Late last week, I promised I would write stories that wove marketing into my daily post-rotator-cuff-surgery physical therapy sessions. I had to wait several days, suffering through excruciating arm stretching, in order for inspiration to hit. Yesterday, I had three epiphanies….
Number 1: As I’ve encountered numerous physical therapists, I noticed that each had a different approach. One was sweet and apologetic, and brought me anatomy books to show me the various parts of my shoulder and rotator cuff. The second was vocally enthusiastic, often accompanying her manipulations with exclamations of “Look at you! Fifteen degrees further than yesterday!” But the third, whose shoulder stretches are delivered with a dry wit (“You’re not doing too bad, for a girl!”), was the one that caused me to take note.
He said, “Sure, we all have slightly different methods, but the end result is the same.”
“A-ha!” I thought. This means that the approach each uses is what I’m really “buying,” not the results. I could have the results from any one of them!
Number 2: Last Tuesday (24 October), I received my subscription to the free newsletter from Tom Rodenhauser, editor of Inside Consulting. In his article, “Consultants Don’t Think,” Tom asserts that “Consultants know everything about anything.”
He goes on to say: “Scratch the patina of many consultant-authored books and white papers and you’ll find few ‘a-h’” moments. Most state the obvious or impractical. In reality, 99 percent of what consultants spew as ‘thought leadership’ is pure, unadulterated drivel. The fact is, too many consultants think clients are paying them to think instead of act.”
I SEE, I thought. This means there is something more than a professional service practitioner’s academic or professional credentials, or years of client experience.
Number 3: Also on Tuesday (24 October) I read one of David Maister’s blog posts, “What Do Consultants Know?” Maister concludes, “What counts is not our knowledge, but our interactive, human skills in helping clients …. as individuals and as organizations. Sometimes it’s gentle, sometimes you need to be challenging. But it’s all about helping the clients make decisions and act.”
RIGHT, I thought. It’s less about the the intellectual capital than it is about the approach, and the steps the professional practitioner can encourage the client to take him on his or her own.
I mostly agree, but in some ways disagree, with Rodenhauser and Maister. As a consumer of professional services — and yes, I put physical therapy into that category, albeit on an individual, not organizational scale — I have to have some confidence in and trust about the credentials and expertise of those from whom I’m consuming services. (And it’s no accident that marketing has something to do with my sense of trust and confidence.)
But what has all of this to do with expertise, you might wonder? Most of you know that my recent blog posts and newsletter topics have been about forward-thinking leadership in the field of professional services marketing. Certainly, we should thank Rodenhauser and Maister for reminding us about the importance of the “approach,” and a professional’s ability to help us “achieve results.”
But I would submit that the factors of thinking and acting like a LEADER have a lot to do with excelling in one’s chosen craft. And for that notion, we need to go back to my first epiphany about the differences between the approaches of my physical therapists.
I couldn’t help noticing that there is competition between the physical therapists. They challenge each other to help me improve from one session to the next. They smile at each other, joke with each other, call out comments to each other, stop into each other’s offices to report on how marvelously far ahead I was able to get with their help today.
YES, I thought. Leadership has to be pursued with a dash of competitive — and yet collaborative — spirit, with an eye toward the alternative choices that are available, while always focused on the ultimate goal: helping the client achieve his or her aims.
And so I’m left to reaffirm key ingredients that all professional service marketers know they require: professionals that apply distinct approaches one from the other; solid academic, professional, and experiential credentials; a healthy dose of competitive yet collaborative teamwork; and a desire to lead toward favorable outcomes for the client.
Suzanne,
It appears that once again my attitude falls into the minority report. I care less about my doctor’s approach (or any other service practitioner for that matter) then that I want them to know what’s wrong and to help me fix it.
So as not to be misunderstood, I do care lots about the experience. And sometimes that includes approach. But mostly I examine a practitioner’s knowledge, before I hire them. And then, based on the experience and my want or need, I return to them or I don’t
Lewis
Lewis
I got a different message from your first epiphany, that any therapist could give the same results.
I developed software for 17 years. One of the most significant advances in software quality was the concept of metrics. For your therapists, I dispute that each *would* give the same results. Each has a different degree of skill in reading your readiness for a particular therapeutic exercise, whether you made your goal, and whether you need a less aggressive regimen. That is, how well you (the customer) succeeded.
Leadership may help a consultant market her services. But reading feedback, reading the customer’s reaction to the pitch and reaction to progress reports on the consulting service, that is where a consultant has the opportunity to grow a relationship with the client. You don’t just want to sell the client — you want the client to be a happy reference, and actively recommending you to others.
Thank you, Lewis, and Brad, for your thoughtful comments. I hope my post did not convey any diminishing interest in my service providers’ expertise, or the results that they can help me achieve. Rather, I was intrigued by my encounters with a variety of therapists, and the rather strong statements from Rodenhauser and Maister that seemed to be counterpoints to what I was observing. My epiphanies are certainly not the last time I will think about these issues! (Just stops along the road, so to speak.)
Both of you have made astute observations; YES a service provider’s approach, and the expertise that backs that up, DO have a distinct impact on the ultimate results. My hope in writing this blog post was to stimulate some discussion about the INTENTION behind those factors. It seemed apparent to me at the time that there was something about competition and a desire to lead.
Wouldn’t you both say that these factors play *some* role in your decision to hire a service provider, and the results they provide?
Suzanne,
I do agree, and I work hard to provide great experiences for my clients.
I also agree that different approaches come out of different consultants, and many of them will get results. But I don’t know that they will get the same results.
That is why I also agree that collaboration works best.
However, different conultants have different levels of knowledge, and since clients usually hire just one, I encourage them base their decisions who possesses the following traits:
1. Knowledge (Smarter than the hirer regarding the issue(s) at hand)
2. Experience
3. Good fit
4. A guide not a provider (i.e., a consultant not a specialist who does what you ask.
5. Honesty
6. Trust
7. Leader not a manager
8. Fearless (unafraid to disagree)
suzanne, i would suggest that knowledge without human touch can hardly be transferred to. we can be plenty of notion but then we live in our own room and not able to establish human contact. this is a danger i see a lot in the on line marketing. and it is true that different approach may lead to the same result like two roads lead to the same destination but the choice depends from what are our attitude and needs. if i drive a porsche i would probably love a challenging road, while if i drive a family car the smoothest the road the best is to me.
Suzanne:
I have to agree with Maister:
What counts is not our knowledge, but our interactive, human skills in helping clients …. as individuals and as organizations. Sometimes it’s gentle, sometimes you need to be challenging. But it’s all about helping the clients make decisions and act.”
Sometimes it takes someone to help steer the client into the direction he/she wants to go and then provide any information or tactics for he/she to act for him/herself.
The best consultants in my opinion are the ones that empower the client to achieve his/her goal without taking credit. As if the client just discovered what he/she knew all along and whatever obstacle the client was stumbling on has been removed so that the correct action can now take place.
So ineffect the therapist analogy is quite apt.
Great thought processes! Especially for someone in pain.
Sometimes pain invites the clarity needed to heal.
Tammy
Thanks everyone, for thoughtful comments on this topic. I’ve found other fodder on this subject, in Fast Company’s Nov 2006 issue, p 116 (Final Thought section). K. Anders Ericsson says the it’s not expertise that matters (or anything to do with leadership, the approach, a competitive spirit or all of your great suggesitons above), but the ability to do things DIFFERENTLY. Being and expert isn’t enough, nor is experience, he says. Food for thought indeed.