Value for professional services firms

Professional services are different from bushings, gaskets, or toy dolls. They are sold differently, marketed differently, managed differently, inventoried differently, produced differently and priced differently. For those who fail to recognize these differences the business of professional services is a frustrating, complicated and an often unsuccessful pursuit. You can't apply the same strategy, tactics and methods that worked in your retail business to your retail consulting firm, even though the knowledge you gained selling $50 t-shirts is the very thing people are willing to pay for.

What small firm operators must learn is that the business of professional services is very different from the content of professional services. The business of professional services demands that you deliver value, while the content of professional services is usually about information. This plays out in everyday life all the time. How valuable is a shoe shine when you are walking into your neighborhood coffee shop? Not very. But how valuable is a shoe shine when you are about to board a flight to an important business meeting? It's the exact same service, but in one instance it is providing value and in the other it's not. How many professional services firms do you know that have essentially setup a shoe shine stand in Dunkin Donuts? They're great shoe shiners, but they aren't offering any value.