If you are not already doing so, 2024 might just be the year to concentrate on winning more work from existing clients, rather than spending huge time and resources trying to win new ones.
So how do the most successful Professional Services firms around the world go about it?
Key Account Management
Well first things first. Diagnosis comes before strategy and strategy comes before tactics.
You are going to need a plan and remember what got you to this point, will not necessarily be sufficient to get you to where you want to go to now.
Consider also, that there are essentially three different types of revenue in a professional services firm. Recurring revenue such as retainers (ie: Audits for accountants), reactive revenue, where you get busy when the client gets busy (ie: lawyers in employment/property law) and proactive revenue, where you pursue and win new revenues you are targeting, which is actually the only income stream you are fully in control of!
To be successful, you are likely going to need a good Key Account Management Plan in place.
Below are ten areas you must consider prior to reaching out to your clients.
1. What does our team look like. Do we have the right people in the right positions?
2. Which clients are we going to target and why? Industry sector? Work type? Current top account or based on potential?
3. Who is on the client’s team? Who don’t we know who we need to know? Account mapping required across department, office, C-Suite etc
4. What are the trends affecting the client? PESTLE Analysis. Political, economical, social, technological, legal regulation, environmental.
5. What other insights are there to consider? Merger & Acquisition, personnel, strategy changes, product launches, major challenges, SWAT analysis, historical relationship strength.
6. What needs do they have? Market share, profitability, sales growth, meet regulation? What impact is this having on their business and what would it be worth to fix it?
7. What else do we need to know? Our share of the business? Size of opportunity? Challenge of implementation and accountability.
8. Who are our competition? How good are they? Where are they trying to win our business? Can we be victorious?
9. What additional value can we offer? How do we support the client’s agenda? Any opportunity to co-create something of value?
10. How does the client measure our performance? Service, costs, partnerships, networks, locations, thought leadership & insights, innovation & technology, quality of staff and advice, stability of personnel, brand value.
Only after you have thoroughly researched answers to the above questions, should you start to approach your clients. If you choose to miss out some of the steps here, you may just find you are under prepared to maximise your results.
As ever, if you need some help putting your plans together, be sure to reach out.