Here Is How I Drove the Scaling of A Professional Service
Over a 5 year period, I drove this business to increase its revenues by $8 million to $17 million. Even more importantly, profit available to owners increased from $1.8 million to $6.5 million. This meant that owners were getting a return at a 100% market - level remuneration each, up from a 40% of market – level remuneration.
How was this achieved?
Ensuring that the Core of Owners with the Influence and Power to Allow Change Were On Board
At the start of this scaling journey, there were 13 owners.
5 were on board with change, 3 were actively opposed to any change, and 5 were undecided.
What made this journey possible was getting 4 out of the 5 undecided owners to take on board the need for change.
When 9 owners were on board with the changes needed, despite 1 member still being undecided and 3 opposed, there was enough momentum for the change needed to become possible.
How long did it take to convince those 4/5 owners who were originally undecided? 2 months. How was this achieved? By communicating the benefits of change to the whole team, and enlisting the help of the 9 owners who wanted to change, eventually allowing the undecided owners overcome their fear of change. What was the single key to this success?
The realisation in the minds of the owners that the benefits of the change outweighed their fear.
Searching through the Business and Achieving a Breakthrough
While the 2 month long “on-boarding” Journey was happening, I was searching through the business to identify what would generate some quick wins.
I was able to identify some simple and clear alterations that would increase increase profit and cashflow and therefore be welcomed by the business owners.
Achieving this breakthrough took 3 months, and set the business on a path to double the profit and cashflow available to its owners in the first year of this journey.
Addressing the Hard Yards Required to Set Up the Business Properly
The effect of this Breakthrough on the owners was both dramatic, and positive.
Doubting owners saw proof with their own eyes that the journey had very real benefits, had just started, and was very much in their best interests to continue with. The increases to their back pockets and their banks accounts really drove this home. At this stage all of the owners were interested. They wanted to know what the next steps were.
I explained the benefits of addressing the root issues that were holding the firm back. As a result of the quick wins that had been achieved, each owner now recognised that addressing these root issues was worthwhile.
Addressing the Root Causes – Correctly Marketing the Business, and Putting In Place the Correct Market Presence
The first root issue which needed to be tackled was the view of some owners that the name of the firm was enough marketing clout by itself. A full day session was used to unpack this fictional view, tease out its root causes, and put forward what was needed. At the end of this session, a vote of owners was taken to decide on whether adopting a marketing strategy would be supported and backed. All but one owner voted in favour of the changes. Change had backing from this point.
Marketing Changes Made:
A rebrand – same brand name as always, but with a fresher, cleaner look. The branding phrase used was “Professional and Human”. In the end, over 5 years there were 3 rebrands – the first major, and the next 2 tweaks. The effect which the firm achieved as a result of these rebrands was enough to scare a number of competitors into trying to attack their newfound market recognition. Fortunately this merely backfired in favour of the firm I was working with.
Next, all owner business networks, events and client interactions were aligned to support the rebranding. This resulted in a fair few inactive clients reactivating, and the attraction of a number of quality new clients. Revenues increased by over $2 million in the following year.
Organising Fee Earning Professionals into the Right Teams to Achieve Market Cut Through
The fee earners were not grouped into teams that lined up with market needs. To address this, 4 teams were formed, each with a Team Leader. The Team Leaders, together with the Managing Partner and myself, formed the board of the firm.. In this way, the fee earners (which included all 13 owners) felt that they had a voice to help support the changes. To further ensure this, all 4 of the Team Leader positions were assigned to owners.
Performance within each team increased, morale increased, and the number of talented professionals wanting to join the firm grew. People wanted to join a successful team. Success breeds success.
Attracting Quality Talent
This was a simple and natural process which generated $4 million in additional revenue and $2.5 million in profit over next 5 years. Talent in the marketplace (NZ and Overseas) became increasingly aware of the business as an attractive firm to join.. The firm was energised by the influx of new talent, and gathered momentum. Morale improved, and people started smiling for the first time in a very long time. Words like “enjoyment”, “purpose” and ‘success” started becoming commonplace. The additional clients that this new talent brought into the firm also started to refer the firm on to their own network. Everything was now working together.
By A Complete Overhauling Systems, Support People, IT and Marketing
The firm’s tools were overhauled, updated and improved, including core IT operating systems, the firm support team, and the firm's marketing providers. The costs of all this were more than offset by the margin generated from the additional revenue. Margin %’s increased further. Efficiencies were gained, time saved, stress reduced. More positive energy spread across the firm.
By Bedding In All of These Changes
The net financial effect of all these changes, as stated at the beginning of this article, came to fruition over a 5 year period, and drove this business to increase its revenues by $8 million to $17 million. Even more importantly, profit available to owners increased from $1.8 million to $6.5 million. This meant that owners were getting a return of 100% of market each, up from 40% of market.
The positive human impact was impossible to calculate in $ terms, let alone the value of the personal relationships saved, people opportunities created, and the establishment of a sustainable path for ongoing success.
Over a 5 year period, I drove this business to increase its revenues by $8 million to $17 million. Even more importantly, profit available to owners increased from $1.8 million to $6.5 million. This meant that owners were getting a return at a 100% market - level remuneration each, up from a 40% of market – level remuneration.
How was this achieved?
Ensuring that the Core of Owners with the Influence and Power to Allow Change Were On Board
At the start of this scaling journey, there were 13 owners.
5 were on board with change, 3 were actively opposed to any change, and 5 were undecided.
What made this journey possible was getting 4 out of the 5 undecided owners to take on board the need for change.
When 9 owners were on board with the changes needed, despite 1 member still being undecided and 3 opposed, there was enough momentum for the change needed to become possible.
How long did it take to convince those 4/5 owners who were originally undecided? 2 months. How was this achieved? By communicating the benefits of change to the whole team, and enlisting the help of the 9 owners who wanted to change, eventually allowing the undecided owners overcome their fear of change. What was the single key to this success?
The realisation in the minds of the owners that the benefits of the change outweighed their fear.
Searching through the Business and Achieving a Breakthrough
While the 2 month long “on-boarding” Journey was happening, I was searching through the business to identify what would generate some quick wins.
I was able to identify some simple and clear alterations that would increase increase profit and cashflow and therefore be welcomed by the business owners.
Achieving this breakthrough took 3 months, and set the business on a path to double the profit and cashflow available to its owners in the first year of this journey.
Addressing the Hard Yards Required to Set Up the Business Properly
The effect of this Breakthrough on the owners was both dramatic, and positive.
Doubting owners saw proof with their own eyes that the journey had very real benefits, had just started, and was very much in their best interests to continue with. The increases to their back pockets and their banks accounts really drove this home. At this stage all of the owners were interested. They wanted to know what the next steps were.
I explained the benefits of addressing the root issues that were holding the firm back. As a result of the quick wins that had been achieved, each owner now recognised that addressing these root issues was worthwhile.
Addressing the Root Causes – Correctly Marketing the Business, and Putting In Place the Correct Market Presence
The first root issue which needed to be tackled was the view of some owners that the name of the firm was enough marketing clout by itself. A full day session was used to unpack this fictional view, tease out its root causes, and put forward what was needed. At the end of this session, a vote of owners was taken to decide on whether adopting a marketing strategy would be supported and backed. All but one owner voted in favour of the changes. Change had backing from this point.
Marketing Changes Made:
A rebrand – same brand name as always, but with a fresher, cleaner look. The branding phrase used was “Professional and Human”. In the end, over 5 years there were 3 rebrands – the first major, and the next 2 tweaks. The effect which the firm achieved as a result of these rebrands was enough to scare a number of competitors into trying to attack their newfound market recognition. Fortunately this merely backfired in favour of the firm I was working with.
Next, all owner business networks, events and client interactions were aligned to support the rebranding. This resulted in a fair few inactive clients reactivating, and the attraction of a number of quality new clients. Revenues increased by over $2 million in the following year.
Organising Fee Earning Professionals into the Right Teams to Achieve Market Cut Through
The fee earners were not grouped into teams that lined up with market needs. To address this, 4 teams were formed, each with a Team Leader. The Team Leaders, together with the Managing Partner and myself, formed the board of the firm.. In this way, the fee earners (which included all 13 owners) felt that they had a voice to help support the changes. To further ensure this, all 4 of the Team Leader positions were assigned to owners.
Performance within each team increased, morale increased, and the number of talented professionals wanting to join the firm grew. People wanted to join a successful team. Success breeds success.
Attracting Quality Talent
This was a simple and natural process which generated $4 million in additional revenue and $2.5 million in profit over next 5 years. Talent in the marketplace (NZ and Overseas) became increasingly aware of the business as an attractive firm to join.. The firm was energised by the influx of new talent, and gathered momentum. Morale improved, and people started smiling for the first time in a very long time. Words like “enjoyment”, “purpose” and ‘success” started becoming commonplace. The additional clients that this new talent brought into the firm also started to refer the firm on to their own network. Everything was now working together.
By A Complete Overhauling Systems, Support People, IT and Marketing
The firm’s tools were overhauled, updated and improved, including core IT operating systems, the firm support team, and the firm's marketing providers. The costs of all this were more than offset by the margin generated from the additional revenue. Margin %’s increased further. Efficiencies were gained, time saved, stress reduced. More positive energy spread across the firm.
By Bedding In All of These Changes
The net financial effect of all these changes, as stated at the beginning of this article, came to fruition over a 5 year period, and drove this business to increase its revenues by $8 million to $17 million. Even more importantly, profit available to owners increased from $1.8 million to $6.5 million. This meant that owners were getting a return of 100% of market each, up from 40% of market.
The positive human impact was impossible to calculate in $ terms, let alone the value of the personal relationships saved, people opportunities created, and the establishment of a sustainable path for ongoing success.
