PMF London Group – summary of 2015 events
Committee:
Chair: Kirsty Hall – Regester Larkin
Regional Director: Lee Grunnell – Thirteen
Scott Addison – Spada
Rachel Hoddinott – BDO
Jeremy Metson – Knight Frank
Irene Redman – Chartered Institute of Taxation
Will Spencer – Bird & Bird
29 January – BDO, London
12 February – Pennington Manches, London
Are you ready for 2015?
During this informative working session we presented the findings from our recent Marketing Director Benchmark. This gave a thought provoking view into how the role of marketing is changing and how you could prepare for a more successful future.
The session also highlighted the priorities for marketing teams in 2015 including advice and case studies from industry gurus.
Having explored the issues they may face in 2015 and beyond, attendeesleft this session with:
- The knowledge of how to successfully meet these challenges
- Inspirational input from industry leaders
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26 February – RGL, London
Being more productive while already feeling (very) busy!
One of the greatest challenges we hear in our conversations with members is how busy people feel and how much pressure they are under to get more done in what seems like very limited time.
So we invited FranklinCovey to join us for an evening overview, as this is an issue they have been helping people to address for the last 20 years. In fact, some recent pre and post assessments from over 12,000 participants in FranklinCovey workshops showed an improvement of 25-30% in behaviours relating to their personal productivity.
FranklinCovey’s latest thinking in this area has been brought together in the 5 Choices to Extraordinary Productivity and they have just published a book reflecting their experience of this with individuals, teams and organisations around the world (see furtherdetails here).
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17 March – TLT, London
Client feedback – gaining buy-in and maximising insight
This session focussed on client feedback, a ‘hot topic’ among professional services firms who are utilising various approaches and are at different stages of maturity with their programmes.
With speakers (Sue Manik, Addleshaw Goddard and Anna Rushall, BDO) from two different sectors to guide us, and one a former professional firm client, we looked at how firms use strategic drivers to implement and extend their client feedback programmes and how they use the insight gathered from such programmes to improve service levels and drive internal culture.
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14 April – Herbert Smith Freehills, London
Is your firm data rich but insight poor?
During this interactive session, we covered:
- The spirit of Big Data - what this means for professional services firms
- The role of BD/Marketing/ Commercial Teams - from strategic planning to key client programmes
- Change management - the impact 'data' can/will have on the culture of your firm
- Real life examples - up and cross selling, pricing, marketing
By the end of the session you learnt:
- What potential data can hold for your firm
- How to build a business case to make more out of data
- Best practice data feeds to use
- What other firms are doing with data
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19 May – Bird & Bird, London
Successful pitching – what can we learn from outside the professions?
Fail to differentiate in our pitches, and we all know what happens. So, what more can you do to stand out from the crowd?
The aim of this session was to provide a fresh perspective on pitching, with tips and observations from those on the front line in sectors other than our own.
Firstly, we heard the results of a survey into what clients currently think and feel about the persuasiveness of our bids, then gain insight on how another sector approaches the process. What can we learn from the creative and highly competitive world of communications and advertising - is it really so different, and what is it we're afraid of?
Our two speakers (Lee Grunnell, Thirteen and Lise Pinnell, Analog Folk)provided their take on the challenge of differentiation, and shared observations on what makes a distinctive and persuasive proposal.
16 June – Howard Kennedy, London
Marketing yourself to stand out from the crowd
No longer is hard work, intelligence and technical expertise in your chosen field enough to guarantee a successful career. The bar is now so high that factors including visibility, personal impact, the ability to promote yourself and a strong personal brand can often make the difference between us sinking or swimming!
The aim of this highly interactive session was to provide you with a range of tools and techniques to:
- Increase your visibility and accelerate your professional success
- Maximise personal impact and utilise body language
- Sharpen your personal brand: look, sound and behaviour
- Play to your strengths
- Determine what makes you unique and differentiates you from the rest
- Learn to promote yourself and your work authentically
- Develop an action plan to market yourself and stand out from the crowd in 2015
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14 July – Wragge Lawrence Graham, London
Commercial awareness - an interactive workshop
Have you ever sat in meetings where partners or business leaders were throwing around jargon and complex financial concepts that left you scratching your head?
To help address this gap, the July session for PM Forum London tackled this very issue through an interactive session facilitated by two leading professional service business advisors. This ‘business bootcamp’ for marketers explored a number of business and finance essentials to bolster understanding and ask intelligent questions around ideas including financial management, business planning, risk management and profitability.
A fantastic opportunity to participate in an intensive seminar and workshop simulation which has already helped scores of teams and individuals in a whole range of PSFs better understand the concepts around how their businesses really tick. It was facilitated by experts from theGrogroup, a leading business advisory firm for the professional services sector.
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16 September – DWF, London
Key Account Management - money well spent?
The importance of Key Account Management (KAM) has grown significantly in the last decade and a half. This in part is evidenced by the increased number of firms who now have a programme and also by the increased size and scope of the programmes that have been developed.
It is clear that organisations are investing heavily – in terms of time and resources – but is it money well spent? What are the main drivers enabling professional service firms to achieve long term sustainability and success with their KAM programme?
At this breakfast seminar for senior members of the PM Forum, Fiona McCambridge of Redstone Consultants presented the findings of her recent research undertaken with 21 leading professional services firms. This was an interactive session investigating the different approaches towards KAM, the main drivers and the obstacles to success.
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6 October – FTI Consulting, London
Having it all? Portfolio working
The concept of a job for life is long gone and post-recession, more and more organisations are seeing contracts and project-based working as a solution to managing headcount. As a result, an ever increasing number of marketers are opening up their careers and personal lives to “portfolio working”.
In this panel (Tim Musgrave, Milestones; Samantha Clarke, Samantha& and Sharon Burrell, To the Moon) discussion we looked at the development of the portfolio working concept, taking the first steps towards a portfolio career and some of the challenges and opportunities portfolio working can offer.
We considered whether a portfolio career sits well with the challenges of marketing within a professional services firm and whether you and the sector are ready for this type of change.
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12 November – Collyer Bristow, London
Having it all? Portfolio working
Telling your firm’s story and doing it well is the key to getting your foot in the door; explaining what you do, why you matter and what makes you different will move you to the table.
Creating a narrative is an art; what makes it successful can be explained by science.
This seminar explored the art of storytelling and how this can create a point of differentiation for professional services firms in a crowded market place.
Following a sell-out workshop at this year's PM Forum conference, Sandra Davis of Bladonmoreexplored what makes the difference between a narrative that stands out, is memorable and resonates with your audience and simply words that are easily forgotten.
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2 December – Mishcon de Reya, London
PM Forum in the Community
Here in London, the PM Forum has one major asset: You. Our members, your knowledge and the expertise held within the firms you represent. For our final event of the year, wecalled on all that experience to help a local London charity meet some key business and marketing challenges.
ART AGAINST KNIVES uses creative projects as a vehicle for reducing crime – ensuring they engage and intervene early to reduce the risks faced by young people in London.
AAK's aim is not to create a culture of dependency, but to empower communities to take ownership of the programmes so that they become part of everyday life.
In order to create long-term change inevitably the charity needs to raise money and this means marketing to a range of potential funders - this is where we come in. This workshop was a chance to put our skills and experience to valuable use alongside the AAK team and their board of trustees. Questions we helped answer included:
- How can we clearly communicate our mission and impact?
- What makes the charity attractive from a corporate perspective? What's our USP?
- What should be in our marketing plan? Where should we focus our limited resources for the best outcomes?
- How can we reach and approach new corporate partners?