This digest showcases leading-edge marketing, branding and strategic planning articles from prominent professional publications and journals in all sectors. It enables architects, engineers, accountants, landscape architects, interior designers, financial advisors, lawyers, dentists, veterinarians, naturopaths, chiropractors and other professionals to benefit from each others’ resources.

Here are some of the leading practice development themes from our March / April 2010 professional journal review:

• Recipe for Success
• Human Resource Management
• Non-traditional Marketing
• Going Green

Recipe for Success

Education builds trust with clients by Steven Lamb at ADVISOR:

• “Rather than being turned off at the prospect of being tested,… clients are very receptive to the educational model of her practice…
• The pre-engagement discussion ranges from economics, interest rates, and currencies to bonds, stocks and tax. Clients learn the main principles that should be applied in portfolio management and the impact of different strategies. The two hours of effort she puts into client education at the outset pays off over time…”

Bad behaviours that stop success by Ernie Ward, DVM at Canadian Vet:

“Recognizing our bad habits:

• …overestimate our contributions to our work…
• …elevated opinion of our professional abilities…
• …forget our failures…
• …inflate our contributions to the profitability of the practice…”

2009 PCPS CPA Firm Top Issues Survey from American Institute of Certified Public Accountants:

• “…Marketing/practice growth and client retention—two challenges that did not appear on the 2007 PCPS Top Issues lists—are both back on the lists, as they were in 2005. For all firms, marketing/practice growth to obtain new clients is in the top ten, and it is a top five issue for firms with 6 or more professionals…”

Seven Mistakes To Avoid For Emerging Rainmakers by Julie Zeveloff, Senior Reporter for Law360 in New York reprinted by LawMarketing Portal:

1. “…Aiming to Impress Just the Big Shots…
2. Forgetting the Follow-up…
3. Networking Everywhere…
4. Looking Good on Paper, Only…
5. Staying Behind Your Desk…
6. Forgetting to Write it Down…
7. Thinking of Referrals as a One-Way Street…”

Human Resource Management

Associates: Pros and Cons by Bill Blatchford, DDS at DentistryIQ:

• “…Having an associate today is a numbers game. If the new associate is not bringing any patients with him/her, the senior doctor needs to ask, “How much of my net am I willing to give up to have an associate here?” What is my purpose in having an associate? Do the numbers make sense for me? How will this help me?…”

Do You Need An Office Manager? by Lynn Homisak, PRT at Podiatry Today:

“Those practices that hire good office managers can potentially reap the benefits of:

• enforced policies;
• improved staff morale;
• optimal staff productivity;
• teamwork and professionalism;
• focus on practice goals;
• structured systems and operations; and
• fewer mistakes and more attention to detail…”

Retaining Top Talent Still a Requirement for Firms by Heidi Brundage, CPA and Mark Koziel, CPA at Journal of Accountancy:

• “…Retention should be an intrinsic attribute of a firm’s culture. When firm leadership makes retention a priority and that mindset flows through the organization, staffing programs will naturally gravitate toward maximizing employee satisfaction and, in turn, increase the likelihood of the firm keeping the best and brightest…
• A solid performance management system can aid staff in furthering their comfort level with the firm, while involving them in setting goals that are in line with firm objectives…
• A compensation system should focus not only on salary and benefits but also on opportunities for career growth and paid time off…”

So, How am I Doing? by Fred Bernstein at ARCHITECT Magazine:

• “…we use the annual review to talk about goals for the next year…
• In design firms, people don’t typically work for one person for an entire year. So it’s important for the person conducting the review to solicit views from other managers…
• The purpose is to have a two-way conversation…
• At the end of the meeting, the manager and the employee should both sign the form…”

Don’t name your successor too soon from Canadian Consulting Engineer:

• “…it’s wiser to identify three or four potential candidates and give each of them the same level of training and mentorship to see which one ‘rises to the top.’…”

Non-traditional Marketing

Back to Basics by Dr. Barbara Sturm, DC at Canadian Chiropractor:

“This is a small sampling of how to work smarter, not harder, when it comes to referrals.

• …Strive to make your educational systems about teaching your patients to refer…
• Make it easy for your patients to think of reasons to refer…
• Make it easy for them by having themes…
• Make it easy for your patients to refer by asking them questions about your relationship with them..”

How do you market your business when you’re an introvert? by Clare La Plante at Massage Therapy Journal:

• …consider reaching out in a personal way—after all, this may be one of your strengths as an introvert…
• Having a specialty, and a passion for it, will naturally attract clients…
• …join forces,… and talk up each other’s work…
• You can work on your online presence in the privacy of your own home, take your time and use your writing skills—all introvert draws…

Internal marketing 101 – Communicating with your current patients by Fred Joyal, CEO of 1-800-DENTIST at Dental Products Report:

• When asked how valuable internal marketing is, 60% of respondents answered it was equally as important as marketing to new patients—and another 30% felt it was more important… 82% answered that they do not communicate with their patients via newsletters… Clearly there exists a disconnect when practices that know the value of internal marketing overlook one of its most powerful tools…
• Recall cards are one of the most neglected opportunities in dentistry… This is the perfect opportunity to tell patients about one of the services you offer.

Going Green

Toronto now requires green roofs from Canadian Consulting Engineer:

• “…On January 31, 2010 Toronto also became the first North American city to require green roofs on new developments. It applies to permit applications for residential, commercial and institutional developments that are more than 2,000 square metres in gross floor area…”

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We invite feedback on this new feature of Toronto Marketing Blog. We also welcome suggestions as to other professional journals and publications that we might include in our future editions.

Related articles: Practice Development Digest Article Series.