Large and significant clients frequently engage multiple firms within each professional discipline.
In legal matters, formal panel and informal provider relationships often award "first place" or primary provider status to one firm, and secondary status to others. Sometimes, panel appointments effectively put every provider into a kind of "second place".
Maybe there's no clear first-placed incumbent at the present - possibly a field of second- and third-placegetters. You may formally be a secondary service provider to a large client - or perhaps you've just been one of many for some time.
This could be because you don't have the full range of services your client needs and wants - or maybe they just don't know that you have. Potentially, your secondary status derives from limitations on your capacity to service their entire work volume or their unwillingness to put all their eggs in one basket.
Second place puts you in a good position to improve.
Invest in the relationship. Be willing to really get to know the business, the key players, their business strategies, and their challenges and risks. Value added training, secondments, and in-depth relationship reviews are just three of many areas for investment.
Promote your specialist expertise. Make sure the client knows about what you do especially well. Even if you've told them before, find new and interesting ways to communicate your specialist expertise in areas of current or future relevance to them. Carefully tailored training workshops and targeted seminars are value adds which work.
Do the work you're given extra well. Even if you're up to high value and specialised work, do any routine and non-specialist work extra well. You may truly be capable of far more, but don't expect to ever get it if you underperform on what's allocated to you.
Create favourable economics for your client. Turn your efficiency and reliability in producing work for your client into both profits for you and economic advantage for them.
Don't be precious. Don't carp about the work you haven't got. Don't be resentful of the primary provider. Be gracious about working alongside another capable firm.
Know your limitations. You may not have the big brand, large size, impressive pedigree, or market clout which the client wants to access. If you're a local firm, regard a second place appointment by a large national client as a big win. If you're a small firm, you may never be able to do more than a small slice of work for a significant client. If you are a narrow specialist, stick to your expert area and don't pursue work for which you're ill-equipped.
Think carefully about whether to play for first place. Realistically assess your prospects of success. Recognise that first place is often accompanied by a swag of onerous obligations and expectations. Don't underestimate the difficulty of displacing long-standing incumbents.
Value second place. Second place can be great as long as you grasp how to obtain optimal benefits from this position. Position your offering as one that comfortably co-exists alongside their chosen primary provider relationship - wherever possible, piggyback off their efforts.
Choosing to play in second place - and for second place - can be a smart and strategically savvy move !
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