This article has information sourced from our friend and professional services business development advisor, Sue-Ella Prodonovich.

It’s the countdown to Christmas, and we’re all looking forward to a short break after what has been a very unexpected and rather disruptive 2020.

So what can you do in these days leading up to get your practice ahead for next year?

Here are the top 5:

Score the clients you worked with in 2020

Sue-ella suggests writing down the name of the clients you have worked for in the last year, and give them a score out of 10 on how happy you think they are with you and your firm.

Doing this activity will help you evaluate how strong your relationships, where you need to put in a bit more effort, think about how you performed, and determine if you want to continue working for these clients.

If you gave a good score to a client, ask yourself why, and what you did, and see if you can replicate that with your lower-scored clients.

The same sort of thing goes for the clients who got a low score – determine why and whether they should be showed the exit.

Analyse your referral sources

The next thing Sue-ella suggests is to take a look at all of your referral sources and figure out how you ended up working with or for them.

Thank those that referred work to you, and record how you, or the client contact were first introduced.

By understanding how you gained referrals from sources, you can invest your time and effort into the networking and activities that bought them about.

Polish up your online presence

Your online presence is important for many reasons such as first impressions of you, access to accurate information and your brand perception.

However, making regular updates to it is often a neglected task. If someone were to Google you or your firm, what would they see? Or worse, not see?

You can read more about how you can maximise your online presence in this article here.

Draw up next year’s professional development calendar

Don’t leave mandatory education to the last minute. Actively plan your professional development so you can fully commit to it when you attend. While face-to-face events may be on halt for now, there are a great range of online seminars and webinars you can register for, and are worth it too. it’s also a great opportunity to built your network and showcase your expertise.

Review a process

We spend most of the day busy working on matters, that we can forget to pause and take a moment to look at the way we are working and our teams are operating. It’s a good chance now, to review internal work processes and see if there is any room for improvement. Maybe it’s a protocol for onboarding a new client, or the way employees are reviewing documents. Whatever it is, a small tweak may make a massive difference.

Sue-Ella is the Principal of Prodonovich Advisory, a business dedicated to helping professional services firms sharpen their business development practices and attract and retain good clients. You can learn more about Sue-Ella’s services here.

If you would like a private demo of NEXL’s business development tools, book a time with our CEO.