Create the Managing Partner Mindset, Part 2: Marketing & Personnel

Whether you are currently a Managing Partner at your firm, aspire to be one, or just want to be the best at what you do, getting into the mindset of a Managing Partner has an important bearing on the firm.

Think through the qualities needed to become a Managing Partner, and you'll quickly spot the difference between a good leader and a great leader, and, by extension, understand the difference between a good and a great firm.

We've divided Managing Partner Mindset priorities into four main topic areas, and have included a checklist of questions that each firm should ask of its future leaders.

Below you'll find the areas of Marketing & Business Development and Personnel. The other two, Productivity and Profitability, can be found here.

Marketing & Business Development

• How deep is our pipeline of opportunities?

• Are we filtering for the profile of our ideal client? In other words, are we pursuing what we say we should be pursuing?

• How do we bring value to clients? Are we confirming our value – whether by client feedback or other measurements? What happens if we aren’t bringing the most value? Is there a system in place to correct that?

• Do we have insight into firm reputation? This is related to number three above, but goes deeper than satisfaction, and can help your firm correct reputation disadvantages to build a more solid base for future sales and marketing efforts.

• What is our batting average for closes? Do we have that data broken down by industry and by pitch group?

• What measurable and meaningful achievements are being delivered by the marketing professionals, either on staff or external? Are we setting the bar high enough?

Personnel

• Are team members taking ownership of their job descriptions, and how do we confirm that job descriptions are living documents?

• Are career path plans in place for all of the employees? How are we doing with meeting expectations?

• How responsive are staff members overall to clients and potential clients? Is that measurement tracked or simply observed?

• What ways are staff being motivated so they are adding the most value? Where can we do better?