Using a powerful diagnostic tool can re-energise your business development strategy
No 2 in a series titled ‘Herding Cats’, in support of senior partners everywhere.
Perhaps your BD isn’t performing as well as it might – a genuine commercial cost that can’t go unchanged. There isn’t a consensus about why, but you have your views. If only you could bring this matter to a head; if only you could get your partners to recognise the weaknesses of the current operation, you might then be able to get them to invest in a future strategy.
A professionally-run diagnostic exercise could clear a pathway for change. A well-executed and managed diagnostic process can be cathartic, and shine a light on the strengths and, more importantly, the weaknesses of your BD operation or your firm’s strategy.
There are six principal aspects to professional services marketing and BD, each with three sub-components, covering everything from strategy to organization, leadership to pricing and negotiation to research. Firms rarely consider how the business is performing against all factors. A genuinely forensic diagnostic probes all 18 areas.
As a stand-alone ‘self-completion’ exercise, a diagnostic has limited value and requires total honesty. Think of it like some sort of marketing confessional – it’s only as useful as how honest you are prepared to be. The very least it will do is force you to pause and reflect on what’s working and what isn’t.
The best results I have had with this sort of tool are where a range of partners and stakeholders across the firm are asked to complete the diagnostic questionnaire (independent from each other). Scores are combined to give an over-arching picture, but more powerfully it can reveal a sort of ‘real world view’, shining a light on what partners really think. The system can identify critical ‘outliers’ (strong but sometimes ill-informed opinions) and identify the range of opinions and the typical deviation in certain areas, which helps to prioritize the issues.
Of course, you need to be brave. Around a table, the dissection of the results can lead to some open and robust debate about what partners think works and doesn’t work. However, a smart MP can use it as a mechanism to challenge the partner group over the real priorities for the business and encourage them to help make the hard decisions. In other words, give them some skin in the game.
Things to consider;
- A diagnostic tool serves to provide a framework, a set of coat pegs for supporting a structured, meaningful conversation, and to inform the development of a future strategy.
- It should be sponsored by the managing partner but supported by an experienced BD professional (consultant) who can remain independent, facilitate a ‘discovery’ workshop and reliably interpret the results based on past experience.
- You might usefully have an outcome, or series of outcomes, in mind. It’s pointless to unearth partners’ views and opinions about the issues raised without a commitment to do something about them in the short to medium term.
- At the end of the exercise your consultant should furnish you with a report setting out the key findings, areas of agreement/friction, and some ideas on future strategic choices.
If your BD function isn’t generating new business leads, delighting clients, strengthening the brand and pioneering innovative digital client engagement……every day; but instead is the butt of jokes, the source of regular partner frustration, appears to be a loadstone to new business opportunities, then perhaps it’s time for a ‘warts and all’ review and a new approach. A professionally-run Diagnostic process can be the catalyst needed for change.
No 1 in a series titled ‘Herding Cats’ – Round partner pegs in round partner holes
No 3 in the series ‘Herding Cats’ – Four habits of fast growth
No 5 in the series ‘Herding Cats’ – Social media: A critical BD tool or a busted flush?
Professional Services Specialist
35 years-experience of advising and working at senior levels within professional service environments. From Global BD Director with Turner & Townsend to Communications Director for Grant Thornton, from international BD roles within PwC Consulting, as well as a range of interim and consultancy roles. Please contact me for a no obligation perspective on alternative ways to herd your cats.