Why not focus your energy on simply getting things done?

If we’re honest, we probably make the same resolutions year on year. That’s not the difficult part. It’s actually making them happen that gets lost in day-to-day life. Read more here

Excerpt from: Growing Your Client Base, Chapter Four – Projecting Defining bluebirds One of the downsides of being well known within a particular professional discipline is that a firm may be asked by all sorts of prospective clients to bid for their work. The post is opened one morning and in it we find an Invitation to Tender or an invitation to pitch the firm’s capabilities. And what is wrong with that, many professionals ask us? In sales parlance these unexpected opportunities are known as ‘bluebirds’ – pretty creatures that ‘fly in through the window’. However, not all feathered creatures are bluebirds. Some are emus – birds that will never fly. Some may be albatrosses – creatures we would not want around our neck. Read more here

I was reading an article the other day by someone who thought the notion of ‘trusted adviser’ needed to be ditched and wondered if it really summarised what professionals offer their clients.

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Client Development – Have you ever been pigeonholed?

I’ve been working with a lot of firms recently helping them to grow their business, some of them through getting better and more successful at winning pitches, some by approaching and winning new prospect clients and some by managing and developing their existing clients. Read more here

Learning to win and develop clients is not like learning to be a lawyer, accountant, actuary or an engineer – it is much more like learning to play a sport or a musical instrument. Read more here

What makes a really great firm these days? What causes them to experience a steady stream of great clients and great work that attract really talented people? Read more here

A recent survey found that the top challenge for 72% of professional services firms was attracting and developing new business. Twice as many said this as the next most mentioned topic.

Since it’s a topic on so many firms’ agenda, it’s even more important that those within the firm spend their time and resources on the right marketing and business development activities that stand more likelihood of helping them to achieve the objective of attracting and developing new business. And it’s also crucial to make sure the marketing and professionals work together to make this stuff happen. Read more here

Coventry University Group have worked with PACE Partners and Chris Butterwick since 2013. We have been both a Partner with PACE in delivering a major programme of learning to one of our key clients, and also a client whereby PACE have helped us with our own business development efforts. In the process we have developed an excellent relationship with PACE during which the content of the PACE business development programme was delivered as part of a leadership development programme accredited by Coventry University. Read more here

Doing business without sales and marketing is like winking at someone in the dark. You know you’re doing it, but no-one else does.

It can be frustrating, can’t it, to find you’ve spent years studying for professional qualifications, only to be told that now you need to be able to sell as well. In this article, we explore how to sell face-to-face, without have to turn into anything like our friend below.  

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You may think your clients are faithful to your firm, but rivals are probably making advances on them. John Monks tells how to put the ‘love’ back into your client relationships.

It sounds obvious, but getting the basics right is one of the key priorities for successful client management. But you would be surprised just how many advisers seem to mess up on basic service elements. In some of these cases, the firm involved actually hasn’t done anything wrong, but has assumed what it thinks the client wants, rather than asking the client at the outset. Read more here