• You have all the relevant data and details about your clients and top prospects in your database, and the data is constantly updated and clean so you can trust it.
  
  
• You just completed major research on trends in your industry. You write a white paper summarizing the trends. To get the white paper noticed, you run a marketing campaign via email or direct mail to the people in your database to download this white paper.
  
  
• You run these campaigns directly out of your database. The database is your control center.
  
  
• While you might send 500 or 5,000 emails or direct mail pieces, all of them have a unique URL landing page that the person can visit to download their copy of your white paper.
  
  
• When the clients and prospects visit their unique URL landing page, their contact information is pre-filled out on the web response form, and the form itself is customized to their company and industry.
  
  
• They download the white paper. An automatic process sets up a task in your database for the 'owner' of that client or prospect to follow up within a set period of time. The designated person at your firm is notified by an email that they have follow-ups to make.
  
  
• When the designated person logs into the database to follow up, they can quickly scan a dossier of relevant company news, information about the contact, and any other relevant information about your company's dealings with that person or company.
  
  
• A manager at your company can log onto a management dashboard to see how many white papers were downloaded, how the team is doing with follow-ups (and who may not be doing theirs), and what downloads have turned into real pipeline opportunities, new clients, and repeat business.
  
  
• As prospects become clients, critical data is stored (such as contracts), created (such as project plans and team assignments), and managed (such as time tracking, project tracking, expenses, and client satisfaction data) in one centralized, easy-to-view place.
  
  
• This information synchronizes seamlessly with all of your accounting information.
  
  
• This system is available anywhere you can get Internet access.

Imagine if this were all possible and in reach of the typical professional services firm...

This is all basic functionality of Salesforce.com. Many professional services firms use Salesforce.com or one of the many other available database technologies such as Netsuite, Saleslogix, SugarCRM, Oracle (formerly Siebel), RightNow, Microsoft Dynamics, Epicor, Deltek, and a host of others.

Most professional services firms own one of these systems, or something much like it.

Most professional services firms take zero advantage of any of the database marketing and enterprise customer relationship management these technologies can help them run.

As I read this blog post over, I’m thinking you might be thinking, “What a boring blog post. No edgy point. No new-and-fresh research. No splashy creative idea.” Sorry.

Ask yourself the following questions:

• What content and messages will truly interest our clients and prospects in a continued and deep conversation with us?
• How can we get the most clients and prospects to engage us in these conversations?
• How can we use our marketing smarts and available technologies to facilitate this process?
• How should we get this all done?
  

The best companies that I see that first ask these questions, and then answer them well, end up running marketing much like what I describe in this blog post. At services firms, I haven’t seen much of it yet.

What does that mean? Opportunity for you to get ahead…if you can get it done.