Client First Revolution

Economist John Kay has written a book ‘The Corporation in the 21st Century: Why (almost) everything We are told About Business is Wrong’. Most of what he says could be applied to the professional services industry and how a client focused approach could resolve many of its headaches.

Kay opens his book with a case study from the pharmaceutical industry. Merck, which listed on the New York stock exchange in 1927, was one of the first companies to recognise the life-changing potential of pharmacology and to benefit from it. The aim of the business was articulated by Merck in 1950, when he told medical students: ‘We try never to forget that medicine is for the people. It is not for the profits. The profits follow, and if we have remembered that, they have never failed to appear. The better we have remembered it, the larger they have been’. For many years Merck topped Fortune magazine’s list of most-admired companies.

For Marxists and their modern descendants on the left, businesses are the site of class struggle, where ruthless capitalists, through their ownership and control of business assets, sweat their exploited workers to maximise profit and fill their pockets.

Unfortunately, most professional adviser businesses have a similar reputation. Directors and partners of professional services firms work their staff to burn-out and expect them to cancel dinner, theatre and birthday parties to meet client expectations with little thanks or appreciation.

Most clients don’t see their advisers like this. They feel intimidated by their impenetrable jargon and superior education and taking advice for them, feels like a ‘distressed purchase’ - painful and expensive, but necessary. 

In addition most professional advisers agree that winning good quality business is a struggle and most still rely on traditional networking - going to conferences, exchanging cards and meeting for a coffee to exchange brochures  - or identifying a short list of dream clients, and trying to get a meeting where they want to persuade them with of their superior knowledge and expertise. But this is to look through the telescope from the wrong end and it need not be like this if the focus shifts from professional expertise to clients.

Client Mapping looks at the clients of a department or practice area and identifies who are the most profitable - the 20% which produces 80% of profits. It then considers what other concerns that client may have and the skill set needed to resolve that problem. For example an estate agent looking for recommendations should form a Pod with a real estate lawyer, an interior designer, new kitchen designer, a builder and a schools guide. 

The estate agent could create a client story which involves the client needing a lawyer, interior designer, a new kitchen, a builder and schools for their children. They can each record a video response. The link is uploaded onto our public library and linked to their membership profile and each professional shares it with their colleagues and clients while we share it with our subscribers, The ideal number for a Pod is six and the video recording should last about 30 minutes.

This methodology can then be applied to all aspects of business development, including cross-selling across the firm, sponsorship, winning awards, developing rising stars, and making the most of alumni. Let’s take sponsorship of events as an example.

In today’s crowded digital landscape, professionals often get lost in the noise, which is why they sponsor events to stand out. But does sponsorship of an event give them the precision and memorability they would like?

Using Client Mapping will make the sponsor's services for their client both memorable and engaging. Each sponsor can create a digital Pod with five others, if they serve similar client types, ahead of the event.  The link can then be shared on the invitation and sent to all prospective attendees. The type of problems the sponsor resolves for their clients is then known and understood by anyone who clicks the link and promotes what problems the sponsor resolves for their client before, during and after the event. Furthermore because it is stored on a neutral platform it can be retrieved and shared whenever required. It is not locked in time. 

The lead sponsor could, in addition to creating a Pod with other professionals could create a Cluster. A Cluster, is a video recording featuring professionals from multiple practice areas within the same organisation, in response to a fictional client story. It is used at the firm’s away days for cross-selling, but could be used as part of the sponsorship to display the firm’s strength and breadth. 

Client Mapping is 10x more likely to succeed in winning business than traditional networking, because it focuses on the client and the complexity and variety of the problems they may encounter. 

The Digital Pod and Cluster message is both precise, personal, memorable and retrievable, if stored on our neutral platform, designed specifically for this purpose. It therefore remains available for future reference, linked to the professional's personal profile, and can be shared as needed. 

This form of networking has been referred to by Great Companies as a ‘Client First Revolution’ when it awarded me Entrepreneur of the Year 2025. 

In the words of Merck, as adapted, our professional services are for our clients. They are not for the profits. The profits follow, and if we have remembered that, they will not fail to appear. The better we have remembered it, the larger the profits will be.’

Client Mapping makes business sense. If you're interested in joining our revolution, please contact me to arrange a meeting.

Furthermore, if you would like to see your favourite events organiser introduce Client Mapping as part of their program, please share this article with them and send me a message.