Clients

New ideas for a new service

The business consultancy was adding a new service line, one that had the opportunity to bring in work for the rest of the firm. But how to market the new offering and differentiate it, not just from what exists already, but competitors’ offerings, too?

The solution was to use the existing to leverage the new. Rather than an announcement and a lavish party that left little more than a big bill and even bigger hangovers, the launch was considered strategically. First, all the business development tools were created so the partners had everything they needed ahead of time.

Then a launch was planned with a hand-picked guest list of clients (existing and potential) that would show clearly how well positioned the firm was. Instead of just drinks and speeches, a highly informative event was crafted with a panel of influential people as well as the firm’s experts. The event tackled a topic everyone in the industry would like answers on.

After the event the follow-up business development plan kicked in – first with strategic communications that reconnected with those who came to the event and showed those who didn’t what they missed. This was followed by a carefully orchestrated program of strategic meetings with well-informed agendas and quality thought leadership shared via social media that kept people engaged. The new service line was soon feeding work into the existing practice areas.

Unexpected client feedback?

The firm was receiving consistent client feedback that their people were arrogant and difficult to work with. The high quality of their work was the foundation of success, but leadership was worried that this behaviour could result in a bad reputation and loss of work in the future.

The solution was an independent client review program combined with internal workshops to determine revised values that expressed how the firm wanted to be seen in the market. These were made real and consistent in the firm though a comprehensive behaviour change program and strategic internal communications firmwide. The result was that both clients and staff were much happier, positive aspects of the culture were reinforced and reflected in a recruitment uplift. Leadership felt disaster had been averted.

From shared ambition to a strategy everyone could see

The investment firm was growing quickly, and while its leadership team shared the same ambition for where the firm was headed, that strategy lived mostly in conversations between the executives rather than anywhere the wider organisation could see it. As the firm scaled, the gap between leadership's mental map and everyone else's understanding was starting to create friction and slow decision-making.

The solution was a two-phase strategy process that worked from the inside out. First, a full-day session with the firm's management committee to clarify the internal strengths, leadership dynamics and market position underpinning the firm's growth, translating all of it into a defined set of strategic pillars and priorities through to 2028. Rather than leaving the strategy with leadership, a second, two day firm-wide session then brought the whole organisation into the conversation - communicating the direction the committee had set, exploring the contributions each team and person could make for it to succeed, and building a practical roadmap everyone could see themselves in.

The firm moved from a strategy held informally by a few executives to one the whole organisation understood and could act on, with clear pillars, priorities and a shared roadmap to guide decisions as it continued to scale.