#23: What will a successful practice look like?

Here we are at the start of another year, always a good time to reflect on lessons learnt and a time to decide how to move forward. This month, I want to follow on from where we left of last year, looking at your strengths and weaknesses and why these are important aspects to consider when developing a business.

This really builds on the “wish list” we looked at in my previous article. Another way you could reflect on this list is to cluster them. I am suggesting four main clusters, for reasons which will become clear when we consider how we can measure the progress we are making.

Cluster 1 – Financial
Would any financial due diligence exercise reveal that the company was in robust health with good trajectory and momentum? Things that would be reviewed here could include:

• revenue growth
• profit growth
• quality of fee income
• revenue mix/concentration

Cluster 2 – The Clients
Does the client base make sense and look to be sustainable? Aspects to be considered might include:

• client desirability and quality
• level of repeat business
• number of clients considered to be trusted partners
• identified market for which firm has a distinctive offering

Cluster 3 – The Team
What level of “people risk” is the firm assuming? You might wish to review and evaluate:

• manifest understanding of client requirements
• culture of personal development and continuous improvement
• loyalty of the core team
• technical excellence
• communication/listening skills
• evident business acumen
• responsiveness
• contribution level across the form (dependency on one or two “stars” re. sales and/or delivery)

Cluster 4 – The Process
Which aspects of the business have been subjected to a process approach, to assure the likelihood or achieving and maintaining desired standards of performance? Areas deserving attention would comprise:

• quality of marketing machine
• quality of sales machine
• quality of delivery process
• culture of action-oriented relationship reviews
• number of effective partnerships and alliances in place
• IP creation and protection

Approaching the questions in this manner might help you to envisage what success is going to look like. If you need any more help on this, do get in touch and make sure you refer back to my previous articles covering this process too.