Solutions to manage your firm in the current crisis

“success in business in the Covid 19 era is a smart combination of digital culture; product realignment and professional matchmaking with clients at distance”

Dear ISFIN Partner,

We are able to help you in the COVID 19 current context:

Now and after…

We are in the middle of the pandemic crisis and it is legitimate to handle immediate actions to secure your staff and align to new regulations. In the coming weeks, the media frenzy and alarm rhetoric will slow down.

It is NOW that you can plan ahead your business development to save your financial year and limit the impact of Corona on your income. You can position your services to align to the new requirements of customers.

Your firm should not miss opportunities created by this disruptive situation.

At a time when firms are closing branches, requiring associates to work from home and cancelling events, partners can still raise their head above the cloud and anticipate their business development for 2020. As the decision-maker in your firm, you will have more free time that you can dedicate to Strategy and Business Planning.
 
The real impact of Corona on your firm

The business development of independent professional firms is mainly based on peer to peer meetings at large conferences. Lawyers and accountants exchange during seminars and events organized by their traditional networks or event management companies.

The massive cancellation of events and the fear to delegate your best professionals to places where they could get infected, heavily impacts the origination of referrals.

This is particularly impactful for firms dealing internationally. International clients are usually more remunerative than domestic clienteles and international conferences are a must.

Traditional legal and tax networks will be substantially impacted as their main pitch to their members is to organize annual conferences to socialize and exchange business. Coronavirus is bringing down the value of their membership.

Global law firms and the Big Four, which have very heavy internal compliance systems, will leave opportunities to smaller firms that are more agile to respond to the crisis.

In a crisis, leadership is paramount. Many direct competitors will remain passive with a lack of responsiveness. They don’t know how to handle the future as they are rather technical experts than business experts.

The advisory market will be redeployed as clients will seek new services or new delivery of services. As the Captain of your ship, it is your duty to demonstrate to your partners, staff, clients and prospects that you will get them out of the storm ! 
 
How to get around Corona ?

 
The main issue with the epidemy is that it prohibits you to attend key conferences or participate in mass events. Corona cuts off your traditional source of networking. 

The way to go around it, is to evolve from mass networking into individual “matchmaking”. You must avoid the crowds where mass fishing is now irrelevant to precisely target prospects during one-to-one meetings. Prospects would be keener to welcome you at their office or through the digital instruments of video.

Your services or products need to be adapted to the new needs of clients.

Changes will occur for the services themselves AND for the “delivery” of these services as well.

Clients will now seek advice for :

• Dealings and litigation with financial regulators and tax authorities to ease financial constraints
• Benefitting fiscal stimulus and tax incentives
• Upgrading Risk compliance (financial, regulatory, legal, fiscal, reputational, health)
• Debt recovery
• Employee & HR policy: rapatriation, sick leaves, liability risks, confidentiality when working from home,…
• Consumer protection and claims. Collective actions.
• Supply chain issues, trade restrictions, unfair competition, quarantine of goods
• Business interruption, insolvency and liquidation.
• M&A, demergers,…
• Sustainable business behavior and impact finance

How ISFIN can help you ?

1. Business Planning

Our template of Business plan has been upgraded in the current context. You can use the guidelines and the coaching of our consultants to adapt your strategy for immediate actions and planning for the second Semester of 2020.

You will receive the updated ISFIN Business Plan in the coming days.

2. Product adaptation

Our consultants have unmatched experience to repackage and rebrand the services you offer.

We can look at deploying these services in a fashion that match market needs. We look at anticipating the changes in your clients’ behavior and demands.

Digital marketing can enhance the services you offer to clients and prospects.

We enlarge your capacity. Completing your technical offer with our advisory capacity in a powerful one stop shop will help get work. (https://www.isfin.net/market-solutions)

3. Matchmaking

Our market intelligence team can focus on generating referrals through matchmaking. It offers you a specific itinerary to potential clients aligned to what you offer. This is the new generation of business development based on market intelligence and the power of introduction. 

ISFIN has accumulated a unique experience and created a system that gives you thousands of hours of networking instantly. Our connections built up over a decade and the unique data management system ensure matchmaking between you and the buyers of legal, tax, corporate, financial, investment, estate,… services.

Matchmaking and introductions can be supported by video-conferencing and digital tools.

4. Dealroom

Investors are looking at the numerous investment opportunities which will arise from the crisis.

Our operating dealroom which allow professionals and trusted advisors to submit off market deals to a community of investors is a very effective way to actively generate the business.

It is in place and we have buy-side mandates. (https://www.isfin.net/market-solution/386)

The Corona crisis only brings one positive effect: it pushes us to refresh our business development in a time of disruption.

We look forward to helping you find solutions for your business

Sincerely yours,

 

Laurent Marlière

M: +(32) 475 42 21 49

 E: lm@isfin.net 

 L: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/laurentmarliere

 

Laurent Marlière is Professor of Strategy and Marketing. He is the CEO of ISFIN. www.isfin.net . He is the author of the Best-seller “Marketing for Law Firms”