Derrick Smith

Share your passion for our profession with staffers. Make sure they understand the important, community changing products and services you provide your clients. Employees who share your passion and who understand the unique value you offer clients will naturally create opportunities to develop new client relationships.

To realize the benefits of a feedback program, a firm must be strategic about how it seeks constructive criticism. When seeking customer feedback, consider carefully the people you send to conduct client interviews, consistently implement the program, and approach interviews with a specific plan. Following these practices will help your firm stand out dramatically in an increasingly competitive marketplace.

Joining forces with the ‘other guys’ might be the way to remain successful in the new economy, but take caution to do it right.

Good clients are difficult to secure in this down economy. As a result, efforts spent to retain current clients are easily justified. By diagnosing problems early, seeking to truly understand client issues, and responding appropriately, you will retain clients who, for whatever reason, have grown unhappy with your firm. This hard work will also help differentiate your firm and develop additional business.

By implementing a backlog forecasting process your firm can increase project management effectiveness, make better decisions about marketing expenditures, and improve and validate your corporate revenue planning efforts. These benefits will drastically improve profitability, which is especially important given the current economic environment.

Accelerating your invoice drafting process improves cash flow.

Interviewed for an article written for the Zweig Letter on the importance of banking relationships in the down economy.

Improve project management practices by increasing personal responsibility

Your reputation is everything. You’ll protect that reputation by seeking positive encounters every time, by responding quickly to client issues, and by involving your existing customers in your marketing program. This hard work will also help differentiate your firm and develop additional business.

A solid understanding of your purpose is key to refueling the fire that drives your organizational success. This understanding will likely only come through effort (process). This process will be different for your firm. However, consider taking some of the steps we’ve taken. Then, return to the basics for next year’s strategic plan by first asking yourself why you should continue your business in 2011.

Create influencers by teaching team members the ability to fully understand a client’s needs, to rapid prototype, to facilitate broad participation, and to find divergent solutions. These design and facilitation skills will allow team members to influence project stakeholders toward positive project outcomes and dramatically differentiate your firm’s services.