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Changing values?
With confidence and workflows rising in the professional services sector, the focus has returned to planning for growth. However the perspectives of clients have shifted during the recession - in terms of what they want and how they measure 'value'. Multi-sourcing, alignment, unbundling and efficiency are all terms we knew but have not been forced to focus on. |
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What we do
Record Associates helps PS firms to identify, develop and articulate sources of value through:
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Phone 01444 811 269
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| Greetings!
Before the credit crunch the focus of most business plans, at a departmental, service or sector level, was on how many people were needed to make the numbers. Then the recession hit and business plans became 'size and shape' documents - mostly an exercise in scaling the numbers to suit declining workflow.
The changing needs and perceptions of buyers is our opportunity to make the annual planning process more strategic by refocusing it around client need and their business fundamentals.
But the planning process is more than just this if is to succeed; we've got to use it as a way of identifying, developing and resourcing value propositions which create sustainable advantage. |
Plan around fulfilling client needs which you aren't fully meeting
We often think that we know a client's every need and on the technical side there is much evidence to support this. However on the commercial side I believe there is a huge opportunity that the recession has revealed. Few businesses are positioning themselves to help their clients improve the way that they do business - speeding up decision-making, managing risk, transferring skill, facilitating thinking and reducing waste.
These are the springboards which business leaders use to progress personally and they drive a deeper level of client satisfaction than pure technical ability or chemistry. |
Look at all the angles
In a recent piece of consulting around improving collaborative behaviour in one division of the Big4, my analysis identified 8 separate factors which affected their ability, desire and need to collaborate effectively. The lesson here is to use a framework which will help you consider each angle of your value proposition and the options open to delivering it. If your plan simply focuses on a few of the angles, your efforts will not be fully effective. The sum of the parts will be more than each part individually.
If your value proposition is focused around 'greater commerciality', how will you go about delivering it? Dedicated project managers, more secondments, hiring people from industry, generating thought leadership, building a forum for industry focused discussion (with clients and internally), tailored training courses, presence on external bodies? These actions will be more persuasive than increasing your promotional efforts. |
I devoted my last newsletter to analyzing value propositions (click here) and how you can identify their unique differentiators. A framework will also help you identify areas you are perceived (by clients or your colleagues) as being weak which will enable money (and time) to be invested effectively.
Where are you strong? Where are you weak? You have to continually enhance the substance of your value proposition and prove it every day of every week, not just talk about it. |
Focus, focus, focus
By creating a series of value propositions you can bring staff across teams with you and get commitment for the resources, processes, reward structures, etc to support them. A structured business planning process focused on a discrete number of value propositions is your opportunity to do this. | |
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