Grow your firm
Working with Managing Partners and leadership teams of ambitious professional services firms to drive profitable revenue growth, create successful value-focused client relationships and build high-performing engaged teams. We deliver business development consulting, coaching and training.
We are sales consultants, coaches and trainers. Underpinned by an impressive background of commercial experience, we help individuals and organisations to achieve ambitious targets.
We work with Managing Partners and other senior leaders to help you dramatically grow your business or practice area by focusing on what genuinely matters to your clients. This allows you to create new business development opportunities, drive profitable growth and build long-term trusted relationships.
We also help senior leaders to maximise their impact. We partner with you to get the buy-in you need to motivate, engage and empower your people to deliver on your exciting growth plans. We also help you create high-performing teams that are as passionate about the business as you are and that bring a one-firm mind-set to everything they do.
Growing your business
• Launching an ambitious growth strategy
• Fostering a one-firm mind-set
• Building trusted client relationships in a virtual world
• Developing and converting sales opportunities
• Balancing business development and service delivery
• Improving profitability through better fee negotiations
• Embedding accountability to deliver on your growth plans
Developing you and your team
• Setting and delivering an inspiring vision for your firm
• Building a high-performance leadership team
• Creating a client-centric culture
• Inspiring, engaging and motivating your people
• Investing in your people to help them fulfil their potential
• Developing commercial internal communications that drive action
• Building your personal profile and reputation in the marketplace
Who we are
Derek Howard
As founder and CEO of ‘The Customer’, Derek specialises in helping ambitious professional service firm partners to grow profitable revenue and client relationships. He is passionate about helping leaders to achieve their personal objectives in growing their firm or practice area and in developing their people.
He has over 20 years’ experience working as a sales consultant, an executive coach and trainer. Derek has delivered coaching and training programmes for some of the world’s largest professional service firms on sales, key account management, pitching, fee negotiation and networking.
Our clients tell him that they value the combination of additional commercial credentials and insights he brings as a CEO, a sales consultant and an accountant.
Whether you want to develop yourself or your team, grow your firm or deliver more successfully against your commercial objectives; Derek and his team of experienced associates can help you achieve your targets.
Testimonials
“Derek and the team at ‘The Customer’ get to the heart of what matters in driving business growth and team dynamics. They’ve made a positive difference in our company’s customer engagement and continued financial performance.”
John, Marketing & Business Development, Director, Dublin, Ireland
“The Customer knows our business really well, brings content to life in a very practical way and challenges our participants in a way that helps them to develop exponentially; immediately transferring learning to their day-to-day work. Derek is totally committed to our success.”
Cristina, Human Capital Director, Valencia, Spain
“You helped me to understand competitive selling in a much more complete way. You provided detailed analysis and fantastic insights. I now look at the sales process completely from the client’s perspective.”
Oganes, Senior Business Development Manager, Moscow, Russia
Blog
Top 10 ways to show your clients you care
With a virtual Valentines on the cards this year, we look at the top ways to show your professional services firm clients that you genuinely have […]
Q&A with Derek Howard, CEO of The Customer
This week we virtually meet with Derek Howard, CEO of The Customer, to discuss his experience of helping professional services firms to drive profitable revenue growth, […]
Practice Leader Planning Priorities for 2021
It’s been a year like no other for Professional Service Firm Leaders. Managing industry and client disruption, reinventing service offerings, collaborating with teams in a completely […]