We’re often asked how many PowerPoint slides should be included in a presentation and how much time a presenter should spend on each. 

Of course, the answer varies according to slide content, presentation format (proposal or tender highlights as opposed to small group discussions or full-scale lecture presentation topic, audience size, your objectives, and other media or presentation aids which you may use in conjunction with PowerPoint.

Presenters may appropriately spend up to twenty minutes on s single slide, but wisely spend just a few seconds on others.

Slide which contain pictures, graphs, charts or diagrams, animations - and even video - are usually better subjects for long-stay slides than mere bulleted lists.

Too often we see overly-dense text material which presenters design as talking points and mistakenly think are great as full text notes.

Remember, on of your key objectives is to keep your audience interested and engaged in your presentation: very difficult to achieve if they are bored to death!

But, interested and engaged does not mean “Dazzled” by exotic special effects which detract from your message.

Copyright 2001 Julian Midwinter & Associates Pty Ltd

The dream of just about every enlightened professional is to be so different and sought-after that there are few credible alternatives and minimal competition in a distinctive niche - one carved out to fit like a glove.That dream is reality for a privileged few. It’s a far-fetched rainbow-chase for most because they lack the tenacity or commitment (or both) to do what it takes to turn dream into reality.

Differentiation means having the courage not to follow the pack. A current example: “we are a full service commercial law firm”. It’s hardly a differentiation strategy. More like a sentence to undifferentiated middle-of-the-pack status for most.

Many professionals proffer, as differentiation statements, what are, “sameness” statements.

To attempt to stand out with claims like these is to relegate oneself and one’s practice to the “hard to distinguish from all the others” category.

Ill-informed professional service differentiators include claims of:
• long-established
• caring for clients
• [non-specific] better service
• cost-effectiveness
• friendliness and courtesy
• skilled and experienced staff.

There are lots more. Just grab a handful of professional practice profiles and do a “global search and replace” - most firm profiles would readily fit another. Sadly, almost any other.

If you’re determined to be different, think through what you do which is substantially different from most or all the alternatives.

Here’s a list to get you started:
• markets or industries you serve
• geographies on which you focus
• categories, characteristics, or scale of clients you serve
• special or unusual services or work processes you offer
• unique characteristics of your personnel or culture
• special needs or problems on which you focus your efforts
• price - structure or quantum - at which you offer your service.

Put your answers to the test: do they really make you different ?

If you’re determined to be different - and to profit from distinctiveness - be tough with yourself in working out what sets you apart and don’t settle for the anonymity and pressures of middle-pack.

Copyright 2006 Julian Midwinter & Associates Pty Ltd

A marketing strategy often overlooked by professional practices is participation in industry based awards. Award entries are an opportunity for professional practices to promote their brand, highlight differentiation, and ultimately create or increase competitive advantage in the marketplace. Here’s what to watch out for when preparing a submission.

Common mistakes include:
• Not responding to all of the criteria
• Entering awards that are ill-suited to your practice
• Unclear responses where judges have to unravel content and images
• Entering a “standard submission” for multiple entries
• No data or evidence to back up claims
• Poor presentation.

Tips for award entries
• Format your entry around the ‘criteria and points weighting’
• Start preparing your submission as soon as possible, involving all appropriate team members
• Keep the response focused on a real need, perceived problem or an opportunity
• Enlist the help of clients where financial, statistical data or measurable results are available
• Start with bullet point responses to each question/criteria, and then flesh them out after further consideration
• Keep sentences and paragraphs concise
• Use images and charts where appropriate
• Get a second opinion. Ask someone impartial to view and evaluate the submission before you enter
• Always include an executive summary
• Do not exceed the word count
• Adhere to all rules and guidelines of each award.

Copyright Julian Midwinter & Associates Pty Ltd

Each year, lawyers and other expert professionals are confronted with a series of decisions around listings and presence in myriad business and professional directories, and the Yellow Pages.  While most would prefer work to flow from our hard-earned reputations, stand-out profiles, or referrals from trusted network contacts, for many professionals, directory listings or Yellow Pages are necessary elements of work acquisition.

Yellow Pages remains an important general directory of business and trade services for many community members. Whether in old tree-ware form, or on-line, it’s a source for certain socio-demographic groups shopping for some legal services.

Yellow Pages plays - not at all - to many markets and psychodemographics.

As a doyenne of the advertising industry once said, 90% of all advertising is wasted - the trouble is, working out which 10% is effective.

Given how easy it is to make expensive mistakes, here are some Yellow Pages insights [framed in terms of legal services] to help you make better business development decisions.

While just about all firms are “listed”, a relatively small proportion pay for Yellow Pages advertisements.

Smaller law firms dominate the advertisements. Few take large, high-priced space.

Our sample research indicates that return on Yellow Pages advertising expenditure varies widely. Disappointingly few firms rigorously measure results and benchmark them against other avenues for work acquisition.

Law firms who have large, well-placed ads early in the listings report satisfaction with this choice but others who’ve made more modest investments are similarly satisfied. Quality of leads generated is mixed, regardless.

In the United States, research by the American Bar Association reveals that including photographs is especially effective and offering consumer information (such as lists of credentials) is the next best thing. Beware: reactions in other markets are not always in line with North American experience.

The clean, uncluttered “less is more” style of many modern graphic designers is probably not the most effective ad layout for this medium.

Local sampling indicates that private client services are more effectively promoted through the Yellow Pages than small business services. Services where a lawyer is needed “in a hurry” - for example, criminal law - or in an unfamiliar location, are good candidates for Yellow Pages promotion.

That same sample of law firms tells us that their Yellow Pages campaigns have increased their revenues together with increasing time they spend dealing with enquirers, screening for suitability, and “selling” themselves over the phone.

If you choose to invest in Yellow Pages, evaluate outcomes - quantitatively and qualitatively - and benchmark against the alternatives so you can refine decisionmaking with time.

Copyright 2006 Julian Midwinter & Associates

As I write eTips each week, it’s often the product of business development challenges and behaviours I’ve observed among our clients, or learned second hand. Now, I need your input on the eTips topics you find most relevant, how eTips can improve, and what you’d like more of.

This week, please take this brief, three to five minute survey, and tell me, and the whole JMA team, what you think.

As a thank you, you will be entered into a draw to win a bottle of fine wine.

Of course, if you have any queries or other comments, do get in touch.

Thanks for your support and important feedback.

Linda and the team at Julian Midwinter & Associates

It’s tough to stand out from your competition and keep great clients plus attract new ones.  And it doesn’t help when professionals so often put their marketing communication efforts  -  and dollars  -  into making themselves part of the crowd rather than standing out.

Too often, professional service firms build their marketing campaigns around “sameness” messages like:

• we’ve been doing this a long time
• our people are highly qualified
• our professionals are friendly and helpful
• we are big, successful, and growing
• we have a great reputation
• we give great service.
 
Even if these communications get through and their messages make any impact, they only serve to make you and your firm part of the crowd, rather than stand out.
 
After all:

• many firms and professionals can claim long histories in practice
• size doesn’t matter to everyone, and there are many big and successful firms around
• no professional would ever boast inadequate qualifications or a poor reputation
• who would offer unfriendly, unhelpful, sloppy service ?
 
If you want distinguish yourself from capable competitors, think about how what you do makes a difference to clients.  Focus your messages around themes like:

• business problems you solve
• business opportunities you realise
• risks you reduce
• unique experience you offer
• your techniques or technologies which differ from alternatives
• return on investment in your services which you deliver
• results you promise
• differences your clients will notice in dealing with you
• value you create.

Avoid sameness with messages built on these themes which help prospective clients understand why you stand out from the crowd.

Copyright Julian Midwinter & Associates

When a sales call or proposal prominently features “turn off” information, the inept professional succeeds in erecting a barrier to developing a business relationship and winning work. Mostly, worthwhile clients are neither bored nor impressed into selecting professional expertise.

In most professional service settings, business non-development strategies include initiating conversations (rather than true dialogues) around:

• history of your firm from the year dot
• your beautiful offices
• glowing academic qualifications of your professionals
• social connections of your folk
• recent achievements of your alumni
• your prestigious client base
• vastness of your range of services - your “full service” one-stop-shop offer.

Usually, prospective clients have little interest in all this.

You’ll make much better progress towards creating business development dialogue if you centre your conversation on how what you do will make a meaningful difference to your prospective client.

So, talk - and get your prospective client talking - about:

• business impacts you’ve had with clients confronting similar challenges
• useful ways for you to invest time with your prospective client to discover the areas where you can make a big impact
• situations they confront and how what you do will overcome a problem, reduce a significant risk, or help with a new opportunity
• insights, ideas, information, and network connections you can offer now, of real value to them, and as a foretaste of what they’ll plug into as your client.

These strands are likely to yield focused business development conversations.

Hard sells simply don’t work in professional services. Building brand is only the backdrop to real business development conversations and interactions.

And, it is dangerously inept for a professional to start selling before s/he knows what the client wants and needs to buy.

Don’t fall into the trap of business non-development by alternately boring, impressing, or manipulating a client into a decision in your favour. Get into high-yield business development dialogues.

Copyright Julian Midwinter & Associates

Here are some specific actions you can take to add weight to your brand.

Research your client constituencies. Understand exactly how you’re seen, where your clients

“Pigeonhole” you and your firm, and what differentiates you from the rest.

Understand your practice. Define your key capabilities. Set your goals and objectives based on a clear understanding of what you can deliver especially well. Communicate these goals and objectives clearly and compellingly throughout your firm.

Work out what reputation you want. Advance your vision for your practice and create the strategy to support the reputation you want.

Document your strategic position.

Use communication powerfully. Ensure that every communication between you and the rest of the world works to support your positioning and promote your reputation.

Implement a cohesive marketing and communications plan. Pay attention to the details. Ensure that the messages that you send to the market are consistent and cohesive.

Pay attention to internal communication. Everyone on the team must have a clear understanding of the goals and plans.

If you are to build reputation and brand power quickly and convincingly.

Monitor performance. Track progress against your plans. Use a mix of research techniques to check that your brand and reputation are moving in the direction you seek.

Whatever the ultimate objective for your professional practice, doing a good job is no longer enough. Building your brand and reputation will help you to achieve your professional and business goals faster.

Copyright Julian Midwinter & Associates

Nowadays, savvy professionals recognise what marketers have known for years: strong brands are worth having.

It’s the strength of the brand that delivers Heinz a price premium every time a tin of its baked beans is sold. Designer name goods we aspire to are all about brand power.

Professional success depends, in part, on having a brand that both commands respect and resonates with target consumers.

Here are some specific actions you can take to add weight to your brand:

research your client constituencies - understand exactly how you’re seen, where clients “pigeonhole” you and your firm, and what differentiates you from the rest

understand your practice - define your key capabilities - set goals and objectives based on a clear understanding of what you can deliver especially well - communicate these goals and objectives clearly and compellingly throughout your firm

work out what reputation youwant - advance your vision for your practice and create the strategy to support the reputation you want - document your strategic position

become a “stand out” performerin at least one market - true excellence and dominating at least one (even tiny) market segment will help you to power-up your brand

use communication powerfully - ensure that every communication between you and the rest of the world works to support your positioning and promote your reputation

implement a cohesive marketingand communications plan - pay attention to the details - make certain the messages that you are sending to the market are consistent and cohesive

pay attention to internalcommunication - every team member must have a clear understanding of your goals and plans if you are to build reputation and brand power quickly and convincingly

monitor performance - track progress against your plans - use a mix of research techniques to check that your brand and reputation are moving in the direction you seek.

Whatever your ultimate objectives for your professional practice, doing a good job is no longer enough. Building your brand and reputation will help you to achieve your professional and business goals faster.

Copyright Julian Midwinter & Associates

To maximise your prospects of success, make your tender evaluator friendly. So often, evaluators face a daunting task: confronted with a pile of tenders - almost always more voluminous than expected - it’s not hard to guess that attractive, well-organised tenders evoke a warmer and more enthusiastic reaction than the rest.

Here are some tried and tested tips to make your tender evaluator-friendly.

Format and structure
Make it easy for evaluators to know where they’re up to in your document. Always repeat the question or criterion text from the Request For Tender (RFT). Use the same structure and layout as the RFT.

Cover pages
Make sure that you brand cover pages with your logo and identifying detail - this way there won’t be any confusion over whose document is being read.

Table of contents
Provide a table of contents with sufficient detail for the evaluator to easily find their way through the document. Try to keep your table of contents to one page.

Executive summaries
Use headings to make it easy for the assessor to pick up major points at a glance.

Body text
Include the criteria text of the RFT - definitely the quickest way to make your tender reader-friendly.

Make criterion text smaller than your response text. Criterion text only needs to be included for quick reference. Your response text is most important.

Use bullet points where possible. They are easy to read, and get the point across quickly.

Make paragraph lengths digestible. A paragraph should not go on for pages. The shorter the better (and more easily read).

Supporting material
Establish quickly what the RFT calls its constituent parts and supporting material. Don’t use the same term, as this may cause confusion for the evaluator, and even for you in the future.

Highlight references to supporting material - appendix, annexure, exhibit, supplement, whatever - in your response. This can be done by using a pointer bullet, or different colour text.  Either way, it needs to stand out. These are just a few things to think about when writing your next tender. By using these tips, your document will definitely be more reader-friendly, and hopefully a winner !

Copyright Julian Midwinter & Associates