Table of Contents

Foreword.

Preface.

Acknowledgments.

PART I: Professions and Professionals in Turmoil.

1. If Something Can Change, It Will
Strategic Factors in a New Environment.

PART II: Clients—Who They Are and How to Find Them.

2. What a Client Really Wants
Listening to the Client for Fun and Profit.

3. Are We a Client-centric Firm Yet?
Organizing to Meet Client Needs.

4. Now, Here’s My Plan . . .
Defining the Right Client for You.

PART III: Making Your Vision a Reality.

5. I Can See Your Future from Here
Vision? A Working Tool?

6. Seizing Those Opportunities
Making the Vision a Reality.

7. Making Marketing a Nice Word
Building a Client-centric Marketing Culture.

8. It’s the End Game that Counts
Contact—Turning the Prospect into a Client.

PART IV: Marketing Tools and How to Use Them.

9. Hang High the Rafters, Carpenter
The Tools of Marketing that Build the Marketing Program.

PART V: Managing the Client-centric Firm.

10. Turning Recipes into Cakes
Managing for Results.

11. Who’s at the Helm and Who’s on the Bridge
Firm Governace and Structure.

12. Holding a Handful of Mercury
Managing the Knowledge Worker for the One-Firm Firm.

13. For Love or Money—or Both
Paying for Performance.

14. Didn’t We Tell You What We’re Doing?
Internal Communications—Let Me Count the Ways.

PART VI: Economics in the Client-centric Firm.

15. A Farthing for Your Goat
Pricing in a Client-centric Firm.

16. What Did I Get for My Money?
Measuring the Marketing ROI.

17. Cash Is King
What’s the Lifetime Value of Your Clients and the Financial Health of Your Firm?

PART VII: What Will We Do Tomorrow?

18. The Future for Professional Services
Are We There Yet?

Appendix A: The Balanced Scorecard.

The Balanced Scorecard—Financial Measures.

The Balanced Scorecard—Client Measures.

The Balanced Scorecard—Internal Business Process Measures.

The Balanced Scorecard—Marketing Measures.

The Balanced Scorecard—Employee Growth and the Learning Measures.

Appendix B: Managing the Knowledge Worker.

Take the Pulse of Your Staff.

Compensation.

Career Advancement Opportunities.

Firm Culture.

Appendix C: Pricing in a Client-centric Firm.

Analyzing Price Sensitivity.

Appendix D: Accounting and Law Firm Benchmarks.

Accounting Firm Benchmarks.

Bibliography and References.

Index.

About the Author

AUGUST J. AQUILA is one of the country’s leading consultants in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, succession planning, and management issues for professional services firms. He was an early pioneer and leading force in the accounting profession’s consolidation movement. In 2003, he was inducted into the Accounting Marketing Association’s Hall of Fame.

BRUCE W. MARCUS is a widely published author and consultant to some of the nation’s largest corporations and professional services firms. The author of hundreds of articles and more than a dozen books on marketing and marketing-related subjects, he is the editor of the Marcus Letter on Professional Services Marketing, read internationally by more than 22,000 lawyers, accountants, consultants, and professional marketers.