The Telegraph Business club has produced a very professional film about a London based firm of accountants: Lubbock Fine.

As I watched this I initially felt sorry for the firm. Everyone on film was very positive but we could have changed the name of the firm to one of dozens of others and almost every single statement and sentiment being expressed would still have held true. Especially the so-called ‘ground breaking’ reorganisation  that resulted in a partner-led one to one service and joined up client services some years ago.

About 3 minutes into the film we learned about some of the firm’s genuinely unique (or at least less common) features – including their expansion into the old eastern block and the fact that over 50% of their clients are based overseas. Also their long term corporate sponsorship and their involvement with other worthy activities.

I was especially taken by Managing Partner Geoff Goodyear’s closing statements (6 minutes in). He talked about the obligations he sees for management to, effectively anticipate changes within the market and the need to “develop some skill sets that may not be available or required at the moment but you anticipate that they will be required in the future”.  I would like to think though that this too is the same as all other decent managing partners.

The example inspired by the film prompts me to highlight a number of points that I have mentioned previously on this blog:

1. Good professionals need to develop a variety of skills. Effective CPD is about more than simply keeping uptodate technically (see yesterday’s post: What does CPD really mean?)
2. Sometimes you don’t need to be different,  you just need to communicate what you do more effectively than your competition (and Lubbock Fine’s film is a great example of a firm doing just that);
3. Some of the things we think make us different are fallacies. Many firms of a similar size and age find it hard to identify REAL points of difference. In practice though this is  probably only an issue in competitive tender situations when comparable firms find it hard to distinguish themselves;
4. Lubbock Fine’s website highlights their specialisms in 6 key client areas.  Such an approach is bound to be more effective than trying to be all things to all types of clients.

I titled this piece – “How different do you need to be?”  What’s your view?  How different do you need to be?

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