Case study 3: The partner who returned to work after leave
We often work with clients who have taken time out on maternity leave, a sabbatical or, increasingly, those who have returned to professional services from the corporate or banking world. All of these people have in common the fact that, on their return, they discover that the world has changed and that they now need to build up a practice again.
We often find that these clients are particularly motivated as they have taken a positive decision to return and are committed to making progress as soon as possible. Once they have digested the "rules" of their new environment, it is simple for them to apply the solutions we suggest. tions we suggest.
This partner returned to work after maternity leave to discover that her clients had moved on to using other partners within the firm and that, owing to economic cycles, her area of expertise had become less needed while she had been away.
She quickly grasped that she needed to get out and about and when we met her, she had lined up a series of speaking slots at forthcoming conferences and had already performed at some of these. She told us how disappointed she was to discover that they did not lead immediately to very much lucrative work.
We were able to help her focus better on the really worthwhile opportunities, to target the likely attendees of these events and to practise the art of persistent and effective follow-up.