I’m Heather Townsend, author of Poised for Partnership and co-author of How to Make Partner & Still Have a Life. I’m the leading global expert in what it takes to move from senior fee earner to partner . I created the How to Make Partner website and Progress to Partner Academy to help lawyers, accountants and consultants like you to realise that you need stop waiting patiently to get noticed, take control of your own career progression to get noticed as “one to watch” for partner-track and beyond in your firm.

Present yourself as the future partner they can’t afford to overlook Click here and I’ll send you my FREE  guide to creating a cast-iron business case for partner.

  • How to make it easy to introduce others in the firm to your client

    How to make it easy to introduce others in the firm to your client

    You have been sat in front of the same client for years. The work is good, the relationship is good, and none of it has ever gone anywhere else in the firm. Then somebody asks what work you have found for the rest of the firm this year. How do you have that conversation with…

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  • How to stop wasting time on leads that are going nowhere

    How to stop wasting time on leads that are going nowhere

    You meet a prospect and get very excited about the potential of working together. Then you find as your conversations progress that they can’t afford to work with your firm. And how can you stop this happening time and time again. That’s what this episode is all about. Getting excited about a prospect is not…

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  • The lead has gone quiet. What now?

    The lead has gone quiet. What now?

    You had a great conversation. Got excited about the new business. It all seemed like it was going to happen. Then they ghosted you. So how do you get these leads going again without seeming like a second hand car sales person? When the lead goes quiet, we often take the silence to mean they’re…

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  • How to ace the partnership admissions process

    How to ace the partnership admissions process

    Only 31% of professionals on the partnership track can articulate the narrative of their Business Case and explain why they should be admitted to the partnership this time around. Given that most firms cap how many partners they admit in a year, that is the question which separates two credible candidates competing for one slot….

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  • What’s the commercial reason to make you up to partner?

    What’s the commercial reason to make you up to partner?

    Only 29% of professionals on the partnership track have been working on their Business Case for the last one to three years with the backing of key stakeholders. Which means most people arrive at the most important commercial conversation of their career with far less runway than they think they have. I’m Heather Townsend, author of Poised…

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  • Why your partners need to trust you to make it to partner

    Why your partners need to trust you to make it to partner

    Only 29% of professionals on the partnership track have a wide fan base in the partnership, with many partners actively pushing for them to be made up. Most are relying on their sponsoring partner and their mentor to carry a room they will never sit in. This episode of the How to Make Partner Podcat…

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  • Are you acting, feeling and thinking like a partner?

    Are you acting, feeling and thinking like a partner?

    Only 43% of professionals on the partnership track talk about having a practice or a business, rather than a client portfolio. This episode covers the ninth of the 12 key indicators of partnership readiness: Personal Case. This is where you demonstrate that you are already working at the level expected of a partner, before anyone…

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  • Referral network: How to reliably go from coffees to instructions

    Referral network: How to reliably go from coffees to instructions

    Only 22% of professionals on the partnership track have a regular routine to keep their network warm. This episode of the How to Make Partner Podcast is about closing that gap; not with more coffees that go nowhere, but with a deliberate strategy for building and maintaining the relationships that generate your own client work….

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  • Creating your daily business development habit – The missing ingredient stopping many professionals from making partner

    Creating your daily business development habit – The missing ingredient stopping many professionals from making partner

    Only 20% of professionals on the partnership track do something every day to implement their Business Development Plan. This episode is about how to become one of them — not through willpower, but through habit. Using real examples from Poised for Partnership, this episode covers why business development gets deprioritised even by talented, motivated professionals,…

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