We need to cross-sell, increase share of wallet, offer clients our full product range, make more of existing client relationships,…
Sound familiar?
One of the biggest constraints to effective cross-selling is partners/directors not knowing what other parts of the firm offer. As firms grow in headcount, capability and footprint, this becomes a bigger and bigger problem. Here are four case studies that address this challenge that you might find interesting and worthy of emulating.
CASE STUDY: 3MT
Each year, PhD students at the University of Queensland are encouraged to enter the 3MT competition. This event is about getting students to present their entire PhD to a lay audience in the most compelling and accessible way in 3 minutes. If a student can explain an 80,000 word PhD thesis that has taken years to research in three minutes, then a professional services firm partner can explain their practice just the same.
One law firm I’m familiar with has introduced a similar competition with a case of Penfolds Grange as the first prize. Each partners meeting starts with three 3MTs and a secret vote on each by all partners. The vote requires not only a score out of 10 but one key takeaway from the presentation and one client or referral opportunity. In order to increase partner engagement, eligibility to win the prize is based all votes entered and comments made. The firm’s 3MT is currently being rolled out, but the early signs are that it’s a winner.
CASE STUDY: TRADE FAIR
A leading Australian accounting firm recently adapted the trade fair concept to enhance firm-wide understanding of what the firm could offer. At the annual partners and managers conference, each practice was asked to set up a stall and spruik their wares. Each person attending was given 1,000 Firm Dollars to place orders based on the quality and creativity of the pitch, with a maximum of $300 with any one vendor. The goal of each stall holder was to win the most business.
CASE STUDY: TED TALKS
I was told recently of a firm that had created an internal TED Talks series and related YouTube channel. Extending the TED slogan of “ideas worth spreading” the firm created a platform for anyone to prepare and present a thought-leadership video. Presentations were usually under 7 minutes and some included music, poetry and drama. The talks were moderated by a small panel which also offered guidance to those submissions that were initially rejected. Linked to the video was a detailed profile of the presenter(s) together with their areas of specialty, clients and recent projects. In some instances the internal TEDs were released to external audiences. The MP Award, Most Viewed, Most Likes and Most Shares were the most sought after prizes.
CASE STUDY: SPEED DATING
A few years ago I facilitated a partners retreat of a firm that had recently merged with another firm of similar size. Many of the people attending didn’t know each other. We organised a speed dating session where everyone got to share and listen to everyone else. The instruction was for each person to speak for one minute addressing one of these topics:
- What’s the one thing you are most proud of? OR
- What has been a really memorable moment in your life? OR
- What would you say is one of your greatest strengths? OR
- In thinking about your career, what do you dream about?
KEEPING IT FRESH
Each of the ideas described above has a use-by date. The Trade Fair concept will work once, possibly twice, but no more. People get tired and bored quite quickly. It’s essential you keep both the message and the medium fresh.
I’d love to hear how your firm builds internal knowledge.
business development, culture, growth, innovation, internal collaboration, marketing, planning, pricing, professional service firms, Sales management, strategy management
Redefining shared services
In Articles, Commentary on 17 September 2014 at 8:48 amI think it’s time to think differently about shared services in professional service firms. By shared services I mean the HR, IT, Finance and Marketing functions.
In many firms these functions have been limited to service, support and enablement. Their job is the provision of day-to-day “back office” operational services, but that’s where it ends.
There is growing evidence of leading firms viewing their shared services as strategic capabilities and part of their competitive armoury. My observation is that these firms define their shared services in a much broader way and expect more of them. While they might not use these exact terms, the essence of this redefinition is as follows:
From IT to Technology and Digital Transformation
Last week I had the privilege of chairing the 9th LawTech Summit, Australia’s top conference for legal IT professionals. The conference heard about the billions of dollars currently being invested in legal tech R&D and the tsunami of new toys, tools and technologies that will fundamentally change the practice and business of law. The winners will either be cash-up start-ups or agile astute incumbents who use this new technology to take out cost and improve service and client connectedness.
Leading firms realise they need their IT function to address the major opportunities and threats of disruptive technology. IT’s (expanded) role is to inform and shape the firm’s strategy in particular around the potential predictive intelligence systems, operational efficiency, big data, worker mobility, workflows and innovation. Yes, firms still need computers that work, software that runs and help desks that help, but in the future IT’s most important role will be about digital transformation.
From Marketing to Brand, Growth and Client Success
Marketing in many firms is orientated towards inputs not outputs: let’s run that event, update the website, publish that blog post, prepare that capability statement, write that tender, etc. At a more strategic level Marketing’s role should be about three key outcomes – building the firm’s brand, driving revenue growth and enhancing client stickiness and advocacy.
Positioning Marketing as agents of growth raises the bar for marketing managers and elevates their internal status within the firm.
I like the term ‘client success’ in that it has a double meaning. From an external perspective it means we work to help our clients succeed. Their success is our success. Attending a client meeting as a “Director of Client Success” has a better ring to it than “Director of Business Development”. From an internal perspective it’s about being successful with our clients i.e. creating a great client service experience, winning more of their business and getting referrals.
From Finance to Finance and Business Intelligence
I’d love a dollar for every finance report I’ve seen that’s provided without any commentary, conclusions or insights. Leading firms have finance teams provide their product with more strategic value. They deliver a range of analytics and insights about the financial and strategic health of the firm. They are constantly finding new lenses and lead indicators to inform executive decision-making. They provide dashboards to practitioners to help them establish priorities, manage their time and track progress. The new finance executive needs to see themselves as truth-tellers, provocateurs and change agents.
From HR to Talent and Performance
In the July-August edition of the Harvard Business Review, Ram Charan created a real stir by arguing that the HR function should be split into two teams: one focusing on HR processes like recruitment, payroll and salary reviews, and the other focusing on strategic talent management, capability building and creating a high-performance culture. Most professional service firms are too small to justify this type of split, but the underlying argument for both roles is spot on in my view.
Creating a Pricing and Value capability
Pricing Directors appear to be the hottest job on the planet at the moment. The firms of the future will have specialist pricing functions to win more tenders (profitably) and to help practitioners get better at capturing, sharing and communicating value.
In my view pricing should be kept distinct from marketing and finance functions. Located in finance, ‘cost-plus’ thinking will start to dominate. In marketing, a ‘revenue at all costs’ bias might eventuate.

Collaboration is key
The firm of the future has each functional area deeply inter-dependent on the other. Many of the new challenges and opportunities don’t fit into a neat box. They cross over boundaries and require multi-disciplinary thinking and behaviour. For example, a new technology to assist in client reporting and connectedness will require cooperation from IT, Marketing, Pricing, Finance and possibly even HR.
COO’ed
If shared services cannot make the transition to more strategic thinking and execution, they run a risk of being “COO’ed”. In other words, having a strategy-focused general manager sit above them that keeps shared services doing largely operational work.
C titles
Titles beginning with the letter ‘C’ (CMO, CFO, CHRO, CIO, etc.) are all the rage at the moment. While “CXX” has market recognition and internal status, my problem is with the generic nature of rest of the title. For example a CIO is a Chief Information Officer. There is nothing in this title that reflects his/her role in leading the firm’s approach to technology and digital transformation. Perhaps Chief Digital Officer is better? I think titles are important and should appropriately reflect the redefined and expanded roles described in this post.
What do you think?
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