Every firm that provides professional services is different from all others. All professional firms are merely an allegiance of its members’ professional service businesses. Each firm is really many small firms working, sometimes collaboratively, under the same roof.
There Are NO Commodity Professional Services: Each provides services driven by individual brain-power and talent. It is the nature of delivering intellectually-based services that there are no commodity services, though often this is misperceived. The greater the level of expertise required for a service the fewer the number of professionals there are for clients to choose from.
Divorce cases, for example, are fairly straight forward. There are a plethora of divorce attorneys, yet the best divorce attorneys still get the most complicated and lucrative cases. That is because they have made themselves the best and sold this to the market. As a result, they are sought after for the most difficult cases and paid the most to do them.
Strategic Advantage: That difference is a strategic advantage. As this blog has discussed in more detail previously, the successful professional must identify the area in which she is most passionate. One will never spend the time required to become the best without passion.
She must focus her efforts toward a practice that involves doing just that work and on becoming a true expert in that area. She must become best in her world by delivering a higher level expertise with phenomenal customer service, so that she develops a reputation as the go-to professional in that area.
As a result, clients seek her out and pay her more. That should be every professional’s objective. It is the role of the firm to foster this.
Professionals who remain generalists have to work hard to find the next project. They do not get the mission-critical work. They get paid lower rates for the work they do get. They will do pretty much anything for anyone. Advertising works for this work, but who wants this work?
Know and Research Your Targets: Great professionals know their targets because great professionals know in what area they are true experts and who needs this superior talent, skill and passion to solve highly important problems or take advantage of highly lucrative opportunities. These professionals should be able to identify with precision who their target clients are by name, title and company. This is big game hunting and the quarry is quite cunning.
Go right after the target. Identify who they are. Research them in depth on the internet and through any connection you can find. Find anyone who knows them. Use them to gather information, reach people still closer to them and eventually to secure an introduction.
Know which conferences they attend, what groups they are a member of, and which charities they are involved in. Be there. Find and meet them. Find someone in advance to introduce you or create some other excuse. Listen to them as though you care deeply about whatever they are passionate about. Ask good questions about what they are doing. Court them. Woo them gradually.
Afterwards, follow up with an e-mail. Send them information by snail mail. Call them. Set up a follow up meeting.
Be prepared. No one trusts what you say about yourself. Your CV and firm brochure are essentially useless puff. What works are third-party endorsements.
Articles: Well crafted thought leading articles published in a highly regarded Journal indicates an editor who cares what gets into his publication so he can sell it, thinks you are an expert. The article which focuses on your expertise shows you really do know your stuff. Writing with a prominent co-author puts you in their class.
Testimonials: Powerful testimonials from third parties who love your work but receive nothing from your success and have only their own reputations on the line let the target know that you are perceived by many to be just the expert you claim to be. If you cannot secure testimonials, at least create a list of references who the client can call. The more prominent the individual, the more powerful the reference is.
Case Studies: If you have strong, verifiable examples of your work and your expertise, these can be very convincing. They can be verifiable either through access through an on-line independent database, such as CourtLink, or through calling others involved in the matter who have hopefully provided testimonials. Often the case example is integrated into the testimonial.
Any other way you can devise to prove you are an expert to someone who neither knows you or has the time to get to know you, will help you secure that first meeting. Once you get the work, you keep the client with phenomenal more-than-expected expertise and advice and delight-the-customer service.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Thursday, October 1, 2009
You Cannot Be Best in the World Alone
Building Your Team:
A critical piece of the puzzle is to get the absolute best people on your “bus.” You will require help doing that at which you are passionate and best in the world. Economically you must leverage the work to professionals at the right level of development, expertise and cost for the task.
If you want to be perceived as the expert, you cannot do the $100/hour work. You ultimately have to restrict yourself to the $500 plus/hour work. This is the work worthy of your highest level of expertise. Perhaps not at first, but as you become a recognized expert, you have to have a team in place to provide these lesser services efficiently and at a high level. That requires you to build and develop a strong supporting cast.
Over the last few years, I worked with one particular professional to help him develop his practice. Over the last year it has grown exponentially. A year ago we met with a high-level target we believed we were prepared for. He was impressed with the credentials of our lead expert, but the target asked a critical question, “How many professionals do you have on your team dedicated to providing this service?” We had to think about that. Well, really no one was truly 100% dedicated to the expert’s service area. He borrowed strong younger professionals from other areas.
We explained this process and that our clients receive high level service from our expert who leads every project. The target explained that while he certainly valued our expertise, he required a team of experts for the sort of work we contemplated providing him.
From that point forward, our expert began to build a strong dedicated highly-trained team. He now knows the answer to that question and is confident in the team he has created. Be prepared to answer that question.
Who do you need on your team?
Identify the skills that you need to perform your service at the highest levels. What must you do? Everything else needs to be delegated.
As you build your practice your team will be used on a part-time basis. Eventually your practice will grow to demand more and more of each critical person, then full time support of a few younger professionals and eventually a full team from senior to junior.
If you are established in your profession, consider whether you have the right team for your area of passionate expertise. As you move in that direction, are there members of the team who can take on those projects you no longer want to handle? How can you develop them to free you up to drive your higher level practice?
The goal, of course, is to get to the point where all of your available billable time is taken up doing the highest level work for your clients in your area of passionate expertise and you are driving enough business down through the firm to keep many skilled professionals at many levels very busy.
Who do you not want on your team?
As important, who do you NOT want on your team? Remove them. Over time, as you work younger professionals into your projects, you will develop a rapport and respect for certain younger professionals. This will become your team. Those who do not provide you the level of service you demand will be removed.
Can you lead it? Do they respect you?
One of the most difficult functions of a professional is that of managing a team. You are passionately expert at delivering your service at a very high level.
As you develop your team, if you are not passionate about or capable of managing the team, assigning tasks and delegating authority, recognize that fact and find a technically talented lieutenant who is also a good manager. You must remain responsible for the delivery of high quality product and service to the client. You must also remain responsible for the client relationship. Those tasks cannot be delegated to subordinates. But in addition to technical areas you need to fill, recognize you are building a business. Management cannot be ignored.
Everyone on the team must be comfortable that you are driving the business and the leader of the team. Ultimately they need to know, and your lieutenant must be comfortable with the fact, that his or her authority derives from you. Leaders have many styles. You will have to develop your own effective leadership style. That will tend to dictate who is willing to be on your team.
Is the team greater than the sum of its parts?
Young professionals want to know that they have a future. It is your responsibility to make sure that they see that future increased dramatically by being part of your team. Helping them understand their passions and become experts themselves is a critical part of your duties. Some will be happy as strong expert members of your team with increasing opportunities on your matters. Others will want to develop their own business and become rain-makers like you. You should take responsibility for helping them make that happen.
As your team sees you help those above them become more successful, your team’s chemistry and loyalty will grow. As team members “graduate,” you will build allies within the firm and may even work together to drive additional business for the growing team. You become the five-star general, adding lower star generals who understand where their loyalty lies.
Leaders who ignore the goals and objectives of their team members find that animosity begins to develop. This generally does not result in the level of client satisfaction you require or the long-term continuity your clients desire. You can be the greatest expert in the world, but if you cannot develop a team capable of delivering incredible customer service and expert-level technical service, your success will be limited.
Being best in the world is not easy.
A critical piece of the puzzle is to get the absolute best people on your “bus.” You will require help doing that at which you are passionate and best in the world. Economically you must leverage the work to professionals at the right level of development, expertise and cost for the task.
If you want to be perceived as the expert, you cannot do the $100/hour work. You ultimately have to restrict yourself to the $500 plus/hour work. This is the work worthy of your highest level of expertise. Perhaps not at first, but as you become a recognized expert, you have to have a team in place to provide these lesser services efficiently and at a high level. That requires you to build and develop a strong supporting cast.
Over the last few years, I worked with one particular professional to help him develop his practice. Over the last year it has grown exponentially. A year ago we met with a high-level target we believed we were prepared for. He was impressed with the credentials of our lead expert, but the target asked a critical question, “How many professionals do you have on your team dedicated to providing this service?” We had to think about that. Well, really no one was truly 100% dedicated to the expert’s service area. He borrowed strong younger professionals from other areas.
We explained this process and that our clients receive high level service from our expert who leads every project. The target explained that while he certainly valued our expertise, he required a team of experts for the sort of work we contemplated providing him.
From that point forward, our expert began to build a strong dedicated highly-trained team. He now knows the answer to that question and is confident in the team he has created. Be prepared to answer that question.
Who do you need on your team?
Identify the skills that you need to perform your service at the highest levels. What must you do? Everything else needs to be delegated.
As you build your practice your team will be used on a part-time basis. Eventually your practice will grow to demand more and more of each critical person, then full time support of a few younger professionals and eventually a full team from senior to junior.
If you are established in your profession, consider whether you have the right team for your area of passionate expertise. As you move in that direction, are there members of the team who can take on those projects you no longer want to handle? How can you develop them to free you up to drive your higher level practice?
The goal, of course, is to get to the point where all of your available billable time is taken up doing the highest level work for your clients in your area of passionate expertise and you are driving enough business down through the firm to keep many skilled professionals at many levels very busy.
Who do you not want on your team?
As important, who do you NOT want on your team? Remove them. Over time, as you work younger professionals into your projects, you will develop a rapport and respect for certain younger professionals. This will become your team. Those who do not provide you the level of service you demand will be removed.
Can you lead it? Do they respect you?
One of the most difficult functions of a professional is that of managing a team. You are passionately expert at delivering your service at a very high level.
As you develop your team, if you are not passionate about or capable of managing the team, assigning tasks and delegating authority, recognize that fact and find a technically talented lieutenant who is also a good manager. You must remain responsible for the delivery of high quality product and service to the client. You must also remain responsible for the client relationship. Those tasks cannot be delegated to subordinates. But in addition to technical areas you need to fill, recognize you are building a business. Management cannot be ignored.
Everyone on the team must be comfortable that you are driving the business and the leader of the team. Ultimately they need to know, and your lieutenant must be comfortable with the fact, that his or her authority derives from you. Leaders have many styles. You will have to develop your own effective leadership style. That will tend to dictate who is willing to be on your team.
Is the team greater than the sum of its parts?
Young professionals want to know that they have a future. It is your responsibility to make sure that they see that future increased dramatically by being part of your team. Helping them understand their passions and become experts themselves is a critical part of your duties. Some will be happy as strong expert members of your team with increasing opportunities on your matters. Others will want to develop their own business and become rain-makers like you. You should take responsibility for helping them make that happen.
As your team sees you help those above them become more successful, your team’s chemistry and loyalty will grow. As team members “graduate,” you will build allies within the firm and may even work together to drive additional business for the growing team. You become the five-star general, adding lower star generals who understand where their loyalty lies.
Leaders who ignore the goals and objectives of their team members find that animosity begins to develop. This generally does not result in the level of client satisfaction you require or the long-term continuity your clients desire. You can be the greatest expert in the world, but if you cannot develop a team capable of delivering incredible customer service and expert-level technical service, your success will be limited.
Being best in the world is not easy.
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