Traditionally most legal and accountancy firms have built their businesses on the referral. Stereotypically this has been on the golf course or at one of the finer restaurants in the city. But despite the inherent value in someone referring your business to an associate, the world has moved on and top firms are now employing vast teams of people in business development and marketing to drive growth in their practices. But there’s a cost involved and even worse – it’s usually a fixed cost. So how do we change Partner perception from a cost to an investment?

By Adding Value!

When recruiting Marketing/BD roles for our Professional Services clients we have seen a real focus and demand throughout the interview process for candidates to clearly demonstrate the added value they currently deliver and what additional value they could bring to a new employer.

The days of a ‘fluffy marketer’ in the sector are no longer (if they ever existed in the first place) with clients looking for cutting edge and dynamic strategies that will supercharge their businesses.

So how can we help Marketers in the sector demonstrate their true value be it at interview stage or throughout the working day rather than being seen as another overhead for Partners to question?

6 Top Tips

• Demonstrate how you can play your part in strategy development whilst being a trusted internal consultant and adviser to the team and Partnership.

• Be prepared to challenge peers and senior stakeholders to make sure they really do have the client’s needs at the heart of their thinking.

• Demonstrate that you have not only a thorough understanding of your own industry but those of your key sectors and clients.

• Play a leading role in cross-selling the Firms services and Partner expertise and completely open minded to client facing activity.

• It’s not all about strategy – coaching and advising on marketing best practice with your fee earning team is essential.

• Having a relationship with partners where you are able to listen, identify and then deliver marketing solutions that will drive maximum benefit to the client.

Network Marketing are sponsoring this years Marketing within the Legal Sector event on Wednesday 18th May 2016 and look forward to seeing many of our clients there. If we haven’t worked together before please don’t hesitate to come over and have a chat. Or for a more informal introduction we will be inviting all guests for drinks after the event...