Integrating the work of fee earners, marketing and BD: Presentation delivered at KPMG HK for the Asia Pacific Professional Services Marketing Association June 2010

1. Robert Sawhney
Managing Director
SRC Associates Ltd
14th June 2010
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2. The Power of Context
• Experiment at Princeton University in the US
• Good Samaritans (seminarians of The Princeton
Theological Seminary) were asked to deliver a
short talk on the bible at a nearby venue
• The Samaritans split into two groups: one told
they were late, the other told they were a few
minutes early
• Variable: ‘victim’ outside building
• 68% of the early group stopped to help, only 10%
of the late group?
• (Source: The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell)
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3. What is Marketing? – it ain’t this!
• Many studies of the legal profession show that the
emphasis has moved away from law firm marketing
and to where it should be: business development.
• Marketing is "nice to have," and includes competitive
intelligence, CRM, branding, newsletters and e-
newsletters, advertising, public relations, brochures,
directories and sponsorships. But today, what law
firms "have to have" is sales: lawyers and
professionals who can open new matters, bring in new
files and attract new business (source: Larry Bodine, US
based consultant)
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4. Me arguing with someone!
• http://www.thenewlawyer.com.au/article/fir
m-marketing-inspires-email-
vitriol/493687.aspx#comments
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5. Marketing and market orientation: the
relationship with BD and fee earners
Culture :
‘a business is market oriented when its culture is systematically and entirely committed
to the continuous creation of superior customer value’
‘market orientation is the organization wide generation of market intelligence
pertaining to current and future customer needs, dissemination of the intelligence
across departments, and organization wide responsiveness to it’
Behaviours:
Intelligence generation
Intelligence dissemination
Firm wide responsiveness to intelligence
Manifestations:
Marketing associated initiatives – services, branding, CRM, pricing, STP,
differentiation, promotion…
BD - one to one activities of sales with targeted prospects, informed conversations…
Fee Earners – client orientation and understanding of needs, , talking from a
perspective of knowledge, job satisfaction and firm commitment…
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6. The Problem in PSFs
• Marketing and marketers lack perceived value due to
professionals limited understanding of what marketing
is and supposed to do
• Marketers who lack influence
• Low trust of marketers and the information they
produce
• Marketing and BD lumped together
• Focus on tactical marketing and BD activities without
sufficient knowledge and market driven structure in
place
• Vicious cycle of declining impact of marketing and BD
with growing disdain of professionals
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7. The Value Proposition: How marketing and BD add value and
contribute to success in Asia Pacific professional services firms
(source: Roundtable Consulting, APSMA 2009)
• A significant gap – only 31% of respondents strongly agreed
that marketing and business development are a valued part
of their organisation
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8. Firstly, the view of clients
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9. The Integration Imperative
Go anywhere they like, do
anything they like, expect
anything they like, and over
promise to clients
• Fee earners
product • Appropriate
• Financial
Intellectual • Know who value Firm
capital
Clients
performance • Non
and know • Value
financial
where and perceptions
know what
BD
Marketing
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10. A Law Firm View
• Barlow Lyde & Gilbert has laid off three of its five
business development personnel as part of an ongoing
internal restructuring in the UK
• Chief executive officer David Jabbari said: "I am not a
fan of traditional marketing departments in law firms. I
accept the need for expert support and high-level
research in some areas, but there is much that should
be owned and managed directly by fee earners.
Business development is a fundamental responsibility
of fee earners that should not be delegated.“
• The three employees' functions have been taken over
by 10 professional support lawyers
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11. The Model of Change
• Marketing is everyone’s job
• Articulate the new meaning of marketing, marketing processes,
Mind Set and BD
• Identify and develop the collaborative relationships and skills
that will be needed in this new culture and how working
Build
Structure processes are best structured
• The new ‘rules’ must be lived and breathed by everyone
involved
Practice What
You Preach • Senior partners must be on board and committed
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12. Build Structure – what to build? (adapted from
Lowe, S (2009) The Integration Imperative, Professional Services Books, Concord)
1. The right processes
2. The right skills
3. The right support
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13. The Right Processes
•Identify strategic clients
Business •Acquire and retain
strategy and strategic clients
strategic •Build revenues with
marketing these groups in line with
client value and firm
strategy
Build a
market driven
Processes
culture based
on knowledge
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14. The Right Skills
For Fee Earners
•Thought leader and
industry expertise
Business
strategy and •Trusted partner for
strategic clients based on
marketing
understanding client
value and new
dialogues
Build a market For M + BD Staff
driven culture
Processes •Lead continuous
based on
knowledge integration of efforts
through exhibited
benefit, metrics, and
KPIs
•Become voice of
Skills influence and
recognised expert
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15. The Right Support
HR – recruitment,
retention,
evaluation, KPIs,
training
Processes
Finance – pricing,
profitability,
budgeting
Business
strategy and
IT – technology and
Skills
strategic CRM systems, SEO,
marketing
data mining etc
M+BD – train fee
earners,
implementation of
marketing
Build a market
driven culture strategies and
Support
based on tactics, research,
knowledge
voice of client
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16. Case Study – Perkins+Will (global architectural and
design firm)
• Services deployed through various practices (architectural, interiors,
urban design) and industries (health care, science and tech)
• Development of internal silos, lack of big picture delivery for clients
• Goal – integrate all expertise = holistic design
• CEO – ‘build a culture of innovation and deliver client value through
interdisciplinary teams working in an integrated model’
• Set up sub group from various practices and functions – dual
internal and external focus
• Researched 10 firms in different industries which were known for
their integrated strategy and operations
• Realised they needed ‘T’ people and thinking, different dialogue
with client
• Delivering interdisciplinary design as embedded value
• Board of directors approved initiative and the process began with a
significant internal education programme
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17. We Know This – it’s the knowing doing
gap!
(Source: The Value
Proposition: How marketing
and BD add value and
contribute to success in Asia
Pacific professional services
firms Roundtable Consulting,
APSMA, 2009)
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18. Thank You!
• If you want copies of the any of the reports or research cited
here, please don’t hesitate to contact me:
• bob@srchk.com, www.srchk.com
• Blog: www.marketingasia.typepad.com
• Twitter: http://twitter.com/robertsawhney
• My latest book: Available from Lexis Nexis in Hong Kong and
other Asian offices or www.amazon.com
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