The Problem Facing Many Services Firms

There is one distinct and obvious problem facing many of the professional services firms in the marketplace at the moment.  The generational relationship-building skills-transfer has gotten “stuck”. Companies have been fed so well with work, for so many years of boom, that many have neglected (or not needed) to teach their mid-tier and emerging senior staff how to sell themselves and their firms.
Check out this little video that we have compiled of some of the stories we have heard in our more recent times… Many mid-level and senior staff are really anxious and uncomfortable being charged with bringing in work for their firm.

Lets look a little closer at the picture we can see around us.  A large number of the firms in our city, across most industries, grew quickly and hungrily during the boom years of 2003-2007 when work “rained from the sky” in all industries. In 2006/7 you could win a bid simply by having an available semi-skilled staff member in the city of choice… (ahhh…remember the days fondly).   Today’s Directors and Partners drove this growth, building strong businesses, and a great array of relationships over many years, and keeping every available and hirable billable-mouth fed with work rather easily.

Then BOOM… along came the GFC… Work froze, projects of all kinds were cancelled.  Many services staff took pay cuts, salary freezes and extra leave to avoid harsher penalty.  Before long, the government pumped money into stimulus, keeping many of the larger mouths in many industries quite well-fed again, and if not well-fed then at least fed with a solid, staple diet that is only now winding down.

Throughout the GFC, Directors and Partners carried the weight of the worry, trying hard to retain their staff for the inevitable recovery, that is still inevitable, sometime… but apparently not quite yet.

Blame the banks, blame the governments, blame whomever you like. The end result is that we have a very overpopulated services industry, which 2 years after the start of the GFC, and at the end of the government stimulus programs, is now hungrier than ever. They are holding on to their staff, hoping the uptick will come soon.   Many of the relationships and a lot of  business development continues to be done at the top of the industry, with a great chasm of business development and relationship building and maintenance skills at the mid level and associate director level.   Was it that the businesses didn’t want to burden these valuable team members during the crisis?  Or perhaps it was a case of best to get in and get the hard jobs done at the highest levels?  Maybe the business development budgets simply weren’t there to allow them non-billable time to build relationships?

Whatever the reasons, the challenge now is to skills this senior and mid-level layer of professional services with the skills they need to take their services and companies to market.  Because when you have 10 consultants selling your firm in a marketplace, rather than just two partners, you have a lot greater ability to connect with targets and clients, and bring work through your door.

Rebecca Wilson and her firm, Stretch Marketing provide professional services marketing advice, implementation, training and mentoring to services firms of all sizes.