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Having professionals engaged in business development is the biggest driver to growth in professional services firms

So, what are our top tips to encourage engagement?

You might have a professional who is fantastic in-front of an audience, whilst another might feel physically sick at the thought. They might be one in the same! Conduct an audit to understand what people enjoy doing, and where their strengths lie. 

We often assume that we know why it is that professionals are not engaging in business development. We have identified three very real barriers (culture, limiting beliefs and competing allegiances), each of which requires a different response from marketers if they wish to overcome them. Find out more by downloading Client Talk’s report.

If you want to motivate someone to do something, you can look to increase the importance that a person places on making the change. We found that engagement in business development was the key factor in delivering growth in professional services firms. Sharing statistics such as these can help to show professionals why engagement is so important.

However, there are other things you can do too. How is engagement measured in your firm? How is it rewarded? Both can increase the importance – and hence motivation – to take part.

So many of the problems we face come back to an inability to ask the question that is really at the heart of the problem. Why don’t we ask partners why they don’t engage? Is it fear? Is it culture? Is it that there is not an environment of psychological safety and trust in our firms? Creating a culture where we can ask the hard questions can help drive engagement – and so much more besides. 

We believe that everyone, in whatever role, should turn up the dial on active listening. It is a key component in all communication. It is a behaviour that can help increase empathy. It can also help us go deeper to finding out what might be behind a lack of engagement and help unlock the solution. 

This article is adapted from one that appeared on Client Talk’s blog.