Clients think in goals. Professionals think in services. This is logical. Professionals need to deliver like a professional, but they can miss hidden opportunities by not being client-centric - opportunities for collaboration, client retention and referral of business.

When next you think about how to grow your business ask yourself one question - what is happening in the client’s world when they need your services - wealth management - sale of a business - sale of a house - estate agent - then think about connections - now you are thinking strategically

Professionals often say that they do not refer work more often due to reputational risk - but is that were the case - then there would be more referrals within a firm. No the real reason why referrals are rare is because they don’t know where you fit into the concerns of their client

Looking back at my career I cannot remember ever being introduced to a client from someone I met at a conference - I did win business however from speaking at conferences about Family Governance - neither did I win much business from my colleagues - why? Because they admitted they did not know what I did and for whom

Professionals work hard at being visible, but lack a strategy to turn connections into cash. If when you meet a professional start asking your self could this person help resolve a problem of a client relevant to me - that is the beginning of a strategy

Networking without a strategy is like a shotgun in a blizzard you don’t know what you are aiming for and what you get can be a bit hit and miss.

Professionals are strategic about every aspect of their business except where the work comes from and here they are extraordinarily informal and inconsistant

The uncomfortable truth is that traditional BD does not work, it is inconsistent, has no clear strategy and is dropped as soon as client work intervenes. The result is that when the good work is completed less good work is accepted to ‘keep busy’. This leads to the dreaded 80: 20 rule.

Most BD is activity: events, content, networking. But this is not a strategy it is hope.

Hope is not a strategy, and in most cases it is unpredictable.

A few firms are taking a new structured approach to BD which is effective and predictable.

Most professionals are busy, but the hidden problem is that no-one knows what another professional does and so referrals are hit and miss at the best of times and not made at all at the worst - think about it!

Clients are wanting more from their professional advisers than expertise

Why the future of professional services belongs to those who really understand their clients