Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010 3:50 am
Yesterday, I interviewed Jon Stevens who leads consulting for Ariba. www.ariba.com Smart guy. Ariba provides “on-demand” procurement solutions for businesses. In other words, they provide an online platform for companies to automate and control their spending on goods and services. Ariba’s web-based tools allow companies to procure professional services online – sometimes in a reverse auction environment. The Company also hosts www.aribadiscovery.com which is a buyer-seller marketplace site where suppliers can make themselves known to buyers. From an brainpower-intensive, professional services firm perspective, it is hard to see why a Firm would want to be present on Ariba Discovery unless they are comfortable being considered commodity vendors. Click down into the professional services or creative services supplier links and the specific professional disciplines are listed under the header of “commodities.” Will professional services firms really be commoditized – turned into a “vendor” rather than an advisor – in the face of online reverse auctions and other automated procurement trends? I don’t think so. The Great Recession has definitely accelerated the trend of companies involving procurement staffers and online systems for “sourcing” professional services at the time of an identified need. And, professional firms need to know how to play the online procurement game. However, deep and genuine and substantive content-rich relationships between professionals and prospective clients will forever influence the choice of advisors when the engagement matters most to a company. And, the best and smartest firms and professionals will continue to prove that there’s nothing commodity about what they do and how they do it. But don’t take my word for it…listen to this conversation with Jon Stevens and let me know what you think.
Tuesday, May 18th, 2010 8:07 pm
You should definitely listen to this interview with professional services recruiter, Todd Stratton of Commodore Advisors. But first, here’s some context. This morning, I attended an event about how to treat your best talent during the economic recovery. Recently, the panelists claimed, firms have been “harshly treating” their employees. I wanted to raise my hand in favor of corporal punishment for poor performing consultants but thought better of it. (kidding…kind of) Anyway, during the high-growth years, Professional firms used to speak of the “War for Talent.” During the recent recession, this has felt more like the “War ON Talent.” Now, the tide may be turning back in favor the employee again. There are certainly more people on the market, but they’re increasingly in demand and it’s hard to weed the best from the rest. Hiring the right professionals – especially “lateral” hires who carry great client relationships with them – can be a major rainmaking move. Still, some professionals can’t really port their clients to your firm as easily as hoped and just because they inherited clients at a prior firm doesn’t mean they can originate new ones at yours. So, this is either a superb time to upgrade your firm’s talent or the toughest time – depending on your perspective. Mr. Stratton is expert at helping professional services firms sort through all of this quickly and with minimal pain so they can at least keep up with the growth that the rising market offers us. For more about Todd, go to http://www.commodoreadvisors.com/
Tuesday, May 4th, 2010 1:58 pm
“Stuck”
under the volcanic ash cloud in Europe, I had a lot of time to reflect on how challenging
intercultural interactions can be between an American professional and non-US
prospects and clients. It’s a good thing
that I have a friend who is expert on such concerns. David Lange is co-founder and Managing
Partner of Aventine Associates – an international firm which helps global organizations work
productively across different cultures with communication and inter-cultural
leadership training solutions. David
and his colleagues are incredibly smart and insightful about inter-cultural
organization matters – especially as they relate to business development and
client relationship building. As the
world gets smaller for professional advisors, we all need to understand what
David does. www.aventineassociates.com
Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010 3:16 am
Are you famous or infamous? How about your clients? At Creative Growth www.creativegrowthgroup.com, we often ask our clients, “What are you famous for?” That question is a provocative way to investigate, “What makes you different and better as a professional?” We like to follow that up by explaining that being “famous for something” as a professional doesn’t mean that you’re on the cover of the Rolling Stone or Sports Illustrated. It’s about what you’re the go-to person for in terms of the unique benefits you deliver for clients and what makes you so good at what you do. That’s what we usually mean…Except this episode of Professional Atlanta was different…because on this day we interviewed two professionals who play in a world where “being famous” actually DOES mean being on the cover of Entertainment Weekly or the front page of the Sports Section.
Jini Thornton and Andrew Schutt joined us for this episode which is focused on how professional services providers attract and manage relationships with professional athletes and entertainers and the unique challenges and opportunities associated with this market. Jini is the founder and President of Envision Business Management Group www.embginc.com which she established in 1998 to help sports and entertainment industry clients make sound decisions and achieve financial security. And we also spoke with Andrew Schutt who leads the Entertainment and Sports Practice Team for the law firm of Arnall Golden Gregory LLP. www.agg.com Jini and Andrew provided superb insight and on-the-fly advice for questions like, “What would you advise if Tiger Woods were your client?” and “What’s the next big thing in sports and entertainment?” In an industry where it’s hard to know who you can trust, fortunately there are smart standouts like Jini and Andrew.
Thursday, March 18th, 2010 12:32 am
If you listen closely, you can hear the rumbling bellies of Professional Services Firms that have stoically survived recession and now regained their ravenous appetite for the best talent. The shark-like recruiting jaws of these Firms open wide and out spouts the constant refrain, “With so much great talent on the market, it’s time to upgrade.” Too bad so many firms will make the same hiring and development mistakes they’ve always made – leaving them with the same mediocre talent levels they had before – just with new faces attached. How can Firms ensure upgrade success? Is there a systematic way to spot and groom the next generation of leaders for your firm? Kelly Land and Martin Freedland of The Berke Group say so. They develop and execute talent management systems for major corporations and professional firms. Of course, we’re biased about The Berke Group since their assessment tool is the backbone of Creative Growth’s Rainmaker Assessment and Archetypes program. www.berkegroup.com
Tuesday, February 9th, 2010 1:21 am
Rich Goidel, Managing Director of Dangerous Kitchen www.dangerouskitchen.com discusses how he created – and named – his new communications agency to spice up the marketing services jambalaya and help his clients leap off the menu of competitive choices. Oooo-weee dats sum spicy interview.
Monday, February 1st, 2010 11:23 pm
Have you ever had a mentor or been a mentor to someone? It isn’t easy to do right…either as mentor or mentee. It seems that most of the professional services firms we encounter at Creative Growth Group www.creativegrowthgroup.com really want to be good at mentoring but they are usually shockingly bad at it. Helene Lollis is a master of mentoring and President of Pathbuilders. www.pathbuilders.com Her firm works with companies to shape their futures with high-performing women by customizing and delivering external mentoring programs, Her clients include major professional services firms like Deloitte, KPMG and Kilpatrick Stockton as well as major corporations like AT&T, Cisco and Coca-Cola Enterprises. We asked Helene to share suggestions on what professional services firms can do to more effectively mentor and groom high-potential professional women.
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 3:10 am
“Classic” describes something of enduring value and quality. Remember when the classic American brand, Coca-Cola, saved itself from New Coke by reintroducing “Coca-Cola Classic?” Well, there’s nothing like the real thing…in professional services, too. With a legacy of leadership in Atlanta dating back to the 1800s, the Montag family is a classic Atlanta family. In 1945, Louis A. Montag started Atlanta’s first independent investment advisory firm. In 1982, Louis’ son, Tony, launched A. Montag & Associates with a focus on serving high net worth business leaders and their families with a classic kind of individualized, “hand-made” quality of service. That included original investment research done on-site by the Montag team and personalized, direct contact between Montag’s investors and its portfolio managers. Today, A. Montag & Associates www.amontag.com is led by Tony’s sons: Ned and John Montag. It is rare that a family firm can transition successfully from one generation to the next. Montag has not only accomplished this leadership hand-off but also maintained the same classic service quality and reliable performance that it began with in earlier generations. Because we wanted to understand if this “classic” story was “the real thing” we invited John and Ned Montag to join us for this interview. Our discussion ranged from leading a family enterprise to guiding a wealth management organization through the toughest financial market in 80 years.
Tuesday, January 19th, 2010 12:22 am
Scott Mills is President of William Mills Agency – famous as the leading financial services and financial technology PR firm in the U.S. Scott is also the editor of Bankers as Buyers, an annual guide to technologies and spending trends in the financial services industry. He’s also the catalyst behind the blog www.FinTechMarketing.com William Mills is a family-owned firm. Scott talks with us about serving the financial services marketplace, about managing a professional firm which is also a family firm and about leading creative professionals to deliver consistently great work without burning-out. He’s also been pioneering a new scorecard approach to measuring the value a PR firm provides to its clients. Find out more about Scott and his firm at www.williammills.com
Monday, December 14th, 2009 11:35 pm
CFOs as Advisors and Buyers
More than ever, CFOs now hold the professional services purse-strings. At Interlochen Group, CFOs are, themselves, the professional services advisors. Ben Cass is founder and Managing Partner of The Interlochen Group, a CFO services firm which deploys its seasoned CFOs into middle market companies in the midst of transition. Ben talked to Professional Atlanta about how and why executive services firms like Interlochen are in such high demand. He also provides his experiences and advice about marketing professional services to Private Equity Groups and Commercial Lenders (his primary referral sources) and to CFOs. Find out more about Ben and his firm at www.interlochengroup.com
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