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The professional service sector has yet to heartily embrace forecasting
or trends analysis.
- Many PSFs do already conduct trends analysis on their own internal
performance, including reviews of past billings by client project,
profitability for projects, referral sources, and the like…but
not on their marketplace.
- 34% reported they conduct trend analyses to assess future services.
- Firms determined to become market leaders (or maintain market
position) will undertake trend analysis and forecasting efforts
in order to more vigorously support their marketplace decision-making
and strategy development.
- “Gives us a sense of where things are headed and facilitates
our postulating on the critical elements needed to service the
growth areas.”
Professional service firms that analyze external information
sources discern how shifts in their clients’ industries might
affect their own businesses in the future. Forecasting and trends
analysis help PSFs to create advantageous business opportunities
before their competitors might do so.
Case Study
Start-up firm YaYa Media Inc. helped pioneer the creation of an
entirely new professional service category — advergaming —
that was formed at the edges of traditional advertising and business-to-business
sectors. YaYa’s forecasting and trends analysis helped this
new firm make its marketplace debut with strongly attractive new
services and a value-added technological infrastructure.
Trends are started
by things that have already happened. Rooted in the past
and seen happening now, trends push consumers toward their
future purchasing choices. Trends can be seen as predictors
of near– or longer-term behavior.
source: Expertise Marketing,
LLC
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Forecasts are
intelligent guesses about the future. Forecasting is not
a new discipline. A number of professional service sectors
already rely on their trade associations, industry watchdog
groups, the government and/or for-profit organizations to
help them assess future business opportunities.
For example, engineering and construction professionals
can obtain United States national, regional and sector-specific
industry outlook reports from McGraw-Hill’s F. W.
Dodge division. For the management consulting sector, Kennedy
Information Inc.’s Research Group publishes both global
trend analyses and industry outlook reports by sector. Hunt-Scanlon’s
Market Intelligence Report is targeted to the global executive
search landscape.
source: Expertise Marketing,
LLC
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