The Passionate Professional:  Creating Value, Success, Prosperity
By Linda Julian
Julian Midwinter & Associates Pty Ltd (publisher), 2007
ISBN 978 0 646 45926 4
247 pages
$35 AUD plus delivery—available from publisher only
www.julianmidwinter.com

Linda Julian is a Sydney-based consultant to professional services firms and is often, according to her web site, introduced as "Australia’s answer to David Maister.”  Her book is a series of short essays or advice pieces, organized by topics, and gleaned from the author’s prior articles, presentations, e-tips, and columns.  The book is written so that if you have only a few minutes to read and reflect, the organization of the material makes that possible.  As she notes, the bite-size “chapters” are "digestible doses which can readily be applied in everyday professional life.”

The design of the book is compelling and engaging, and you are drawn to pick it up for that reason alone.  Although the book is directed primarily at the service provider, there are many insightful questions that marketers can use in working with attorneys.  Her chapter, “Tender Debriefing,” (and for those of us who are Americans, this means of course proposal or RFP debriefing rather than a gentle approach), is worth the price along.  Some of the questions she suggests asking are:

• “Why did you go to tender?”
• “How do you identify which firms to invite?”
• “What were your selection criteria and how were they weighted?”
• “Did your views change during the tender process?”
• “What value adds were you offered?”
• And many more….

Some of the chapters focused exclusively on what to do, without guidance as to how to do it—but that’s where seasoned in-house professionals will add value.  Use Julian’s book as a guideline for what to do, and then implement those suggestions.  Other chapters are filled with great suggestions and wonderful questions.   

Book chapters include:  What Clients Want; Building Your Profile: Establishing Trust Relationships; Strategy and Planning; Growing Through Referrals and Networks; Creating New Clients; Winning Competitions:  Tenders, Proposals, Bids and Pitches; Practical Business Development Tools and Collateral; Business Development Behaviours; Rewards:  Pricing and Leveraging Value; Sustaining and Expanding Client Relationships; Doing Well in Difficult Times; Mobilising and Energizing Your Team; and Tracking Your Success. 

For a relatively new marketer or an attorney, the book is a must have.  For more senior marketers, the book provides a valuable series of reminders of what to do and brilliant questions to use in guiding attorneys.