My observation of professional firms in general is that they tend to overinvest their non-billable practice development time in categories mentioned first on my list (broadcasting and courting) and, as a rule, under-invest in those activities lower on my list (superpleasing, nurturing, and listening). In large part, I have learned, this is because firms tend to assume that the last three categories all occur “naturally” during the conduct of matters tie., on billable time) and hence do not warrant any extra investment of non billable effort. This, in my experience, is an incorrect assumption.

Take, for example, listening activities. I may pay close attention to my clients while working with them, and think that I understand them. However, while working on current matters with clients there is a strong need to stick to the matter at hand and to focus on getting the job done rather than getting the client to talk about other things. But if I invite the client to dinner or to my offices to talk, not about the current matter, but about what’s going on in his or her business, I can (and will) learn a great deal that will be useful to my future practice development efforts. If I attempt to sell that client something without having previously listened, my practice development efforts will be less effective.

Excerpted from ‘Managing the Professional Service Firm’ by David Maister, pages 55- 56