I noted recently that key clients should be asked to share their plans with you and your team and you should bring the best of your firm to the table in discussing these plans. Today's observation is that I want to emphasise how important it is that junior members of your team are included in the meetings, and equally importantly, can actively participate. If you can, get your client’s permission to include team members from the top down in these sessions. It is a wonderful learning opportunity for more junior staff members to increase their understanding of the pressures a client might be under and how they see the commercial landscape ahead into which the professional firm’s advice must be provided.

The culture of your firm and its approach to business development counts a lot here. Some firms expect their senior managers / associates / directors to absorb lessons about BD without proactively engaging them in the heartbeat of the process – client interaction beyond the technical advice. Other’s strongly encourage their staff to attend events, write papers, complete proposals and so on, but don’t give them adequate guidance on what is expected of them in face-face situations.

Being in a client planning session, or indeed, any client interaction, where business development is the purpose, is the lifeblood of teaching junior staff how to go about developing client needs and offering a valuable solution. [If you are the lead professional in the situation, look out in coming weeks for a planning tool to help guide the conversation with your staff member.]

Kudos to most large accounting and legal firms who do encourage a culture of curiosity, openness and entrepreneurship in their teams. In these days of ‘big data’ where trends and insights can be derived from the accumulation of knowledge from multiple sources, the more people that are interacting with the market the better.

Today's BD tip:

Spend 10-15 minutes planning as a team (senior and junior staff) before going out to any client meeting, including a lunch or coffee meeting.
Ask junior staff members to facilitate one of the agenda items at a planning meeting with a key client.
Regularly provide feedback to staff members (or seek it if you are the junior team member) about their business development attributes. Ask what was done well, and what would we like to improve?

[First published on LinkedIn Oct 15 under the title 'Does your firm have a good BD culture?']