2015
Unique information and insights to help your firm grow profitably
Beaton Benchmarks informs profit growth
Beaton measures clients’ perspectives on what drives sustainable profit growth
in professional services firms.
Retain and grow
clients
Offer
Delivery
Value
Price
Cost consciousness
Win work
Brand differentiation
Business development
Marketing effectiveness
Increase profit
sustainably
Revenue
Costs
Risk
Reduce cost-toserve*
Talent model
Knowledge management
Technology
Outsourcing
Globalisation
Understand the
environment*
Buyers’ power
Traditional competitors
New competitors
* Not all items are reported every year
‘Beaton Benchmarks gives us invaluable insight and tangible actions to support
our commitment for our clients to experience excellent service.’
Lara Poloni - Chief Executive, AECOM Australia and New Zealand
About Beaton Benchmarks
Beaton Benchmarks provides world class studies of:
++ Client satisfaction with a proven measurement model, precision and a
relevant competitor set for your firm
++ Head-to-head benchmarking on crucial business development, brand and
performance parameters against competitors chosen by you
++ Brand positioning against your close competitors to show levels of brand
recognition and differentiation
++ Brand equity and fair value to inform your pricing policy and management
of your margin
++ The relative strength of your business development capability and ability to
maximise client acquisition opportunities
Asia
respondents 1,218
Southern Africa
respondents 466
Australia
respondents 169,932
New Zealand
respondents 5,897
Beaton Benchmarks provides CEOs in professional services firms with unique
information and insights to help them grow their businesses sustainably and
profitably.
‘Beaton Benchmarks has been a key input to our brand strategy and has greatly
assisted us to continuously refine our approach to exceptional client service.’
Tony Schiffmann - Managing Partner, BDO
Win work
What your target market says about the competitive position of your firm’s brand
and BD capabilities and what this means for your future growth and profit.
Topic area
What it informs
Brand conversion
Your firm’s comparative levels of brand awareness and
consideration among your target market
Drivers of
consideration
The criteria prospective clients use to inform
consideration decisions
Brand associations
What your firm’s brand stands for relative to other
firms’ | Your degree of differentiation from key
competitors
Leading firm status
In which lines of service and market sectors your firm’s
brand is known for expertise
BD conversion
Your firm’s comparative success in prospecting and
pitching judged by your prospective clients
BD activities
Your firm’s comparative quality of pitches and pitch
conversion among your prospective clients
Drivers of choice
The criteria prospective clients use to inform decisions
when appointing providers | Criteria that are important
for justifying a price premium
All information contained in this section is based on specific feedback on your
firm and others from qualified buyers and users of services in your profession.
‘Beaton Benchmarks data provides rich and in-depth feedback that complements
our own client feedback program. It is crucial to ensuring clients receive a
consistent and excellent service across multiple geographies and service lines.’
Craig McKiernan - National Manager Client Development, Golder Associates
Retain and grow clients
What your clients say about your firm’s competitive performance and what this
means for your future profitability.
Topic area
What it informs
Overall client service
experience
How your firm’s clients rate their satisfaction with your
overall client service
Performance on
service attributes
How your firms’ clients rate their satisfaction with the
most important attributes and behaviours in your client
service delivery
Drivers of
satisfaction and value
The relative importance of each client service attribute
in driving your clients’ overall perceptions of
satisfaction and value
Stratrgic priorities for
improvement
Identification of the key areas for service improvement
that will have the highest ROI for your firm
Perceptions of value
How the level of your firm’s fees compares with your
key competitors’
Perceptions of price
Your firm’s perception of fee levels relative to key
competitors
Fair value delivery
How much price-setting discretion your firm has
relative to close competitors
All information contained in this section is based on specific feedback on your
firm and others from clients who have used your firm in the last 12 months.
‘The Beaton Benchmarks report on our brand position and client service
performance was searingly accurate. And a big wake-up call.’
Managing Partner - Large international professional services firm
Reduce cost-to-serve
What your clients and prospective clients say about major cost issues that inform
your strategic investment decisions and the sustainability of your profit.
Topic area
What it informs
Globalisation
How clients view globalising and local firms and their
preferences in respect of your firm
Outsourcing
The prevalence of outsourcing by professional services
firms and clients’ responses | For which services
outsourcing is preferred | How well your firm manages
the outsourcing process as clients see it
Understand the environment
What your clients and prospective clients say about major external environment
issues that inform your strategic investment decisions and the sustainability of
your profit.
Topic area
What it informs
Client purchasing
function
The prevalence of a dedicated purchasing function in
clients in your target market | What behaviours and
initiatives the best firms display when conforming to
clients’ procurement requirements
All information contained in this section is based on specific feedback on your
firm and others from qualified buyers and users of services in your profession.
‘I am seeking a powerful independent means of continuing to show partners the
way forward for the firm. Beaton Benchmarks is proving very useful in this, and
strengthens management’s mandate.’
Former Chief Executive Officer, Big 4 firm
Report structure
Win work reports
Contents
Brand position report
++Your firm’s brand conversion
++Drivers of consideration
++Your firm’s brand associations
++Your firm’s leading firm status
BD effectiveness report
++Your firm’s BD conversion
++Your firm’s BD effectiveness
++Drivers of clients’ choice
Retain and grow clients reports
Contents
Fair value report
(excerpt of full report)
++Overall client service experience
++Drivers of perceived value
++Perceptions of your firm’s price and
value
++Your firm’s fair value delivery
Full retain and grow clients report
All contents of fair value report, plus:
++Drivers of clients’ satisfaction and value
++Performance on attributes
++Strategic priorities for improvement
Reduce cost-to-serve reports
Contents
Globalisation report
++Clients’ satisfaction with global and
local firms
++Your brand rated on a global-local scale
++Your clients’ global needs and
preferences
Outsourcing report
++Clients’ exposure to outsourcing
++Clients’ satisfaction with outsourcing by
firms
++Clients’ future intentions re outsourcing
Understand the environment
reports
Contents
Purchasing practices report
++Circumstances in which the
procurement function is involved
++Clients’ views on how the best firms
respond to procurement
All reports can be segmented to focus on your firm’s specific target market (data
permitting) and will be benchmarked against your chosen set of competitors.
About Beaton
++ Founded in 1986
++ AMSRO member
++ AMSRS member
++ 15 staff
++ 16 Bs, 1 Ms, 5 MBAs, 2 PhDs,
1 professor
++ Over 200 Blog posts
++ Over 2000 Twitter followers
++ 476 First Mover LinkedIn group
members
Beaton’s values
++ World class
• We provide stand-out quality
• We are thought leaders
++ Collaborative
• We leverage our collective strengths
• We treat everyone with respect
++ Focused on clients
• We deliver exceptional value to
clients
• We act in our clients’ best interests
++ Accountable
• We do what we say we will do
• We are commercially responsible
Milestones
1997 - First Mover seminars start
2003 - Largest B2B research study
launched
2005 - Client Choice Awards inaugurated
2006 - First law study in New Zealand
2007 - First law study in Asia, First
engineering study in New Zealand
2009 - Taylor & Associates acquired
2011 - UK partership with Gulland
Padfield
2012 - USA partnership with Catapult
Growth Partners
2012 - First engineering study in South
Africa
2013 - Record 41,418 respondents for
Professions and Business Study
2015 - Expanded Client Choice Awards
Focused on B2B services
++ Professional Services Clients
• Accounting
• Consulting Engineering
• Legal
• Management Consulting
++ Financial Services Clients
• Mortgage Lenders
• Life-Risk Insurers
++ Member Organisations
Work we love doing
++ Firms’ brands studied: 1000+
++ Client satisfaction studies: 1000+
++ Customised studies; 100+
++ Employer brand studies: 100+
++ Keynote addresses delivered: Dozens
Contact us
www.beatonglobal.com
+61 3 9829 0000
Level 3/650 Chapel Street
South Yarra VIC 3141 Australia
[email protected]