EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

THE FIVE KEY MARKETING ROLES for a managing partner are ambassador, relationship manager, business-development manager, head of research and development (R&D) and communications director. MANAGING PARTNERS SHOULD BE ACTIVE in industry task forces and boards to stay on top of the latest trends and technologies. The ambassador role segues into R&D and business development when the managing partner brings new ideas back to the office. A firm should work closely with clients to keep development of a product or service on target. CLIENTS LEAVE A FIRM IF THEY FEEL no one cares. A managing partner should take action to demonstrate commitment to important relationships, which increases the likelihood that clients will stay and bring in more business through referrals. AS IN-HOUSE RELATIONSHIP MANAGER, a firm leader can use regular meetings to let staff know where the business is going and why. Employees are better motivated and make smarter decisions when they are well informed and feel involved. THE UNIQUE CHARACTER AND VALUES of an organization are the key to developing a marketing presence. Capturing a passion for living and a unique style of working attracts the attention of the marketplace. Clients respond to a firm’s philosophy—its brand—as well as buy its product or service. START SMALL, BUT START. Based on the firm’s business goals, develop an informal monthly game plan with concrete action steps for marketing. This can be as simple as creating and following through on one key goal per month for each of the five roles.

LYNE NOELLA is president of Lyne Noella Marketing, a Minneapolis-based business-development firm. Contact her at lnoella@mn.rr.com or 612-865-0379.

hether you’re managing partner of an accounting firm or head of a company, your ability to market has a major impact on the growth potential and long-term viability of the business. Ensuring profitability is one of your chief responsibilities—as is building and maintaining a solid foundation of financial, technological and legal support—and that means much more than cutting expenses and streamlining processes. A firm can’t prosper on gained efficiencies alone; it needs a healthy revenue stream to buy it flexibility if the economy or other circumstances cause a stumble. Because many activities innate to the managing partner position give you the best access to the marketplace, the buck stops or starts with you. To be true to your business mission, you must focus your marketing talent. This article suggests how to do that.

THE FIVE KEY ROLES
A managing partner has five key marketing roles: ambassador, relationship manager, business-development manager, head of research and development (R&D) and communications director. These roles merge almost seamlessly in your everyday duties. For example, participation in conferences and at other social and professional engagements with key opinion leaders offers you a chance both to promote your firm and to spot new ideas and opportunities (ambassador, business development). Taking those ideas back to the office to provide guidance for developing new services and products encompasses R&D and communications.

Take a few minutes to review your five key marketing roles so you can determine each one’s importance to your business plan and how much time to allocate to it.

1. Ambassador. In this capacity, you represent your firm before the public as well as with your clients, prospects, referral sources, employees, the media and the marketplace at large. Accompanying your partners, directors and managers on important proposal meetings to increase the odds of securing an account is marketing as well—as is almost everything you do to strengthen the firm. It is in this role that you set the standard of excellence and leadership to

Raise the firm’s visibility.
Help others understand what your firm does and why.
Open a dialogue with potential customers, referral sources and strategic partners.
Spread news about your brand and culture.
Set an example for employees about how to best represent the firm in public.

The energy and creativity you bring to the ambassador role show your dedication to the firm and have the power to inspire. Employees, investors, your partners, the media, vendors, industry peers and others all contribute or withhold support based on the firm’s visible leadership.

2. Relationship manager. Because an enterprise generally is valued on projected revenues rather than any given day’s bottom line, the single most important indicator of an organization’s value is the quality of its clients. Your role as relationship manager is to continuously enhance your client base. This boils down to developing long-term relationships and concentrating on customer satisfaction. Focus on nurturing the loyalty of those who hold the fate of your business in their hands: your clients, prospects, referral sources, management team and staff and others in the marketplace. Keep in mind that the single most important reason clients leave an accounting firm is because they feel no one cares.

Show you care. Demonstrate your commitment to important relationships. For example, invite your best client to enjoy a glass of wine and casual conversation with you at the end of the day. Choose an attractive, relaxed setting. Doing something pleasant and social together elevates the interaction from strictly business to a solid foundation of friendship.

When you meet with your clients, make it a point to inquire about their personal interests, from golf to movies to family events. Take notes (if you need to) and make an effort to ask about their pursuits. Better yet, include them in activities you know they’ll enjoy, such as a gourmet meal or a hearty game of racquetball. Learning more about them will give you greater enjoyment in working together and will encourage you to do even better work for them. Forming deeper relationships increases the likelihood that your clients will do more business with you and enthusiastically refer you to their friends.

3. Business-development manager. As the leader of your organization, you have the influence to secure business at the highest levels. Even if your firm has a professional sales force, your role is paramount. Virtually every potential client you speak with recognizes the advantage of your personal interest and attention. This lets you be a strategic “partner” and build relationships with those you most value while you delegate cold calls and second-tier prospects to your sales force. If you have devoted time and energy to the ambassador and relationship-manager roles, you’ve laid groundwork that makes proposing engagements and closing sales easier. That’s because we’re all more comfortable asking for what we want from people we know well.

As business-development manager, it’s important for you to be strategic about the work you solicit. I had a client who was frustrated that other professionals referred business his way only when those prospects were in crisis. The good news was that there was plenty of work involved—the bad news was that there was always some doubt about whether they could pay. Together my client and I worked out a plan: He would reach out only to candidates he considered ideal—those in a growth mode, in a specific industry and solvent. In addition, he would nurture relationships with referral sources who had the clout to refer high-caliber prospects. With such a strategic and disciplined approach to sales, my client was able to raise the quality of his client base. He worked less and made more money.

4. Head of research and development. Your firm’s health is tied to your understanding of what will sell in the marketplace; R&D is as important to service businesses as it is to manufacturing. Even if your firm has staff members dedicated to product and service development, they don’t have the advantage of your leadership view. The feedback you get from clients and business thinkers equips you with the ability to imagine new offerings and ways to add value in your role as overseer of product and service standards.

One way to stay abreast of new product-development ideas is to stay active in industry task forces and boards. If you hear about a peer who is successfully offering something new that might work well for your firm, investigate—make an appointment, hop on a plane and go there.

I encourage my clients to get ideas by spending time with their customers and keeping their eyes and ears open to scan for what clients need. Try it; you may come up with new offerings—which could include outsourcing a task or streamlining a process or gathering data—to help clients reach their goals. Once you think you have a winner, work closely with your clients to ensure your new product or service is on target.

5. Communications director. In this role, you set the tone of your organization, create a recognizable presence in the marketplace and are the general directing the troops (see “Words to the Wise: Marketing Committee”). You’re responsible for understanding and packaging your firm’s culture and values for presentation. This includes developing your firm’s core philosophies, purpose and personality. It involves creating key messages and using graphic design to project a consistent image along every experience point, from your office environment to your Web site. (That follow-through is what marketers call “branding.”) You also are responsible for selecting the appropriate marketing mix to disseminate your messages, from public relations to electronic media to direct mail. Although you provide leadership in this role, it isn’t necessary for you to personally develop the creative projects and their distribution channels; marketing professionals can help bring your vision to fruition.

Which role you choose to emphasize may change over time as your business matures and the market changes, but the core of successful development is recognizing and actively nurturing your most important relationships. Thoughtful and consistent attention to the people who matter most to your business will provide the touchstones for marketing your firm to growth and prosperity.