Professional services firms have traditionally adopted an organic approach to marketing. However, a more structured approach guarantees a better return on investment and also provides room to grow. So how do you identify and implement the approach and structure that is right for your firm? This workshop will identify ways that professional services firms can recognise and crystallise effective sales techniques and create structures to support them.

More and more firms are looking not to outsource their professional services, but to bring them in house via automisation. Is this the inevitable next step in the evolution of the professional services market or can professional services firms innovate to ensure their propositions are sufficiently valuable to clients?

With the erosion of product margins and the rise of the service economies, many companies have been forced to create service portfolios. Firms in telecommunications, computing, medical equipment and heavy engineering are having to manage the huge implications of change to the following parts of their business: sales, operations, new product development, finance marketing and people management. How is the strategic risk and reward evaluated? What is the impact of change and what are the pitfalls?

Why have so many half-baked myths about marketing from the 50's and 60's become accepted business "facts". Laurie Young unpicks some of the supposed truths about advertising effectiveness, customer behaviour marketing and business development so beloved of amateur marketing experts on boards and senior management teams the world over.

For even the magic circle, the credit crunch is likely to result in less clients with less to spend. How can managing partners and consultancy MD's prioritise which clients to focus on and how?

All service consultancies and professional practices have non chargeable time. Is there an opportunity to reduce it using techniques employed by engineers?

All service providers and professional firms need to be innovative in several areas: client work, new service creation, employee management, infrastructure deployment. What actually is it (there has been a lot of hype) and how can managing partners / CEO's effectively stimulate or exploit it?

People have talked before about professional services firms outsourcing their back office functions internationally. Sarbanes-Oxley in the US and the increasing commoditisation of legal services in the UK - even at the top end - has lead to a huge pressure on firms to reduce their costs. The Indian government is encouraging firms to go out and win this business while New Zealand law firms are also landing contracts from overseas. But Hong Kong and Singapore have significant advantages not least in their proven expertise in service businesses, similar legal systems and cultural and historic links with the British, US and Australian markets. This talk will explain in more depth why the firms in the region are in a prime position to secure this sort of business and the type of contracts that will find a natural home in Hong Kong and Singapore.

Business academics tend to focus on corporate PLCs and very little is written about professional partnerships. However, because of their ownership structure, partnerships are a different beast to the PLC with different governance, cultural and management structures. And the thing that makes it all work is partner consensus. This seminar looks at how that consensus can be achieved – using an example of creating effective business development structures – and why it is so important for the success of the firm.

In these high risk times, trust is the secret to successful client relationships. But does the trusted advisor approach go far enough? How do you develop deeper organisation-to-organisation synergies that go beyond the relationship between two individuals, providing for more meaningful and longer term relationships?

Over the last 100 years or more, thought leadership has proven again and again to be one of – if not the – most effective marketing strategy employed by professional services firms. It differentiates from the competition, builds reputation, adds value to relationships and creates new revenue streams. Yet, despite its powerful returns, little has been written about it. This talk will give practical guidance for employing and capitalising on a thought leadership strategy.

Professional services firms typically spend up to 5% of turnover on marketing and business development. However, they have traditionally adopted an organic approach to marketing. As a result, few have the right marketing and business development structures to ensure this money is wisely spent and that its impact effectively tracked. So how do you structure marketing and business development resources in order to generate the highest returns?

How to create services which are unique and that customers will want to buy. Developing new and added value services.

Shareholder value is a familiar approach to board level management. It ensures that the senior team focuses upon the issues which earn the best return. A number of the recognised shareholder issues and measures, like brand development, are marketing issues.

Everyone today understands the benefits that rainmakers bring to professional services companies and many firms are investing in coaching, training and mentoring to give other professionals rainmaking techniques. But, these skills are intuitive and unconscious and on the large part cannot be taught. Drawing on his experience both as a marketing partner in a leading international firm and as an advisor to many of the top firms in the market, Laurie will identify what makes a rainmaker and how their unique skills can be exploited more effectively

Successful professional services firms have benefited from effective relationship management strategies for many years. Yet many of even the largest global organisations struggle to efficiently manage the differences in international customer relationships. This seminar will highlight the most effective approach to acknowledging and capitalising on cultural and economic differences between countries and organisations.

For many firms strategic planning has taken an organic path with firms focusing on business planning as and when the market or competition demands it. Developing a more long-term strategy is essential for business success. In professions and service companies where the nature and dynamics of business are very different from the sectors where most business theory was pioneered, which tools and techniques produce results?

The effective use of technology can change the customer or client service experience and protect margins. Sadly many professionals are not experienced or trained in service engineering, and so miss the opportunities that exist.

For many successful professional service providers there are two mutually interdependent components: the brand and the individual partners or account directors. What are the tensions between the two and how should they be managed?

The growth strategies that work for small practices can run out of steam as the practice becomes larger. In some markets there is a tendency for smaller professional practices to discount, cut costs and negotiate on fees in order to win more business. However, the very large firms have high margins built on years’ of reputation. So is there a unique and viable way in which small professional services firms can create and sustain higher margins for themselves? Laurie looks at the different growth strategies that work best for small and medium-sized businesses and highlights the critical points in the process.