Always stay open to a sector refresh, no matter how specialist you are

Many firms have a list of priority sectors that has remained broadly unchanged for years. That is not necessarily a problem, as clients highly value visible sector specialism. The more useful question is whether those priorities are still being tested against the markets, client needs and changes that signal future growth.

Good sector planning often means revisiting apparent strengths and staying open to evidence that points in a different direction. Partners and associates may notice this through networking events, keeping up to speed with trade press or hearing direct evidence from clients.

External sources can help to prove or disprove your assumptions. Private capital investment and M&A provide useful clues as to where investors see growth potential. Government priorities can signal where funding, regulation or policy support may create opportunities. Consultants working across multiple organisations often add another perspective, because they often see similar challenges emerging across different businesses before those patterns are widely recognised.

The aim is not necessarily to replace existing priorities. In many cases, the conclusion may be that the current strategy remains the right one. A firm with a strong sector reputation is unlikely to wake up tomorrow and abandon that focus entirely. But even firms with a clear niche need to remain open to change within it.

Take real estate as an example. The sector itself may remain a strategic priority, but the strongest opportunities within it can shift significantly over time. One decade may be dominated by commercial development; another by logistics, data centres, affordable housing, life sciences or energy infrastructure. The sector stays the same, but the drivers of growth change.

The same principle applies across most markets. The question is often not whether to change sector altogether, but whether your understanding of that sector is evolving as quickly as the market itself. This is where boards, marketing directors and sector leaders can add strategic value: by listening to partners, testing assumptions, weighing new evidence and deciding whether a sector strategy still reflects the market in front of them.

A resulting shift in focus does not always require a major change in resources from the outset. A firm may already have a corporate partner who has advised on a relevant deal, or a technology partner who can see change coming down the line. A newly emerging sector or market is unlikely to require a 20-partner team before a firm can show expertise. Sometimes the opportunity is simply to recognise where credentials are starting to form, decide whether a market deserves more focus, and identify the channels and targets that could help communicate your strengths.

A useful risk to guard against is assuming that future growth will come from exactly the same places as past growth.

It may be worth asking a simple question:

If we were building our strategy from scratch today, would we choose the same sectors for the same reasons?

It is a simple question, but it is a decisive way to test whether a sector strategy still reflects the market as it is now, rather than the market as it used to be.