Professional Services Management

We are in the golden era of boutiques. The business models of your clients are being disrupted. This makes it virtually impossible for them to have all the required expertise in-house. They are looking for external expertise. They have big budgets to spend. Clients are buying from boutiques in record numbers. The sun is shining. Time to make hay.

The Customer Success Manager has become a critical asset to organizations across the business landscape. As the subscription model has spread from the cloud and SaaS to more sectors of the economy, that pivotal role will only grow in importance. That's because if you want to compete and thrive in this new environment, you need to put the customer at the center of your strategy. You need to recognize you're no longer selling just a product. You're selling an outcome.

International expert and consultant David Maister offers a brilliant and accessible guide to every management issue at play in professional firms. Professional firms differ from other business enterprises in two distinct ways: first, they provide highly customized services and thus cannot apply many of the management principles developed for product-based industries. Second, professional services are highly personalized, involving the skills of individuals.

Years ago, developing and sustaining a book of business was not as big a problem for accountants, attorneys, financial planners, and other professionals as it is today. Clients were more loyal to the firms they worked with, and unlikely to shop your services, compare rates, or jump ship. Times have changed! And if you don't change along with them...well, you're not going to enjoy yourself or have as much control over your career as you deserve. Believe it or not, you can enjoy the process of expanding your client base.

There's a Customer Born Every Minute reveals the lost wisdom of famous entrepreneur and showman, P. T. Barnum. Barnum was much more than a showman; he was a dedicated businessman and entrepreneur with a razor-sharp mind. In this delightful and absorbing new edition, Joe Vitale reveals the secrets of Barnum's success and shares the 10 key business practices that Barnum developed and lived by.

Conventional wisdom says most startups need to be in Silicon Valley, started by young engineers around a sexy new idea and backed by VC funding. But as Mikkel Svane reveals in Startupland, the story of founding Zendesk was anything but conventional. Founded in a Copenhagen loft by three 30-something friends looking to break free from corporate doldrums, Zendesk Inc. became one of the hottest enterprise software companies, rapidly growing with customers in 150 countries. But its success was anything but predestined.

The Promises of Giants is an exploration of the practices and behaviours that define transformational leadership. It is a challenge, not only to those in named positions of power but to anyone who aspires to make a difference in their environment. A challenge to act decisively to influence the world in a positive way. From socio-political chaos and workplace disruption to the climate change crisis, we have never needed people with the skill and will to collaborate to create a better world more than now.

Productize draws on the 25+ years of experience that Eisha Armstrong has in successfully creating, launching and growing productized services. Eisha knows what works and what doesn't and she is passionate about making sure organizations learn from each other and avoid reinventing the wheel.

With 50 succinct, hard-hitting lessons, you’ll learn how to create a business that is valuable, profitable, investable, and able to grow well beyond your career. Unlike selling to a third party, succession planning is a gradual transition of ownership and leadership—often over 10 to 20 years. If done right, it can change not just your exit, but your entire approach to building and leading your firm.

The Blue Square Method is a philosophy and process for the enlightened fee-for-service professional who is striving to grow on their own terms. Panoramic success requires continual refinement and optimization both personally and professionally. This actionable playbook is designed to put you on a predictable trajectory and ensure you never plateau.

"Conquer the CSCP Exam: Your Guide to Becoming an APICS Certified Supply Chain Professional" is an essential resource for individuals aiming to achieve the prestigious Certified Supply Chain Professional (CSCP) credential from APICS. This comprehensive guide is meticulously designed to cover all the critical areas of the CSCP exam, including supply chain design, planning and execution, supply chain improvements and best practices, and compliance. Each section is structured to provide a deep understanding of the concepts, supported by real-world examples and case studies that bring ...

In this first-of-its-kind book, seasoned security pros Christian West and Brian Jantzen share lessons learned from years of protecting some of corporate America's most prominent people. Full of practical, hands-on information, this guide provides a comprehensive overview of how to conceive, build and run successful executive protection programs in corporate settings. With insights that only experience in all phases of program execution can provide, the authors dig into the key questions that corporations need to ask and answer.

Never Say Sell explains how to scale individual engagements into long-term business relationships. Cowritten by Tom McMakin, the coauthor of How Clients Buy and expert in account development, and colleague Jacob Parks, this book provides insights into how key rainmakers at firms like Accenture and IBM drive growth from existing relationships. Never Say Sell is a business development guide for professional service providers like consultants, accountants, and lawyers, whether they are sole proprietors or members of account teams tasked with expanding key accounts.

Getting ahead requires you to think strategically, embody specific values to help you stand out amongst your peers, and successfully navigate and build relationships with internal stakeholders. ‘How to Advance Your Career in Professional Services Marketing’ takes a deep inside look into how to go from a junior role to a senior role within the world of professional services marketing. Previously, if one wanted to learn how to advance their career within the industry in marketing and career management, they would have to learn on the job, read multiple books and combine the information of...

Les Gold has been in business since age 12, when he started selling used golf clubs from his dad’s basement. Now he owns Detroit’s biggest pawnshop, American Jewelry and Loan, and is the star of the hit reality TV show Hardcore Pawn. In this entertaining, honest book, Gold takes you inside some of his weirdest, wacki­est deals and steals. From the monkey his dad once took in to pawn to the deal Gold made for a stripper pole, he has no boundaries for what he considers to be part of his business - and neither should you.

CEO of Hint, Inc., and author Kara Goldin turned her unsweetened flavored water into one of the most successful beverage businesses of our time. As she started to achieve her goals, Kara found herself being called “fearless”, “confident” and even “unstoppable”, but nothing could be further from the truth. In Undaunted, she shares real stories about her own fears and doubts, the challenges she encountered and what she did to overcome them to eventually build a great business and a life she loves.

Leading for Organisational Change is an intelligent and practical guide to the human side of merger integration and other organizational change. Building a clear sense of common purpose and then reinforcing it through storytelling can underpin the success of an integration or significant change program. Pulling together the best thinking from neuroscience, psychology, business, and her rich personal experience in 20 years of leading change projects in professional services organizations and other people-centered businesses, author Jennifer Emery presents a framework for change.

In this paper, I will show how the Project Management Office (PMO) can be viewed as a service provider, and in turn how service management concepts can be applied on the PMO to provide its services to the intended customers. I draw from ITIL and other service management best practices, showing how this can be applied in implementing and providing the PMO services regardless of the specific industry of the projects being implemented by the organization that the PMO is servicing, whether IT projects or others. I will first discuss the PMO services, and creating a service catalog for the PMO. ...

Modern multigenerational nursing cohorts come with their own unique challenges, but they can also be leveraged to retain staff and increase organizational effectiveness. The key, according to organizational psychology practitioner Dr. April L. Jones, PhD, is to identify and work with each generation's unique values and work ethic.

Anyone can have a good idea. Very few can turn it into a million-dollar one. Until now. It’s challenging to start and scale a business. Choosing the cloud as your platform for delivery and headquarters presents a whole new set of obstacles. This guide will allow you to leverage the cloud to streamline your processes and maximize your profits.