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:
- Make sure the senior management team is following the same plan.
- Fix your organization structure to enable the firm to grow.
- Develop simple, straightforward processes for recurring activities.
- Eliminate any non-core service lines and focus on what you do best.
- Improve your relationship with customers.
- Ensure that your sales and marketing plan is leveraged.
- 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:
- Managing the professional services firm
- Professional services firm benchmarking
- Partnership and governance structures
- Sales management
- Marketing and business development
- Service line and intellectual property creation
- Proposal and reference management
- Strategic partnering
- Organization structure
- Career tracks, compensation, and professional development
- Professional staff recruiting and retention
- Service delivery
- Resource management
- Risk management and quality assurance
- Finance, accounting, and human resources
- Purchasing, procurement, vendor, and asset management
- Information technology
- Real estate and facilities
- Legal counsel
- Office management