"Clients At The Core is an essential blueprint to helping us all take the next steps. The authors, battle scarred by the evolution of professional firm management and marketing from then to now, have captured the changing needs of the firms in this turbulent new economic era. This is a well-written book that uses plain language to convey practical, well thought-out ideas."
-Patrick J. McKenna, a leading international consultant to professional service firms
"The authors have captured the changing role of professional services marketing and firm management. There is valuable insight [in this] down-to-earth guide to competing successfully in the new environment."
-David Maister, author and consultant
"The book is a masterpiece! Aquila and Marcus have produced the essential guide for managing a professional services firm. They've marshaled their considerable real-life experiences and far-reaching vision into a veritable operating manual for the successful firm."
-Rick Telberg, Editor at Large, American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
"At its heart, this book is the running shoe for legal and accounting professionals who want to put the client first. Following the evolution of the industry over the past twenty-five years, this must-have for every professional services firm is the key to leading in the turbulent and highly competitive waters ahead."
-Richard S. Levick, Esq., President, Levick Strategic Communications, LLC coauthor, Stop the Presses: The Litigation PR Desk Reference
"Client selection and retention is one of the critical success factors for a professional services firm, and Aquila and Marcus do a masterful job at educating us on the necessary ingredients of each. The chapters on firm governance and paying for performance are thought provoking and certainly challenging to the conventional wisdom. If you want a better understanding of marketing and leading a professional firm in these turbulent times, this book is essential."
-Ronald J. Baker, author, Professional's Guide to Value Pricing and The Firm of the Future
"Client at the Core is a commonsense approach to keeping your professional services firm relevant in the twenty-first century's client-driven economy. Aquila and Marcus have hit a home run with their insightful analysis and poignant prose."
-Jeffrey S. Pawlow, Managing Shareholder, The Growth Partnership, Inc.
Table of Contents:
Foreword xvii
Preface xix
Acknowledgments xxv
Part I Professions and Professionals in Turmoil 1
1 If Something Can Change, It Will
Strategic Factors in a New Environment 3
Part II Clients—Who They Are and How to Find Them 11
2 What a Client Really Wants
Listening to the Client for Fun and Profit 13
3 Are We a Client-centric Firm Yet?
Organizing to Meet Client Needs 19
4 Now, Here’s My Plan
Defining the Right Client for You 31
Part III Making Your Vision a Reality 39
5 I Can See Your Future from Here
Vision? A Working Tool? 41
6 Seizing Those Opportunities
Making the Vision a Reality 49
7 Making Marketing a Nice Word
Building a Client-centric Marketing Culture 73
8 It’s the End Game that Counts
Contact—Turning the Prospect into a Client 89
Part IV Marketing Tools and How to Use Them 111
9 Hang High the Rafters, Carpenter
The Tools of Marketing that Build the Marketing Program 113
Part V Managing the Client-centric Firm 163
10 Turning Recipes into Cakes
Managing for Results 165
11 Who’s at the Helm and Who’s on the Bridge
Firm Governace and Structure 173
12 Holding a Handful of Mercury
Managing the Knowledge Worker for the One-Firm Firm 185
13 For Love or Money—or Both
Paying for Performance 191
14 Didn’t We Tell You What We’re Doing?
Internal Communications—Let Me Count the Ways 201
Part VI Economics in the Client-centric Firm 217
15 A Farthing for Your Goat
Pricing in a Client-centric Firm 219
16 What Did I Get for My Money?
Measuring the Marketing ROI 229
17 Cash Is King
What’s the Lifetime Value of Your Clients and the Financial Health of Your Firm? 233
Part VII What Will We Do Tomorrow? 239
18 The Future for Professional Services
Are We There Yet? 241
Appendix A The Balanced Scorecard 247
The Balanced Scorecard—Financial Measures 247
The Balanced Scorecard—Client Measures 251
The Balanced Scorecard—Internal Business Process Measures 252
The Balanced Scorecard—Marketing Measures 253
The Balanced Scorecard—Employee Growth and the Learning Measures 255
Appendix B Managing the Knowledge Worker 257
Take the Pulse of Your Staff 257
Compensation 257
Career Advancement Opportunities 258
Firm Culture 258
Appendix C Pricing in a Client-centric Firm 261
Analyzing Price Sensitivity 261
Appendix D Accounting and Law Firm Benchmarks 263
Accounting Firm Benchmarks 263
Bibliography and References 267
Index 271
About the Author :
AUGUST J. AQUILA is one of the country’s leading consultants in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, succession planning, and management issues for professional services firms. He was an early pioneer and leading force in the accounting profession’s consolidation movement. In 2003, he was inducted into the Accounting Marketing Association’s Hall of Fame. BRUCE W. MARCUS is a widely published author and consultant to some of the nation’s largest corporations and professional services firms. The author of hundreds of articles and more than a dozen books on marketing and marketing-related subjects, he is the editor of the Marcus Letter on Professional Services Marketing, read internationally by more than 22,000 lawyers, accountants, consultants, and professional marketers.
