Transition from technical expert to adviser

March 11, 2025|Kim's Blog, Management Skills, Marketing, Psychology, Relationship Management|

A few top insights from last week’s full day training workshop on “Future Marketing and Business Development Manager” by PM Forum. The session covered many topics including: management skills, strategic thinking, financial scenarios, marketing and business development (MBD) theories, developing MBD plans, soft skills, gaining internal buy-in and managing a team. We spent some time considering what happens as we step up from being a technical specialist to being a manager. This article supplements the learning resources from the workshop. Future Marketing and Business Development Manager – Transition from technical expert to adviser.

Huge thanks to law firm Stewarts – The Litigation Specialists – A Law Firm Like No Other for hosting us in offices with stunning views of the City of London. The bright Spring sunshine provided a further lift to those views and our moods.

Transition from technical expert to proactive adviser

One theme from the session was how to transition from being a technical expert in marketing and business development to being a proactive, strategic adviser.

It can seem like a subtle change. From a place where fee-earners drive your to-do list of implementation projects. To where you collaborate in helping to identify goals and opportunities and co-create the right strategy.

It’s a shift from “doing” to “being” and advising”. A bit like changing from driving the car to being the Satnav.

The transition is similar to the one that all lawyers, accountants and surveyors must tread as they move from being purely a technical expert to being more of a relational leader or Trusted Adviser. trust for better business relationships. So it’s a good way to develop empathy with fee-earners as their careers mature.

One aspect of shifting from tech specialist to adviser/leader is renegotiating your relationships. And there are several steps in this journey

Change your mindset

“If you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re right” Henry Ford

The first step is to consider how you think about yourself. And then perhaps change the way you think about yourself. You need to start thinking like a manager – before you get that promotion.

If you believe that you are a manager, your style of thinking and behaving will change. You will start to act like a manager. And others will notice. Then they will think of you as a manager and start to feel uncomfortable that you don’t already have that title.

So adopt that mindset. And that takes confidence:

Change perceptions

The way you behave and communicate will alter the way that others perceive you. You shape your personal brand to convey the right message. In effect, you will reposition yourself from technical expert to relational and strategic manager.

We also need to be aware that our visibility is considered can be more important than image and performance. We need to be more visible. Research from Harvey J Coleman in “Empowering yourself: The Organisational Game Revealed” suggests that performance is only 10% of the consideration for promotion – with image accounting for 30% and exposure (visibility) for 60%

Check your competencies

We looked at a variety of models of the competencies needed to shift from specialist to leader. That included the Chartered Institute of Marketing professional standards Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) updates standard and the Level 6 Marketing Manager apprenticeship Marketing Manager Apprenticeship – a Level 6 Qualification. Both models note the difference between knowledge, skills and behaviours.

In 2020, McKinsey offered a modern marketing model:

Capabilities

Strategy and insights
Creative and content
Media and channel activation
Customer experience and personalisation
Measurement and marketing ROI
Product and pricing

Enablers

Organisational design and culture
Agile way of working
Talent and agency management
Data and technology

And early in 2025, the Center for Creative Leadership said that all frontline managers should master these six key competencies:

Self-awareness
Learning agility
Communication
Political savvy
Motivating others
Influencing outcomes

Some ways in which you might demonstrate those capabilities:

Take the lead in setting the agenda
Obtain data, evidence and research to highlight opportunities and threats
Be bold enough to offer creative ideas and innovative solutions
Participate in shaping decisions

Communicate like a manager

Another way to manage the transition is to change the way you communicate.

This HBR article on “How great leaders communicate” from 2022 has some top hints:

Use short words to talk about hard things
Choose sticky metaphors to reinforce key concepts
Humanize data to create value
Make mission your mantra to align teams

There’s also bucketloads of practical advice on communicating in these books:

To keep our communications impactful, we need to be concise.

We looked at the need to keep plans short and simple. The rigorous SOSTAC process is needed by other marketing and business development professionals to co-ordinate action. But most fee-earners need just a plan summary which shows what they need to do now (this month or quarter)

We also touched on the skills and process of managing up – taking a 360 degree view of your relationships How to Delegate?

Renegotiate relationships

Managing the transition from technical expert who implements to strategic adviser who leads, also means that you have to re-negotiate the relationships you have with fee-earners. And sometimes your fellow team members too.

Some people will continue to ask you to do things that you have always done in the past. It’s a habit for them and the path of least resistance. So you will need to learn how to gently decline while redirecting them to the correct source of help – often someone else within the team.

Along the transition, you may encounter a lack of support and even resistance – so we spent some time looking at how to achieve engagement and buy-in Buy in – Influence and Persuasion Toolbox – Kim Tasso

One delegate requested that I wrote about managing difficult behaviour with “ogres” – so the following might be of value:

My 2018 book focused on Better Business Relationships book by Kim Tasso (Bloomsbury)

Key delegate takeaways

Favourite marketing tools (from group work):

PESTLE (Political Economic Sociological Technology Legal Environmental) analysis
Market and sector research
Client listening
SWOT (Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats) analysis
SOSTAC (Situation Objectives Strategy Tactics Action Control) planning framework
OKR (Objectives and Key Results)
7Ps (Product, Price, Place, Promotion, Process, Physical Evidence, People)

Image	Idea	Action
Shining (motivation)	Be the expert of your field and be confident	Use “eat the frog” and build client plans
Zombie (fee-earner motivation)	7Ps for planning	Use rock, stone and pebbles for time management
Mountain (past successes and future goals)	Consider non-marketing specific qualifications	Add risk assessments to marketing and business development plans
Lightbulb (inspiration)	Develop a personal brand	Integrate more with fee-earners (proximity marketing)
Stairs (progression)	Use SOSTAC in marketing and business development plans	Improve exposure and visibility within the firm
Star (enhancing performance)	Build profile based on “three key words” (personal branding)	Consider building on strengths and not just addressing weaknesses