The Client
The client is an Italian niche boutique firm with an internationally orientated client portfolio.
The Problem
After three years of sound growth, the founding partners wanted to evaluate the firm’s strategy
and decide if they wanted to focus more on referrals or adjust the current focus and increase autonomous revenue.
Our Approach
In parallel with  interviewing key fee-earners within the firm, data was collected and interpreted. By using the Venturis ‘backward‘ – FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) inflow analyses, five crucial questions could be answered about the referral strength of the firm, starting from a macro level and ending on a concrete M&A level, based on Mergermarket and Bloomberg information.
Combined with internal facts and figures that were used as input to the analysis, the context for the referral strategy, in which the founding partners had to make a decision, was presented in a report to the board.
Our Solution
The choice between more focus on the referral strategy or more focus on autonomous revenue was a discussion about symptoms. The underlying issues pointed to the fact that the real problem was a decreasing market share in the Italian home market. Business development activities about reputation, visibility and presence where organized to stay in the top tier trusted advisor market segment. The result was more autonomous revenue, due to more clients and improved CRM. At the same time the referrals improved in value, number and quality because the firm became a top Italian specialist again, as it was when it started.