Transition from Marketing to Business Development in a PSF

Increasingly, professional services marketers are expanding their roles and transitioning into B2B business development roles. The move from marketing to BD isn’t simply about doing different tasks. It’s about changing your perspective – from promoting the firm to understanding clients, spotting opportunities, influencing professionals, helping to build relationships and contributing to commercial outcomes. This session looks at how to make an effective transition and provides guidance on how to initiate BD mindsets, processes and activities.

Learning outcomes:

• Explain the difference between marketing and business development
• Develop a roadmap to transition from a marketing to a business development role
• Insight into how business development is conducted by similar firms
• Clarity on key BD functions – centrally and by fee-earners – and how to make an impact
• An action plan to develop the necessary skills, commercial knowledge and initial BD processes at your firm

Contents

What does business development really mean in a PSF?

• Different BD roles – Where marketing ends, relationships ignite and selling commences
• Strategic business development – Aims, focus and new opportunities
• Tactical BD processes – Sales enablement (activity, opportunity and outcome)
• From an activity mindset to a commercial mindset

Initiate your transition to BD

• From internal “push” to the external client “pull” perspective
• Immerse within sectors and practice groups – engage with fee-earners and stakeholders
• Analyse client needs, journeys and experience
• Become a proactive adviser and coach – share BD data, knowledge and skills with fee-earners

Identify opportunities

• Clarify aims, scope projects and produce initial plans
• Leverage client research and conduct B2B relationship analysis
• Develop value propositions (and supporting evidence)
• Explore the network of influencers, referrers and intermediaries

Target new clients and enhance existing client relationships

• Extend marketing campaigns to networking and nurturing
• Use the practical BD toolkit
• Prepare and brief fee-earners before client meetings
• Plan next steps after client meetings

Support fee-earners in relationship development

• Audit BD capabilities
• Assess opportunities and establish pipelines
• Coach and motivate fee-earners in relationships and sales conversations
• Prompt and track progress

Summary and action planning