September 2011 issue

Did you know?

When working on marketing roles for clients we are often asked to find candidates who have experience in cross selling and practice profile raising campaigns.  The firms are generally keen to raise brand awareness of service lines and practice areas that they have developed that may not be what they are “famous” for.  It’s always very interesting to learn the full capabilities of our clients and we regularly leave briefings saying “I didn’t know they did that”!

Turning the spotlight on ourselves we realized there were probably a few things about Seldon Gill that many of you didn’t know.  We have changed a lot over the last 8 years and whilst we are “famous” for marketing recruitment in professional services; here are some other things we’d like you to know about what we do:

Executive Recruitment - Business Services:  We have always handled recruitment assignments for clients outside of the marketing area but in the past few years this area of our business has grown dramatically.  In 2011 we launched a new brand, Seldon Gill Executive Search, which is headed up by Graham Seldon.  So far this year we have handled search assignments for professional services firms in Operations, IT, HR, L&D and Sales for firms in Australia, Asia and New Zealand.  Feedback for this new service has been extremely positive with many clients commenting that we are filling a much needed gap in the Executive Search space for professional services firms.

In addition to senior management positions in professionals services, we recently launched a recruitment service for the Forensics Industry.  Jay Kostos heads up the forensic recruitment division for Seldon Gill Executive Search. With her wealth of knowledge in this niche sector and an enviable network across the region, Jay has placed practitioners with leading professional services firms and major banks in the areas of forensic accounting and forensic technology.

Engineering Sector:  There is no doubt that the legal industry was, and continues to be, a major sector of specialisation for Seldon Gill, but did you know that since 2007 we have been building a solid client base in the Engineering sector.  We are now proud to represent some of the region’s largest and most successful engineering firms and have placed whole marketing teams for some of them as well as specialist roles in Bid Management and Communications.  The engineering sector continues to flourish and we plan to grow with it.

International:  Yes, we are 100% Australian owned and our 2 offices are in Sydney and Melbourne, but did you know that our 3^rd busiest city for work is HK? Or that we are the ‘recruiter of choice’ for many NZ firms.  Of course we regularly work in Brisbane, sometimes Canberra and Perth, but also Dubai, Singapore and Tokyo.  We were even briefed on a role in Milan last year!  Our networks and client contacts are truly global and since 2010 we have had enjoyed strategic alliances with Dutch Consulting in London and J Johnson Executive Search in New York.  So if you want to head off to a new overseas destination, chances are you can take us with you!

Interim Project Management:  Our “bread & butter” work is finding candidates for full-time permanent employment, but did you know we have a built up as wealth of contacts in the Interim Project Management space.  Whether a Firm needs a senior communications manager for a stint, or help with a tricky bid process, or advice on how to structure a marketing team; we have independent consultants on hand who can help.

Executive Coaching:  We have always tried to differentiate ourselves in the market by being a career service, not just a placement agency.  Indeed we have now worked with some candidates several times in the past decade, helping to build their careers and reach their goals.  This year Graham Seldon successfully completed a Professional Development Certificate in Executive Coaching from the Institute of Coaching & Consulting Psychology.  He now offers comprehensive coaching services to executives looking to focus their careers.

So there you have it, 5 things you probably didn’t know.  We even surprised ourselves with the things we do, which have all come about because of client demand and support of our business. 

We continue to strive for excellence in everything we do, so hopefully we will be “famous” for a little bit longer. 

Motivating Fee Earners

Why is it so hard to get the fee earners in a law firm (or any professional services firm for that matter) out getting new clients and bringing in work – consistently.

Of course, we all know some people are naturally great at finding business (the so called ‘rainmakers’). A few anyway. Most try very hard. A few just never seem to get the hang of it. Some don’t care anyway.

But as marketing / BD professionals, we’re often in the position of helping ‘make’ everyone good at business development. And how often do we come across fee earners who have all the ingredients of a great marketer (they’re nice, smart, empathetic and can hold a pleasant conversation with people not in the same profession as themselves), but they just can’t seem to convert contacts to clients. Or identify opportunities. Or manage them when they stumble on them.

It’s the conundrum that has reallocated marketing budgets annually, and spawned thousands of sales and business coaches, training sessions, motivational speakers and internal reviews and restructures.

As marketing or BD professionals, we are often tasked with helping fee earners market themselves and the firm. The reward for their cooperation (in theory) is that they will increase billings – which makes the firm happy, and makes them personally richer (via some kind of bonus or rewards scheme, and the prospect of promotion).

This rewards system – bonuses for great performance – or percentage of fees brought in allocated as a bonus as it arrives – is extremely common in firms. It’s supposed to be a ‘win win’ for everyone – but it can have senior leaders and partners tearing their hair out because it just doesn’t seem to play out as planned.

Partners say: It worked for me. Why doesn’t it work for the rest of the fee earning mass on staff? These are smart people we employ. They do great work. They can make more money. Why won’t they? What’s wrong with them.

And HR and marketing teams get to wrestle with the levers we have at our disposal to make it happen. Coaching, training, cajoling, planning, benchmarking, ranking, communicating success.

There is another way to think about this process – and a very neat little on-line presentation with Daniel H Pink* outlines why sometimes our rewards processes don’t fit the motivation profile of the very people we’re there to assist. Pink’s theory resonates – he talks about why people in ‘thinking’ jobs need to have a different paradigm in order to get the best performance – and it’s not about the money. A paradigm most professional services firms would struggle with in reality – but probably aspire to.

Watch the vid here (http://www.wimp.com/surprisingmotivation). It might just change the way you run those coaching sessions or frame up and present a marketing plan – and answer that question from partners about why some fee earners are pretty relaxed about bringing in more fees, even when they get a cut of them.

*Author of Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, and A Whole New Mind: Why Right Brainers Will Rule The Future.

 This article was provided by Alicia Patterson of House Consulting a legal marketing & communications specialist. Go to www.houseconsulting.com.au – where you can find other (potentially useful) articles.