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    The Professional Services Firm Bible

     
    How to grow a medium-sized professional services firm.
    3/14/2005

    From law firms to real estate offices, The Professional Services Firm Bible lays out the business basics of growing a professional services company. Contributions come from experts in their fields on benchmarking, governance, sales and marketing, business development, IP, partnering, and other specialties.

    Authors John Baschab and Jon Piot (HBS MBA '95), co-founders of the Impact Innovations Group consultancy, say that what sets their book apart from many in the field is a focus on growth-minded, mid-size professional services groups (consisting of five to 250 professional services staff). In a nutshell, the program looks like this:

    1. Make sure the senior management team is following the same plan.
    2. Fix your organization structure to enable the firm to grow.
    3. Develop simple, straightforward processes for recurring activities.
    4. Eliminate any non-core service lines and focus on what you do best.
    5. Improve your relationship with customers.
    6. Ensure that your sales and marketing plan is leveraged.
    7. Improve fiscal management/budgeting.

    As the leader of your firm, Baschab and Piot say, it's important to keep your head above the fray. "Always think strategy, system, process, and people—if you're constantly thinking about the next client sales call or delivering another document to a customer, chances are no one is thinking about how to grow the firm."—Sean Silverthorne

    Table of Contents:

    1. Managing the professional services firm
    2. Professional services firm benchmarking
    3. Partnership and governance structures
    4. Sales management
    5. Marketing and business development
    6. Service line and intellectual property creation
    7. Proposal and reference management
    8. Strategic partnering
    9. Organization structure
    10. Career tracks, compensation, and professional development
    11. Professional staff recruiting and retention
    12. Service delivery
    13. Resource management
    14. Risk management and quality assurance
    15. Finance, accounting, and human resources
    16. Purchasing, procurement, vendor, and asset management
    17. Information technology
    18. Real estate and facilities
    19. Legal counsel
    20. Office management
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