In our previous post Does the Market Know (and/or Care) That You Exist?, we discussed performing a market assessment of your industry practice, primarily from a competitive standpoint. This time we address question number four in our fifteen question series, “Does your Firm understand how much importance clients place on industry knowledge and does your firm measure clients’ perceptions of your firm’s industry knowledge and expertise?”.

This question gets at understanding the role that industry knowledge and expertise plays in selling and delivering industry expertise from the client’s perspective. As we have discussed previously clients have frequently indicated that they consider this to be important, but it pays to understand what they consider constitutes “industry knowledge and expertise” and how this may differ from one client or one engagement to the next.

In our experience the bar for industry knowledge varies considerably. For industries such as Financial Services, Life Sciences or Oil & Gas, a solid grasp of industry fundamentals and practices is a prerequisite; in other industries it is possible to “get away” with limited industry knowledge, particularly around commodity work and generic cross-industry issues. The requirements can also vary by client issue/service. For example, industry may be an important factor in advising on specific international trade regulations but less so for a pensions matter. However, typically the more complex the issue, the greater the need for industry perspective.

“I’m not an industry expert” (and being conversationally competent)

We have seen numerous firms whose professionals are reluctant to engage in conversations with clients or prospects around a specific industry because they say they “are not experts in the industry, and don’t want to look foolish”. Part of the issue here is the way term “expertise” is allied with industry.

In reality, clients are rarely looking for industry expertise in the sense that a professional is an expert in key technical or operational aspects of the industry. An attorney is not typically going to be an expert in jet engine manufacturing techniques or high-end fashion design trends. When we talk about professionals having industry expertise, we are really talking about their ability to understand the implications of industry issues and apply deep professional expertise, be it legal, financial, technology etc., to that issue.

One of our clients coined the term “conversationally competent”, which we have shamelessly borrowed, as expressing the level of industry knowledge a professional commonly needs in order to be effective in applying their professional expertise in the industry.

What does that mean?

When I was responsible for telecom industry training at Andersen’s back in the day, I illustrated “having telecom industry knowledge” as, for example, the ability to know that when a telecom client said they were building an ATM network that it meant they were building a network using Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) technology – not that the client was planning on rolling out cash machines!

In this instance, in-depth knowledge about ATM technology or network design was unlikely to be important. However, knowing that the client was about to make a significant capital investment would enable a consultant to explore, say, the financial impacts on their business of this new initiative and identify areas the client might need assistance: How much are you investing? How are you funding it? Have you considered the tax implications?

That really is the yard-stick for industry expertise:

What do I need to know about the industry in order to understand what the client is talking about, explore the implications, and deliver service and advice that is relevant and appropriate to the client’s industry?

Horses for courses

At this point it is worth recognizing that this likely differs across the mix of professionals in your firm. Different levels of professional seniority may require different levels of industry knowledge based on the nature of their work and client interaction. Also, firms that run key client programs and/or work effectively across practice disciplines can typically be successful leveraging one or two key industry lead professionals who can help explain the industry characteristics to other professionals that are bringing some specific deep expertise around say a tax or technology issue.

It should also be borne in mind that industry expertise may be of little value if other aspects of your value proposition are out of whack. If your fees are too high, your responsiveness too slow or you simply fail to demonstrate deep expertise in the relevant professional discipline, industry expertise will not make up for these failings.

Client Expectations

Armed with an appreciation of what might constitute industry expertise and knowledge, we can now return to the original question and its call to understand what is important to clients. Clearly the best way to do this is to ask them. This can be done both directly through conversation and often particularly effectively through client satisfaction programs.

Another important and effective method is to follow up on both client wins and losses to understand whether industry expertise impacted their decision.

Also be on the lookout for signals that you or your team are not up to speed on industry matters:

• Do clients express frustration at “…having to teach your people our business”?
• Do you find yourself sheepishly asking questions about basic terminology in client meetings … or bluffing your way through the meeting and frantically researching the topic later?
• Do clients and prospects explicitly ask to see industry credentials or meet with professionals in your firm that have industry expertise?
• Do you avoid following up on a particular discussion point (and therefore miss opportunities) because you’re really not sure what the client is talking about or its significance?

We’ve been working with one of our clients for several years now to help them avoid just these kinds of client signals. Through the development of industry courses and the delivery of hot topics briefings we have helped bolster their industry knowledge and give their professionals the confidence to engage with clients and prospects around industry issues.

Closing Thoughts

Knowing what is important to clients in terms of industry knowledge and expertise is clearly critical to making the right investments in practice marketing, service development and professional development. If you’ve not asked this question or can’t clearly articulate an answer in each of your target industries, we’d encourage you to spend some time exploring the issue.

Let us know if we can help you assess or develop your industry expertise, and as always your comments and feedback are appreciated!

In our previous post (Which Industries Should You Focus On?), we challenged your firm to make deliberate, strategic choices about which industries to focus on and provided some practical tips on how to get started. This time we address question number three in our fifteen question series, “Does your firm assess the strength of its industry practices relative to key competitors and best practice professional services firms?”

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This month, in our continuing series on building and growing industry focused practices, we explore the question of how to assess the strength of your industry practice relative to competitors and best practice professional services firms.

Does the Market Know (and/or Care) That You Exist?

It is one thing for your firm to say it has an industry practice; it’s another for the market to say so. In assessing the strength of your industry practice you need to ask the following questions:

• Are clients in our target sector aware of our industry practice?
• Do they consider us a viable option to service their needs?
• Do they proactively inquire about our industry capabilities and ability to address specific opportunities?
• Do they hire us in preference to competitors?
• Do they continue to hire us?
• Would they recommend us to others?

These are both quantitative and qualitative questions.  Firms should understand market share in financial terms (both share of total market and share of individual client spend) but also in terms of having pedigree clients and performing high value work. Do the top companies and top executives in the industry trust you with addressing their most complex problems or do they just send you their commodity work?

Clear Definition of Target Market Is Critical

Evaluating market share requires clearly defining your target market. For example, calculating your market share for legal advice in the financial services industry would result in a very different number to calculating your market share for M&A legal advice for community banks in the Pacific North West region.

Of course answering these questions is not always straightforward.  Firms need to implement effective market and competitive intelligence capabilities to understand which firms are working with which providers in what areas.  Such intelligence is vital – not just for evaluating market share – but also for identifying relative strengths and weaknesses and opportunities for growing market share.

However, the by-product of an effective industry practice is the ability to gather insights and intelligence about the competitive landscape through regular interaction with clients, prospects, advisors, media and other market participants.

Assess What Really Matters

Competitive assessment should not stop, however, at measuring fees and comparing client lists.  The competitive battle is won long-term by being the most effective firm at winning work and delivering great results.  Doing so is the result of effective marketing and deep industry expertise, packaged in a way that is relevant to client and prospect needs.  Hence competitive assessment should also focus on areas such as the strength of a firm’s thought leadership, its industry professionals and service offerings.

For example, in the last couple of years, we have worked with a number of professional services firms to help them evaluate the breadth and depth of their competitors’ industry-specific thought leadership.  This work has looked at the quantity and frequency of thought leadership, the quality of thinking and research, the variety of delivery formats and the interaction with leading industry associations and media. Such analysis can help identify white space opportunities as well as highlight where a firm is failing to rise above the crowd with its industry focused insights and activities.

Related to the thought leadership area is the strength of a firm’s industry professionals.  Does the firm have luminaries who are widely recognized as experts on key industry issues? Does the firm have bench strength that enables it to effectively serve multiple clients or bring full scale teams to bear on complex high stakes engagements?  Is the firm able to attract, develop and retain the best industry talent or do talented industry experts seek out opportunities elsewhere?  Is the firm one that young professionals with an emerging focus on the industry aspire to work with?

Focus and Commitment Are Critical

Finally, firms should evaluate whether their service offerings, tools and methodologies and participation in industry-specific associations and initiatives, demonstrate a focus, understanding and commitment to delivering professional advice and expertise in a way that truly reflects the specific issues and challenges of the industry.

The process of evaluating your competitive strengths and weaknesses is a continuous one, but if you have not performed an assessment recently, a fresh look will likely reveal new insights about your target market and raise new questions about both the current and future state of your firm’s industry practice.

Critically, making decisions on strategic and tactical goals and initiatives without a current competitive assessment may result in sub-optimal investments or missed opportunities to gain market share.

If you think you could benefit from a fresh and independent assessment of the competitive strengths and weaknesses of your industry practice, we would welcome the opportunity to discuss how we might help.  You can also use our Industry Practice Competitive Assessment Checklist.

Have Your Say!

As always your questions and comments are welcomed. Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Our next post will tackle understanding the importance clients place on industry knowledge and measuring client perceptions of your firm’s industry knowledge and expertise.

Leading law firms invest a lot of time and money trying to talk to clients and prospects – in print, online, at conferences and in the media. But being heard can be difficult when everyone is talking at once.

Our previous post (“Does Industry Focus Matter?“) presented rationale for why we believe industry focus can deliver benefits to both clients and firms. This post addresses question number two in our fifteen question series: “Has the firm made strategic decisions about which industries to target and focus on?”

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Many industry teams are simply a reflection of the accumulated experience of the partners. Worse, some smaller and mid-sized firms claim to serve just about every industry — and can seriously undermine their credibility in the process. This post will challenge your firm to make deliberate, strategic choices about which industries to focus on and provides some practical tips on how to get started.

Strategy Involves Deliberate Choices Around Resource Allocation

“Strategy” is often misunderstood in the context of professional service firms. Strategy should be thought of as a clear, shared understanding of where the firm will allocate its scarce resources (people, time, dollars) towards the goal of being the “leading” or “go to” firm for one (or multiple) segments of clients, facing one (or multiple) types of business issues.

In practical terms, strategy helps guide deliberate choices about where a firm is and, just as importantly, where the firm is not going to direct resources. This extends to hiring, training, office locations, marketing, and business development. It can also (more controversially) include which clients and targets a firm will (and will not) continue to serve and/or pursue.

“Industry” is a Critical, Equal Component of an Overall Firm Strategy

The most effective professional service firm strategies do not treat industry in isolation as a “stand-alone” component but rather as an equal partner with services and geographies. This doesn’t mean reorienting your entire firm to only be focused on industry; rather we advise our clients to be thoughtful and deliberate about which sub-industry or sub-industries to invest in versus letting industry capabilities develop haphazardly.

Most firms have already made some decisions about where to focus, usually along service line and/or geographic dimension. One question to consider is why would you not apply an industry lens to that analysis and those decisions?

Some firm leaders resist defining industry focus points for fear of “missing out” on opportunities — however our experience is that being more industry focused allows firms to find more (and better) client opportunities, less expensively for three key reasons:

1.  Clients and prospects actively seek you out because of your increased profile through publishing and speaking on topics that are relevant to their specific businesses and issues;

2.  Deeper relationships are developed more quickly because of the industry understanding and focus, unlike more “generalist” firms where the client is often wondering how much time and money it will cost to “bring you up to speed” on their industry and business issues; and

3.  Firms that are industry focused more quickly identify and respond to new and emerging opportunities because of their superior understanding of the underlying industry and business issues and/or are able to more quickly and concretely identify how a new regulation, piece of legislation, etc. is going to specifically impact a particular industry and the companies within it.

Taken together, we believe these three factors enable firms with industry focus to create real competitive differentiation, which often results in them being able to charge higher fees because they are being called upon to complete more difficult and specialized work — which is also usually more intellectually interesting work!

Why? Because clients trust these firms to understand how to apply their knowledge and expertise within the context of the client’s specific industry and business issues.

Getting Started: Key Questions to Consider Regarding Areas of Industry Focus

The first steps towards thoughtful, deliberate industry practices require analysis and discussion among the partner/director group as well as with clients and targets.

The key question to reach agreement and take action upon is: What type(s) of clients should the firm be developing relationships with?

This can be a controversial discussion — yet it gets to the heart of what types of clients the firm wants to serve in the future. The most effective client portfolio decisions are based on a number of factors, some quantitative and other qualitative. While not exhaustive by any means, some of the key considerations when considering the best client industries to target in the future include:

• Current size and projected growth rate of the industry segment: an obvious place to start; you should ensure that the current size and the projected growth rates for each industry segment under consideration will result in a sufficiently large market for you to compete in. “Sufficient” will naturally vary by firm — but should always be substantial enough that it can support a critical mass of partners and professionals.

• Comparative strength of your firm’s capabilities in that sector versus major competitors: it is important to critically (and objectively!) assess your firm’s existing capabilities to solve clients’ most pressing problems in a given industry. Will clients view your firm as credible? Does your partner group have solid client references and relationships that will help you compete effectively? Do you have (or can you quickly develop) insightful points of view and usable intellectual property (methods, templates, tools, etc.) that will pique your clients and targets’ interest? If no, it will be difficult to compete effectively and might not be the best industry sector to focus on — unless your firm is willing to hire aggressively and train extensively to build up the missing capabilities and credentials.

• Size of the firm’s existing client base and fee levels in that industry: also somewhat self-evident, however we have been surprised by a number of professional service firms deciding to enter markets where they had little (or no!) critical mass of existing clients and were up against significantly entrenched, well-positioned competitors dominating the landscape. We are not saying that you should never move into totally new industry markets, but you do want to carefully evaluate whether the competitive battle is your firm’s best investment of time, energy and focus compared against other industries where your firm is starting from a more established position.

• Extent to which the industry needs the firm’s complete array of services: this is not a “hard and fast” rule but is an important consideration. It may not make sense to focus on an industry if only one of the firm’s six service lines can provide needed services.

• Geographic alignment between an industry and the firm’s locations: be sure to evaluate the level of geographic fit between your target industries and your office locations, given the geographic clustering that is prevalent in many industries. For example, it will be challenging to service oil and gas clients in the Houston area if your firm only has offices in the Northeast US. Similarly, a firm in Silicon Valley is well placed to serve clients in the high tech industry.

• Match between your firm’s culture and each particular industry: the reality is that some firms and their partners/professionals are better suited to some industries than others; for example, media businesses and executives are quite different from oil & gas executives who are different from partners running hedge funds. Because clients generally tend to retain people they “like,” it is hard to understate the importance of this criteria. This cultural/personal match (or lack thereof!) should be discussed openly (and without fear of retribution) to help guide your firm towards the right industry decisions.

Before the partner group dives into the detailed trade-offs and considerations, it is useful to have an open discussion about the weighting of each factor shown above (as well as any additional factors that you might add). This will help reduce the potential for “gaming” the results once these considerations have been debated.

Finally, once the firm’s various industry options have been debated and examined, it is also time to consider how the firm will commit to its choices. Sometimes the commitment “forcing mechanism” can include specifically exiting industries and clients that are not on the strategic priority list. While oftentimes emotional for the individual partners and professionals involved, it is a healthy discussion topic for the firm to be making proactive decisions about where to invest its precious (and constrained) resources.

Concluding Thoughts

Industry should not become the only focus for firm strategy, marketing or service delivery. Deep professional technical expertise remains critical as does outstanding client service. However industry is a critical but often overlooked or undervalued component of the client-focused professional services model. Elevating industry to being an equal partner in defining how a firm targets and serves clients will, in our experience, deliver significant revenue and profitability enhancements.

Have Your Say!

Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Our next post will tackle how to assess the strength of your firm’s industry practices relative to key competitors and best practice for professional services firms.

In our previous post (How industry focused is your firm?) we posed a series of questions to help you evaluate how industry focused your firm is.  Of course such an evaluation is only worthwhile if industry focus actually matters – and indeed our first question asks whether firm leadership believes industry focus is important?

At Muzeview we strongly believe that industry focus matters.  We’ve seen the benefits directly earlier in our careers as accountants and consultants serving clients in the telecoms, technology and financial services industries.  More recently we’ve seen the benefits working with professional services firms to enhance their focus and ability to market and serve clients within specific industries.

But believing and seeing are only part of the story. Is there actually a rational analysis for why industry focus matters?

The answer is yes!

Clients Value Industry Focus

Firstly there is strong research evidence that clients believe industry focus matters.

The most compelling evidence is probably the “Finding and Choosing Professionals on the Web” research published by Greenfield Belser in 2010 which found that:

• Specific industry experience tops the list of things executives find important on professional services firm (PSF) websites with 78% saying it is “must have information” (pages 8, 21).
• When searching for a professional 46% always (and 29% often) include industry keywords (page 17)
• Industry is the first (30%) or second (46%) search criteria when looking for a professional on a firm’s website (p.22)
• Information on industry experience is also a “must have” for 77% of client decision makers  when reviewing service area descriptions (p.23)
• 84% like receiving electronic industry updates (#1 along with original research on topics most important to them) (p.30)

In 2009 Rain Today published a study titled “How Clients Buy” which had similar findings including:

• Experience in my industry/business was the #1 factor in hiring decisions; and
• Descriptions of industries served was the second most important element of a providers website.

A 2006 survey by Consulting Magazine “Consulting Client Satisfaction: Leading Firms’ Performance, Reputation and Brand Awareness” found that “depth of industry expertise” was the third most important selection criteria.

We even have research going back to our Arthur Andersen days (over 10 years ago) that shows “back in the day” the importance of “knowing our business” and “industry knowledge”.

So it’s clear that clients do value industry expertise, but if we assume that clients are rational (at least most of the time!) it is helpful to consider why industry expertise should matter so much to them.

Industry Focus Delivers Client Value – and Firm Benefits

One of our favorite sayings is:

“Clients don’t have financial, legal, technology or other technical problems, they have business problems.  Those business problems just happen to have financial, legal, technology or technical elements to them”.

Hence for a professional advisor to offer valuable advice to their clients they must first understand the client’s business problem.

Understanding the client’s business problem requires understanding the client’s business.  It is at this point that industry becomes relevant as it becomes a proxy for understanding many aspects of the clients business – such as:

• industry terminology;
• kinds of products and services offered;
• industry specific revenue sources and revenue recognition issues;
• common contractual terms;
• industry specific laws and regulations;
• typical business practices;
• types of talent employed;
• technologies used; and
• supply chain structure and practices.

Having this kind of industry knowledge enables you to speak the client’s language, which helps you gain credibility and quickly get to the client’s issue and need.  Equally importantly, experience within an industry enables you to solve problems more quickly because you have likely seen them before and solved them before.  Industry knowledge can also enable you to more quickly and accurately interpret new trends and issues – such as the impact of new or proposed regulations, proactively alerting clients to potential problems and solutions.

Hence clients who are served by industry experts will typically get quicker, more tailored advice and pro-active insights about how to address emerging issues.

Those are pretty compelling benefits for a client.  But this isn’t a one sided bargain.  There are benefits for the firm too.

The benefits for the firm include:

• More efficient service delivery by leveraging experience and getting to the problem and the solution more quickly;
• The ability to charge premium rates for focused, tailored advice; and
• More cost-effective marketing and business development through industry targeting and the virtuous circle resulting from daily interaction with industry executives and experts.

So in addition to the evidence that clients value industry expertise, we now have a clear rationale for why industry focus benefits both clients and the firm.

Industry Needs a Seat at the Table

One final point that we should make with respect to our advocacy for an industry focus is that we are not suggesting it becomes the only focus for firm strategy, marketing or service delivery.

Deep professional technical expertise remains critical as does outstanding client service.  We are simply saying that industry is a critical but often overlooked or undervalued component of the client focused professional services model.  Elevating industry to being an equal partner in defining how a firm targets and serves clients will, in our view, deliver significant revenue and profitability enhancements.

In the coming weeks and months we will explore the other questions we have raised that address how industry focus can be enhanced within your firm.

Most professional services firms will make a claim to being industry focused. Their websites will list the industries they serve, may identify industry practice leaders and experts and feature industry focused thought leadership and events.

This is undoubtedly acknowledgement of the numerous studies and client feedback results over the years in which clients and prospective clients have said that industry knowledge and expertise ranks high in their criteria for selecting and retaining lawyers, CPAs and consultants.

But how much of these firms’ claims of industry focus is window-dressing and how much is reflective of a comprehensive strategy and operating model designed to deliver industry focused client service?

The rationale for industry expertise is simple. Can you really provide the best possible advice to a client if you don’t understand the context, drivers, and issues that are impacting the clients business?

Furthermore, while accountants, attorneys and other professionals tout their deep technical or functional expertise, most clients view that as table stakes. They assume you’re an expert in employment law, international tax or enterprise application development. What they want to know is have you done it in their industry? Do you understand the nuances of their industry? Can you hit the ground running or will they have to teach you and your team how things are normally done in their industry?

So what does having a true industry focused practice or program really mean?

Through our many years of experience in helping build and grow industry practices we have identified a set of questions that can help firms assess whether their industry practices are just for show, or for real. Here are some of the top level questions you should review in evaluating where your firm stands with respect to a genuine industry focus:

1. Does Firm leadership believe that industry knowledge has a direct and meaningful impact on firm financial performance? For example through the ability to achieve premium rates, retain clients, win new work, cross-sell other services, build a reputation to win new/better clients, etc. (Read our discussion of this question)
2. Has the firm made strategic decisions about which industries to target and focus on – or are industry teams simply a reflection of accumulated experience and/or does your firm claim to serve just about every industry? (Read our discussion of this question)
3. Does your firm assess the strength of its industry practices relative to key competitors and best practice professional services firms? (Read our discussion of this question)
4. Does your Firm understand how much importance clients place on industry knowledge and does your firm measure clients perceptions of your firm’s industry knowledge and expertise?
5. Does your leadership team set industry specific strategic goals and identify key clients and prospects on an industry basis?
6. Has your firm adapted its service offerings to the specific needs of each industry and where appropriate developed industry specific services?
7. Does your firm have a formal marketing and business development program, and assigned marketing professionals for each industry?
8. Does your firm report and manage performance by industry (fees, profitability, growth, etc.) – and how important is performance by industry relative to service line and geography?
9. Does your firm provide industry specific budgets for marketing and business development, service development, training and knowledge management?
10. Does your firm organize and assign all or some of its professionals into industry teams?
11. Has your firm defined what constitutes industry expertise in your professionals? Does the firm have an industry competence model?
12. Are industry competence and expertise assessed and tied to recruitment, performance evaluation and career development?
13. Does the firm have formal programs and resources to develop the industry competence and expertise of its professionals, including keeping them abreast of the latest trends and developments in the industry?
14. Does your firm have industry focused research programs that monitor and identify emerging industry trends as a means of developing thought leadership and identifying new service opportunities?
15. Does you firm capture and leverage the industry specific intellectual assets gained from client engagements?

How does your firm stack up?

Over the next few weeks we will discuss each of these questions in further detail on our blog. Stay tuned!

I know that social media remains a hot topic for professional services firms.

A good friend, and former colleague of mine, Tim Haveron Jones, is currently running a “Social Media in Professional Services” survey, via his blog “The Masala Principle“.

Tim is based in the UK and has held marketing and business development roles with global responsibilities in several professional services firms. As a result Tim’s survey is undoubtedly garnering input from a diverse range of international contacts in several professional services sectors – law, accounting, consulting etc.

Hence if you are interested in gaining an international and multi-disciplinary perspective of professional services firm thinking and activity with respect to social media this would be an interesting survey to participate in.

The survey takes ~10 minutes to complete, and participants will of course receive survey results via e-mail.

Here’s the survey link: http://bit.ly/mwljKa

Background

On April 27, 2011, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that consumers are bound by arbitration clauses barring class actions, preempting California state law. Justice Thomas explained that the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) “requires that an agreement to arbitrate be enforced unless a party successfully challenges the formation of the arbitration agreement, such as fraud or duress.” This judgment is being met with mixed reactions across the corporate and legal world.

• Companies with consumer contracts are scrambling to review their arbitration agreements to ensure they are as visible and customer-friendly as possible.
• Employers are increasingly faced with class action wage and hour litigation and class action employment discrimination suits where they could instead be seeking to arbitrate individual complaints.
• Lawyers have been anxiously waiting for the results of the Concepcion decision, knowing how dramatically it can affect their ongoing cases.
• Judges and policymakers are further investigating how enforcement of the FAA affects the application of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the Credit Repair Organization Act, and even the newly created Consumer Financial Protection Act.

Implications

Companies must act promptly to assess the enforceability of existing arbitration agreements. Those companies without a class action waiver should consider adding such a provision. Companies must be prepared for the challenges to come in implementing and using arbitration agreements with such a waiver.

Client Discussion Points

1. Are the client’s consumer product and service agreements consistent with the Concepcion decision? What actions can the client take to ensure these agreements are pro consumer, easy to understand, and unquestionably enforceable?
2. Does the client have in place a fair and equitable process to arbitrate employee disputes? Is the client positioned to implement an arbitration agreement limiting exposure to class actions?
3. How will the Concepcion decision affect client’s similar, pending proceedings? As policymakers respond, what impact will this have on the function of interrelated regulations?

Resources & Commentary

• Latham & Watkins (The Recorder) – ‘AT&T’ Mobility Explained
• Baker Hostetler (ClassActionBlawg.com) – Will AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion Really Kill the Consumer Class Action?
• Seyfarth Shaw – Whether to Institute a Pre-Dispute Arbitration Policy Waiving Class & Collective Action Claims in the Wake of AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion
• SNR Denton – Can Employers Opt Out of Class Actions?
• Seyfarth Shaw (The Wall Street Journal MarketWatch) – Supreme Court Deals Blow to Consumer Class-Actions
• Haynes and Boone – U.S. Supreme Court Ruling Paves the Way for Companies to Enforce Class Action Waivers in Arbitration Agreements
• Morrison & Foerster – Class Actions Are Dead. Long Live Class Actions?: The Implications of AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion for Employers
• Corporate Counsel – In a Flurry of Filings, Defense Bar Rushes to Seize on Concepcion Arbitration Ruling
• San Francisco Chronicle PRWeb – U.S. District Court Says Consumer Can’t Be Forced into AT&T Arbitration
• Ballard Spahr – Supreme Court Decides 3 More Class Action Waiver Cases, Grants Certiorari in CROA Arbitration Case

Introduction

This month’s Hot Topic Chart shows the number of marketing outputs from leading law, accounting, and consulting firms covering Japan over the last 16 months. Activity spiked in March 2011 and remained well above normal levels in April 2011 following the earthquake and tsunami.

Topic Summary

The massive earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan on March 11 are still sending aftershocks through the country’s economy. As the country struggles to rebuild its infrastructure and economy, the recovery efforts and ongoing nuclear crisis weigh on Japanese consumers and businesses.

These negative effects, however, are not just limited to Japan – the impact is being felt around the globe. In particular, the supply chain has been significantly disrupted in the steel, automotive, electronics, and chemical industries.

Japan’s electronic and technology manufacturing industries are critical to the supply chain of developed and emerging markets alike. Lean manufacturing and lean inventory practices have caught a large number of businesses unprepared to move forward without significant retooling of their supply management process. Several US auto manufacturers have been forced to slow or stop production as they identify and access backup supply sources.

Business Implications

Clearly, companies must complete a comprehensive risk management assessment of their supply chain. They must measure their own preparedness and that of their suppliers, be prepared to identify alternate supply resources that can deliver parts and resources of comparable quality and value, and act quickly in the implementation of their supply chain recovery process.

Client Discussion Points

1. How sensitive is the client’s business to the current supply chain crisis? What actions can the client take to better position their supply chain in the future?
2. Does the client have in place a process to communicate with the public and regain consumer confidence as they seek to recover business after a crisis?
3. How recently has the client assessed their business interruption insurance coverage? Does the client have in place a disaster preparedness plan, taking reasonable steps to protect their property from damage?

Insights from Leading Professional Service Firms

Numerous firms across the accounting, consulting, and legal space published pieces addressing the impact and implications of the Japanese disaster. Here are links to some of the most useful articles:

• Protiviti: Managing Supply Chain Disruption Risk
• PRTM (Forbes): Responding To The Post-Quake Component Supply Chain Crisis
• Cozen O’Connor: The Earthquake and Tsunami in Japan: A Factual Overview and Preliminary First-Party Analysis
• Protiviti (Reuters): Special Report: Disasters Show Flaws in Just-In-Time Production
• Monitor (Reuters): Japan Global Reputation Avoids Meltdown, Risks Ahead
• PwC: Accounting Implications of Natural Disasters
• Edwards Angell: Japan Earthquake and Other Catastrophes Likely to Erase Close to 25% of Profit for Reinsurers
• Reed Smith: Insurance Coverage Issues Arising out of the Sendai Earthquake, Tsunami and Nuclear Contamination
• Towers Watson: Japan Earthquake: Insurance Industry Impact and Risk Management Lessons
• Clifford Chance: Fukushima: Potential Nuclear Liabilities

About Muzeview Hot Topics

Muzeview Research tracks the thought leadership publications of the world’s top law, accounting, and consulting firms. As a result, we have our “finger on the pulse” of key topics that are impacting businesses across a range of industries, geographies, and legal areas. This unique insight can alert you to the trending/breaking topics that your clients need to be aware of — conversations that you can be having with them right now.

As a service to Muzeview clients and friends of our Firm, each month we will highlight one of these hot or trending topics, including links to some of the best thinking to help you quickly get up to speed. Use this valuable business tool to stimulate your own thinking about how these issues might impact your clients and what discussions you should be having — right now — with your clients and top prospects.

It seems that the original concept of the elevator pitch is increasingly applied to the canned 30 second response to the “what do you do?” question at cocktail parties and networking events. Which is all well and good when introducing yourself to potential new contacts, prospects and clients, but what about when you get in the elevator with a client or prospect that already knows you?

Do you have an elevator question?

Or do you talk about the weather, the game last night or just smile politely?

Now I’m not going to suggest that you corner your prospect with your most penetrating question in the elevator, but we all know that the secret to effective relationship development and business development is asking great questions. While it would be great if you could have a canned question, just like your canned elevator pitch, the reality is you need to adapt your questioning to the situation, reflecting how well you know the person, the reason for your meeting, the time available etc. So ensuring you have a set of questions and a strategy for using them during the incredibly valuable face time you have with a client or prospect is vital.

In our experience, this isn’t always something that professionals are good at doing.  As experts, they often prefer to show what they know, than explore what they don’t.  But clients don’t really care about what their attorney’s or CPAs know other than when it solves their problem – and you can’t solve their problem if you don’t understand their business, their situation and their needs.

In fact we’re just about to start a program with a large professional services firm to equip their professionals with better questions.  This firm has recognized, largely from its own client feedback, that it needs to do a better job of understanding the client’s business and that asking good questions is an important part of that process.

Do your firms professionals really understand their clients businesses, and if not, how do they plan to find out?

Discussion & Action Steps

• As you think about the next meeting you have with a client or prospect, what are the questions you should be asking that will help you better understand the client, their business, their needs and their interests.
• And to get started – what’s your elevator question?