All posts by John Monks

Event Speaking

PACE provide outstanding conference and key-note speakers on topics relating to business development in professional services both in the UK and Internationally. Our consultants include authors of published books and prolific writers of thought leadership articles that appear regularly in the professional media.

Recent speaking engagements include:

  • Top UK law firms’ Partner conference, London
  • Major accountancy firm’s International Annual Conference, London
  • Partners’ conference, global forensic accounting firm, Las Vegas NV USA
  • Global accounting firm’s North America Partners conference, Denver CO USA
  • International accountancy firms’ Asia-Pacific Partners conference, Bali, Indonesia
  • Directors’ conference global engineering firm, Dubai, UAE
  • Professional Marketing Forums’ (PMF) annual conference, London, GB 
  • Professional Marketing Forum (PMF) Training Workshops, Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, London, Manchester, Nottingham, GB 
  • PSMG annual conference, London, GB 
  • PSMG skills seminars, Birmingham, London, Manchester, GB 
  • Legal Week independent law firms’ conference, London, GB 
  • Top 10 law firm annual Partners’ conference, Frankfurt, Germany
  • Leading property consultant’s annual conference, Edinburgh, GB
  • Global financial services firm’s  world conference, Cancun, Mexico
  • Top 10 property consultant’s training conference, Cardiff, GB

Speaking topics include:

  • Growing a professional services firm
  • Business development in a ‘downturn’
  • Engaging fee-earners in business development
  • Client experience management
  • Winning new clients
  • Managing key clients

“The PACE speakers were inspiring, they won over even our most sceptical fee-earners”

 Business Development Director, global engineering firm

If you are looking for a world class speaker for your next event contact us on +44 (0)1932 260062 or email tpp@thepacepartners.com for further details, pricing and availability.

Privacy

The PACE Partners are committed to the safety and integrity of data used by ourselves and website users. The following privacy policy explains how we protect visitors’ information gathered through our website. If you, as a visiting user choose to register or submit information to this website, you agree to the use of such data in accordance with this privacy policy. Links to other websites or affiliated partners are not governed by this policy.

Information Collection

As a visiting user, you do not have to submit any personal information in order to use the website. The site collects only personally identifiable information that is specifically and voluntarily provided by visitors. Such information may consist of, but is not limited to, your name, current job title, company address, email address and telephone and fax numbers. We do not usually seek sensitive information (e.g., data relating to race or ethnic origin, religious beliefs, criminal record, physical or mental health, or sexual orientation) from visitors. We will, where necessary, obtain visitors’ explicit consent to collect and use such information.

 Cookies

To ensure that our website is optimally managed and to facilitate improved navigation within the site, we or our service provider(s) may use cookies (small text files stored in a user’s browser) or Web beacons (electronic images that allow the Web site to count visitors who have accessed a particular page and to access certain cookies) to collect aggregate data. We may use such devices to track information on our systems and identify categories of visitors by items such as IP address, domain, browser type and pages visited. This information is reported to our webmasters who use the information to analyse our traffic data and the efficiency of our web service. Neither our cookies nor Web beacons collect any personal information such as your name or email address. Furthermore, most browsers permit individuals to decline cookies.

 Information Use

Some areas of our website require more detailed information on a user to be submitted. These include, but are not limited to our email alerts registration page and client area. When you register this information with us, we may use the information you submit to create a personal profile to customise our response to further requests or inquiries. We may also use the information to personalise your website experience. And, when you choose to register online for a PACE-hosted event, we will use the information you submit to respond to you. In addition, the web masters may, where necessary, use your information for various site related tasks. We will ensure that our marketing activities comply with applicable law. You may at any time request that we discontinue sending you such materials.

Disclosure of Information to Third Parties

Although we may provide visitors’ information to service providers that handle information on our behalf, we will not share the information with third parties or non-PACE affiliated organisations for secondary or unrelated purposes unless otherwise disclosed at the point of collection. Data collected by PACE is shared between The PACE Partners LLP and PACE Partners International Ltd and its licensed associates in accordance with the guidelines above. Personal information may be transmitted internationally through PACE worldwide offices or to third parties, such as our associate partner organisations for the purposes identified above. This may include transfer to countries without data protection rules similar to those in effect in a visitor’s country of residence. By providing information to PACE through this website, you are consenting to such transfers. Where appropriate, personal information may be disclosed to law enforcement, regulatory or other government agencies, or third parties where necessary to comply with legal or regulatory obligations or requests or for the purposes identified above.

Access to Information

We are dedicated to providing reasonable access to visitors who wish to review the personal information retained when they register information on our website. We treat requests to access information or change information in accordance with applicable legal requirements. Our Privacy Policy Statement 1.0 The Information we may collect from you 1.1 We may collect and process the following data about you: 1.1.1 information that you provide by filling in forms on our website: www.thepacepartners.com (our “site”). This includes information provided at the time of completing a request for our e-newsletter, free pdf download or requests for further resources listed on the site. We may also ask you for information when you report a problem with our site or the services we provide. 1.1.2 if you contact us by letter or email, we may keep a record of that correspondence; 1.1.3 if you contact us by telephone, we may record our telephone conversation for training purposes 1.1.4 we may also ask you to complete surveys that we use for research purposes, although you do not have to respond to them; 2.0 IP addresses and cookies 2.1 We may collect information about your computer including, where available, your IP address, operating system and browser type, for system administration and to report information about our site’s functionality. This is statistical data about our users’ browsing actions and patterns, and does not identify any individual. 2.2 For the same reason, we may obtain information about your general Internet usage by using a cookie file which is stored on the hard drive of your computer. Cookies contain information that is transferred to your computer’s hard drive. They help us to improve our site and to deliver a better and service. 2.3 You may refuse to accept cookies by activating the setting on your browser which allows you to refuse the setting of cookies. However, if you select this setting you may be unable to access certain parts of our site. Unless you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will refuse cookies, our system will issue cookies when you log on to our site. 3.0 Where we store your personal data 3.1 The personal data that we collect from you will be stored on our servers inside the European Economic Area (“EEA”). By submitting your personal data, you agree to this transfer, storing or processing. We will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your data is treated securely and in accordance with this privacy policy. 3.3 Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the Internet is not completely secure. Although we will do our best to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted to our site; any transmission is at your own risk. Once we have received your information, we will use strict procedures and security features to try to prevent unauthorised access. Specifically, your personal data will be stored in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998. 4.0 Uses made of the information 4.1 We use information held about you in the following ways: 4.1.1 to ensure that content from our site is presented in the most effective manner for you and for your computer; 4.1.2 to provide you with information, resources or services that you request from us, or which we feel may interest you, where you have consented to be contacted for such purposes; 4.1.3 to carry out our obligations arising from any contracts entered into between you and us; 4.1.4 to allow you to participate in interactive features of our service, when you choose to do so; 4.1.5 to notify you about changes to our service. 4.2 If you have placed an order for our free pdf download or resources, we will use the information we hold to send you our regular newsletter. This newsletter is our primary method of communicating with you and will keep you informed about our research, latest BD advice and services generally. By placing an order for these resources, you consent to us using the information we hold about you in this way. 5.0 Disclosure of your information 5.1 We may disclose your personal information to any member of our group, which means our subsidiaries, as defined in UK Companies Act 2006. 5.2 We may disclose your personal information to third parties: 5.2.1 in the event that we sell or buy any business or assets, in which case we may disclose your personal data to the prospective seller or buyer of such business or assets; or 5.2.2 if we are under a duty to disclose or share your personal data in order to comply with any legal obligation, or in order to enforce or apply our terms of use or terms and conditions of supply and other agreements; or to protect our rights, property, or safety, or that of our customers, or others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organisations for the purposes of fraud protection and credit risk reduction. 6.0 Disclosure of your information 6.1 You have the right to ask us not to process your personal data for marketing purposes. We will usually inform you (before collecting your data) if we intend to use your data for such purposes or if we intend to disclose your information to any third party for such purposes. You can exercise your right to prevent such processing by contacting us at The PACE Partners LLP, 75 Newman St, London W1T 3EN t:01932 260062 6.2 Our site may, from time to time, contain links to and from the websites of our partner sites and affiliates. If you follow a link to any of these websites, please note that these websites have their own privacy policies and that we do not accept any responsibility or liability for these policies. Please check these policies before you submit any personal data to these websites. 7.0 Access to information 7.1 The Act gives you the right to access information held about you. Your right of access can be exercised in accordance with the Act. Any access request may be subject to a fee of £10 to meet our costs in providing you with details of the information we hold about you. 8.0 Changes to our privacy policy 8.1 Any changes we may make to our privacy policy in the future will be posted on this page and, where appropriate, notified to you by e-mail. 9.0 Contact 9.1 Questions, comments and requests regarding this privacy policy are welcomed and should be addressed to John Monks, The PACE Partners LLP, 75 Newman St, London W1T 3EN t:01932 260062 e: john.monks@thepacepartners.com

Accessibility

The PACE Partners website has been designed to be as easy to use as possible for all users. For best results, we recommend users view the website using Internet Explorer, Firefox or Safari. Users with a visual impairment can change the text size by adjusting the settings in their browser. Internet Explorer users can access this facility through the View > Text Size menu. Other browsers support this feature by pressing Ctrl and the + or – keys. Please refer to your browser Help if this is not the case.


Publication & Article Formats

Publications on this site appear in a variety of formats. Users will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view pdf files. Visually impaired users may also find it useful to refer to Adobe for further information on pdf accessibility.

Click here if you need to download Adobe Reader (pdf reader).

Video

All video content within this website is provided in .flv format using Adobe Flash technology. If you cannot view the videos, download the latest version of Flash here.

 

If all or any part of the website appears to be functioning abnormally, please detail the problem to the webmaster at tpp@thepacepartners.com

 

 


Terms & Conditions

Website Service


This website is offered by The PACE Partners LLP and PACE Partners International Limited.


Legal


The PACE Partners LLP is a limited liability partnership registered in England and Wales with registered number OC330353. The registered VAT I.D. number is 608918613.

All references on this website to “The PACE Partners”, “PACE Partners”, “PACE” or “the firm” should be read as referring to The PACE Partners LLP and/or PACE Partners International Limited or their affiliated firms or businesses.

A list of the members (and of the non-members who are designated as partners) of The PACE Partners LLP and their qualifications is available for inspection at its registered office, PACE House, Churchfield Road, Walton-on-Thames, Surrey KT12 2TZ, United Kingdom. Any reference to a partner means a member, or a consultant or employee with equivalent standing and qualifications, of The PACE Partners LLP or any of its affiliated firms or entities.


PACE Partners International Limited is a private limited company registered in England and Wales with registered number 6579882. The registered VAT I.D. number is 931635626.

 

Trademarks


The trademarks displayed on this website are registered and unregistered trademarks of The PACE Partners LLP and/or PACE Partners International Limited. Nothing contained on the website should be construed as granting, by implication, estoppel or otherwise, any license or right to use any trademark displayed on the website, or any license or right to use any other trademark owned by any other third party. In the event that you misuse any trademark in violation of these terms and conditions. The PACE Partners LLP and PACE Partners International Limited will aggressively enforce their intellectual property rights to the fullest extent of the law, including the seeking of criminal prosecution.


Cookies and Website Links


This website uses cookies. Cookies are saved by our website for functionality reasons only and we would not hold any sensitive information about you before your prior consent.

The website may contain links to sites owned or operated by parties other than The PACE Partners LLP and PACE Partners International Limited. Such links are provided for your convenience only. The PACE Partners LLP and PACE Partners International Limited do not control, and is not responsible for, the content or privacy policies on, or the security of, such sites. Without limiting the foregoing, The PACE Partners LLP and PACE Partners International Limited specifically disclaim any responsibility if such sites:

· infringe any third party’s intellectual property rights
· are inaccurate, incomplete or misleading
· are not merchantable or fit for a particular purpose
· do not provide adequate security
· contain viruses or other items of a destructive nature; or
· are libellous or defamatory.


The PACE Partners LLP and PACE Partners International Limited do not endorse the content, or any products or services available, on such sites. If you establish a link to such sites, you do so at your own risk and without the permission of The PACE Partners LLP or PACE Partners International Limited.

PACE thinking


Why Client Relationship Management?

When businesses start to go hungry they are forced to go out to hunt – their most desirable potential prey being the key clients of their competitors.


Given this scenario, firms that make every effort to ensure excellence in everything that they do for their key clients tend to be in a stronger position to defend these relationships and keep voracious competitors at bay. Through these activities defending firms can retain the business of the small number of clients that almost invariably make up a disproportionate percentage of overall fee income. The professional management of key client relationships has never been so important.

The nuances of client relationship management in professional services


PACE Thinking - key client managementRelationships are paramount to professional services firms. The quality of client relationships has a direct correlation to the degree of success a firm experiences. The cost of finding new clients compared to the cost of retaining existing ones, is well documented. Those firms who do not invest in building good relationships, face a greater turnover of clients (and probably staff) than those that do.

Firms that are more successful at Key Client Management tend to view it as a strategy which is fundamental to the firm achieving its most important objective(s), rather than an objective in its own right.  This strategy is the broad direction the firm must take in order to meet its business imperatives.


In ensuring the strategy is successful, the key client management programme needs a defined leader or ‘champion’ who can gain buy-in at every level. Recognition and rewards must also be in line with the strategy so that client retention and business from existing clients is rewarded as much as new business from new clients. The most successful firms also work hard to build the necessary motivation and discipline at ground level so that best practice is prevalent throughout the firm.

Improving client relationship management

Over the years, we have helped many organisations improve their client relationship management. In doing so, we have helped our clients:

  • Understand the process of managing key clients
  • Undertake key client planning
  • Manage key client relationships
  • Segment their client base
  • Conduct successful and responsible cross-selling
  • Market successfully to existing clients
  • Develop key service skills
  • Develop a service strategy

Health checks


The Key client management healthcheck is designed to help professional services firms assess how they perform in 12 core aspects of key client management. In our experience, greater success in these aspects leads to greater protection of key client relationships and generates a more profitable and loyal client base.


What does it do?


The Managing Key Clients Healthcheck is a perception questionnaire that generates a detailed assessment of a firm’s approach to its key client relationships. This report enables those involved in client relationship management to gain a better understanding of the firm’s approaches in these fields by:

  • Giving a snapshot of current strengths and weaknesses
  • Identifying areas where support and development is needed to realise greater opportunities

How can it help?


Some firms use a number of their people to complete the questionnaire, in order to obtain a more holistic view of its overall performance in this area. As a result the Healthcheck is a valuable tool when used:

  • To determine the short and long-term strength of the client portfolio
  • To identify and support client protection strategies
  • Alongside fee-income reports – to understand how certain activities and approaches, result in particular income levels from existing clients
  • As part of a firm’s Personal Development Reviews/Appraisal Systems – to ensure support and development are given in the areas that need it most
  • As a guide for a firm’s marketing and business development plans – to focus investment on the areas that need it most


For more information about using our Managing Key Clients Healthcheck service, please contact Wendy Fountain on +44 (0)1932 260062 or email him at tpp@thepacepartners.com

View PACE Key Client Management Case Studies by clicking here.

Testimonials

 

“Surprisingly good and thought provoking.  The Zen of marketing your services.” Feedback from RICS CPD Foundation

“We have just secured a key instruction from a strategically important client with a potential value of £500k. We applied PACE thinking at every stage of the process. We are treating you to a lunch!”

Partner, top 10 law firm

“I used to feel uncomfortable at the thought of having to sit in front of potential clients gaining credibility by telling them how good my firm and I were. I never wanted to be a salesperson. PACES selling skills has shown me how professional and enjoyable the selling element of my role can be. It also help us to win more business”

Engineer, global consulting firm

“the PACES selling methodology has changed the way we sell, because it works!”

Vice President, global consulting firm

“I have implemented the PACE high impact approach to generating meetings and have just secured a meeting with a senior decision maker that I have tried to approach many times before”

Director, construction management consultancy

“the PACE Pipeline model shows me what to do, when to do it and how best to do it! With limited time for business development the thinking has helped me to be more effective”

Director, property consultancy

“Bringing PACE in has probably been the most highly rated training and development initiative we have ever undertaken and has delivered a huge change in behaviours with tangible financial results with significant business wins”

Senior HR consultant, global consulting business

“We worked with PACE thinking to develop an effective approach to face to face selling opportunities. We approach meetings differently to our competitors and continue to win new clients in a tough environment”

Director, major commercial bank

When we decided that leading business development was to be the theme for our 39th International World Conference, held in Cancun, Mexico, this year we had no hesitation in selecting PACE Partners as our key facilitators.

The two Pauls from PACE, Paul Matthews and Paul Denvir delivered four exceptional one hour sessions to our 120+ audience made up of Managing Partners and other senior individuals in our Global Network from around the world. Read more on this testimonial within our case studies

International Accountancy Network

“The Relationship Protection Index introduced by PACE not only provides us with a way of measuring the strength of our relationships but is also extremely practical and powerful in identifying actions that strengthen and protect our relationships with our key clients.”

Director, leading engineering consultancy

“I especially like PACE’s practical approach to key client management”  
CEO, top 5 actuarial firm
“I thought we understood our clients pretty well. After developing a key client plan during the PACE KCM workshop we implemented actions that developed my understanding of my client enormously, and the quality of the relationship has increased dramatically too”

senior fee-earner, leading actuarial firm

“I’ve not worked with anyone who knows our industry, our market place, our type of clients and key client management as well as PACE”  
Regional director Middle East, leading engineering consultancy  
“We worked with PACE to develop a ‘future leaders programme’ following a staff survey highlighting dissatisfaction with our existing management development programme. PACE helped us to identify the right candidates and designed a two years development programme. The feedback from everyone involved has been outstanding.”

HR Director, property consultancy

“PACE have been coaching a small team of experienced Partners in leadership and management. Despite some initial resistance from some Partners, PACE’s professional approach, knowledge and experience won over even the most sceptical.”

Senior partners, forensic accounting firm

“PACE devised a leadership assessment and development centre for us. We had doubts about how many professional staff would apply but we need not have worried, the programme was positioned so well with the help of PACE that we were fully subscribed within days. The centres ran exceptionally well and leadership is now firmly on the senior management teams agenda thanks to PACE.”

CEO, construction management consultancy

“We halted a worrying increase in staff attrition rates when PACE helped us to address the management skills and behaviours of our directors. PACE people are experienced managers themselves and it shows through in the coaching and training they do.”

Director, global consultancy business

  “We worked with PACE thinking to develop an effective approach to face to face selling opportunities. We then worked with PACE to ensure our leadership team managed and led effectively in the field. Our return on investment was significantly enhanced by investing in our leaders. We win more business!”

Director, major commercial bank

 

Leading Business Development


The best firms and the best teams develop the best leaders. Just as technical ability can be developed and fine tuned, so can leadership and management skills.

Leadership is not just the domain of CEOs, Senior Partners or Managing Partners; it is vital at all levels.

Firms come to us to help them develop leadership and management capabilities at all levels of their organisation.


Our expertise includes:

  • Assessing leadership capabilities and potential
  • Leadership assessment centres
  • Future leader programmes
  • Training and developing people’s leadership skills and behaviours
  • Leadership and management coaching
  • Leading business development and client relationship management initiatives
  • How to motivate and influence people and teams
  • Talent retention
  • Facilitating board and management meetings

Our thoughts and experiences on leadership in professional services are often called upon by the national and international business press and by leading professional services trade bodies.  To learn more click here. 

Find out more:


What next?

> Contact us
> Ask PACE a question
> Register to receive email alerts