Improving Productivity
In his Annual Report, Neville Eisenberg Chair of the Managing Partners Global Group set out four key indicators for the Managing Partners of his Group.
Business Skills
Innovation
Productivity, and
Levelling Up
Last week, we addressed Innovation, the week before Business Skills, and this week we will look at Productivity from a Client Mapping perspective.
As we said last week, solutions are often not found because the problem has not been fully understood. Productivity is key if a business is to grow and key professionals are to be retained.
One of the most troubling aspects for most professional advisers is that the junior partners either do not network or do not do it enough. When asked why, they say that it produces a poor return on investment of time and money, when they could be working. The concern is that if they are not building relationships with other professionals, they will not win new business. This is not true, but the problem needs to be more closely analysed to arrive at a solution.
The Pareto Principle or the 80:20 rule, is where 80% of the work produces only 20% of the profit. To increase productivity, the dial needs to move.
Alistair Beddow of Meridian West says a good place to start is to understand the client type and work which produces the most profitable outcome. I agree with him. These are the clients and work the organisation needs more of. They are your ‘Ideal Clients’.
The majority of work in most organisations produces only a modest return because their business development is non-strategic. A shotgun in a blizzard. They do not pursue their ideal clients strategically, even if they know the work and client type they want to work for.
There are four obvious facts when looking for new, quality work.
It is a waste of time and money if the professional with whom you are networking.
Does not work for your ideal client
Will not refer their clients to you for the work you are best suited for
Does not know what you do for your clients, and
You don’t know what they do for their clients
In last week’s article we looked at how to get your message across efficiently and effectively by using case studies, education, reciprocation and aggregation. We also looked at the importance of social proofing with awards, satisfied client quotes and speaking engagements. We now need to add strategy to the mix.
Brainstorm with your colleagues what other services your ideal client would need. At the very least, all prospective clients need a banker, a lawyer and an accountant. Would they be looking for a City-based professional or a more local professional?
If you are not sure, ask your ideal clients for recommendations.
Marketing Clusters and Pods are not only an effective means of communicating your message as we found out last week, they are also beneficial to find out more about what your network and colleagues do for their clients. When done regularly Pods and Clusters build strong relationships and when loaded on to the Club’s digital platform they can be easily accessed and shared with clients to build loyalty and increase referrals and repeat business.
The Pods, Clusters, Blogs and Podcasts can be tagged to a professional advisers profile on the Club’s directory. This makes it easy for members to research what other members do for their clients. The Club’s Directory also has a connect button so you can invite them to join your Marketing Pod directly or tell them that you have shared their recorded Pod with your clients.
Once you know who are your ideal clients and what other professionals work for them you can then write it down with dates and goals. Good intentions are soon forgotten but a written strategy with someone responsible for its implementation is more effective.
The three main sources of work are as follows
Networking - make a list of other professionals who have your ideal clients as their clients and invite them to join you for a talk on Client Mapping. Then share case studies which can be video recorded and uploaded onto the club’s digital portal, these are called Marketing Pods and the best number for a pod is 6.
Upselling - make a list of other professionals in your organisation who work for your ideal client but from a different perspective. Agree to meet to learn more about Client Mapping, share case studies which can be recorded and uploaded onto the Club’s digital portal
Upsellling for repeat and referral business. The link to the video recordings of the Marketing pods can be shared with your ideal clients to keep in touch, look after their wider interests and encourage them to give you repeat and referral business.
The more Marketing Clusters and Pods, podcasts and blogs you upload the more information is published about what you do for your clients and the more likely you will get referred good quality work.
After a year, your business development can be objectively tracked and monitored against good-quality business won and by whom. The most successful professionals and referrers should be encouraged to do more through bonuses and reciprocation.
At each stage, clients and professionals must be asked for feedback to give a fuller picture of what is working so that more can be done to increase productivity year upon year.