To be effective in attracting new business of the right type (from existing or new clients) a professional practice needs to be using the right marketing tools.  Moreover, those tools must be used together in a planned, and coordinated way and the results must be measured, compared and reviewed on a regular basis and in a systematic way.  How else can you continually improve marketing effectiveness? 

Most practices waste money on ineffective or inappropriate marketing and could well get a much better return from their investment.  Even worse many practices try one or two "marketing initiatives" sold to them by marketing service companies only to find they fail which results in little or no more marketing expense for another two years! 

Marketing activities need to be mutually supportive.  You need to select the marketing tools which will act together to achieve the desired result consistently and cost effectively.  You should constantly refocus your marketing towards the changing needs of your clients and potential clients and counter your ever-shifting competitor activity. 

A professional approach to marketing is the essential element to achieve profitable practice growth.  The development of successful marketing strategies and a cost effective marketing plan benefit from expert, objective input. 

INVESTING TIME 

Rarely however is enough time invested in marketing ("professional practice development" for the squeamish!) because of the widespread belief among professionals including taxation practitioners that only chargeable work is proper work. eg. "My assistant handles the technical bits and, as she puts it, I handle the rubbish". 

"I'm in charge of marketing the firm as a whole.  But I find it hard to focus on it.  It doesn't feel like real work.  So I get caught both ways.  If I get on with client work I feel guilty for not doing more marketing - and I know the firm needs to be marketed better.  But if I do more marketing, I feel guilty for not earning my keep." 

This belief has far-reaching effects:- 

It helps to fuel an obsession with utilisation rates that can blind a firm to its wider or longer-term needs which can ultimately only really be met by effective marketing. 

The belief diminishes the willingness and ability of taxation practitioners to leverage their own skills by feeding work to and bringing on larger numbers of staff, instead of doing the job themselves.  While other industries have been increasing staff-manager ratios to double figures, some professional firms have staff-partner ratios of fewer than three.  Until and unless some leverage is achieved little time can be invested in marketing. 

It becomes an excuse at all levels for not spending more time with clients - whether for marketing or to gather feed-back on existing services and planned developments, equally important for planning marketing.  So the firm is less connected than it could be to the business sectors and clients therein it serves.  That increases the risk that it will have to compete for work which might otherwise come its way without a competitive tender, or that clients will in time turn to more sympathetic "connected" advisers. 

A reluctance, especially among managers, to charge time to "marketing" on their timesheets also leads to unreliable job-costing. 

It can encourage a passive "keep-your-head-down" attitude among staff, which drains marketing initiative, saps enthusiasm and undermines confidence. 

This belief that only chargeable work is real work is clearly absurd.  What would you think, as a professional adviser, of a client company where all the senior executives - including the directors - thought working on the shop floor more important than marketing and managing the business? 

The big question is:  why does the belief survive at all?  With such damaging effects, the reasons cannot be rational.  So the common explanations offered by practitioners - "I have to do / review / check everything myself 

- because I haven't got the quality of staff 
- because its my signature and my neck on the block 
- because my PI cover demands it" 

have to be suspect.  The real reasons lie much deeper and present significant psychological hurdles which must be overcome if marketing is to be effective.  These include unwillingness to compromise the old perception of professional practice, the idea that technical brilliance will of itself generate enough new business; lack of confidence in active marketing / selling - "fear of refusal"; inadequate skills and experience in planning and implementing specific marketing activities and the non-acceptance of the realities of growing client losses which need replacing. 

MARKETING PLAN 

You need to focus on the key issues, explore the alternative routes and identify and select the most appropriate marketing strategies.  In this way, you can develop a pragmatic strategic marketing plan to grow your practice profitably.  This plan would:- 

Identify and evaluate the main competition including services, fee levels 
Analyse your new business sources (referrals etc) 
Develop a simple model of the market place 
Analyse competitive sales and promotional programmes 
Establish market trends / changes 
Evaluate client satisfaction versus competition 
Determine the practice objectives 

From this you can identify and critically evaluate alternative strategies and implement the most appropriate. 

The end result is a detailed and practical marketing plan comprising information on the market; the competition; fee analysis; client dependency; pricing comparisons; strengths and weaknesses; opportunities and threats; objectives; strategies and implementation timetable (including monitoring mechanisms). 

BENEFITS 

In summary, assuming the psychological hurdles can be at least partially overcome by some of the partners and professional staff, substantial benefits will flow from appropriate, well planned and integrated marketing activities.  This is so whatever the size of the practice.  Don't be reactive and buy marketing services sold to you in an ad hoc unplanned way - they will rarely work and will be expensive.  Be proactive.  Develop a simple cost effective marketing plan having thoroughly thought through and agreed strategy with all partners.  Then implement in stages measuring and comparing the results of different activities.  Be a little adventurous now and again.  Try something new and different.  You know nobody reads your brochures or newsletters, don't you?