveraging this technology to increase productivity, they’re also using it to track the performance of their marketing programs. Viewed in this light, their digital maturity has helped them address the broad issues of talent shortages and unpredictability in the marketplace by offering their team greater leverage and more flexibility. If your firm is not already beginning to adopt digital technologies, this report should provide all the motivation that you need. 

Embrace marketing or fall behind.

Many professional services firms have been slow to embrace marketing’s potential and take advantage of the perspective that it offers. High Growth firms have taken a different path. They are more likely to embrace marketing with greater funding levels and a broader role within the firm.

Marketing is involved in more functions in High Growth firms than it is in No Growth firms. These functions include everything from researching target markets to determining which services to offer and how to price them. They are even involved in recruiting. A robust marketing function is also critical to tracking and evaluating campaign performance. Those who do not embrace the potential contributions of a strong marketing function are at a distinct disadvantage.

High Growth firms are also likely to use more marketing techniques than their slower growing competitors. Importantly, many of the techniques favored by High Growth firms are those that are most helpful in generating digital leads. For example, they’re more likely to publish written blog posts and to use keyword research and search engine optimization. 

The use of search engine optimization is particularly noteworthy as it allows potential clients to learn about the expertise that you offer. It is one of the key techniques used in inbound digital marketing. High Growth firms enjoy the benefits of this greater focus on digital channels. They get about a third more leads from digital sources then do their No Growth peers.

A new strategy for a new reality.

Any effective business strategy must be based on an accurate understanding of reality. When that reality changes, your strategy must adjust to reflect that new reality. We are in such a period.

The growth of digital technology and a shortage of top talent are part of the new reality. To make matters worse, our understanding is steeped in uncertainty about the evolving marketplace and how it will affect our clients. How does one effectively cope with this?

Our High Growth firms provide a model for success. They use regular research to validate their understanding and sharpen their decision making. They track marketing performance and make frequent adjustments. They’ve also found ways to leverage technologies and employ strategies such as outsourcing to deal with uncertainty. They provide models for how to address a range of significant challenges and suggest where one can productively focus their attention. Use them as models for developing your new strategy to reflect today’s new reality.

The post High Growth Study 2023: Driving Exceptional Growth and Profitability in Uncertain Times appeared first on Hinge Marketing.

You see, buyer journey mapping encourages you to look at the entire lifecycle of a client — identifying every point of contact between your firm and your buyers.

It’s a tool that allows you to identify gaps in your marketing, sales and service processes. And you’ll see where your tactics, online and off, may break down.

Buyer Journey Defined

Understanding the buyer (or “client” in the B2B professional services context) journey involves researching and detailing the steps a buyer takes to move through the purchasing and use cycle. It’s a systematic and comprehensive view of their experience that you can summarize in a buyer journey map.

The buyer journey mapping process puts you in your clients’ shoes so you can understand and enhance their experience. And better client experiences are a critical ingredient to building your firm.

You’ll be compelled to answer questions like, “What goes on inside your buyer’s brain before they launch a project with a service provider?”, “How do buyers make decisions?” or “What factors impact client satisfaction?” By wrestling with these questions, you’ll be able to improve the way you connect with prospective clients — and boost your chances of closing the sale.

But many firms end their mapping process at the point where a prospect becomes a new client. That’s too bad. You should never think of closing a new client as the end of the process — after all, it could be the beginning of a years-long relationship. So your buyer journey map should also explore what goes on during the client engagement, what happens between engagements and how you can encourage former clients to become reliable referral sources. Such a comprehensive, detailed buyer journey map helps you analyze your clients’ experience and better communicate with them. But where do you start? The rest of this article introduces you to a simple model you can use to map out and enrich your B2B client’s lifecycle.

Buyers Journey Stages

To get started, your map will consist of four parts, each representing a stage of the B2B buyer’s journey:

Here’s how to tackle each part:

Stage 1. The Pre-Purchase Experience 

The pre-purchase experience starts when potential buyers realize they have a problem — one they can’t solve themselves. As they look around for answers, they become aware of your firm (as well as your competition, of course). That’s great! You’ve overcome the first hurdle — your prospects are aware you exist. Next, B2B prospects need to determine whether you can help them. They might talk to colleagues, check out your website (and those of your competitors) or get on social media to find out how others have solved similar problems. Ultimately, B2B buyers want to find out if your firm’s expertise and past experience are relevant to their problems. Once your potential clients decide which service providers make their short list, they usually do further research, interview the finalists and ask for pricing before making a final choice. At this point in the B2B buying process, there are three possible outcomes:

1. You’re hired. Good for you!
2. Not now. Frustrating, but actually not such a bad place to be. The buyer has good feelings about you, but the timing is not right.
3. No way — you don’t make the cut. In this situation, you may not even know you were in the running. In fact, the buyer might have completed their research without ever contacting you.

Okay, now let’s consider what happens after you’ve been hired.

Stage 2. The Professional Services Client Experience

During a client’s initial engagement, they find out what it’s like to work with you and the value you provide. While one-and-done projects generate incremental revenue, repeat clients fuel long-term growth. So it pays to build enduring client relationships. To win repeat business, you need to meet or exceed your clients’ expectations. So as you map out your B2B buyer journey, ask yourself some questions: Are you living up to your promises? Are you easy to work with? Are you hitting deadlines and staying within budget? And during every engagement, you need to ask yourself how the project is going and what you can do to improve the client’s experience.

Eventually, your initial engagement will wind down. What happens next?

Stage 3: The Between Engagement Experience

After you’ve completed your first project — especially if you’ve made a positive impression — the client may decide they want to use your services again. They may not have an immediate need, but you will be the first firm they call when they are ready.  Consumer marketers might call this a loyal customer or regular user. In the B2B buying process this stage is pivotal.

Now, most buyer journey mapping models ignore the stage between engagements, but we believe it’s critical. That’s because it represents a significant opportunity, one that’s often missed.

Let’s consider an example. Suppose at the end of a successful engagement you determine there is a chance you could work again with the client in two to three years. That’s a long time for any company to remember you. If you don’t reach out in the interim, they are likely to slip away forever.

Here’s another example. Often, clients hire you to solve one kind of problem, and in their minds that one thing is the only thing you do. Just as any actor who has played James Bond becomes typecast, your firm runs the risk of being pigeonholed. You can easily lose out on a future job that should be yours simply because the client doesn’t associate your firm with other services you provide.

So as you map your journey, think about what it takes to avoid being typecast. It’s not enough to nurture leads — you need to nurture clients, too, educating them about everything you do. And you need to stay on their radar, even after your initial work is long over. The more they know about you, they more likely they will be to give you a call when the time is right.

Eventually, every client runs its course. But they still have value. Let’s find out how.

Stage 4: The Former Client

Clients leave for a variety of reasons. A contact can retire or take a new position, for example. While you can continue to nurture former clients, some situations are simply out of your control.

In one camp are clients that had a poor experience. Maybe you dropped a ball or two. Or maybe it was bad chemistry. Either way, they aren’t coming back and they probably aren’t going to recommend you to others. Say goodbye to these forever (or at least for a long, long time).

In the other camp are clients who had good experiences. They just don’t expect to need your expertise again. But that doesn’t mean you should forget about them. That would be a terrible mistake.

Why? Well, consider an investment banker who sells a business for a retiring owner. Is that the last opportunity with that client? Probably. Should that firm walk away from that client forever? No, they should stay in touch. You see, that former CEO is going to talk to her friends about the experience. And at some point, an impressed friend is going to consider that same firm to represent him when he sells his business.

Former clients can be powerful advocates for your firm. Just don’t let them forget you.

Why do most companies ignore this final phase? Probably because it doesn’t fit conventional buyer journey models. And it’s far easier — and more exciting — to look to future opportunities than to pay attention to the ones that have slipped into the past. But if you keep in front of your best former clients, you will find that they can be exceptionally loyal, and lucrative, friends.

Mapping Your Touch Points

Every phase in the B2B buyer’s journey is connected to others. So you need to be able to step back and see how it all works. That’s where the journey map comes in. Begin by identifying how and when your firm interacts with clients during each stage. Then note these touch points on your map.

What does an actual buyer journey map look like? It can take a range of forms — from a highly visual infographic to a spreadsheet to a basic Word document. The tool you choose matters less than the quality of the data that goes into it. The goal is to recognize the critical decision points (see illustration above) where buyers will either hire you or take another avenue. Only then can you see how you can meet their expectations and tip the scale in your favor.

At Hinge, we work with a wide range of data to map out a client’s entire buyer journey. To understand the pre-client phase we conduct interviews with prospects in the marketplace, as well as the “got-aways” who ended up selecting another firm. That way we learn what prospects want out of a service provider.

We also talk to current clients to understand the quality of their experience with their professional service provider, as well as to learn whether they understand the full breadth of our client’s services. Finally, we research former clients to understand where they stand on the map and what future prospects they offer: Are they between engagements, or are they gone for good? How likely are they to refer the client, and why? You can plot your own customer journey map with information you may already have — client satisfaction surveys and follow up with former clients. But without detailed research into prospects and “betweeners” — and without a clear understanding of how much clients at every stage know about your range of services — there will be significant areas of terra incognita on your map.

To understand where the gaps exist, you’ll need to analyze each client stage. What proportion of clients experience each outcome? For example, how many prospects become clients? How often do clients move into the “between engagements” stage? How many former clients are recommending you? And, of course, why? Most important, what could improve your clients’ experience — and create better outcomes? If you can’t answer all these questions, you may need to conduct research to see the full picture and make the most of all of your opportunities.

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How do you make sense of it all?

To help you understand and navigate the new landscape, the Hinge Research Institute has released its 4^th edition of Inside the Buyer’s Brain: AEC Industry.

About the Research

Inside the Buyer’s Brain, was first published in 2013, in 2018, and again in 2020, providing the first comprehensive look at the differing perspectives of buyers and sellers of professional services.

Our just-released 4th edition details the perspectives of almost 300 buyers and more than 1,400 sellers of AEC services. In this article, I’ll highlight some of the most pertinent findings from this year’s study.

Finding 1: Recruiting and retention and dealing with a difficult economy are top challenges facing the AEC industry

The war for top talent rages on. “Finding/keeping good people” was identified as the top business challenge in 2022, followed by “budget pressures and financial issues.” Buyers of AEC services are struggling to find and hire the talent they need. Keeping that in mind, AEC firms should consider providing the skills their prospects need—to fill any gaps where their services line up with their clients’ needs.

And as economic uncertainty continues, it’s no surprise that “dealing with a difficult economy” has risen dramatically—by 82%—in the last two years.

In fact, AEC buyers and their service providers identified many of the same top challenges, likely because they are dealing with the same ones. However, buyers’ fifth greatest challenge—“strategy/planning issues”—was barely on sellers’ radars, a signal that today’s buyers could be looking for more high-value, strategic services to address recruiting, budget and supply chain issues.

Finding 2: AEC buyers are much more likely to listen to an expert speak on a topic or attend a webinar.

This year, the AEC industry saw an important shift in the way buyers search for information on business-related topics. While “asking your peers for a recommendation” or “doing a web search” will always be primary search methods, AEC buyers are now much more likely to “listen to an expert speak on a topic” compared to two years ago, when the method ranked in last place. Buyers are also more likely to attend a webinar.

To address these new behaviors, AEC firms should consider reallocating some resources to developing their thought leadership. This could include public speaking, writing educational blog posts, conducting webinars and improving their search engine optimization.

This year’s study also saw a sharp decline in the use of social media to search for a business-related topic. But take that insight with a grain of salt. At the same time, AEC buyers are using LinkedIn for business more than ever.

Finding 3: Relevancy ratings are at an all-time high.

The extent to which AEC firms are addressing their buyers’ top challenges has been steadily increasing since 2018. If you’ve been following this data over the years, you might recall that historically the AEC industry has lagged other professional services industries in this critical area. The steady increase indicates that AEC firms may be doing a better job of understanding their buyers’ needs.

And while relevancy is going to fluctuate depending on buyers’ needs and market conditions, now is a great time to step back and assess the challenges your buyers are facing and determine which ones your firm can address.

Finding 4: AEC buyers’ willingness to recommend their service providers has reached an all-time high, too.

Buyers appear to be more comfortable than ever sharing their client satisfaction with their peers. Not convinced? This year, “client service” joined the top 5 scale tippers for buyers when selecting a services provider. As a result, you may want to put more of your business development resources into expanding existing relationships.

Sellers clearly have the opportunity to provide a better client experience, which can lead to more work, more referrals, and better reputation ratings. If you keep abreast of your buyers’ changing challenges and expectations—and make the appropriate adjustments—you can position your firm to deliver long-term value.

Conclusion

It’s clear AEC buyer behavior has changed, with relevance and willingness to recommend at all-time highs. One way to better understand the nuances of your marketplace is to research your target audiences.

To dive deeper into this data and get more practical advice on applying it to your business, purchase Inside the Buyer’s Brain, 4th Edition: AEC .

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Inside the Buyer’s Brain, Architecture, Engineering, and Construction Edition

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The post New AEC Industry Research Released: How Buyer Expectations Have Changed in the AEC Industry appeared first on Hinge Marketing.

To address this uncertainty, government contractors must understand how and why their public buyers are behaving differently than in the past.

In our most recent study of buyer behavior, we see that reputation ratings across the industry continue the decline that began more than five years ago. And while overall demand remains strong, government buyers are more price- and value-conscious than they were two years ago. But there is an upside. Our analysis also uncovered opportunities to become more relevant and valuable to public-sector buyers.

About the Research

The Hinge Research Institute has studied more than 40,000 buyers and sellers over the past decade—giving us unparalleled insight into the professional services industry.

Our most recent study of the government contracting industry explores the perspectives of almost 70 buyers and over 140 sellers and examines their perspectives across the following topics:

• How well do sellers of government contracting services really know their buyers?
• What are buyers’ key business challenges?
• How do clients feel about their service providers?
• How do buyers search for service providers?
• How do buyers evaluate service providers?
• How do buyers make their final selection?

Below are four key insights that came out of our report.

Insight #1: The overall perception of government contractors’ reputation continues to decline

When it comes to reputation and value, government contractors are rated lower than all other professional services industries. And government buyers ranked their contractors’ reputations almost 25% lower than they did in 2018 (see chart below). To address this concerning trend, government contractors should pay particular attention to the quality of their service delivery and actively communicate the value they create.

Warren Buffet once said, “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.” With that sage advice in mind, it would be a good time for government contractors to take notice of this multi-year trend and take proactive steps to reverse it. The good news is that reputation is a perception, not necessarily reality—so for those so inclined, there is an opportunity to take action and change that perception.

Insight #2: Relevancy to solving key issues is greater than other Professional Services

There is some good news in the data. Government contractors are perceived as being more relevant to solving their clients’ challenges than any of the other professional services industries in this year’s study.

So be sure to clearly communicate the value you deliver to your government clients and describe the positive impact you’ve made.  This should make closing more business—with both existing clients and new ones—far easier.

Insight #3: Technology and data Issues are a top challenge for buyers.

Today’s government buyers are focused on modernization. Advanced technology and data issues are even more important than many government contractors realize. In the business development process, clearly lay out your technical capabilities, and use case stories to show how you’ve solved similar problems before. To the extent you can, explain how your team, services and expertise are different from your competitors.

To win in a competitive marketplace, your firm needs to first understand what your buyers truly value, then deliver that value in a differentiated way.

Insight #4: Featuring thought leaders within your organization is more important than ever

When it comes to searching for work-related topics, public buyers still ask peers or colleagues for recommendations (a perennial favorite), but they are increasingly seeking out thought leadership, such as listening to an expert speak or reading an article or blog post.

“Look on social media” might be a less popular research method in 2022, but don’t underestimate the power of LinkedIn. It remains the dominant social media platform used by government buyers.

2023 is a year to invest in “standing out from the crowd”

If your professional services firm provides solutions for federal, state or local government—and you hope to improve the quality and profitability of your work while differentiating services in a competitive marketplace—you success may depend on two factors: 1) your ability to objectively understand your buyers (this study can help), and 2) your willingness to adjust your services and pursuit strategy to meet the needs of a changing marketplace. If you can elevate your firm’s value and reputation (especially when it comes to technology and data issues), your organization can rise above the common government services firm.

To get the full study and recommendations, purchase the full study, Inside the Buyer’s Brain, Fourth Edition: Government Contracting.

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Inside the Buyer’s Brain, Government Contracting Edition

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