BE HUMAN, EVEN IF YOUR CAREER DOESN’T DEPEND ON IT

The importance of the human element for professional service providers is increasing

I recently came across Bill Fischer’s article, “The end of expertise” (HBR 2015), which questions the long-term existence of knowledge based organizations in their current form. Threatened by the increasing commoditization of knowledge and perceived expertise, and the low-cost, immediate results driven buyers' behavior, the author argues that soft skills and emotional intelligence are becoming unique differentiators for professionals and their firms. I couldn't agree more. While often undervalued, how you do what you do has always been an essential component of successful and sustainable client-expert advisor relationships.

It is undisputed that technology is disrupting the business of professional services firms. This disruption has been ongoing for the past two decades and it will most likely continue for the foreseeable future. Pricing pressure and changing business models and compensation formulas are some of the most visible immediate results of that turbulence. What it all ultimately means to expert professionals and their futures is yet to be determined…not much has been speculated or prescribed.

After spending incredible amounts of time and resources in the world of academia, professionals embark on a lifelong journey of professional development and practice, yearning to reach the coveted “expert” title. However, more and more professionals are realizing that the “expert” title has lost its luster, and all that goes with it. What are professionals and the firms that employ them do? Well, a few lucky ones, who have enjoyed the full benefits of being called and treated as experts, may retire. Others may have to re-tool themselves.

Based on the widely accepted Maister trustworthiness formula {trust= (credibility + reliability + intimacy) / self-orientation}, Fischer suggests that the variables in the trust building formula that deal with the human aspect of relationships offer the solution to the commoditization of professional services. In other words, employing and mastering the art of soft skills would be the only way for professionals to differentiate themselves and succeed in their careers going forward.

Because I’ve studied and have seen the positive results of professionals employing human skills, the “how you do what you do" has always come forefront in my teaching of professional development tips. I often refer to it as part of the notion of executive presence: how you go about carrying yourself, listening, communicating, etc. Take a deep dive into the concepts with “WHERE IN THE WORLD IS THE NEXT GENERATION OF PROFESSIONAL SERVICES FIRMS’ PARTNERS?”, an oldie but goodie I wrote on the subject about a half a decade ago. Listen to “LEADERSHIP LESSONS FROM MARGARET THATCHER”, an interview with Sir Bernard Ingham, Margaret Thatcher's chief press secretary I curated several years back. It builds upon the frameworks shared in the previous article, especially the one of personal gravitas.

Of course, we can’t talk about soft skills without touching on the subject of problem solving capabilities and its importance for professionals. The ability to ask good questions, realize and release innate assumptions and leniency to assign judgments, synthesize and re-frame points so as to communicate more effectively: all critical for professional and personal development in my view. Content and format will vary based on professionals’ and firms’ needs. Ask for best practices and recommendations.

Technology is great. It supposedly simplifies life and it does for the most part. Most professionals and firms have easily made the decision to invest sizable amounts in improving technology. However, most firms are neglecting to invest in the supposed beneficiaries of that technology. I say: it’s time to invest in the human element. Be human, even if your career doesn’t depend on it.

© 2010-2015 Copyright Mira Ilieva Leonard / iStile All rights reserved

By Mira Ilieva-Leonard | Mira.ilieva-leonard@istile.com

It's all about SALES

Over the past year I've collected, and randomly shared, a number of articles on the subject of sales: organization, process, skills and development. Here's a selection to reinvigorate your sales thinking, actions and results.

What Salespeople Need to Know About the New B2B Landscape: a Gartner study
As the sales process is shifting towards a consultative one in order to stay calibrated with the dynamic buying process, the importance of sales professionals as well as the marketing and thought leadership tools they use is greater than ever. Read on HERE to find out why and what to do about it.

What Top Sales Teams have in Common
High quality of the sales organization, a structured sales process, and accountability of the sale’s team members separates high-performing organizations from average and underperforming sales organizations. For additional criteria and details, read on HERE.

What Makes Great Salespeople
Spending more time with your clients, your colleagues, and your marketing and sales support team, as well as dedicating more quality time to selling, leads to better business growth results. Read HERE for supporting information.

What Separates the Strongest Salespeople from the Weakest
To improve your business growth results, increase the level of your communications skills, bump up your competitive streak, confidently lead your client conversations, stay positive while questioning your clients and their problems, and work with high performing business growth leaders. Click HERE for details.

How to Really Motivate Salespeople
Adopt individualized and simple compensation models, set reasonable goals and experiment with the rewards systems to find the most effective and efficient one for your organization. Click HERE to read more about motivating salespeople.

SHARE | Change and risk management tips for law firms from Managing Partner magazine

"SHARE" is the new format I've selected to post articles, tips, insights, videos, etc. of interest, authored by others

To succeed in a continuously evolving environment, law firms must accept risk management as a business growth enabler, appoint experienced business advisors to their leadership ranks, embrace change management training & establish a culture of readiness for change. See Managing Partner for details: https://lnkd.in/b9pAgQ5

IT TAKES TWO TO TANGO…AND GROW AN ORGANIZATION

The roles of the firm and the professionals in business growth

Professional service providers (lawyers, accountants, consultants, etc.) elect to join firms for many reasons: technical and administrative support, built-in infrastructure, environment of colleagueship and continual education, brand, etc. There are two main components to the partnership model - the partnership and its executive management, on the one hand, and the individual professionals, on the other. The model seems to work in most aspects of the business, but often fails when it comes to business growth, however. When implementing a growth strategy, I often see situations where management blames the individuals, and vice versa, when the firm’s growth goals are not realized. Why is that, and who is really to blame?

My strategy development projects require me to work with both firm management and its individual professionals. Over the course of the project however, I sometimes find myself working primarily with one or the other. In that role, I get a close view of the dynamics and dysfunctions of this partnership model, especially as it relates to business growth. I hear objections and complaints - some valid ones - about what’s holding back individual and firm business growth. Instead of playing a mediator or defender, I spend a considerable time explaining the business growth roles of the firm and its professionals. So, I decided to take a few minutes and spell it out: it takes two to tango. In order for organizations to experience sustainable and smart business growth, both parties – the firm and its technical professionals - should accept their business growth responsibilities and work to deliver them.

It starts with the visible disconnect between a firm strategic direction and the one of its individual practitioners…it is a recurring case, unfortunately. Firms should take individual professionals’ business growth goals and activities into consideration when developing strategic development plans. In addition to looking outwards for market trends and competitive analysis, annual retreats should become a series of strategic conversations of how partners see growing their practices over the short term, how such objectives are within the realm of the firm’s aspirations, and how the firm can support them.

Firms tend to load the marketing budget with awareness building activities and internal marketing communication. Instead, they should invest in building internal business growth organizations that reaches beyond branding activities, and cover all steps of the business growth process. They should take a comprehensive view and ensure that this internal platform offers adequate support during the awareness building, education, sales and loyalty phases. They should provide marketing and business development resources and tools, and I am not referring to the basic websites and brochures. The firm should be able to provide thought leadership materials, target intelligence, client data, and facilitate opportunities for the professionals to engage with clients, prospects and referral sources so that they can build meaningful relationships. Firms should adopt and manage systems and processes to help track and measure business growth activities, for more efficient and effective i.e. smart growth. Most importantly, firms should equip professionals with the skills how to best use all of the above. In my professional experience, firms, which have aligned their development inspirations with that of its professionals, have invested and built internal growth engines, see considerable growth results.

Professionals tend to set business growth goals based on anecdotal information (often not due to the lack of actual data) and without regard on how they might achieve them. They should take a more strategic approach and create simple business growth plans (no more than 1-2 pages long), inclusive of measurable goals and specific tactics on how they might reach their objectives. They should get to know and utilize the tools, resources and systems provided by the firm – they are in place for them to use. Equally to their continual thirst for technical knowledge, they should strive to enhance their business growth planning and implementation skills. If professionals take advantage and leverage the full support of the firm, only then can they point elsewhere for poor business growth results.

Firm leaders, professionals, keep in mind for the next round of annual reviews: "it takes two tango". Look inwards and evaluate how you are delivering on your business growth responsibilities before shifting blame and looking for alternative business growth opportunities.

© 2010-2015 Copyright Mira Ilieva Leonard / iStile All rights reserved

By Mira Ilieva-Leonard | Mira.ilieva-leonard@istile.com

COLLABORATE TO INCREASE BUSINESS GROWTH: PART III

Practical tips for unlocking the potential of collaboration

In Part I of the series on collaboration I made the argument that professional services organizations should strive to encourage collaboration, because it leads to business growth. In Part II, I discussed the major obstacles to collaboration, and hinted on how to overcome them. In this last segment, I will take a prescriptive approach, and outline specific measures to unlocking the potential of collaboration. As in the past, I’ll also refer to the Harvard Business Review (HBR) article and study, titled “When senior managers won’t collaborate”, and some of my past writing on the subject.

A collaborative culture must originate with the leadership team. Leaders should consider and explore a firm development strategy with collaboration as a core attribute, or even as a sustainable competitive advantage. Take an all-encompassing approach: from recruiting and retaining talent, to growing the firm and boasting team performance. Demonstrate and communicate the importance of collaborating and growing the organization and the danger of not doing so to the business; become vocal in celebrating client development accomplishments and equally so to learn from failures; and nurture an environment where experimenting with innovative ideas is welcomed.

Leaders should define an organizational structure and compensation models that foster sharing and cooperation, again spreading throughout the firm: back office operations, technical and client facing practitioners. Employ tools and systems that encourage communication, knowledge sharing and transparency, which are some of the key components of collaboration. Establish functions and recruit / develop professionals who not only understand the value of collaboration, but have the necessary skills to build and cultivate collaborative culture. Focus on the system not the individual superstar performance. Set firm-based, common goals, which benefit the firm as a whole rather than the individual performer. For the greater good.

Leadership must adopt a “systems thinking” way to managing professional services organizations. To do so, approach problems by identifying the source of the issues: what’s the core, not the symptom. Employ all disciplines of the systems thinking theory (refer to my past article, "Systematic approach to business growth"), especially the ones of “mental models”, which among other things, explains why change management exercises and introduction to new business growth systems and programs might fail; and the “team learning” one, which casts light on what's behind the “narcissistic behavior” of professional services organizations, ultimately holding back collaboration and limiting business growth.

To my delight, the HBR survey offers professional services organizations tips similar to my prescriptions. It encourages leaders to walk the talk and show first hand by collaborating with others. Create opportunities for the team to connect and build trust. Resist the temptation to bring in rainmakers, but look for individuals with demonstrated collaborative experience. Celebrate team wins. Re-consider the compensation scheme of the firm and question how much weigh is attributed to collaboration, if any. I’ve seen some of this already take place in a few progressive organizations, where collaboration has become a factor in the compensation formula. Build a collaborative culture by tracking and rewarding non-billable collaborative initiatives such as mentoring. Enhance the knowledge sharing culture. Encourage regular workshops and secondment programs, and utilize communication technology and tools to share best practices. Develop teams to lead the way. Build collaboration in the firms’ development strategies.

The HBR survey takes a segmented approach, and in addition to the above-mentioned recommendations geared towards organizations and their leaders, it also speaks directly to individual practitioners. It recommends to professionals to be persistent. Select to collaborate with a firm influencer / rainmaker. Be fair to teammates. Communicate often and openly, and deliver on promises.

Organizational development research, as also confirmed by the HBR study, shows that organizations which build and nurture a collaborative environment manage to turn knowledge into action, share best practices and drive growth at a sustainable and fast pace. So, when examining what’s inhibiting organizational development and growth, reflect on the factors outlined above and most importantly, take immediate actions to close the know-do gaps and create collaborative culture.

For a copy of the HBR article visit: https://hbr.org/2015/03/when-senior-managers-wont-collaborate?utm_content=buffer98a13&utm_medium=social&utm_source=linkedin.com&utm_campaign=buffer

© 2010-2015 Copyright Mira Ilieva Leonard / iStile All rights reserved

By Mira Ilieva-Leonard | Mira.ilieva-leonard@istile.com

COLLABORATE TO INCREASE BUSINESS GROWTH: PART II

Why is it so difficult for collaboration to work?

Last month I launched a three-part article on the subject of collaboration. The piece is based on my past and current research and observations, and follows a recently released Harvard Business Review (HBR) study. In Part I, I and the author of the HBR article, made the case for collaboration in professional services firms and the direct correlation to business growth. In this segment, I will focus on the challenges of making collaboration work.

The study and I are in agreement: the key factors preventing professional organizations from taking full advantage of collaboration are organizational structure, compensation model and culture.

While in several of my articles I discuss narcissistic or hyped self-preservation behavior and the lack of common strategic goals and systems in professional services firms as the main roadblocks to building a healthy collaborative environment, the compensation models and culture are just as critical for that. I’ve especially emphasized on those in my piece based on the collapse on Dewey & LaBouef. The Dewey & LaBouef case clearly demonstrates that a compensation model, mainly incentivizing rainmaking can encourage wrong behaviors and be counterproductive. Similarly, a culture allowing for a digression from the clearly defined traditional firms’ values of loyalty and collegiality, often has a hefty price.

The HBR survey notes that organizational structure, compensation systems and culture in professional services firms favor individualistic approach. Most firms still value rainmakers higher. From professionals’ standpoint that’s not a bad thing, as professionals’ security is tied to their client relationships. External recognition from professional organization rankings further influences professionals and pushes them to focus on individual performance. The last notable obstacle to collaboration, according to the survey is the lack of collaboration skills. I concur. The skills in reference here are such that go beyond the usual delegation of work to junior professionals; these skills support an advisory approach to client management of asking questions, which benefit the client, and having client conversations that reach outside of the comfortable technical points and are actual business dialogues. These collaborative skills encourage giving and receiving team member feedback, allowing both jr. and sr. level professionals to contribute and learn from one another. These are the skills that most professional service providers are not equipped with…

So, what can you do about it?

After a careful study of the characters, the various circumstances and the storyline of the events, leading to the bankruptcy of Dewey & LaBoeuf, in The New Yorker piece, “The Collapse”, James B. Stewart concludes that “cooperation and mutual respect” is at the heart of successful professional services firms. That’s the culture that successful firms foster and Dewey & LaBoeuf blatantly ignored, according to Stewart. In some of my other articles I refer to that as collaboration and encourage organizations to reward it, because it provides for learning, best practice sharing, better solutions design and a team client approach…for the greater good.

Stay tuned for the last segment of this series, which will take a prescriptive approach and will outline tangible points to inspire collaboration(CLICK HERE).

For a copy of the HBR article visit: https://hbr.org/2015/03/when-senior-managers-wont-collaborate?utm_content=buffer98a13&utm_medium=social&utm_source=linkedin.com&utm_campaign=buffer

© 2010-2015 Copyright Mira Ilieva Leonard / iStile All rights reserved

By Mira Ilieva-Leonard | Mira.ilieva-leonard@istile.com

COLLABORATE TO INCREASE BUSINESS GROWTH: PART I

HBR study confirms that collaboration in professional services firms leads to financial rewards

Nearly 3 years ago I launched a series of articles on the subject of collaboration among professionals from professional services firms (law, accounting, tax, consulting, etc.). I wrote about the importance of collaboration to firms’ organizational development and business growth, the reasons behind the visible resistance to it, and how to overcome such resistance and take full advantage of collaboration. Even though some of my blog entries might be considered polarizing, the theme of collaboration has repeatedly appeared in many of my articles. I am glad to see the findings and statistics of a recently released HBR study on collaboration validate my hypothesis and emphasize the importance of collaboration to professional services firms.

As a result of examining collaborative behavior of professional services firms over the past couple of years, Professor Gardner (a lecturer at the Harvard Law School) recently released her findings in an HBR article, titled “When senior managers won’t collaborate.” The key sentiment of it is in line with much of my beliefs: when professionals work together to collaborate everybody wins!

Why collaborate? In my “One for all, all for one" article of December 2012, I spelled out the benefits of collaboration. Collaboration encourages learning and development (critical for knowledge-based organizations such as PSFs), turns knowledge into action (which closes “knowing-doing” gaps), and increases the opportunities to grow business and succeed in the market place. Collaboration in PSFs provides confidence to existing clients that the firm will provide the necessary resources to support them and provide fresh ideas and solutions; for new clients, collaboration means a stronger and deeper team and higher chances for both the client and the advisor to identify someone to connect with and build trust which builds stronger, better relationships between clients and advisors…after all, people like to work with people who they like and trust. When it comes to client development, collaboration alleviates the burdensome stigma of sales. Working as a part of a team makes that experience less onerous, and promotes best practices sharing, while keeping everyone accountable.

Equipped with statistics and historical financial data, the HBR study backs up my words and demonstrates direct financial benefits of collaboration to the firm. When professionals collaborate, it results in the involvement of more practice areas, creates higher margin work, and institutionalizes client relationships. Thus, it becomes harder to replace an entire team of advisors and it becomes equally difficult for a departing partner to walk away with a client.

The HBR study goes on to outline the benefits to professionals as well. When team members get to know one another they become more likely to refer work among themselves. I often tell my clients: you have to work as hard to develop relationships with your internal partners as with external referral sources; they need to know you and trust you before they put their reputation on the line for you. The study has made an interesting observation here: collaborative professionals benefit from a steady stream of business even during slow periods due to their diversified skills, which further allows professionals to work on a variety of projects, and continue to collaborate. Collaboration creates a very beneficial feedback loop.

If the benefits are so overwhelmingly clear, why is it so difficult for collaboration to work in professional services firms? Stay tuned for my next article on the subject, which will examine the roadblocks to building and managing collaborative environment (CLICK HERE).

For a copy of the HBR article, click HERE.

© 2010-2015 Copyright Mira Ilieva Leonard / iStile All rights reserved

By Mira Ilieva-Leonard | Mira.ilieva-leonard@istile.com

THE PROFESSIONAL NETWORKS MODEL: EVOLVING TO STAY RELEVANT?

A series of questions and recommendations from the leading minds in the field

Professional networks have become the norm when it comes to connecting independent professional services firms in order for them to better serve clients and offer global solutions. As I indicated in my article “Making Professional Networks Work” when both the member firms and the network have shared objectives, long-term commitments, and clear expectations, that formula can be extremely powerful. However, that’s easier said than done! Many member firms I’ve worked with are struggling to justify their network involvement and investment, and are increasingly questioning the validity of the network model.

During my extensive experience with networks and their member firms, I’ve had the privilege to collaborate with a number of forward thinking network leaders. James Mendelssohn is certainly one of them. James is a Chairman of one such network, MSI Global Alliance (MSI) and a highly sought-after consultant focused on network management and leadership issues with Firm Management Associates. I was thrilled when James recently agreed to share some of the content he’s developing - alongside Quentin Vaile, former head of the international network at the UK law firm Berwin Leighton Paisner - on the future model of professional networks. Below, please find the first several articles of the series. I hope that you will find their thoughts and recommendations of interest and will follow their writings, as this blog will.

“PROFESSIONAL SERVICES NETWORKS – A VIABLE BUSINESS MODEL FOR THE FUTURE?”

This is the first in a series of blogs that will look at the world of professional services networks; their future; different business models that can be followed to ensure their success; and what member firms need to do to capitalise on their membership of such networks.

There are some strong networks out there, and others that are struggling. There are some good member firms of networks, and others that are members for entirely the wrong reasons or with totally unrealistic expectations. We’ll be looking at all of this, and we won’t be pulling our punches. Some may find our comments uncomfortable and will undoubtedly stick their heads (even further) into the sand. Others, I hope, will accept them in the spirit with which they are offered and consider changes that may lead to the long-term sustainability of their organisations.

For the full article, click HERE.

“DO PROFESSIONAL SERVICES NETWORKS HAVE A FUTURE?”

The professional services world is changing – and probably faster today than at any time in the past. The principal reasons for this are twofold; and these converging pressures create the perfect storm for change. First, client needs are changing. One in five SMEs in the UK now trades overseas. And if you discount the high number of very small traders who are never going to look beyond these shores, then the proportion is clearly much higher amongst those businesses that many professional services firms would consider to be prime targets. Demand from clients for their advisers to be able to respond to an international enquiry has never been higher. Secondly, the professions are changing. Of course, the professions are always changing, but the pace of change within the professions at a local and national level is now having a very marked impact on the way in which firms are able to service their clients overseas.

If you take these two factors within the context of many people, in both their personal and business lives, believing that big is not always best (just look at the shift in retailing patterns over recent years), then the need both for networks to look critically at themselves, and also for those firms that either within a network or considering joining one, to review their motivation, and see whether their objectives are being met, has never been stronger.

For the full article, click HERE.

“CHANGING THE MODEL OF PROFESSIONAL SERVICES NETWORKS – ONE FIRM, ONE VOTE”

‘Partnership is not a great management approach at a single office level. And when you translate that into the international arena, it is a disaster. Democracy within the typical network business model is all very well in theory, but in practice …’ That comment from my previous blog certainly struck a chord, and so for the next few blogs, I plan to focus on various aspects of network governance where democracy sometimes emerges … but not always with the desired results.

With many networks set up as membership organisations, the concept of member participation in the governance process is often embodied in the constitution. Indeed, I know of one network where each member firm, whatever their size, gets one vote on each important decision. And, if the network wishes to appoint a new member firm, then 75% of the membership has to vote in favour. Very democratic, perhaps, but a complete nightmare. Not just because of the administrative problem of trying to get that number of firms to actually vote, but it totally undermines the position of the team whose task it is to appoint new members. What do people from the other side of the world know about a particular firm that someone who has visited and reviewed that firm do not?

For the full article, click HERE.

CHANGING THE MODEL OF PROFESSIONAL SERVICES NETWORKS – WHO SITS ON YOUR BOARD?

The ‘one firm, one vote’ concept, still adopted by many groups (largely because of their inability to change rather than a belief that this is a good model for any other than the smallest firms), may appear to be democratic, but in reality it simply hinders the logical decision-making process. Some groups have managed to vest the management of the group to a small Board of Directors, and they will normally have significant powers, with only key issues being put to the membership as a whole. And therein lies the problem. Or, in fact, two problems.

First, while day-to-day management becomes more efficient, fundamental issues of change remain within the domain of the membership as a whole, with all their diverse interests. Turkeys don’t vote for Christmas, and member firms in membership organisations are primarily driven by the interests of their particular firm, rather than the organisation as a whole. That’s fine if votes on key issues are decided by a simple majority, but I know of at least one large network that requires a 75% majority on any decision of substance.

Secondly, it is fine to vest management in a Board of Directors, but who sits on that Board? Well, almost without exception, the Board comprises senior partners from a number of the larger member firms, together with the senior employee, normally the Chief Executive or Executive Director. Whilst these are normally, I am sure, worthy men and women, there is absolutely no doubt that the most important thing in their business lives will be their own firm, and not the membership organisation of which their firm is a member. So unless the situation is well managed, there is an inevitable conflict of interests.
…
The more ‘corporate’ the structure can become, with directors who really distinguish between their different roles, the more likely it is that the network will succeed and flourish.

For the complete article, click HERE.

© 2010-2015 Copyright Mira Ilieva Leonard / iStile All rights reserved

By Mira Ilieva-Leonard | Mira.ilieva-leonard@istile.com

Who Do You Trust When the Trust Is Gone | Edelman Trust Barometer 2015

What does it mean to your organization and what you should do about it?

Trust is at the core of any interpersonal relationship. Politicians campaign to capture their constituents’ trust and voting power. Consumer brands strive to earn their consumers’ trust and become the product / brand of choice. Service firms work hard to establish themselves and their professionals as “trusted advisers” and “partners.” Trust can be very fragile, and once earned can be easily lost no matter how much time and money were spent earning it.

As has become my custom, here’s a brief overview of the recently released 2015 edition of the Edelman Trust Barometer and my interpretation of the findings.

The bottom line of the 2015 Trust Barometer: trust is on the decline, yet again. Studying four main segments: NGO’s, business, media and government, government is the only institution with a slight uptick in trust (hard to believe, right?).

Overall trust in the media is on the decline. Search engines are the most trusted and the first choice of locating general information. Content is more trusted if it is created by the subject matter experts, as opposed to journalists. Not surprisingly, business references coming from family members or friends are the most trusted. Marketing professionals take note: revisit and potentially increase your spending on SEO’s, raise authentic authorship content and review testimonials to include some of trusted referral sources.

Businesses are losing trust for the first time after the Great Depression – perhaps an indicator that the recovery we’ve been seeing is slowing down. The survey outlines four factors that impact trust in business: industry, enterprise type, country of origin and leadership.

Technology remains the most trusted industry, yet with the numerous security breaches, hacking stories, etc. trust is decreasing both for the technology products and the industry overall. Don’t take it for granted: continue to ensure your clients and shareholders of the security of their information, reinforce the value of your products / services and their positive benefit to society (see more on that below).

BRICs are still among the most distrusted countries of business origin, while Sweden, Canada, Germany and Swiss are the most trusted (well, at least until the most recent Swiss HSBC banking scandal). Family-owned businesses in the developed countries are the most trusted ones, while big businesses are trust leaders in developing countries. The reputational risk closely tied to where you and your clients do business is still very much alive. Think of the healthy longevity of LuxLeaks, SwissLeaks and other tax related headlines in the international media. I hope that these finding will encourage you to review your current geographic development strategy and adjust it accordingly.

Academics, industry experts and technical experts remain the most credible spokespeople. In most cases, CEOs are not viewed as credible spokespeople, though that again varies between developed and developing countries. Another question to marketers: who is addressing your clients? Consider raising the profiles of technical experts, and partnering with academic institutions to validate your thought leadership.

One of the most interesting findings of this year’s study is that rapid implementation of technology seems to depress trust and directly influences trust in innovation overall. The continuous stream of newly minted technology millionaires presents innovation as being driven by greed and not necessarily good for society. Then again, trust in innovation is far higher in the developing world than in the developed one, as the "developing markets are more open to change." Organizations that see innovation as critical to their competitiveness need to recognize that consumers fear the unknown and should emphasize education during the sales process. Transparence and third-party validation, perhaps by academic institutions and NGO’s, are essential for earning credibility and trust.

“Knowledge and understanding beget trust”. Edelman has identified integrity, engagement, products and services, purpose and operations as the key ingredients in building trust. Integrity is the leading criterion, closely followed by engagement, both of which encompass activities such as “ethical business practice, taking responsibility to address issues, having transparent and open business practices, listening to clients’ needs and feedback, treating employees well, placing clients ahead of profit, and communicating frequently on the state of the business.” So what does this mean to you? Be transparent. Communicate with your stakeholders and clients often and with purpose. Connect with academic institutions. Get involved in solving the problems of the community. Work to earn and keep the trust of your key constituents.

Trust matters. Clients purchase products/services from companies they trust. Keep in mind that now, more than ever, clients/consumers are vocal. They will recommend organizations they trust and equally, share criticism of the ones they distrust.

For a copy of the 2015 Edelman Trust Barometer visit: http://www.edelman.com/insights/intellectual-property/2015-edelman-trust-barometer/trust-and-innovation-edelman-trust-barometer/executive-summary/

© 2010-2015 Copyright Mira Ilieva Leonard / iStile All rights reserved

By Mira Ilieva-Leonard | Mira.ilieva-leonard@istile.com

POSITION YOUR CLIENTS CENTER STAGE FOR A WINNING GROWTH STRATEGY

"What business are you really in?"

Tis the season when marketers and firm leaders dive deep into excel and power point exercises, as they conduct year-end performance reviews and look ahead towards 2015 planning. I wonder how many will stop for a moment and ask: “what business are we really in?” and take a different approach to short and long term strategy development.

Nearly 55 years ago, Theodore Levitt, a professor at Harvard Business School, articulated the importance of businesses focusing on clients’ needs in an article titled “Marketing Myopia,” which is a Harvard Business Review (HBR) favorite. He posed the question “what business are we really in” and provided a number of case studies, illustrating the peril facing organizations, which have ignored that question. I was recently reminded of this timeless concept not only by re-reading the re-published article, but also because I am beginning to see it more often in professional services firms in the form of marketing officers and firm leadership working together for the benefit of the client. It’s about time, one might say.

Thanks to this “clients first” concept, professional services marketing functions are enjoying a renaissance period. Professional services firms are recognizing the importance of “client centric approach” to their businesses, and thus their business growth strategies, and with that they are changing their historical definitions of marketing to encompass a more strategic and intelligent function. On their end, marketers are doing their part in raising their profiles by utilizing client data and analytics to drive growth and demonstrate their value in terms of dollars and cents. It’s a push - pull process that is leading the way and changing internal growth organizations. This trend is highlighted by the increasing tenure of CMO’s, according to leading executive search firms.

“An industry begins with the customer and his / her needs, not with a patent, a raw material, or a selling skill,” writes Levitt in the aforementioned article. Let that be a reminder that now that the marketing and strategy functions are finally working alongside, it is important to stay focused on what brought them together: the client. While it’s easy to get distracted by budgets, operations and tactics of delivering strategy and business growth plans, put your clients’ agenda first this year.

Consider changing your annual strategic planning process. Facilitate a session to answer the question “what business are we really in,” as well as how have your clients and their needs changed, and whether your business is still in line with them. Put aside the internal political minutiae. Shift your focus from developing new services or re-packaging existing ones to your clients. Expand the scope of the process to include a wider input pool: internal professionals across functions and external industry leaders, and most importantly, your clients. Think innovation, not preservation. Be prepared to reallocate resources in your budgets. And last but not least, make it a dynamic strategic planning / review process that takes place throughout the year.

If all else fails, at least go back through your client satisfaction surveys / interviews and outline just one additional initiative that you are going to undertake in 2015, which will focus on your clients’ needs. It might just help you outpace your competition and re-define your market.

By Mira Ilieva-Leonard Mira.ilieva-leonard@istile.com

© 2010-2014 Copyright Mira Ilieva Leonard / iStile All rights reserved

THE POWER OF TECHNOLOGY IN GROWING PROFESSIONAL SERVICES

How to make the most out of technology tools

Technology can and should be used to offer leverage and amplify the business growth efforts of professional services firms, both at the firm and individual practice level. As with anything else, before selecting which tools to use it is critical to have clear strategy, defined key performing indicators (KPIs) and realistic expectations in mind. Below is a list of the most popular technology tools with professional services firms (PSFs), some of their features, pros and cons as well as general best practices. Note that each of them might support different or several segments of the sales process (e.g. Lead generation, engagement, etc.) and offer different ROI when evaluated individually.

Email marketing is one of the most well established technologies in the PSF market. E-mail is still a very powerful tool notwithstanding its overuse in the marketplace, and dismissal by many BD professionals. When coupled with analytics, it can be a marketer’s go-to technology platform. However, if not structured properly, email marketing can often provide a one-way communication, with limited opportunities for dialogue with the audience. To make the most out of email marketing, try to launch a dialogue with the readers, strive to have compelling and relevant content, and focus the communication to the right audience with the right packaging.

Blogs have become very popular with PSFs because they offer very easy publication capabilities for individual professionals and content focus (e.g. industry, specific technical point, etc.). A blog can also be viewed as a bit more engaging than the one way broadcasting of emails because it invites feedback through reader comment sections. As such, it might be considered “higher” on the client acquisition value chain. The biggest challenge with blogs is following a diligent and disciplined approach to content creation. To make the most of blogs, the creator must develop a content schedule and distribution strategy regardless of whether the blog is powered by individual technical professional or marketing and knowledge teams.

Driven by easy access, low entry cost and an army of young marketing professionals very comfortable with the medium, Social Media has received a lot of attention with PSFs, undeservingly so, some might say. Not all social media tools are created equal. LinkedIn, Twitter, Google +, and others offer different value to marketing and business growth of professional services firms. I can’t emphasize enough the importance of having a clear understanding of the tools and a strategy in place on how to use them. Based on your objective, LinkedIn, for example, can be used in many different ways, e.g. as a mass communication platform, intelligence gathering tool, engagement facilitation portal with existing and prospective connections (note that there’s a difference between connections and contacts), etc. We can apply similar reasoning to Twitter; are you broadcasting or listening, and why? How do you use these tools and why?

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) has become one of the most dreaded three letter words in professional service firms, so much so that some firms have tried to use different acronyms. In many cases CRMs have become synonyms for expensive and often unsuccessful change management exercises. This “infamy” is unfortunate. CRMs offer key functionality for smart business growth such as targeting and segmentation, and have great success stories for collaboration, cross-sell and client service efficiency, as evidenced by the 2013 “Managing Client Relationships” report, produced by the Managing Partners’ Forum and their partners (you can find a copy of the full report here) The challenges presented with CRMs are many. They include data collection, input and upkeep – which can be time consuming and require discipline, adoption and utilization – which require training and firm-wide buy-in, or what typically occurs is the CRM is limited to a few administrative functions which vastly underutilize the capabilities of the system. In order for CRMs to be successful and offer positive ROI they require big percentages of firm wide use. With that in mind, having a clear strategy and reasonable expectations must be at the forefront of CRM implementation projects. This requires cross-functional collaboration between C-level Management, Marketing, IT and HR.

Marketing Automation is the latest trend in technology tools designed to impact the top line. To a big extent, marketing automation ties all of the above-mentioned tools together plus SEO’s and analytics. A few PSFs are venturing and experimenting with this tool, but the jury is still out. The main question to consider is whether PSFs can generate enough relevant content to constantly feed the marketing automation machine and get a reasonable ROI on the investment in the system and its support personnel. Marketing and knowledge teams, assisted by technical professionals, will need to work together to map the client acquisition journey (to use product marketing terminology) and develop appropriate content. They will also need to keep in mind that the decision buying process might be different for different services and clients.

There are of course other technology tools such Websites & Content Management Systems (CMS), Search Engine Optimization, Big Data & Analytics, etc. that I will not cover now because of the questionable nature of their direct impact to business growth, at least as of this writing. Websites & CMS are mainly seen as informative and credibility building tools rather than drivers of business growth. Only a select few firms thus far are undergoing investments in Big Data & Analytics, i.e., mining and analyzing the data available to them to provide data to assist studying buyers’ behavior and for productizing services. And most importantly, even fewer still are taking the next step and acting on the data analysis. The business growth opportunity with Big Data is here, but it is not fully understood by professional services firms yet.

There’s no doubt that technology tools offer business growth leverage at both individual and firm levels. If there’s one key takeaway from this brief piece is that these tools are only as valuable as the strategy of their use. Those who don’t “think it through” before trying to implement these tools may find a lot of frustrated professionals and low adoption rates within their firms. So, before jumping on the next technology trend ask yourself why, what you expect to achieve, how you are going to use it, and if you have the time and resources to dedicate to it.

© 2010-2014 Copyright Mira Ilieva Leonard / iStile All rights reserved

By Mira Ilieva-Leonard Mira.ilieva-leonard@istile.com

Clients changing the business of law

How are firms dealing with it and what it all means in practice?

I was recently invited to moderate a panel of law firm CFO’s for the Southeastern Chapter of the Legal Marketing Association, titled “The Evolution of Law Firm Finance and Its Impact on Business Development.” The panel considered the following circumstances and how they have impacted the business of law. As a result of the recent recession law firms are undergoing overwhelming change. Many of them are retooling their financial strategies by adopting alternative pricing methods, shifting operational financing, improving vendor management, and most importantly, how they go about attracting, serving, and retaining top clients. In other words, firms are modifying their way of doing business to better align with the demands of corporate America. So what does that mean for the industry in practice?

Below please find some of the key takeaways from the conversation along with my personal observations. A side note: in my experience this trend is not limited to law firms and is evident across the professional services industries. Many of the points brought up during the conversation are applicable to professionals offering consulting, accounting, and other business services.

The fact that clients today are expecting the same high quality services for lower cost worries some professionals, but hasn’t persuaded them to change their pricing model. Some cling to the notion that this is only a fad and “the good old days” of buyers’ flexible budgets will return. If neither are willing to change their thinking, both groups will soon become industry laggards.

This shift from a revenue- to a cost- based law firm business, where “profit” is the name of the game is clear. It presents many opportunities for firms ready to improve performance and leverage efficiency. However, the transition is not easy, which makes the hesitation of the above-mentioned laggards understandable. It necessitates a “one size fits none” mentality, where firms must take a segmented positioning attitude for various practices and partners, and learn both the consultative and commodity approaches of selling legal services. It requires applying new staffing and project management models, such as “the pyramid” staffing model for consulting and other deep expertise services, and / or “the diamond” model for highly leveraged, packaged services. It also calls for new skill sets: project management, financial understanding, change management, collaborative skills; and new tools: financial dashboards, collaborative index, etc.

Marketers and Billable Professionals: CFOs are your new best friends. In order to succeed in this environment, marketers and billable professionals will need to understand the business of the firm and the various individual practices. In addition to joining forces on addressing RFP’s, they will need to work with CFO’s to package services: define how to sell and deliver them in order to keep healthy profit margins, and create business models to stay competitive and win business. They will need to communicate often to identify where the systems and processes can be improved to serve clients better. They will need to track Marketing/BD spending and measure ROI, to better evaluate business growth initiatives and create more accurate budgets. Ultimately, they need to align their agendas to champion change to create and employ the supporting systems, skills and processes.

The CFO’s sitting next to me for this session might be some of the most progressive ones I’ve encountered. I was delighted to hear them speak about changing behavior, collaboration, and building a different type of organizational culture. They understood what it would take to make the transition: to meet their clients’ expectations and remain relevant.

The bottom line: change is upon us and instead of wasting time and energy fighting it, embrace it. Accept that with the new business model new compensation structures are afoot and necessary to change behavior and overall firm culture. Adopt new KPI’s (key performing indicators) such as team profitability, cross selling, and collaboration. Understand that "not all clients are created equal;” approach them and structure delivery accordingly.

It is indeed a transformative period for the legal and other business services industries. Progressive firms that will act upon this shift quickly, and put the wheels of change in motion, will stand out. Will you join them? At iStile, we work with firms to help them take advantage of such opportunities by structuring and implementing the necessary systems and equipping the management team and professionals with the necessary skills.

By Mira Ilieva-Leonard Mira.ilieva-leonard@istile.com

© 2010-2014 Copyright Mira Ilieva Leonard / iStile All rights reserved

GOT CHANGE?

Practical tips on introducing and successfully implementing new ideas, processes, etc…

For the past several years I’ve spent the majority of my time in Europe, which I discovered uses an extraordinary amount of change (coins). “Change” –whether used to mean “coins” or “transition” - is not popular nor convenient (it is heavy and bulky); it is necessary (from the most trivial to the most unexpected activities), and it is everywhere, and ultimately becomes part of one’s normal life. In many respects, Europeans pride themselves on their resistance to change through preservation of culture and traditions – and they continue to use coins for most transactions. Yet, Europe is also a symbol of political and economic change as it seeks to break down national borders and create a single currency. . . Notwithstanding the images of 1000 year old castles, and clinging to traditions, in many respects they are much more advanced than the “innovators” on this side of the Atlantic Ocean. I can’t help but think that if Europeans can resist change, and at the same time embrace it as political and economic borders begin to erode, then we need to carefully identify why some change can take hold, while other is impossible to implement.

Why is it so difficult for some kinds of behavior change to take hold? How do we reduce the amount of time fighting change and ensure high adoption rates?

In my function I often act as a change agent (I have mixed feelings about the term) and while I personally enjoy change (I thrive on it really), I am puzzled by how others behave when they are exposed to it. Because of that I’ve spent a good bit of time reading and studying change: behavioral change, change management, how to present change to increase its adoption rate, why it’s hard to change people, how to reset your brain, the latter two coming from articles and books such as: “Change or Die”, Alan Deutschman (#changeordie) and “Driving Change”, Mike Brewster (#drivingchange). They all explain that change and the perceived discomfort and the uncertainty it brings are scary for most people.

“Sixty percent of change initiatives result in failure. Change is always very hard, so choose your battles and focus your efforts…lawyers are typically more resistant to change than most,” claims a recent article in Managing Partner, a UK based publication catering to the legal industry, June 2014. I am not surprised with this number. In fact, my anecdotal research would claim that the number of failed change activities is even higher and closer to seventy-five percent across professional services organizations (law, accounting, advisory, etc.), my field of expertise.

Is it necessary to change? And, why are we trying so hard and over and over again to change people? For organizations to evolve, do we need to change? Should we just adopt the Darwin’s model and let organizations prone to change survive and let others become obsolete? Change is good and necessary. Placidity is stifling and brings conformity. The real question in my opinion is what are we really changing when we talk about altering organizations: people or their behavior? An article in the June, 2014 issue of Scientific American, titled “Good Habits, Bad Habits” talks about the complex process of building and re-programming habitual behavior. It turns out, what it appears to be a simple act of automatic behavior is not as simple after all. Multiple parts of the human brain are involved when building habits and almost as many once the habit is imprinted and is processed. Given that the majority of our daily existence is a series of habitual acts, which once laid down employ chunks of neural activity, it’s no surprise it’s so difficult to change human behavior.

All of the materials I’ve come across on the subject also talk about how to go about managing change –the traditional model of denial, the one of co-creation...There are some great frameworks to assist you in the process. Before you evaluate them and select which ones to employ I would suggest you gauge the adaptability of the organization / people. You can do so by looking at past performance, use structured assessment tests, etc. From my practical experience, openness to change equals desire to learn, so that’s usually my first clue. The organizations and professionals I’ve worked with and have had the highest rate of change management success are ones with obvious and exemplary attitude towards learning. I am referring to general curiosity and aptitude to absorb knowledge: industry and technically related, or even just generic (including pop culture, sports, etc.).

Once you have a sense of how challenging your change management task might be, multiply it by two as well as the project time and resources, and the chances are that you’ll still underestimate its complexity. Here are a few practical pointers to keep in mind through the process:

- Break the project down to small, digestible work streams.

- Articulate benefits – overall and individual (mind you that those might vary for different audiences).

- Provide a support system and tools.

- Let people process it at their own rate.

- Celebrate small wins.

- Have a failsafe plan (or a few).

- Provide constant cues and rewards in effort to build new habits.

- Equip yourself and the change management team with patience.

Progress and change are inevitable. For a sustainable change to take hold it takes time and perseverance – it’s a marathon, not a sprint. And for our European friends and their paradox – well, how it all plays out with the EU and euro in the long term will be the ultimate test of their ability to deal with change. Good luck!

© 2010-2014 Copyright Mira Ilieva Leonard / iStile All rights reserved

"BUSINESSES LEADING THE DEBATE FOR CHANGE" | 2014 EDELMAN TRUST BAROMETER

It is this time of the year when Edelman publishes its renowned annual study of the state of global consumer trust. Trust is the basis of building relationships with consumers and clients, and thus is the core of all meaningful business relationships. I’ve been genuinely interested in the findings of the survey and followed it for the past several years. For a third year, I will share key points of the survey below and direct the attention of my friends and colleagues to this insightful tool. Hopefully, you also find the subject of building and retaining trust as intriguing as I do. Please consider how the lessons from this survey might affect you and your clients’ organizations directly.

General Findings

While there’s an overall decline in trust over the past year, there are significant variations on a regional basis. There was a decline in trust in the USA, France, Mexico, and an increase in trust in the UAE, Argentina, and Indonesia, to name a few. Similarly to 2013, NGO’s and businesses are leading the way in terms of keeping the public’s trust, while governments and media continue to lose it. The trust gap between the informed and the general public is staggering, underlining the importance of constant communication and education when earning and retaining trust.

Technology remains the most trusted industry sector. The banking and finance sectors are yet again at the low end of consumer trust barometer, with those selling financial advisory/asset management services at the very bottom.

Size and location matter

While general trust in business is leveling in comparison to the past, businesses in the West have to work harder than their colleagues in the developing markets to maintain that level, reflecting the overall growth market expectations.

Diving deeper into geographical segments, it is interesting to note that Germany is on the bottom of the list of financial sector trust level, alongside Spain and Ireland. Again, I found it surprising to see Germany, Sweden and the UK on the bottom of that list in the energy sector.

A note for multinationals: HQ location matters. BRICs nations suffer trust deficit compared to Western-based companies. One might argue that governance and compliance are attributable to those results. Size also matters. Family-owned, as well as small and medium sized businesses, show a near-global advantage (except in Asia) when it comes to trust, which seems related to the overall perceptions of the companies. Family owned, small- and mid-sized companies are perceived to be more responsive to customers’ needs, more entrepreneurial and innovative.

What and who do you trust most?

Trust in media is on the decline, which should prompt us to question the communication channels used to deliver key messages. On-line search however leads as a source to turn to for general business information, breaking news, and confirmation of news about business; assess how much importance is put into SEO and adjust it accordingly.

CEO’s/business leaders are still not the most trusted source. Peers/regular employees have gained significant ground in being perceived as trusted sources, which may be attributable to the dominance of social networks and the increasing importance of "friends’" recommendations.

How do we build trust?

Following last year’s introduction of five key trust building segments: engagement, integrity, product & services, purpose and operations, this year the study underlines engagement and integrity as high-priority segments with significant opportunity for improvement. It also draws a direct correlation between certain positive behaviors, such as “pays appropriate level of tax,” “ensures quality control,” etc. with increased trust, and negative indicators, such as “unethical business practices” and “misrepresents the company,” with decreased trust levels – these are key segments of trust building.

This short article provides only a snapshot of this report’s many insights. I highly recommend that you make time to review the study and take into consideration its results in your 2014 strategic development planning.

For copies of Edelman’s 2014 Trust reports, visit the following website: http://www.slideshare.net/EdelmanInsights/2014-edelman-trust-barometer

For past articles and reports, click here: http://mirailievaleonard.blogspot.com/2013/01/where-is-trust.html

© 2010-2014 Copyright Mira Ilieva Leonard / iStile All rights reserved

IS YOUR BUSINESS GROWTH ORGANIZATION BROKEN?

It’s not always about redesigning the growth organization; it might be time to refresh the business growth process

As many professional services firms are struggling to reach their growth goals, they are questioning the effectiveness of their sales organizations. Business growth organizations are well-designed and likely to succeed as long as they have all the necessary elements aligned with the growth strategy of the firm: support tools, systems and skills, as illustrated in this simple grid.

Before undertaking the complex and time consuming process of re-designing the sales organization, I’d first look at updating the sales process, sales tools and the roles of the various business-growth-related parties, such as marketers, business developers, billable professionals and sales leaders. These upgrades are driven mainly by smarter and better informed buyers who are squeezed by constant cost cutting demands.

Much has been written and said about the evolution of the business growth / sales process over the past few years, especially for professional services firms. You’ve most likely run into a number of proprietary ones with fancy acronyms. They still follow the very traditional process of “awareness – education – sale – loyalty”, albeit the various stages being called something else or further segmented into smaller ones. One thing that’s become clear and I’ve been advocating is the shift from pre-packaged solution-based approach to “insight selling”, as coined by Brent Adamson, Matthew Dixon, and Nicholas Toman at CEB. I have been referring to it as a consultative or problem solving selling technique. Its differentiation and strength is multifold:

(i) Cultivating prospects who are most likely off the radar of competitors (because the identification criteria are different from the traditional ones of industry, size, etc.);

(ii) Gathering intelligence and developing business understanding that goes beyond the orthodox one of budgets, purchase decision maker, etc.;

(iii) Sparking dialogues that don’t steer towards uncovering already recognized needs and solutions, but leading to unrecognized problems and drafting solutions jointly; and

(iv) Building client value and long-term relationships, which facilitate future, post-engagement conversations and additional opportunities to work together.

It’s an approach that calls for upfront investment in terms of updating the roles and skills of the business growth parties, as well as the sales tools, and in return positions the organization on a different level from competitors to avoid price bidding and dictate deeper terms of engagement.

Based on extensive research, Adamson, Dixon, and Toman recently released another article on “insight selling,” titled “Dismantling the Sales Machine” (for HBR, November 2013). As always, I appreciate their professional research, which further supports the consultative approach I’ve been advocating. In this paper, the authors refer to “insights selling” as a process where “sellers challenge customers with disruptive insights into their business and offer unexpected solutions.” It no longer encourages certain “check-the-box” compliance sales process and activities, but rather emphasizes the importance of identifying the right prospects, giving professionals the freedom to make judgment calls, and expanding the use of innovation and creativity to design solutions. I wholeheartedly agree with this approach and couldn’t have defined it better myself, with one exception. Unlike Adamson, Dixon, and Toman, I am a supporter of “compliance” of the sales process and believe its value should not be understated. A couple of the statements in the article make it sound as if the authors believe that results justify sales actions, regardless the associated cost. When it comes to compliance I am not referring to supporting the use of certain sales activities, but the process, which is critical in measuring efforts and effectiveness and efficiencies of these activities. What I support is that when it comes to sales activities, a/k/a business growth tactics, one size fits none. Successful sales tactics vary from one professional to another. Compliance should ensure that there is a process in place that guides the sales professionals and ensures that activities that work for professionals are taking place.

As I’ve mentioned in the past and as spelled out by Adamson, Dixon, and Toman’s research, this new sales approach calls for updating the various business growth roles, changing team formations, skills and tools. Sales professionals (a/k/a business developers, billable professionals, etc.) should work on developing their advisory skills and use both emotional intelligence and IQ. Sales leaders (a/k/a CSO, CMO, Managing Partners, etc.) should become coaches, facilitators of information and encourage idea generation and collaboration. They should emphasize the power of individual networks and a long term view to prospects. The latter dictates a fundamental shift away from the traditional transaction oriented approach towards the one of creating value for clients and developing true relationships. In order for that to succeed, sales leaders must look for quality of their business growth pipeline opposed to velocity as key performing indicators (KPI’s) and most likely re-write the existing compensation model. Sales leaders and organizations should equip sales professionals not only with new skills, but also with tools that help identify prospects and prioritize actions, create demand and spark solution innovation, and lastly, provide decision making guidelines for making confident judgment calls.

Is it time for you to refresh your sales process, cease the bidding war with your competitors and improve your business growth results?

By Mira Ilieva-Leonard

© 2010-2013 Copyright Mira Ilieva-Leonard / iStile All rights reserved

WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED FROM THE COLLAPSE OF DEWEY & LABOEUF

An organization development case study for professional services firms

A year and a half ago I posted my piece “For the greater good or eat what you kill”, which used the much talked about collapse of Dewey & LaBoeuf to explore hypothesis behind the destruction of intelligent professional services firms, and make recommendations to avoid such a fate. It is that same unfortunate story of Dewey & LaBoeuf, told by James B. Stewart for the October 14th 2013 edition of The New Yorker that inspires me now again to share my thoughts and re-emphasize on the key organizational development factors for professional services firms.

It is a story worthy of an Oscar® nominated movie script. There are mafia connections, luxury lifestyle, disturbing emails, and backstabbing, peppered with greed and egoism. I am not talking about Tom Cruise’s movie “The Firm”. I am referring to Stewart’s recent article for The New Yorker titled “The Collapse” . For juicy details I urge you to look up the article; for the purpose of this blog I’ll focus on the key takeaways.

After a careful study of the characters, the various circumstances and the storyline of the events, leading to the bankruptcy of Dewey & LaBoeuf, James B. Stewart concludes that “cooperation and mutual respect” is at the heart of successful professional services firms. I wholeheartedly agree with the author as I mentioned in my original piece.

Building up to that conclusion and referring to industry benchmarks, Stewart talks about a number of factors that influenced, or one might say accelerated, the faith of Dewey & LaBoeuf: size & structure, compensation model, and culture. While industry and economic trends might have guided many firms like Dewey & LaBoeuf to look for alternative growth models and structures, the “vereins” have yet to be proved successful, at least in the legal industry. Vereins, defined by Stewart is “a constellation of separate legal entities doing business under a single brand.” I see how the author reaches that conclusion however, I am not fully convinced. Looking across industries to the advisory world of the BIG 4, their model, in terms of size and structure, doesn’t seem much different than the one pursued by Dewey & LaBoeuf. They, however, have seem to have managed to make it, although they have suffered a decrease in their numbers today. Therefore, while size and structure matter, I’d advocate that the compensation model and culture are the heavily weighted levers that make the ultimate difference, and the ones that lead to demise in Dewey & LaBoeuf’s case.

As seen in Stewart’s article, a compensation model, mainly incentivizing rainmaking can encourage wrong behaviors and be counterproductive. Similarly, a culture allowing for a digression from the clearly defined traditional firms’ values of “loyalty and collegiality,” often has a hefty price. Interestingly, this is where Stewart’s statements support my hypothesis of the grave and destructive effect for firms, using compensation models feeding the “eat what you kill” mentality and encouraging narcissistic behavior, as outlined in “For the greater good or eat what you kill”. This piece and blog is not about being right, but about identifying problems and applying lessons learned to solve them. And so, if compensation models that heavily weight rainmaking and narcissistic firm cultures are directly correlated to the failure of Dewey & LaBoeuf, and potentially other professional services, then what’s the solution?!

It all comes down to “cooperation and mutual respect”. That’s the culture that successful firms foster and Dewey & LaBoeuf blatantly ignored, according to Stewart. In my past articles I refer to that as collaboration and encourage organizations to reward it, because it provides for learning, best practice sharing, better solutions design and a team client approach…for the greater good. Taking a prescriptive approach to collaboration, similarly to the one in my “One for all: all for one” article, here are a few tangible points to consider when looking to inspire collaboration:

• Explore a firm development strategy with collaboration as a core attribute, or even as a sustainable competitive advantage. Take an all-encompassing approach: from recruiting and retaining talent, to growing the firm and boasting team performance.

• Define an organizational structure that fosters sharing and cooperation, spread throughout the firm: from basic operations to compensation models, as well as support and client facing practitioners.

• Employ tools and systems that encourage communication, knowledge sharing and transparency, which are some of the key components of collaboration.

• Establish functions and recruit / develop professionals who not only understand the value of collaboration, but have the necessary skills to build and cultivate collaborative culture.

© 2010-2013 Copyright Mira Ilieva-Leonard / iStile All rights reserved

ON THE TACTICAL SIDE OF BUSINESS GROWTH I: Growing the firm and the role of the marketing team

Here’s a short series focused on business growth implementation, a collection of my thoughts, popular opinions and current trends...

The importance of lead generation and what it means for marketers

New clients are necessary not only for the overall development and growth of a firm, but for its survival. Clients come and go. In a competitive world, driven by tight economics and intelligent buyers, clients’ attention is constantly distracted by multiple, smart service providers who test loyalty and threaten client relationships. Firms discounting the value of constant development of new clients are laggards or soon to be such. On the other hand, firms understanding its importance know that a strong marketing team is instrumental for the business development process and fully utilize and enable those resources.

The definition of the marketing function and its deployment depends on firms – their size, strategy, and outlook. For some firms, marketers should be focused on brand management and internal and external communications only – i.e., they facilitate branding activities, develop and distribute newsletters, maintain communication materials (websites, brochures, etc.), create client and firm events, etc. For others, marketers are a key part of the executive team in charge of leading and developing the firm, and are involved in the entire sales cycle. In this latter scenario, in addition to managing branding and communications, marketers are engaged with strategy and service development with the BD and sales teams as well as client retention, and all of the support tasks that accompany this strategic function: from gathering market intelligence, supervising the CRM systems, developing proposals, and creating loyalty programs, among others. These two examples demonstrate polar opposite views of the role of marketing in professional services firms. As long as firms realize the need for constant client acquisition they should define the marketing role to ensure it includes direct connection to growth, especially if that’s not already the case. Marketers should also realize that they have an opportunity to have a bigger impact on the overall development of the firm and provide a greater value by tying their activities to revenue generation.

In other words, marketers should consider that part of their responsibilities includes engaging, inspiring and supporting both the firm and professionals to grow the firm. So, what might that mean and look like for marketers? Managing the lead generation process...
I’d recommend that marketers start by having a clear understanding of the strategic direction of the firm as a whole, and its constituent practice groups and/or individuals to ensure proper prospect targeting. They must know what “a good lead” looks like so that they can better find them and communicate with them. Marketers must work with the rest of the parties involved in business growth (partners, business developers, etc.) to define growth objectives in terms of revenue numbers, and translate them into leads to incite actionable plans.

Measuring processes, tracking systems and reporting tools are critical for lead generation. Here marketers must look to the IT and financial teams for cross functional support. When elaborate CRM and budget tracking tools are already in place then marketers must recognize their full potential, adopt them and demonstrate their key benefits to the rest of the stakeholders. If no such systems or processes are in place, then marketers should develop and use simple practices and tools such as excel sheets. Remember: one can’t manage what one can’t measure!

A big part of managing the lead generation process is the tangible execution. Marketers must set up and run lead generation campaigns: often a combination of thought leadership platforms, social media tactics and direct outreach (see “lead generation tools” below). The objective this time is to go above and beyond the traditional awareness building campaigns. It is to identify and engage prospects into a two-way communication, which will eventually facilitate connection and develop a relationship. This is often a long and multi-step, multi-dimensional task that calls for patience and discipline.

The proper implementation of lead identification, touch and follow up with the right content and the appropriate frequency are just as important as equipping the firm and its professionals adequately in order to convert leads into an actual prospects and revenue. Marketers should communicate the value and plans of the various lead generation campaigns to the key stakeholders. They should create tools, cheat sheets, articulating value propositions and key talking points, and “how to” guides for specific thought leadership platforms. Business growth is a team discipline. Everyone in the firm has a role to play. The more prepared and the better equipped players are the higher the chances of success.

Professional services marketers today have a wide range of lead generation tools at their disposal. Industry best practice ranks thought leadership as the number one method for effective lead generation. Marketing professional services is “selling the invisible” as Harry Beckwith calls it. It is about demonstrating knowledge and differentiation, and for that knowledge-based materials are best. White papers, articles, newsletters, case studies, books and e-books, presentations – in-person and webinars, and surveys are just a few of the popular tactics employed by marketers. Properly structured and executed they can be very effective.

Growing professional services is also about building deep relationships and trust. In managing the lead generation process, it is marketers’ responsibility to tee up relationship building opportunities and put professionals in positions to demonstrate their know-how, start new conversations and earn trust. Continual education platforms such as seminars, on-line technical courses, conferences, issue-based events, community initiatives are examples of live and on-line forums, facilitating relationship building and lead nurturing. Again, it is imperative that marketers realize that the full value of these events spreads beyond building awareness and amplifying the brand to facilitating relationship creation and demonstrating subject matter expertise.

While some conventional lead generation tools such as direct outreach with call to action, telemarketing, list purchasing, contests and free trials are losing their attractiveness, social media is gaining popularity and increasingly becoming the default channel to fueling the lead pipeline. The novelty of LinkedIn, Twitter, blogs and microblogs, Slideshare, videocasts and podcasts, and infographics might evoke resistance in some firms. It is marketers’ duty to articulate their value, make the cost/benefit case to the firm stakeholders and to utilize them in a way correlated to revenue generation.

So, what’s next? Introducing and implementing new processes and tools is challenging and requires executive buy-in and support. Start small. Run experiments and learn what works and how. Build upon that to increase the number of followers. Share wins. Be patient and determined. Ultimately everybody will win – the firm and the marketers.

© 2010-2013 Copyright Mira Ilieva-Leonard / iStile All rights reserved

ON THE TACTICAL SIDE OF BUSINESS GROWTH II: Challenges facing marketers, Important data analytics for CMO'S, Relationship building insights

Here’s a short series focused on business growth implementation, a collection of my thoughts, popular opinions and current trends...

*********************************************************************************************************************************************************** "What Are The Biggest Challenges Facing Marketers According To New IBM Study?"

According to a hot-off-the-presses study conducted globally by IBM (500 marketing managers) across 15 different industries, creating growth (through the acquisition of new customers) and sustaining growth (through superior loyalty) is at the very top. 42% of respondents suggested that acquiring new customers and 36% suggested driving loyalty and satisfaction were the biggest challenges facing their organizations.

While these results aren’t earth-shattering as it is likely that a survey a decade ago would have yielded a similar pattern, what is surprising is the items at the bottom. Only 21% of the respondents suggested that measuring ROI was the most challenging problem they faced, behind branding, leveraging data, understanding and effectively using social channels, and creating positive experiences for consumers. A few years ago, measuring ROI was at the top of everybody’s list. This perhaps suggests a sign of the times – a tough marketplace, increased competition, a more global marketplace, and more savvy consumers have made growth especially challenging.

Other key findings from the survey suggest that the marketers who are driving better firm results are doing something different than their less successful counterparts. They tend to be significantly more adept at tracking, technology, and analytics and use these tools to develop more sophisticated and adaptable solutions. They are more engaged in all customer service interactions and tend to personalize marketing offers. In short, stronger firm-wide leaders are more engaged in all customer interaction, and seem to have greater competency in what is necessary to be successful today. See a summary table that compares the top performing marketer performance with the balance of marketers (from IBM 2013) below.


For details, read on here: http://www.forbes.com/sites/kimberlywhitler/2013/05/21/what-are-the-biggest-challenges-facing-marketers-according-to-new-ibm-study/

*********************************************************************************************************************************************************** "The 80/20 Rule of Analytics every CMO should know"

With all the talk about Big Data and Predictive Analytics – both of which involve complex, advanced skills and tools, driving millions of dollars in marketing – it is hard to believe in the power of simple analytics.

The truth, however, is that only 20-30% of the decisions really need the use of advanced techniques like predictive analytics. Seventy to eighty percent of marketing decisions can be judiciously addressed with simple analytics techniques, which can be learned by any marketer and executed on an Excel spreadsheet.
For the benefits of data analytics simplicity, read on here: http://www.forbes.com/sites/piyankajain/2013/05/26/the-8020-rule-of-analytics-every-cmo-should-know/

*********************************************************************************************************************************************************** "Here's How To Build A Win-Win Networking Relationship"

Here is a business-building rule of thumb: Don’t waste your time networking if you are not prepared to develop win-win relationships. Trust me when I say, I know what I’m talking about.

I am the organizer of a local business organization with a membership of over 400 self-employed women. I was shocked when I learned that most of the members attended only one or two meetings and then did not return. When I sent out a survey asking why they stopped, the majority replied that it was because they had not gotten any business.

Hadn’t gotten any business! Were they kidding me? They expected people to buy what they are offering after only a couple of visits? Hadn’t they heard that potential clients/customers need time to get to know, like and trust you? What happened to building win-win relationships?

Here’s my advice: If you aren’t networking for the long haul then don’t bother networking at all. Frankly, you are wasting your energy if you expect instant gratification. Here are five key networking tips that I share with my organization of women entrepreneurs:

1. Understand your target market.
2. Know exactly what you bring to the networking table.
3. What is your networking goal?
4. Networking rule of thumb: Give value to receive value.
5. Follow up promptly to develop and maintain win-win relationships.

For the full article, read on here: http://www.forbes.com/sites/womensmedia/2013/05/21/heres-how-to-build-a-win-win-networking-relationship/

© 2010-2013 Copyright Mira Ilieva-Leonard / iStile All rights reserved

LEADERSHIP LESSONS FROM MARGARET THATCHER

Margaret Thatcher, one of the greatest leaders of the 20th century, passed away this week. While a lot has been said and written about her policy, style and personality, not much has been highlighted as lessons to be learned by today’s leadership.

A few years back, after seeing “The Iron Lady”, a semi-biographical film, I was taken by the leadership evolution of the main character. So much so that shortly afterwards I did a good bit of research and discovered that true to the film, Margaret Thatcher had indeed dedicated time to develop her Executive Presence to become the strong leader the public came to know. Ever since, I’ve used her as a prime example of a leader exuding Personal Gravitas, when discussing its importance and development with the next generation of leaders of professional services firms (see also "Where In The World Is The Next Generation Of PSF Partners?" )

I encourage you to take a look at this 2-part interview with Sir Bernard Ingham, Margaret Thatcher's chief press secretary, and note the difference between charisma and gravitas, and the four key characteristics of personal gravitas. Which quality(ies) will you and your leadership team work on developing?





© 2010-2016 Copyright Mira Ilieva-Leonard / iStile All rights reserved