Be a thought leader, you’ll see increased ROI

Positioning yourself and your firm as leading-edge thinkers in your field involves publishing articles and books, speaking regularly to professional groups, getting yourself noticed by the media and surveying your target market in order to produce research data that only you possess.
If that sounds like fun, or simply a potentially advantageous way to distinguish your firm’s services, one major hurdle to choosing to implement such a novel strategy might be the question of ROI, specifically: Does evidence exist that a “thought leading” strategy really will generate new business growth? Can the return on investment be quantified?
Happily, the answer to the questions is “Yes.”
Studies indicate that a quantifiable ROI can in fact be discerned, and indications are that results will be overwhelmingly affirmative.
Getting to the heart of the issue, however, first requires an understanding that age-old ways of measuring ROI may not always apply here. That’s because a new equation in our economy, one that’s mistier than traditional bottom-line measurements, demands alternative methods of measurement. This new equation is the economic asset of “intellectual capital” (IC).
The concrete ROI metric standard until now has always been based on “I-can-see-it-with-my-own-eyes.” This still applies to material goods, of course, but IC’s decidedly non-Industrial Age elements can be more difficult to fathom. Mary Adams, managing principal of Trek Consulting LLC, specialists in the developing study of IC as an asset that can be measured, explains it this way:
“Can you imagine a merchant without an inventory report, having to sell product without knowing the quantity or price of goods he owns? … Do we have the right people, network and knowledge to meet our goals? Are we positioned for continued innovation? Where are we at risk?”
Such relatively “soft” questions leave the interpretation of data and resulting ROI conclusions in the hands of analysts to a greater degree than has been true of traditional ROI measurement. As one example, Kennedy Information, a premier management consulting think tank, which regularly conducts surveys of management consulting compensation, has found that firms and individual consultants at the topmost point of the compensation chart are paid way, way better than the remaining 99 percent. When asked how the top 1 percent manages this, the response is crisp and clear: “Oh, those highest revenue-producers are the ones who regularly publish articles and books, do speaking engagements and connect with the media,” the Kennedy people explain. “They are the thought leaders.”
A different study has correlated increased revenue with publishing, speaking, media and other individual thought-leading actions, adding that the ROI will be measurably high when the actions are integrated with a firm’s more traditional marketing and sales activities.
Article-publishing ROI, for example, incorporated in the marketing and selling pipeline, can easily be measured by asking prospects if the firm’s published articles had played any part either in their initial decision to approach the company or in their ultimate decision to do business with the company. Dan Cassidy, principal of Cassidy Retirement Group, Concord, Mass., and author of the book “A Manager’s Guide to Strategic Retirement Plan Management” can testify to this personally.
“I always e-mail prospects a PDF or two of my published articles early in the sales process,” says Cassidy. “I want my prospects to see a relevant published article of mine … [It] is sufficient to stamp my firm as something more than some run-of-the-mill small guy consultancy.”
Some studies have produced clear and definitive measurements sufficient to satisfy even the most old-school standards for quantifying. One survey of law firms by Levick Strategic Communications and PR Newswire surveyed 200 firms that had gotten themselves mentioned consistently in the legal media. The survey found that the 25 firms on its list with the highest revenue were also those with an average increase of nearly 20 percent in overall media presence over the previous two years. Firms ranked below these 25 in terms of income, however, reported a mere 1-percent increase in media presence.
Is there also anecdotal evidence that “thought leading” produces a measurable ROI? You bet. A few examples from my client files serve to augment the more quantifiable data. One client actuary, for example, attests, “I load my briefcase with all my published articles before going out on a sales call. At the right time in a meeting, I pull an article out that relates directly to the discussion at hand. This inevitably solidifies my credibility with the prospect in a way that even the glossiest brochure simply cannot.”
There are no guarantees in life, so no one can say for sure. But it is clear from all the data and anecdotal evidence that the likelihood is there. Since most of your competitors will ignore it, a thought-leading business development strategy could be the smartest marketing/sales decision you could make. There are just so very many facts, figures, studies, stories and personal experiences to back you up. &#8226
Ken Lizotte is Chief Imaginative Officer (CIO) of emerson consulting group inc. in Concord, Mass. This article is excerpted from his new book “The Expert’s Edge: Become the Go-To Authority People Turn to Every Time.”