Positioning for Professionals: How Professional Knowledge Firms Can Differentiate Their Way to Success

Appendix A. The Before-and-After Survey

One way to gauge your success in defining and executing a differentiating positioning strategy is to perform a before-and-after online survey among all associates of your firm, using the questions in this appendix. Collect the data from the first survey before you begin your positioning work; this will serve as a baseline against which you can measure your progress in subsequent years. Rated questions are on a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 meaning "strongly disagree" and 10 meaning "strongly agree."

RATED QUESTIONS

• We have defined a clear focus and positioning strategy.

• We have the functions and capabilities we need to successfully deliver our value proposition.

• We have developed proprietary approaches and other intellectual capital that add value to our brand.

• We have the information resources we need to learn about and support our value proposition.

• We outsource everything that falls outside our competencies.

• We capture and share what we know about our area of expertise.

• We provide an effective means of measuring success and demonstrating accountability to our clients.

• Our people have the right skill set to support our positioning strategy.

• We use internal communication vehicles and meetings to ensure that the entire firm understands how we want to develop our brand.

• Our people understand our positioning and what they can do to help execute it in the marketplace.

• We have identified clear hiring standards for the kind of people we need in order to support ...