Segmenting the buyers of professional services: Crisis versus confidence
Clients’ response to economic uncertainty is shaping how they behave—and not always in ways we expect.
Grouping clients together based on common behavioural traits is always challenging in the professional services context. Clients’ needs and the factors they take into account when choosing which firm to use can change rapidly. Especially where large-scale work is concerned, decisions are very rarely made by one person acting autonomously. Continuing a shift we first observed during the pandemic, buying decisions now tend to be made by senior leadership teams in collaboration, as they are trying to align priorities and expectations across multiple business functions.
In this environment, we need to look beyond standard ways of grouping buyers (geography, sector, organisational size, etc.) and understand instead the extent to which clients’ thinking is now being shaped by a very challenging economic environment.
Business confidence remains low and is only showing marginal signs of improvement.