KHS People
Recruiting the Right Marketing Team for Professional Services Firms

Most professional services firms establish their businesses believing that their skills are enough to make them stand out, and they neglect the power of marketing. But even if they want to leverage its power, they often find it difficult to find the right marketing and business development professionals who understand their niche business as well as they do.

This is because, unlike conventional businesses, marketing for professional services is a whole different ballgame; it is individual people who are the service that require a niche marketer’s approach. Those individuals must be equally conversant with the niche market as they are with marketing proficiency. That’s why its talent pool is meagre.

KHS People differentiates itself in the executive search domain by sourcing and recruiting niche business development and marketing people for professional services firms, specializing in law firms.

Kate Harry Shipham, the face of KHS People and the principal of the company, with her years of experience as a former attorney, understands the needs of professional services firms and connects them with the right candidates. A deep understanding of the market and her ability to relate based on her combined experience makes her and her company a reliable and trusted partner in the space.

KHS People uses a five-point framework to connect firms with the right candidates. This unique framework takes into account the important facets of the client firm and their unique requirements for marketing and business development teams. Keeping the framework as its foundation, KHS People leverages its network of candidates to shortlist the most suitable candidates for the client. Every selected candidate’s work background is also analysed to ensure they will fit into the client’s culture in a deliberate long-term play. It has always been able to offer exemplary results.

Harry Shipham’s frequent interaction with industry experts and professional services firms is another way the company constantly builds its candidate database with highly skilled professionals and connects them with like-minded peers within the industry.

For example, KHS People counselled an international law firm trying to expand in the Dallas market and needed a candidate with a unique set of skills; this included all of high seniority, specific technical subject matter expertise, and a partner-forward service ethic and mentality. They were struggling to define the job role and responsibilities based on market standards, and could not find the right applicants for the open position. KHS People was able to pinpoint and realign the candidate criteria after thoroughly understanding the job role and speaking with senior professionals in their firms’ Texas offices. It found a match with all these requisite skills, who was also culturally fit for the longer-term projected growth for the firm.

Professional services firms not only struggle to find these experienced marketing candidates, they can also find it difficult to retain them. Attrition makes it challenging for firms to build and grow efficient teams. Talent management consulting, driven by Harry Shipham’s expertise in the industry, helps the firms demystify common issues and retain top talent.

“Understanding my two types of clients – firms and candidates – is the key to the success I’ve built. Working tirelessly with clients to understand, educate, and also arm with the correct market and salary intelligence, is the foundation. Being known at the deepest levels in my network and being able to create opportunities is the piece that then brings everything I’ve built together. It is a very distinct and nuanced industry which changes, currently, every few months. I love that challenge and know that my “listen first” mentality is what my clients value,” says Harry Shipham.

For instance, the firm frequently conducts salary surveys to help firms and candidates understand how the market is moving. This survey captures important data that helps to educate and drive the executive search industry forward, ensuring transparency and equality.

KHS People’s success comes from its unique thought leadership in the space— headed by an industry stalwart, Harry Shipham—to give a voice to the legal marketing profession.