Covid-19 has brought an abrupt halt to many of the traditional business development activities that professional services firms employ as part of their “business as usual”.
Professional services firms are people and relationship-based businesses, and firms generally rely on activities such as networking events, conferences, in person meetings, lunches, social events and seminars to build and strengthen their relationships with clients. But these activities are all in-person and while online versions can substitute to a degree – think vunches, webinars, virtual fireside chats or online cocktails – they are unable to fully replace the spark of speaking with someone face-to-face.
For many firms, the emphasis has shifted entirely to building their online presence – online speaking engagements, email updates, thought leadership alerts, articles, and social media content – but again, striking that individual connection and generating an in-person feel to business development interactions is still a challenge. Other challenges also exist with this approach – many clients are now suffering from bloated Inboxes and on-line meeting fatigue. The thought of attending another webinar is becoming too much for some.
In reality, the pandemic has meant that professional services providers now need to re-think and adapt quickly to the new ways that clients want and need to communicate and engage with their service providers. Ultimately, how clients use and purchase professional services is also likely to change, especially as the level and pace of change brought about by the pandemic are likely to continue to accelerate.
The question then becomes, how do firms overcome these barriers if they are to continue to nurture existing clients and win new business?
The fundamentals of good business development – for instance, picking up the phone and initiating thoughtful conversations by tuning into your client and their specific issues – will remain, even if these skills may need to be honed a little for current conditions. After reviewing the basics – ie shining the 2020 spotlight of reality on pitch materials, marketing collaterals, service offerings, and last year’s value propositions, deciding what needs to be tweaked or re-developed is the next step.
It is then worth considering if it’s time to broaden the definition of “traditional business development”, and re-think what how to go about it?
Reimagining the business development landscape could encompass:
- Re-engaging with clients through listening programmes – which when done well, help firms to stay on top of current client thinking. Effective client listening should also help identify services and approaches that a client wants and needs now, build a deeper understanding of what is working well and what is not, identify particular pain points on each client’s journey (as well as perhaps new opportunities to delight), and enable deeper learning about areas where innovations could be identified and directed. Client listening is a clear demonstration of appreciation of a client’s loyalty and shows a willingness to invest further in the relationship. The data obtained should also underpin and inform future busines development activity.
- Re-examining service delivery mechanisms – looking for ways to innovate or even transform the delivery of certain legal services. Service delivery is not generally seen as part of BD but engaging with clients in this deep way presents a significant opportunity to strengthen and expand relationships.
- Re-strategising scoping, pricing and how value is created – this should now be an intrinsic element of business development for professional services firms. Delivering value for money at a time of great financial pressure is essential, and finding creative ways to structure and price services demonstrates a deep appreciation of the dramatically altered environment that clients are now operating in.
- Adopting sophisticated CRM systems – using them as more than a list of contacts for email marketing campaigns and event invitation lists. By driving greater value through tracking and measuring business development effort, client profitability, or intangible costs, CRM systems should also help ensure finite resources are better utilised, enable sharper focus for any BD campaign, and maximise benefits that result from a more targeted approach.
- Creating an “ideal client” profile – using data gathered from strategic thinking exercises and filtered from a well-populated CRM system. Ideal client profiles support firm leaders and partners in how they prioritise, segment and direct their BD efforts.
- Riding the trends – even before Covid-19, clients were seeking greater collaboration, predictability, innovation, fixed pricing, mobility, ease of connecting, and instant responses from their external professional services firms. These trends won’t be retreating in the foreseeable future. Re-thinking how they become integral – not just add-ons – to a firm’s value proposition offers the potential to yield new business and act as a significant point of differentiation.
- Re-strategising – looking quickly for the niches where there will be an uptick – areas such as government investigations, fraud investigations, white collar, cyber security and antitrust are all expected to pick-up soon, or post-Covid-19. These practices are sometimes considered as “ancillary” but as they gain prominence, firms to need to be ready to pursue opportunities from a lead, not a secondary position.
- Taking the pulse on your BD and leadership skills – business development and leadership skills can be taught, but not all partners have the competencies already in place to enable them to move quickly. Today’s changed environment requires much more than merely demonstrating subject matter expertise, and nurturing large client accounts or landing new business requires creativity and the ability to sell and deliver new solutions and services. Knowing if your team is “ready to run” is critical, and if they’re not, then knowing what needs to be built is the best place to start.
- If clients are now looking for their professional services providers to be true business partners, then it makes sense to re-think the composition of client teams. For instance, in a law firm, a client team is usually comprised of lawyers but what if other functional experts were embedded in a client team – not just as “support” people to be called on from time to time, but rather embedded in a team with the aim of bringing to bear a wider range of business expertise. These functions could range across a broad set of competencies from business development and key account management, business intelligence, and client experience skills, to process improvement, innovation, scoping and pricing professionals to human resources, technology, knowledge and matter/project management experts. Given that we’re in the midst of major change, is it worth considering how to build cross-functional teams as a way to craft “whole of business” insights and solutions, and in doing so, deliver even greater value to clients?
The opportunity now exists for firms to re-think how they go about business development – moving from a more traditional approach – one which has often grown out of a set of marketing activities – to a more strategic and client-centric approach that seeks to connect with clients in a deeper and more impactful way.
We would be delighted to hear your thoughts and continue the dialogue with you. We hope you’ve found this Insight to be constructive and thought-provoking. We share comments and ideas of a general nature, with the aim of helping firms contend with current challenges. As such, the content above is unlikely to be complete and comprehensive enough for a firm to re-imagine the future. Rather, it may be a beginning or a conversation starter, as each firm is different and the challenges each face are unique. If you would like to continue the conversation, then please connect with us for a confidential conversation at click here.
Post Author
Jennifer Milford
