August Aquila & Bruce W. Marcus 
Client at the Core 
Marketing and Managing Today’s Professional Services Firm

‘Clients At The Core is an essential blueprint to helping us
all take the next steps. The authors, battle scarred by the
evolution of professional firm management and marketing from then
to now, have captured the changing needs of the firms in this
turbulent new economic era. This is a well-written book that uses
plain language to convey practical, well thought-out ideas.’

-Patrick J. Mc Kenna, a leading international consultant to
professional service firms

‘The authors have captured the changing role of professional
services marketing and firm management. There is valuable insight
[in this] down-to-earth guide to competing successfully in the new
environment.’

-David Maister, author and consultant

‘The book is a masterpiece! Aquila and Marcus have produced the
essential guide for managing a professional services firm. They’ve
marshaled their considerable real-life experiences and far-reaching
vision into a veritable operating manual for the successful
firm.’

-Rick Telberg, Editor at Large, American Institute of
Certified Public Accountants

‘At its heart, this book is the running shoe for legal and
accounting professionals who want to put the client first.
Following the evolution of the industry over the past twenty-five
years, this must-have for every professional services firm is the
key to leading in the turbulent and highly competitive waters
ahead.’

-Richard S. Levick, Esq., President, Levick Strategic
Communications, LLC coauthor, Stop the Presses: The Litigation PR
Desk Reference

‘Client selection and retention is one of the critical success
factors for a professional services firm, and Aquila and Marcus do
a masterful job at educating us on the necessary ingredients of
each. The chapters on firm governance and paying for performance
are thought provoking and certainly challenging to the conventional
wisdom. If you want a better understanding of marketing and leading
a professional firm in these turbulent times, this book is
essential.’

-Ronald J. Baker, author, Professional’s Guide to Value
Pricing and The Firm of the Future

‘Client at the Core is a commonsense approach to keeping your
professional services firm relevant in the twenty-first century’s
client-driven economy. Aquila and Marcus have hit a home run with
their insightful analysis and poignant prose.’

-Jeffrey S. Pawlow, Managing Shareholder, The Growth
Partnership, Inc.

Table of Content

Foreword.

Preface.

Acknowledgments.

PART I: Professions and Professionals in Turmoil.

1. If Something Can Change, It Will

Strategic Factors in a New Environment.

PART II: Clients–Who They Are and How to Find
Them.

2. What a Client Really Wants

Listening to the Client for Fun and Profit.

3. Are We a Client-centric Firm Yet?

Organizing to Meet Client Needs.

4. Now, Here’s My Plan . . .

Defining the Right Client for You.

PART III: Making Your Vision a Reality.

5. I Can See Your Future from Here

Vision? A Working Tool?

6. Seizing Those Opportunities

Making the Vision a Reality.

7. Making Marketing a Nice Word

Building a Client-centric Marketing Culture.

8. It’s the End Game that Counts

Contact–Turning the Prospect into a Client.

PART IV: Marketing Tools and How to Use Them.

9. Hang High the Rafters, Carpenter

The Tools of Marketing that Build the Marketing Program.

PART V: Managing the Client-centric Firm.

10. Turning Recipes into Cakes

Managing for Results.

11. Who’s at the Helm and Who’s on the Bridge

Firm Governace and Structure.

12. Holding a Handful of Mercury

Managing the Knowledge Worker for the One-Firm Firm.

13. For Love or Money–or Both

Paying for Performance.

14. Didn’t We Tell You What We’re Doing?

Internal Communications–Let Me Count the Ways.

PART VI: Economics in the Client-centric Firm.

15. A Farthing for Your Goat

Pricing in a Client-centric Firm.

16. What Did I Get for My Money?

Measuring the Marketing ROI.

17. Cash Is King

What’s the Lifetime Value of Your Clients and the
Financial Health of Your Firm?

PART VII: What Will We Do Tomorrow?

18. The Future for Professional Services

Are We There Yet?

Appendix A: The Balanced Scorecard.

The Balanced Scorecard–Financial Measures.

The Balanced Scorecard–Client Measures.

The Balanced Scorecard–Internal Business Process
Measures.

The Balanced Scorecard–Marketing Measures.

The Balanced Scorecard–Employee Growth and the Learning
Measures.

Appendix B: Managing the Knowledge Worker.

Take the Pulse of Your Staff.

Compensation.

Career Advancement Opportunities.

Firm Culture.

Appendix C: Pricing in a Client-centric Firm.

Analyzing Price Sensitivity.

Appendix D: Accounting and Law Firm Benchmarks.

Accounting Firm Benchmarks.

Bibliography and References.

Index.

About the author

AUGUST J. AQUILA is one of the country’s leading consultants
in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, succession planning, and
management issues for professional services firms. He was an early
pioneer and leading force in the accounting profession’s
consolidation movement. In 2003, he was inducted into the
Accounting Marketing Association’s Hall of Fame.

BRUCE W. MARCUS is a widely published author and consultant to
some of the nation’s largest corporations and professional
services firms. The author of hundreds of articles and more than a
dozen books on marketing and marketing-related subjects, he is the
editor of the Marcus Letter on Professional Services Marketing,
read internationally by more than 22, 000 lawyers, accountants,
consultants, and professional marketers.