Professional services
Professional firms sell partners' time, so every hour a partner spends on admin, marketing or managing staff is revenue lost. We build the business side of the firm: an operations lead, a business development system, a marketing department and written processes, so partners practise and the firm runs.
How the work gets done today
- Revenue is capped by billable hours until the firm builds capacity below the partners
- Work in progress and slow collections quietly strangle cash
- Business development is left to the partners with the least time
- Key person risk is extreme, since clients follow individuals, not the firm
The moves we make
- Put a practice manager seat in place for staffing, billing, collections and systems
- Build a business development system: referral tracking, follow up and a visible pipeline
- Run marketing as a department focused on the firm's reputation, not one partner's
- Write playbooks for intake, delegation and client communication so associates deliver the partner's standard
Seats usually missing
A practice or operations manager who owns scheduling, billing, collections and systems. A business development owner who tracks referrals and follows up on every enquiry. A marketing lead who builds the firm's reputation rather than one partner's. In most small firms the managing partner holds all three in the evenings, after a full day of client work. We fill the seats fractionally and design the permanent structure, respecting the rules of your regulator on who may own, manage and market the firm and asking before we act.
Getting partners out
Billing and collections first, because they are the biggest drain on partner time and cash, and a written process with a practice manager fixes both quickly. Staff management second, through an accountability chart and one to ones that an operations seat runs, so associates get feedback without waiting for a partner's free hour. Intake and delegation third, through playbooks that let associates and paralegals do more without quality falling. Partners keep the client relationship and the judgement, which is what the client pays for.
What to outsource first
Operations and the back office, including automation of intake, reminders, time capture and reporting, because the hours saved are partner hours. Then business development systems, so referrals and enquiries are followed up without a partner remembering. Marketing follows, built around the firm's expertise and local presence rather than a single name. Regulated matters, trust accounting rules, advertising restrictions and professional conduct stay with the firm's regulator and your own professional judgement, and we work within them, checking before anything is published.
Questions from professional services owners
Do you understand regulated professions?
We work within your regulator's rules on ownership, management, advertising and trust accounting, and we ask before we act. We build the business side. Compliance remains with the licensed professionals in the firm.
Can you help us move from hourly billing?
We help you model fixed fee and outcome based pricing, build the scoping and intake process, and test it with one service line. We support the decision with numbers, not professional advice.
How does AI fit a professional firm?
Intake, scheduling, reminders, drafting from templates and reporting are the first candidates. Every agent has a human review step where confidentiality or judgement is involved, and your regulator's guidance is followed.
Tell us which seat is empty.
A 30-minute call with Ali about the business and the people running it. You leave knowing which role to fill first and whether fractional, outsourced or a hire is the right answer, whether or not we work together.