I was recently elected as managing partner of a law firm. I found much of the book very helpful, especially the information about leverage and under-delegation. It also provided good leadership thoughts. This gives me a good framework to make decisions and communicate information. I highly recommend it.

While the book lacked some of the details I was looking for, it has excellent information on running a service firm. This books should be required reading for those wanting to become partners.

Before you bother to build or "scale" a professional services firm, you must read this book. One of my mentors recommended this book to me in 1995 and it was a "must read" then. David's experience and "real talk" about the basics and then the art of building a services firm saved me many nights of lost sleep.

Specifically, I used the "brains, grey hair, and masses" model to help me understand and commit to the right business model and level of service delivery for my line of business. Other key concepts include how to market and develop business, develop and leverage talent within your organization, and consulting protocols that dictate your perception of value to your clients. Now, my firm, Performance Change Initiatives, Inc., is steadily growing and expanding because of the solid foundation beneath it. We practice in the evolving Change Implementation Consulting field, and, we have used many of David's concepts to define and differentiate ourselves in our market. By bringing the art of the "process for organizational change" together with the science of hard core business process redesign and integration, we have found the recipe for delivering tangible business results that last. I have read David's book 3-4 times over the 9 year evolution of our firm and each time, I have "caught" a potential error and taken advantage of other perspectives and practice. You cannot substitute for experience and I am positive that I will read it again.

Additionally, I recommend David's famous book, The Trusted Advisor, for all constituents of the firm. It is imperative that everyone understands the power of building authentic relationships with your clients and the negative impact of the hard sell. People work with you because they trust you and have confidence in your work. This book lays out many of the components and practices of this "art".

I purchased this book out of sheer luck, by reading a review to law firm start up book that recommended professional services firm management books.

I am a East European Lawyer and feel empowered and enlighted when reading this book. Its style is user-friendly. In particular, I liked and appreciated the chapter on what clients expect from professional servicepersons.

I have not yet read all its chapters, but those I did, I read several times and each time new helpfull skills come to my attention.

As a lawyer, new tothis type of source of information, I was not expecting I could find such a book, of such a high quality.

I have 10 years experience in managing consulting company. When I red just first chapters of this book I immediatelly have started to implement some ideas described there and it gave greate results!
No matter if you plan to start new business or you are mature partner with many years of experiane in professional services business - this book is a must and greate reading. Enjoy!

I have used this book to implement many new processes into my business. This sits in my bag or on my desk all the time. It's a great resource.

This book is worth its weight in gold. Well written, great ideas, very helpful for anyone involved in or starting a consulting firm.

We build websites and I wanted to learn more about how professional service firms operate since its basically the same thing (lawyers, accountants, engineers, website programmers, etc). The book helped me realize an important maxim to a service firm:

Success = Perception - Expectation.

If the client perceives they received something better than they expected, they will be happy. This is the key to client service; managing their expectations. While obviously quality, timeline, cost, etc. are all important, in the end they only matter if the client is happy.

The book covers many different usable ideas to manage clients better.

I expected that this book would be interesting to read, but the reality was even better than my expectations. The book provides very specific "how-to" recommendations for managing PSF. Thank you!

Excellent, easy-to-read and highly practical guide to successfully managing professional service firms...

This book is an excellent resource for new and experienced managers and leaders in a professional services firm. It is research-based but very practical and common-sense in its delivery. You will find checklists and templates regarding talent management, client growth and product mix that you will want to begin using immediately. Although the book is written in the context of a legal firm, the content is rich and applicable to any professional services firm. The "asset management" philosophy of this book (managing your two key assets: your client relationships and your knowledge/talent pool) is most powerful. After reading the book and sharing portions of it with our leadership team of ten, I learned they were individually purchasing the book. I have now ordered it for the entire team and am delighted to know they have embraced the suggestions (I don't have to sell his ideas) and have incorporated references to "David" and "the book" into their everyday conversations. Excellent read at the beginning of the year to assure you are on the right strategic track for the growth and management of your firm.

This book is an excellent resource for new and experienced managers and leaders in a professional services firm. It is research-based but very practical and common-sense in its delivery. You will find checklists and templates regarding talent management, client growth and product mix that you will want to begin using immediately. Although the book is written in the context of a legal firm, the content is rich and applicable to any professional services firm. The "asset management" philosophy of this book (managing your two key assets: your client relationships and your knowledge/talent pool) is most powerful. After reading the book and sharing portions of it with our leadership team of ten, I learned they were individually purchasing the book. I have now ordered it for the entire team and am delighted to know they have embraced the suggestions (I don't have to sell his ideas) and have incorporated references to "David" and "the book" into their everyday conversations. Excellent read at the beginning of the year to assure you are on the right strategic track for the growth and management of your firm.

This book is a must read for partners and managers in professional service firms. Although this book is already several years old, the issues covered are still up to date and usefull.

This book is a must read for partners and managers in professional service firms. Although this book is already several years old, the issues covered are still up to date and usefull.

While the book has a definite slant towards law firms, I found virtually all of the information in this well-written and easy-to-understand book to be right on the money for my own consulting business. The book answered the questions that I'd had in my mind that went like 'I know I can be doing things better, I just don't know what the secret is'. After reading this book I have a completely new perspective of how my business should be organized and run. My biggest hope is that my competitors don't discover this book.

Marina Kushner
Author
The Truth About Caffeine: How Companies That Promote It Deceive Us and What We Can Do about It

Every time I pick up this book I get a new insight. This is the first book you have to read if you want to understand the PSF "arena". A professor at LPSF in Harvard expressed that he considered this book to be the first "Academic" source on PSF.

If you can, read all of Maister's books.

THANK YOU, David !!

P.S.: In only 3 months he has built the best web presence I have seen so far.

Every time I pick up this book I get a new insight. This is the first book you have to read if you want to understand the PSF "arena". A professor at LPSF in Harvard expressed that he considered this book to be the first "Academic" source on PSF.

If you can, read all of Maister's books.

THANK YOU, David !!

Every time I pick up this book I get a new insight. This is the first book you have to read if you want to understand the PSF "arena". A professor at LPSF in Harvard expressed that he considered this book to be the first "Academic" source on PSF.

THANK YOU, David !!

Every time I pick up this book I get a new insight. This is the first book you have to read if you want to understand the PSF "arena".
A professor at LPSF in Harvard expressed that he considered this book to be the first "Academic" book on PSF.

Every time I pick up this book I get a new insight. This is the first book you have to read if you want to understand the PSF "arena".

If you manage or work in a professional service firm, this book can put your operation into perspective by explaining what drives the firm's profitability. Author David Maister uses his personal experiences to enliven some of the dryer parts of the text with a few case studies, first-hand observations and advice. He covers the whole range of essential practices encountered by any service firm, including governance, hiring, motivation, coaching, marketing and compensation. However, there is one important caveat: This classic book was first published in 1993, including the chapter on professional compensation, which particularly needs updating. Some chapters were published even earlier in various trade magazines and journals, some dating back to 1982. Is this information still fresh and accurate in today's business environment? Even if the personnel advice is, the compensation counsel and pre-Internet marketing advice probably is not. With this caveat, we consider this foundational work important for anyone working in or with a professional service firm.

I own a 6-person research and consulting firm. I was just turned onto Maister after 7 years in business...man, I wish I'd read this book sooner!

First, Maister's style. I like authors who know what they're talking about and who share it with you in an easy-to-read style. Check.

Then, the content. I want take-home value. Maister offers quizes, self-assessments and checklists that my team and I have used to further drive profitability and performance. Check.

Next, I want to read an author who shares my values: that work should be fun, rewarding, and engaging for employees at all levels. Check.

Finally, the book is backed up with an online archive of articles and insight that Maister has developed over his career in the professionals services industry. (www.davidmaister.com)

Maister has been a mentor to my young company, and we'll be rewarded for our diligence in using his tools and plumbing his insights.

I own a 6-person research and consulting firm. I was just turned onto Maister after 7 years in business...man, I wish I'd read this book sooner!

First, Maister's style. I like authors who know what they're talking about and who share it with you in an easy-to-read style. Check.

Then, the content. I want take-home value. Maister offers quizes, self-assessments and checklists that my team and I have used to further drive profitability and performance. Check.

Next, I want to read an author who shares my values: that work should be fun, rewarding, and engaging for employees at all levels. Check.

Finally, the book is backed up with an online archive of articles and insight that Maister has developed over his career in the professionals services industry. (www.davidmaister.com)

Maister has been a mentor to my young company, and we'll be rewarded for our diligence in using his tools and plumbing his insights.

There's a reason why this book is consistently rated 5 stars...it's simply the best in its genre. Congratulations David!

Bill Wiersma, Author, The Big AHA

I found book invaluable guide for defining a business structure that was linked our PS business assets to the company P&L. We were flying blind until finding this reference that guided us through the process of benchmarking and defining our business against the PS industry as a whole.

This book has emerged as one of the most referred authority in matters related to consulting business. Book clearly shows the unique insights and deep understanding David Maister has developed about working of professional firms.

To start with, not all professional firms are the same. Depending upon the types of problem a firm handles firm may be a Expertise practice (unique/ frontier problems) Experience practice or Efficiency Practice (routine problems). Each of these practices would require different strategy, structure, form, culture, employees, reward systems, geographical locations and competitive positioning. Hence Management should understand which is the predominant (or sole) practice they fall in, and manage the firm fundamentals accordingly. Maister poits out pitfalls in making single firm running different practices- still cant stop several firms experimenting to serve all problems.

Another insightful piece is chapter on "How clients choose?", especially in scenario where all finalist firms look alike, make similar claims and have similar price offerings. Client at that stage experience uncertainty and discomfort- so the winner firm is the one that wins his TRUST. How to do that- well book has some suggestions.

Writings on how to create sustainable competitive advantage, measure client satisfaction, build and manage assets including human capital are all informative and provocative. Book makes several good suggestions on "How practice leaders can add value?"

In nutshell, book has something to offer to all involved in managing a professional firm- be it partners, unit heads, managers, quality or human resource professionals.

The true test of any book of business advice is not the ease of reading or the expertise of the author, though on each of those points this book is exceptional. The true test is the applicability to the workplace; whether it generates concrete actions that benefit the business. On this criterion, "Managing the Professional Service Firm" is truly excellent. Maister has distilled critical ideas about professionalism that has reminded our firm of what is important in the management of professionals, and those ideas produce results. The ability to encourage a professional in a way that praises past success and yet challenges them to greater levels can have a dramatic impact on both your bottom line and the morale of the organization. Maister makes a compelling case that both are laudable and desirable results. A must read for anyone seeking to manage and motivate professionals to excellence.

A classic. As a marketing consultant to professional service firms, I always recommend they buy and devour this book.

This book gives a very clear advise for advisors of how to manage they firms. It depicts most of normal problems and gives solutions based on experience.

Although it is written for attorneys and business consultants, I recommend it for most companies. After all, 'service tasks' are part of every company. I have sent a copy to some of our corporate advisors.

It also helps to understand and solve partners conflicts.

Great Book!

Mr. Maister is truly a consultant's consultant.

Over the last 12 years I have referred to this book several times and recommended it to whoever wants to understand and excel in the Consulting profession.

This book provides an excellent 'business model' for consulting companies, illustrating how the pyramid and its leverage can help increase profitability. It then goes on to cover virtually all aspects of consulting business - business development, clients, people, and so on. It offers insights that appear so obvious in hindsight and hence provides a tremendous learning experience.
I particularly like the Chapter on Practice Development and the ROI that can be derived by Superpleasing existing clients. His Service Quality paradigm is also very useful.
This book forms the base for all the other books Mr. Maister has written (I have read them all).
As the World becomes more 'knowledge' oriented and we all find ourselves becoming some kind of consultants (internal or external), this book can provide great companionship in this journey.

This is an excelent book for anyone effectively running or working or even considering hiring a professional services firm. The book is extremely structured. It begins with the basics, the fundamentals of the business model, defining concepts like leverage, classifying the engagements by types, etc. After the basics are established, it goes through the most important elements for defining success: client, people etc. It is an excelent book, and after reading it, you don't need much more than that to understand this kind of industry. It is a deep work, very clearly written and useful to read. The only things that could be explored are some "real-life cases". All the concepts are developed in a pretty general way. Anyone experienced in the industry knows that all the topics are solidly rooted in practice, but discussing some cases could add some "spice" to the text and make the reading more pleasant.

This is the top book on the subject, by the one author who specializes only in the niche of Professional Services Firms. There are numerous tactics in the book for improving one's practice, but it is a couple theoretical points that have the most value.

First, the book describes the pyramid nature of the professional services firm, describing how the profitability of a firm is derived. (A partner bills out the pyramid below him) Therefore, the two drivers for profitability of a partner are how much he can bill his (or her) people out for, and how big the pyramid beneath her (or him) is. There are many tactical points presented for improving these, but it really helps focus the energy of the partner to think about the two main drivers. What about growth? In and of itself, adding partners with their own pyramids will not help the profitability of other partners.

What good is growth, then, if it doesn't drive profitability? Growth is needed to encourage top employees to stay with the firm. A firm that is growing 10% a year has many more opportunities than one growing 5% a year. This counterintuitive idea (growth is more important for career advancement than size) is a great cue for picking the right place to work. If the growth stops, it is time to move on.

The book is near timeless - perhaps the only way time has passed it by is in the ownership structure of professional services firms. At this point in time, many (most?) top consulting and financial services firms are public. Does this change the assumption that growth no longer benefits the shareholders?

Any employee or leader of a professional services firm is well advised to read it!

David Maister is an excellent strating point for learning how to attract profitable new clients and making your firm profitable.

My edition is a 1993 hardback and the price is multiples of what you can buy it for today here online and in paperback. Maister has also written several books since this one along topics related to managing the people side of the business.

The reason to buy this book is to see a more complete picture of managing the medium to large professional firm.

There are other, perhaps more recent, books that provide deeper and more targeted coverage of the MARKETING of professional service firms, but this book also covers: how to measure and deliver quality service; how to motivate, retain, compensate, and promote your professional assets that walk out the door each evening; and even such topics as to how to "split the pie."

Maister follows the Harvard style of management books: lots of detailed text (375 pages), a few 2x2 matrices, a fair amount of original research based on management surveys of professional service firms.

I'm sure most larger firms already have this book, but younger firms may want add this book to their collection as well.

John Dunbar
Sugar Land, TX

Many managers in IT professional services do not recognize the unique business model that we share. They think that Service Delivery is all about matching customer projects with the right talent. Maister reaches way beyond this short-sighted approach and shows critical practice development, relationship management, governance and business development techniques. Mastery of these techniques is necessary to build a healthy practice with long-term viability.

David Maister's book is a strong addition to the library of anyone involves in the professinal service industry. These include everything from accounting to architecture to law. Many of the principles also apply to other fields such as Medicine and Physiotherapy.

The book outlines the corporate culture and makeup that allow these type of firms to succeed. It also has well defined plans on how to develop and train professionals in a manner which respects their personal autonomy.

The book does a good job of covering both the theoretical and the concrete aspects of firm development.

I very much enjoyed reading the book and came away with new ideas and approaches to management within this area.

I'm now in my seventh year in Professional Services and High End Management Consulting - as an individual contributor as well as in leadership roles - this book always lead the way in difficult situations.

If you want to pursue a career in services: must read!

Prof. Maister detail in this book all management dimensions in a Service Firm. He provides helpful and powerful insights to every one interested in this market. Being you a beginner or a senior in your profession, you will always find important, helpful and practical orientation on how doing business and improve in this market.
It is a classic.

For consultants it is like "The Bible" for Christians or "Capital" for Marxists.

This book is like a Bible for all professionals, regardless of whether they are working on their own or for a company. It can be read again and again and every time you can find something new. I think that even Maister did not suspect how great it would be. I feel able to declare that everybody who wants to be called "a consultant" must read this book.

Although this book consists of articles by different years it can be read without any difficulty. Maister also used international English and therefore it is easy for non-native English speakers to read.

I found especially interesting the following chapters:
1. Marketing to Existing Client
2. Attracting new Clients
3. Managing the Marketing Effort

The core ideas of all these chapters are:
1. Demonstrate you ability do not declare (Marketing works when it is demonstrative not
assertive)
2. The most effective type of marketing is client-level marketing (face-to-face meeting not to-
broadcast marketing)
3. Existing clients are the best sources of new business (and often the most profitable ones)
4. Marketing activities represent an investment and therefore should be budgeted for.

The author puts all these principles into practice. In this book (and all the rest of his books) he demonstrates his quality. He treats all his readers if we were already his clients and which means he shares some top secrets of this business.

All in all, I can say that it is amazing how many new ideas I managed to get from this book for so little money. Buying this book was one of my greatest investments. I only regret that I did not read this book in the eginning of my career in consulting.

Still very relevant and important read for anyone in professional services. I particularly like the following chapters:
A Question of Balance:
Quality Work Doesn't Mean Quality Service
The Importance of Scheduling

There's so much in this book, well recommended.

I've read a lot of books on leadership, management and selling - this is one of a select few that I find myself referring back to frequently since I first read it 5 years ago. I just logged on to buy a new copy - I've loaned out my old one again and forget who has it. The chapters on selling professional services are particularly strong, because Maister recommends dignified, professional approaches to client development. I personally practice ideas like 'marketing from the inside' and it's helped me help a lot of people - and make a lot of money in the process.

I have read, re-read and shared this book countless times over the years. David's chapters on sales hit the mark. The chapter's on culture choice and picking an identity then living that identity can fix broken service models if adapted quickly. The reading style is light and enjoyable. A good, worthwhile, easy read. Buy it!

I devoured this book when it first appeared almost ten years ago, and still turn to it from time to time because it is still the best thing out there on its topic. Maister considers a number of major issues within professional service firms (such as firm positioning, type of work, recruiting, training, up-or-out promotion, partner compensation, coaching, and self-development) and within each one presents a lucid exegesis that is at the same time profound and simple. His analysis rivals Stephen Covey's "7 Habits" in its depth and elegance, and, like Covey, Maister makes his discoveries more accessible by frequently including a personal side to them.

Professionals working in large law firms, accounting firms, architecture firms or consultancies will immediately find both themselves and their firms within this book. They may not always like what they see, as Maister discusses some of the hard choices that are required by the traditional, meritocracy-based firm model. Notably, Maister illustrates clearly why much of the heartache within such firms comes from failing to make such choices and trying to be too many (inconsistent) things at once.

Maister does not spend a lot of time trying to defend the traditional merit-based, up-or-out, partner/associate model of professional service firms, nor does he insist that we pledge allegiance to that model. He is well aware of, and points out, the hazards and potential injustices of that model. It is clear, however, that whatever its faults, Maister believes it is the best model we have right now, and that his job is to help people make it work as best they can. This book represents a giant step in that direction, and should be required reading for anyone in a position to influence management at a professional service firm.

If you have ever worked in, been a partner or managed a consultancy firm, this book will not only answer a lot of your troubling questions, it will also explain matters that you did not know the questions to - just the obnoxious frustration of something that was not working.

It is with incredible ease, yet depth and understanding that David H. Maister plough through the important issues that concerns not only managing partners in a consultant company, but anyone who wants to climb up the ladder. He explains why you got to balance your workcrew (juniors up to partners) and why it is so vitally important to mix people on the right combination of projects (brains, grey hair and procedure projects) as this builds up the firm's human capital, and provides the means and profitability to continue to grow steadily. I could go on but space does not allow me to. This book is not filled with theoritical babble but practical and useful information, no - knowledge and experience!

The book is divided into seven parts (personal highlights inside brackets): basic matters, client matters (quality work does not mean quality service!), people matters (building human capital, the motivation crises), management matters (creating a strategy), partnership matters (the art of parner compensation), multisite matters (the collaborative firm, hunters and farmers, etc.) and asset management. All in all it comprises of 32 chapters.

You won't find many books that explains service business any better than this one. I know because I went searching.

...if you are employed by one of the consulting giants, this book is a must-read regardless of your level or your position within the organization.

Although the premise of the book is to teach you how to manage a professional services firm, you will quickly see the mechanics of consulting.

Maister will show you in one diagram why you were not promoted and why you work through the night, yet your senior managers sneak out at 5:00 - or conversely, why you are a partner or senior manager and yet you can't seem to keep your staff busy enough. All of this is is explained in only one chapter.

The knowledge that I gained by reading this book immediately and directly impacted my career in a very positive way.

This is THE book to have.

Whether you're a consultant or a consultant's client, this is the book to have.

There are many management books out there but this is the only one to cover consulting well.

Save on the MBA and make the big bucks today by understanding the principles outlined herein.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book's ideas and pointers on running a firm. These are useful and implementable suggestions. Well Done.

Also recommend a practical and easy-to-read book at Amazon.com on leadership that would complement this excellent book well. It's called "The Leader's Guide: 15 Essential Skills."

OUTSTANDING! If you own or are involved with a personal-service firm, you simply MUST read David Maister's books, including this one.

Very well written and presents some very cogent concepts that help one understand the structures of modern professional service firms. Useful for establishing a common language with which to communicate with other professional service firm managers and for helping determine the appropriate direction for growing your firm.

The book is outstanding. It's very simple to read and very understandable even for non-English-speaker. It helps to resolve problems, especially in Marketing and HR, but, which is much more important, first it helps to identify and articulate problems. The most spectacular feature is an attempt, and extremely succesful one, to see professional services from Client's perspective: each proessional involved into Customer service should read it and try to follow its advices.