Managing the client matrix
Managing the client matrix - the good, the bad and the unbelievable!
A PM Forum event - November 2005
All professional firms present different facets to different clients. These may include location, client size, industry sector or technical discipline. Marketing initiatives tend to reflect these. Thus a campaign focused on audit clients in the telecommunications industry based in the South East with an annual turnover in excess of £100m, is likely to have very different messages to those suitable for tax clients in the fund management industry based in Milan with funds under management in excess of £10bn. Yet both sets of messages originate from the same firm trading under the same brand.
Most fee earners still see their markets in terms of location and technical discipline. Marketers, by contrast, have to bear all the segments in mind, resulting in highly complex multi-dimensional client matrices. In very large firms, a key part of planning a new campaign is to identify overlapping campaigns and reassure those involved that the new campaign will be adding value rather than irritating clients.
Our panel session brought together five pioneers of professional services marketing, each with amusing stories to tell about managing the client matrix.
Further information on the forum can be found at www.pmint.co.uk.
