The Professional Services Pursuit

The Professional Services Pursuit

By KantataBusiness
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The Professional Services Pursuit episodes

  • Ep. 65 - Building a Culture of Transparency and Trust w/ Matt O’Dette

    On this episode Brent is joined by Matt O’Dette, Vice President of Operations and Talent Management at Cramer. They discuss how Cramer puts their people and values first in everything they do in order to build a culture that encourages collaboration, creativity, trust and financial responsibility. They also discuss how they have built and fostered that culture over time and the steps and tools they used to get there.


    Other topics include:


    • The importance of transparent leadership
    • Finding balance between doing the right thing for your employees, clients and business
    • Empowering teams to make decisions autonomously
    • Utilizing “healthy conflict” and post mortems to collectively understand successes and failures
    • How they use data and technology to enhance their culture of transparency and collaboration
    • Why it's critical to never lose sight of the people doing the work, listen to their needs and make sure they understand what success looks like





    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    39 min
  • Ep. 64 - Navigating the Future of PS: AI Solutions and Strategic Planning w/ Eisha Armstrong

    In the latest episode of The Professional Services Pursuit, Banoo talks to Eisha Armstrong, Executive Chairman & Co-Founder of Vecteris. They dive into Eisha's book, her insights on the rapidly changing professional services industry, including the pivotal role of AI and the importance of integrating technology with strategic planning for success.


    This episode also explores:


    • AI automation statistics in the professional services industry
    • The challenges faced by professional services firms and four ways AI can mitigate these issues
    • Critical aspects of workforce transformation and other considerations for effective change management
    • The top seven mistakes in productizing services
    • An exclusive book giveaway for our audience!


    The first 10 listeners to submit their information through this form will be sent a complimentary copy of Eisha's book, Productize, a hands-on guide for transforming professional services into scalable products.


    Download your complimentary digital copy of Productize: The Ultimate Guide to Turning Professional Services into Scalable Products!


    Discover more about Vecteris here.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    31 min
  • Ep. 63 - How Hybrid Business Models & Value Pricing Drive Organizational Success w/ Caroline Johnson

    On this episode Brent is joined by the Co-Founder of The Business Model Company, Caroline Johnson. They discuss why 2024 is the year to change your businesses belief system and move towards a revenue and pricing model that provides more efficient, transparent engagements that utilize repeatable products and provide maximum value.


    Topics covered in this episode include:


    • The shift towards selling value and the need for change
    • Why disruption is a friend, not a foe, and how AI plays a role
    • The importance in shifting your belief system in order to change
    • Top-down program development and productization 
    • The hybrid revenue model and its impact on the client engagement model


    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    52 min
  • Ep. 62 - Customer Retention Strategies: How to Improve Your Customer Lifespan by 6x w/ Greg Daines

    On this episode of The Professional Services Pursuit, Banoo talks with Greg Daines. Greg is the CEO of ChurnRX, the premier retention analysis and coaching platform that helps organizations to diagnose and solve churn within their customer base. They discuss data-backed customer retention strategies and the secret sauce to identifying and measuring the right results. 


    Other topics in this episode include


    • The lack of correlation between customer satisfaction and retention
    • The importance of getting results and measuring them
    • The 3 laws of customer retention
    • Greg’s take on value-based commercial models and how to rethink that approach


    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    33 min
  • Ep. 61 - Navigating the Evolving Landscape of Consulting: From Hourly Billing to Products and Partnerships w/ Tom Rodenhauser

    This episode of the Professional Services Pursuit podcast features Tom Rodenhauser, Managing Partner of Kennedy Research Reports LLC. Tom offers expert insights on the trends shaping the consulting industry, with a particular focus on the move towards productization and the challenges and opportunities it presents.

    Topics in this episode include:

    • The shift away from traditional time-based billing models 
    • The changing demographics of the workforce and how it's impacting consulting
    • Cultural and organizational changes needed to transition to a product-based model
    • The 4 mega trends impacting consulting services 
    • Examples of firms that are successfully adapting to the evolving landscape
    • Tips for consultants and firms looking to embrace the move towards productization

    Learn more about Kennedy Research Reports and read some their great content at https://www.kennedyresearchreports.com/



    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    40 min
  • Ep. 60 - How Technology Is Transforming Value Delivery for PS Firms w/ Sarah Edwards & Jared Haleck
    Sarah Edwards and Jared Haleck, Chief Product Officers at Kantata, join us to talk about the role of professional services technology in our current market and how it has become so much more than just a way to track margins and operating process.

    Other topics in this episode include:

    • Why vertical SaaS has become critical to success in modern services businesses
    • How the staffing manager model has changed and the demands shaping the industry
    • How technology is impacting, transforming, and keeping pace with the PS value chain
    • The pitfalls of legacy PSA tools and the cost of continuing to use outdated technology to run your business
    • Key technical innovations in the PS industry and what Kantata is working on to help firms deliver value to clients

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    33 min
  • Ep. 59 - (Part 2) Agency Positive Indicators and Priorities for the Year Ahead w/ Brian Williams and Andrew Howlett

    Welcome back for part 2 of our SoDA webinar recording with Brian Williams - Founder and CEO at Viget, and Andrew Howlett - Partner and CEO at Struck. In the second part of this conversation we took a look at areas of agency business that are seeing some positive indicators for 2024 and where Brian and Andrew are cautiously optimistic for the year ahead. 

    Other topics covered in this episode include:

    • The affect interest rates will have on business uncertainty
    • How return to office mandates will impact recruiting and hiring
    • Indicators for a strong 2nd half of 2024
    • Where Viget and Struck are placing their Ai bets


    Be sure to read the State of Agency Operations Survey referenced in this episode for additional agency trends and priorities in 2024.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    25 min
  • Ep. 58 - (Part 1) 2023 in Review and Operating Priorities for the Year Ahead w/ Brian Williams and Andrew Howlett

    Ep. 58 - (Part 1) 2023 in Review and Operating Priorities for the Year Ahead w/ Brian Williams and Andrew Howlett


    This episode of The Professional Services Pursuit is part one of a two-part series taken from a recent SoDA (Society of Digital Agencies) webinar. Brent interviews agency leaders Brian Williams - Founder and CEO at Viget, and Andrew Howlett - Partner and CEO at Struck. They provide some great insights on how their agencies fared in 2023 and where they plan to focus their efforts in 2024 from an operations standpoint and beyond. 

    Other topics covered in this episode include:

    • The unique challenges faced in 2023 
    • How each agency handled uncertainty 
    • The impact big tech had on the agency space
    • Balancing staff against profitability
    • Striking the right balance of hybrid work for optimal creativity and productivity
    • The critical importance of revenue forecasting and utilization in 2024


    Be sure to read the
    State of Agency Operations Survey referenced in this episode for additional agency trends and priorities in 2024.

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    23 min
  • Ep. 57 - End of Year Compilation Episode Featuring Shane Anastasi, Peter Taylor, and Marc Lacroix
    Happy Holidays everyone! As 2023 comes to a close we wanted to revisit some of our favorite episodes and moments from the year. These 3 clips offer some great tangible advice for PS leaders on how to best run projects and manage a skills database for improved forecasting. Enjoy. We’ll see you in the new year! 

    Clips in this episode include: 

    • Ep. 40 with Shane Anastasi - advice on how to deliver the most successful project outcomes
    • Ep. 42 with Peter Taylor - discussing the impact of AI on project management
    • Ep. 33 with Marc Lacroix - do’s and don'ts for managing a skills database

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    24 min
  • Ep. 56 - How to Leverage Data Analytics and AI to Improve PS Engagements w/ Tim Tutt

    On this episode Banoo interviews Tim Tutt, CEO and Cofounder of Night Shift Development, Inc. They discuss how Tim created “Analytics for Humans”, his 7 key data strategies, and how to leverage predictive analytics to better serve your clients. 

    Other topics covered in this episode include:

    • The importance of data quality and managing your dataset cohesively
    • Defining your outcomes to understand what is needed from your data and making it more accurate 
    • How PS orgs can use predictive analytics to improve their understanding of their own business to better serve their clients
    • Tim’s 7 key data strategies
    • The problem with dashboards


    You can follow Tim’s blog here:

    https://timtutt.com/

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    28 min

About The Professional Services Pursuit

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Our goal is simple: to give professional services leaders a place to go to be inspired and tap into expert advice, trends and best practices in our collective pursuit of excellence. From agencies to…