How leading Professional Services firms acquire and retain clients

Written by Fiona Dolan, Bid Manager, Tender Team [email protected]

 

Relationship, Relationship, Relationship

A core theme which comes back time and again from client surveys is the value of professional relationships.  When we talk about the client or the organisation what we really mean is an individual or a few key individuals who are the consumers of the service.  Key to success for top firms is the long-term value which can be achieved through fostering strong (and profitable) relationships with these individuals.  As one Partner suggests “if you have a good relationship, all else hangs on that.”

People Buy People

Professional Services and services in general are people based by there nature and one should never underestimate the importance of those engaged in delivering the service.  It should be remember that you have a unique opportunity to differentiate your organisation through your people.  Getting your people out there and connecting with clients or prospective clients provides a forum for meaningful exchange.  If you can match your team to the client through there individual skills and personalities, all the better.  It should also be remembered that every-time you meet a client you are selling your services – infinitely you are selling yourself.

Reputation is Everything

In Professional Services terms clients may find it difficult to distinguish the brand from the reputation and both must be carefully managed.  You need to ensure that your brand has prominence in the business arena and this is best done through careful fostering of your reputation.  In a relatively small market like Ireland reputation can be defining and nothing will further your reputation more successfully than favourable client recommendations.  Buyers need to be assured that they are investing in a service which is perceived as the ‘IBM’ of services – it validates their choice.

Trust is Foremost

Client sophistication has never been higher, they are discerning consumers of all manner of services and have a clear conception of what they expect from a ‘trusted advisor’.  The expectation of technical expertise goes without saying but further to this is the need to connect on a personal level.  The client needs to believe that they are an important part of the life of your firm and infinitely that their interests will be protected.  Again, it goes back to the strength of the personal interaction, giving the client a sense that they are important.

Quantifying the Service

Despite increased levels of client sophistication, there may be blind spots with regard to the services which your individual firm provides.  It is therefore incumbent on all client-facing staff to ensure that the client is receiving the services which can add the most value to their organisation.  This may require them to ‘educate’ the client regarding services which may be of value to them.  Of course this is best achieved through gleaning a thorough understanding of the client’s issues ad their unique business environment and then tailoring your service proposition to best enhance the client’s business.

Price Sensitivity and Adding Value

While price sensitivity is higher than it ever was, in tender situations it is not always the cheapest who wins.  Leading firms are finding that while price is important it is infinitely the understanding of the client’s needs which is proving to be defining.  ‘Do they get what I need’, ‘do they understand my business environment’, ‘is there a good fit’ are all seen as strong differentiators.  Infinitely what will distinguish your service as far as the client perception is concerned is a tailored response which adds value in the client sphere and this is only achieved by listening to the client to elicit their individual business concerns and operational requirements.

Communication, Communication

‘You will not win work sitting at your desk’ cites one successful Partner.  You have to get out there and engage with clients, talk to your clients, establish their objectives and the metrics by which they are judged – build relationships.  The relationship should be continuous, throughout the term of the engagement – bring them along with you to ensure that you are constantly aligning your service to the client’s (often changing ) needs.  Intra assignment communication is also important in order to give the client an understanding that you are not just there for them when you are chargeable, that you have there long-term interests at heart and that the relationship is a genuine one.

See One, Do One, Teach One

There is a common misconception that business development is the responsibility of the Partners or Senior Executives when in fact marketing and business development are incumbent on all levels of client-facing staff.  In a profession which relies on the expertise of individuals, firms are infinitely judged by the calibre of all those individuals.  Succession planning is also important for the continued success and survival of any firm.  Therefore, business development activity should not be left to senior resources but rather all levels of staff should be encouraged to participate in the acquisition and retention of clients.  If you include more junior members in your pitch teams you will be fostering the business developers of the future – see one, do one, teach one.

Today, we are announcing big changes to the way government does business.

By that, I mean what I say: literally, the way it does business.

The contracts it signs, the goods and services it purchases – and the way it purchases them.

We need to make the system much more open, competitive and transparent.

No one should doubt how important this is.

It’s important for getting to grips with our deficit – as it will help us tackle waste and control public spending.

It’s important for lighting the fires of enterprise in our country – as it will provide billions of pounds worth of new business opportunities for smaller companies.

It’s important for modernising our public services – as it will open them up to the forces of competition and innovation.

And it’s important for building the Big Society – as it will give our great charities and social enterprises the opportunity to deliver services and receive new sources of income.
So today, I want to explain what the problems are with the system we inherited…

…how we are going to fix them…

…and the vital role I see each and every one of you in this room playing in delivering that change.

Problems with system

First, the problems with the system we inherited.

Put simply, it was – and frankly, still is – hugely wasteful and inefficient.

Too many public bodies end up spending money on stuff they don’t need and paying too much if they do.

In his efficiency review for the Government, Sir Philip Green found examples of departments paying anything up to £73 for a box of paper and £1400 for a laptop.

Now, I don’t happen to think this waste is intentional.

But I do think the system encourages it.

To begin with, too many of these contracts are signed off behind closed doors, with little or no public scrutiny.

That can be great for the contractors, who can charge over the odds without being properly challenged.

But it’s not so good for the taxpayer, who can be short-changed and denied value for money.

At the same time, the system doesn’t encourage small and medium-sized businesses, charities and social enterprises to compete for contracts…

…the very firms who can provide the competitive pressure to drive down costs.

Actually worse, it actively discourages them.

When we came to office, one of the things we did was create a portal on the Number Ten website and invited these smaller organisations to let us know what the problems with the system were. Many of those who contributed are here today.

The responses were overwhelming.

Start-ups were told they had to provide three years of audited accounts – despite the fact they’d, yes, only just started up.

Other organisations were told they could only compete for government contracts if they’d sold to government before – difficult to get around.

And firms with new products and innovations were told to wait for the right tender opportunities to come up…

…despite the fact that being an innovation, no one knew the product existed so there was no chance of the tender.

At the launch of Tech City in East London last November, I heard from one young entrepreneur called Glenn Shoesmith who’s had this very problem.

He’s invented a low-cost system that allows people to book slots online at their sports centre or swimming pool.

When he pitched it to the Olympics team he was told to find the relevant tender document and fill it in.

But the system didn’t know about the product, so there was no tender – and no way for Glenn to sell his product to government.

And quite apart from these counter-productive rules, there’s all the bureaucracy too.

Small businesses and charities complained that there was no single place where they could go online and see what contracts were on offer.

And they found it difficult to cope with all the separate sets of forms and documents from different public bodies.

All this helps explain one, shocking fact.

Despite accounting for fifty percent of the turnover of the UK business economy…

…we estimate SMEs only win five to ten percent of the billions of pounds of public sector business.

We asked departments to tell us what proportion of contracts were awarded to SMEs in a single month last year.

Many didn’t even know.

And of those that did, some of the figures were truly appalling.

Change

So this is how we are going to fix it.

To begin with, we’re making the whole system much more transparent.

Last month, we took an unprecedented step.

We started to publish every government contract worth over £25,000 in full.

This is going to make a huge difference.

Procurement managers will have to make sure they are not subject to over-the-top provisions or penalties.

Existing suppliers will know they have to offer their best price.

And new contractors looking online will be able to see the deals that have been done and say ‘I could do the same for half of what they’re charging.’

At the same time, we’re going to make the system a whole lot more welcoming to small and medium-sized firms, charities and social enterprises.

All those problems people raised before, we’re sorting them.

We’re sweeping away ridiculous rules and bureaucracy and seeking to eliminate, for smaller contracts, assessment hurdles at the beginning of the process.

Where we do need to ask questions about your company’s capability we are introducing a simple, straightforward pre-qualification form.

Fill it in once – and use it as your route to bidding for any government contract. Small businesses have been asking me for this for years, and I am delighted to be able to deliver it today.

To help you find those opportunities, I can also announce today that we are launching a new online tool – Contracts Finder.

It goes live today and is a one-stop-shop which will display every central government tender opportunity.

That’s more, wherever possible, we’re going to break up large contracts into smaller elements, so that SMEs can make a bid and get involved.

And where that’s not possible, we’ll also work proactively with our large suppliers to directly increase opportunities for smaller organisations in the supply chain.

And we are also today announcing a series of innovation and product surgeries, with the first one in April in Birmingham.

These events will give companies with innovative products and services the chance to pitch their ideas directly to government…

…rather than wait for government to play catch up and issue a tender.

All you need to be considered is a prototype and business plan.

All these changes will go a long way to help us fulfil one of this coalition’s key ambitions:

That twenty-five percent of all government contracts are awarded to small and medium-sized enterprises.

If we meet this goal it will mean billions of pounds worth of new business opportunities for SMEs.

Culture change

So that’s what we’re doing.

What I need in return from everyone in this room is a similar commitment.

From all of you who think you can provide a great service to government……the commitment to go online and start looking for new contract opportunities.

And from the procurement managers in government…

…the commitment to open up opportunities to new providers including SMEs and voluntary organisations.

I understand your concerns.

In the private sector, there’s an old adage – no one got sacked for hiring IBM.

Sometimes the big option seems like the safe option.

But I want you to feel empowered.

I want you to know that as long as you follow the right channels, I will stand by you if you take risks with young, new and dynamic companies.

I want you to really feel you are playing a part in turning our country round.

In cutting the deficit. In boosting enterprise and growth. In building the Big Society.

Mike Lynch of Autonomy once said the reason his company’s the global success story it is today is because one, maverick government contract manager defied the rules and gave him a tender.

One of you in here today could make that same difference.

So be bold.

Conclusion

Let me end by saying this.

I know a lot of this won’t be easy.

Yes, there will be opponents – vested interests that benefited from the old system will line up and try to stop what we are doing.

And yes, there will be mistakes along the way – opening up billions of pounds worth of contracts isn’t going to go smoothly.

But I wouldn’t be standing here today making the case for this change if I didn’t think it was so important.

It’s about making our country less wasteful and more accountable.

It’s about opening up opportunities to new, small organisations as well as the old, big ones.

It’s about being more dynamic, in our economy, and in our public services.

So together, let’s make it happen.

Listen to the full speech here on NewStatesman

Sheena Lowey gives some timely advice to professional practices on holding onto clients in an increasingly challenging environment.

Top lawyers and accountants are winning more and more international business every year. The Irish branches of both professions have gained due international recognition for their expertise and outstanding professionalism. Indeed, they are seen as key elements of Ireland’s package of attractions to inward investors.

Competitive Landscape

It is certainly no reason to rest on our laurels. In fact, the two professions have become more competitive than ever before. No firm or small group of firms has any segment of the market cornered, and any that think they do are quickly reminded of the competitive realities, which exist today.

Expertise, professionalism, experience, excellence, even brilliance are no longer enough to deliver a competitive edge. They are simply taken as givens by top clients. These clients increasingly take for granted the professional expertise of their legal and other advisers and look for other reasons to continue retaining them.

This is not merely some hunch on my part. This is based on the solid data and evidence collected from a series of client surveys carried out over the past two years on behalf of a number of leading professional practices.

These surveys also uncovered some interesting perspectives on the part of clients. Many of the corporate clients are subsidiaries of major global corporations and operate in the context of shifting loyalties and relationships at boardroom level. In fact, many of the top global corporations now have a policy of putting professional advisory service and auditing contracts out to tender every few years.  For the Irish subsidiaries any change at the top can affect local relationships. But this is not always the case. The Irish firm can enjoy a high degree of autonomy in these matters and may be able to stay with their current advisers. But they have to have to be sufficiently motivated by a high quality relationship with the adviser if they are to do so.

For this reason many Irish professional practices are becoming affiliated to international networks both to give them a more complete offering as well as to directly assist in winning new business.

Adding Value

Sometimes clients don’t think of professional advisers as genuinely providing added value. This may be grossly unfair to the professional firms involved. They are probably adding a great deal of value to their clients’ business affairs on a daily basis; the problem is that the clients either don’t know about it or don’t fully appreciate it, or most probably both.

The fact is that clients actually need to be reminded of the value being added by their professional advisers. And the way to do this is through employing good customer or client relationship management practice.

Client Engagement

Too often clients only hear from professional advisers when they have specifically requested service from them or when they receive the bill for those services. Client engagement has to be ongoing both during and between individual assignments.

Business winners and partners in professional practices need to take time to get out and visit their clients and talk to them about their business generally as any professional adviser might do. They have to forget their focus on chargeable hours and look upon these visits as investments in client retention.

They should view their relationship from that of supplier-customer to that of trusted partner. Clients should feel comfortable about picking up the telephone and talking through issues without worrying about a huge bill at the end of the call.

All research and statistics show that it costs five times as much to win a new customer as it does to retain an existing one. The economics are compelling in this regard. The real winners in the new competitive environment will be those that prove best at holding what they have while preparing for the next wave of opportunity.

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