"The business is out there for PR professionals to get," says Mike Schultz, publisher of RainToday.com, an online magazine that focuses on marketing, PR and selling for
professional services firms. "But it's not like the 1990s, when clients were chucking money at people. Now, the better providers are going to win, and it's the data in this report
that's going to help them be better at it."
Schultz's upbeat comments summarize the findings in "How Clients Buy: The Benchmark Report on Professional Services Marketing and Selling from the Client Perspective," a
RainToday.com report that examines how 200 buyers purchase professional services.
Its key findings are some much-needed good news for the PR profession: Professional-services purchasing is expected to increase during the next two years across eight
professional-service industries, with 56% saying they expect to increase spending on marketing/advertising and public relations.
Yet some of the most startling findings highlight problems encountered during the hiring process: 41% of consultants did not listen and 40% of consultants did not understand
client needs. "That they weren't listening shows that they weren't thinking about the solutions," Schultz says. "Clients don't want people to go out and pitch them any more."
Why ask these questions now? Since 1999, "there's been a shift in professional marketing services that changes how we do marketing," he adds. "Everyone's trying to figure out
what to do for marketing, so how about we look at how clients buy to help you get done what you want to get done?"
Buyers also are starting to loosen up. "They're starting to say, 'The economy is fine, now it's up to me to do something with my resources.' So money is falling back into
marketing, human resources and PR," Schultz says. He adds a caveat: "Forty percent did not understand client needs. You have to stop just working in your business, and start
working on your business. The way you sell should change."
Contact: Mike Schultz, 508.405.0438 x305, [email protected]