How to create growth in a no growth world

As if the anaemic market wasn't bad enough, the slew of competitive pressures will further make the business of private practice a daunting proposition, even for the most optimistic.

Let's face it '“ the market is only so big, and even if there is as yet unstimulated demand, it will take years to filter through.

No doubt you have got fed up with the periodic incantations of get better et al, but when your service offering is limited, there are only so many ways that you can reinvent the wheel.

Set against this background, it may sound grandiose to talk of growth; but too few firms see the obvious targets (or, at least, lines of least resistance) and revert to the usual business development speak, which involves bugging people for attention. There are three strategies that you might consider.

Get closer to clients

And by clients I don't just mean a homily to those clients where the file is currently open '“ clients first and all that slushy stuff. No, I mean all clients who were ever clients of the firm. The thing is that if you care to examine the last three years' worth of data, you will quickly realise that you have kept the good ship Firm 'XYZ' afloat with a bushel of people (even those ensconced inside a corporate entity).

But, I can practically hear the cacophony of cynicism before I proudly regale you with the need to contact your clients; but what else are you going to do? Wait for them to contact you? Perhaps in the good old days, but it is up to you to take the initiative and reach out. This means sending more than just another yawn-worthy newsletter (ask yourself would anybody pay for it?) but, perhaps, picking up the phone. If you don't know what you are going to say, then don't just wing it. Have a script.

The thing is clients are clients for life, or at least that is the way you should see them. Much in the same way that you receive ?a bank statement once a month (unless you have gone the electronic route), you need to keep reminding them of your existence, ?and make it clear that you are a trusted adviser on more than just the one off process-driven job. In other words, if something comes up in their life (or a close acquaintance's) they might just think of ?you or be prompted to the next time ?you call.

Unique selling proposition

It seems trite to talk about service. After all it is, or is supposed to be, your sine qua non. But not to the extent that you are prepared to fall on your sword.

Just imagine a scenario where your service was so extraordinarily good that people couldn't help but talk about you endlessly. The problem is that in legal services, the idea of service gets conflated with results. In other words, the fact that you didn't complete or deliver the result in a piece of litigation; but that is a question of managing your clients' expectations to the point where they don't complain as soon as you miss the date or result. What you need to focus on is a service level that is so eye-watering that everyone can't but help comment. It might mean imposing ridiculously tight timescales or putting in place a unique guarantee but service doesn't mean doing the expected it means delighting your clients by going beyond what you said you would do. Of course, the time-charge method of billing militates against any form of free 'ad ons' but that is probably why no one yet has mastered, truly mastered, the art of service.

Focus on your strengths

The theory went that if you cover all the bases that in good times and bad you will be able to build a sustainable business model. But just imagine if, instead of trying to please everyone or cover every service line, you focused on those areas where you were truly brilliant.

Of course there would be a temptation for people to shop around, but if they knew that you were the best in the market at what you did (think the best of in any consumer category), then there would be much less of a temptation to find an alternative.

Of course, being in the service industry you are, to some extent, at the mercy of the cohort of people who deliver that service, but that misses the point. If you wanted to be thought of as number one in your category, you would be driving the agenda apropos training and personal development, and not waiting for the right people to turn up at your door proclaiming their brilliance. Just imagine a scenario whereby you had a centre of excellence for private client services where you literally wrote the Bible when it came to your chosen area. It is possible. And no doubt it requires fortitude, passion and resilience but who said any of this stuff was easy.

Growth is not going to happen by itself. You have to picture a world where your business doesn't just grow its service lines amongst its existing clients but those clients who have previously tried or used repeatedly your competitors can't help but give you a whirl by virtue of the above.