More notes from Managing the Professional Service Firm…

• He identifies 3 vital categories of practice development (i.e. marketing) activities and what percentage of time to spend on each:
  • Broadcasting (writing papers) – 10%
  • Courting (forming a client relationship) – 25-40%
  • Superpleasing (Going beyond satisfaction to delight) – 10-15%
  • Nurturing (Spending extra, non-billable time to understand client needs) 30-35%
  • Listening (…to the market, to develop services) – 10-15%
• ROI – via word-of-mouth – and Broadcasting the lowest ROI.
• Identifies a few ways of listening:
  • User groups (review future development ideas with a group of clients)
  • Reverse seminars (have client come in to talk to us)
  • Attending client industry meetings (with the client)
  • Market research
  • Senior partner visits
  • Engagement team debriefings
  • Systematic client feedback (e.g. survey)