I N D U S T R Y D E S C R I P T I O N
The Professional Services sector provides various professional, scientific and technical services to a range of markets. Performance is largely linked to how aggressively an expansion strategy is implemented.
Charge an hourly rate or contract rate that covers expertise, administration staff, office overheads. Charge out rates should also cover client acquisition expenses and unchargeable hours associated with pitching for work.
A common life cycle for a Professional Services business often begins as an individual or partnership that break away from a larger organisation by transferring or establishing themselves with a loyal client base. Alternatively they are started from scratch. How far the business expands will depend on the interest and intentions of the owners to add support staff.
If workflow is an issue due to poor prospecting and pitching disciplines, then the business will stall as the owner falls into the cycle of “do the work” then “chase the work”. Other issues come from too much work coming from large key accounts. Then with client servicing on larger accounts, it stalls the amount of work required to acquire a stable client base. The objective of the business must be to bring on sufficient work to require them to add staff. Many professions stay at the 1-3 staff level when this is the case.
Practise management then becomes the focus that is done either by a Practise Manager or a Managing Partner. This person not only needs to manage such KPIs as billable hours etc, but also needs to monitor client attraction and acquisition systems in order to utilise the capacity of the Firm. As such, Professional Services businesses get into trouble when these things are not managed.
If the business gets sufficient workflow, they will begin the process of scaling up. This usually starts with reception and admin support before moving to executive assistants. This will progress with portions of the service packages being able to be done by other support or technical staff. Directors often end up with core clients and grow primarily by word-of-mouth or by attracting other professionals to join them and bring their clients with them. If mergers and acquisition strategies are followed, then the business will seek out other professional services companies to either “buy their book” or add a partner to the partnership.
W H E N T O G E T H E L P
Professional Services businesses tend to need help from a Business Advisor to do the work of a Practise Manager and/or to provide direction on how to break the cycle of “do the work” then “chase the work”. Typically we assist Professional Services businesses with an initial assessment of the capacity currently being utilised. Then we’re able to assist on how to optimise the current workflow before engaging in sales and marketing activities to drive profitability.
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