At this moment in Romania, there is a proliferation of consulting companies. Fiscal optimization, auditing, mergers, and acquisitions have no secret. Law firms, specialized boutiques, freelancers and established companies crowd the market. As a business owner, when you no longer have solutions to the problems you face, a company immediately appears that offers exactly the services you need.

But how can you figure out which professional services company has the best solution for your business? What are the elements that make the difference?

At the strategic level, three factors are the most important for the market success of a consulting company:

1. Operational excellence
2. Top-quality of products and services
3. Knowing the customer profile

1. Operational excellence

This includes both internal issues, such as how to increase the level of resource utilization, and external aspects, such as how to deliver projects on time. Exclusive focus on internal operational excellence can have a negative impact on external issues.

Using internal efficiency as the sole criterion for measuring company performance can endanger the quality and consistency of professional services. Therefore, the performance management system must correctly map the relationship between internal and external operations.

2. Top-quality of products and services

Developing an idea is an invention, its implementation and marketing is innovation. But many companies have systems that hinder innovation. They have challenges since the idea sharing phase. Employees do not know where and how to socialize their ideas, where and how to be inspired by the ideas of other colleagues. Such companies end up being too inertial and risk-free.

A professional services company must have mechanisms for testing, refining, and marketing ideas. That is why it is necessary to implement a knowledge management model, which must be complemented by a knowledge creation strategy. The sale of expertise is no longer a differentiating factor since all other companies do, but only the generation of top innovative products.

3. Knowing the customer profile

Beyond the common formula described on websites and brochures that "customer relationship is the key to business", in many professional service companies, there are no clear processes for building customer relationships. The key is the relationship of the employees with the relevant people in the market. Beyond expertise and the delivery of services to the client an important factor, but often lacking, is the good knowledge of the client's company. That is the extent to which the consulting provider shows a genuine interest in the client's need.

Most of the time the employees meet their clients or prospects and talk a lot about them and the extraordinary services offered by the company they represent. With this approach, they can be the pride of the company, only that they are not of value to the customer and they build a marginal trust.

The solution is a truly customer-focused professional services company that has values ​​in its DNA related to listening and understanding the client's needs with empathy, competence, and professionalism. To reach this level of customer orientation, a management team needs to focus on these values ​​and operationalize them relevantly in all company processes.

Employee training programs at all levels of seniority should develop their understanding of the client and its positioning at the center of the company's concerns. The role of each employee is to build relationships in the market based on trust and, equally, technical expertise.

In conclusion

Tactical or operational changes within professional service companies will be without result if critical issues regarding strategy and leadership are not addressed.

If these strategic aspects were easy to address, then we would witness a cascade of changes in the organizational design of professional service companies. Which is not the case because, in many situations, the business model they still operate and the company has revenue.

The change will, however, bring significant opportunities to service companies that will complement their professional expertise with brand power and authentic customer focus.

* * *

About PKF Finconta

For more than 24 years, PKF Finconta is one of the 10 leading professional services companies in Romania. Since 2006, we are a member of PKF International Limited. PKF International is a leading international business advisory organization. The company grew consistently over the years, forming a Group of four companies: PKF Finconta, PKF Finconta Consultanta, PKF Finconta HR and Finconta Consulting SPRL, members of national professional organizations CECCAR, CAFR, CCFR, and UNPIR. We provide a wide range of business advisory and related specialist services. We have seven core areas of expertise and within these areas, we tailor our services to your business and your needs: audit, corporate finance, tax, bookkeeping and accounting advisory services, transfer pricing, payroll and personnel administration, and insolvency.