Thursday, December 29, 2022

 

Want to optimize your practice in 2023? Here are four articles which contain 25+ best practices in business development and #legalmarketing for #lawyers to consider implementing in 2023!

1.         How To Optimize Your Practice in the New Year - https://attorneyatlawmagazine.com/11-keys-to-optmizing-your-law-practice-2021

2.         Best Year-End Business Development Planning Tips for Lawyers - https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/checklist-best-year-end-business-29484/

3.         Three Business Development Tips for Law Firms and Lawyers - https://www.linkedin.com/posts/juliesavarino_businessdevelopment-lawyers-lawfirms-activity-7006700228166791168-JEBI?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop

4.         Two Easy Ways to Make Business Development a Habit in the New Year - https://www.attorneyatwork.com/two-easy-ways-to-make-business-and-client-development-a-habit/?ct=t(005-011022-Savarino

Happy New Year!

Monday, September 26, 2022

Lawyers: Do you want to excel at client service and market less? If so, consider upgrading your new client intake process by asking your clients key questions about their communication preferences and expectations.

Why? For at least these three reasons:

1.    Clients of all types stop using certain firms and lawyers mainly due to:

        1) a lack of responsiveness, 

        2) a lack of perceived quality of the work/results obtained, and/or 

        3) the perception that the total costs they are paying are too high for what is received.

2.    Attorneys and law firms are rarely told “you’re fired” in a formal manner. Instead, clients simply stop sending their work to any firm or lawyer they are not satisfied with and start sending work to a new firm or lawyer. The prior firm receives a letter requesting that files be transferred.

3.    Eighty percent of law firm clients expect a response to a text or email “immediately” –which most clients define as two hours. But attorneys tend to think in four- and eight-hour blocks as responsive. Between all their commitments, court dates, filing deadlines and a consistent stream of client inquiries, most lawyers think that responding within four to eight hours (or even 24 hours) is appropriate – TWICE what most clients expect. So, attorneys’ definition of “immediate” is TWICE as long as their client’s definition of “immediate.” These are bona fide statistics based on decades of client interviews conducted by Michael Rynowecer of the BTI Consulting Group.

Interestingly, the New Jersey Rules of Professional Conduct requires lawyers to “fully inform a prospective client of how, when and where the client may communicate with the lawyer.”

If every lawyer initiated this type of conversation before starting work for a new client, and if every state bar’s rules had this requirement, client satisfaction would increase, and malpractice cases based on lack of responsiveness would likely decrease. Plus, outside lawyers would receive more referrals and positive word-of-mouth, and – as a result - would have less need to market their services.

 Here are some additional resources:

 

 

Monday, December 27, 2021

 

Over 1,100 professionals have already read my latest article on JD Supra, “Two Checklists to Optimize Your Professional Practice Now and In 2022.”

If you missed it, it can be found here (along with my other articles on JD Supra) - https://www.jdsupra.com/authors/julie-savarino/

Wishing everyone a safe, healthy, and prosperous 2022!

 

Thursday, December 23, 2021

Tools to Help You Succeed in 2022!



In this (still mainly) remote-communications world we all live in, we should all take the time to maximize our online positioning and virtual business communications skills. Here are two checklists for you, the lawyers in your firm, and your team:

1.
    A Year-End Checklist, and

2.    A Checklist to Optimize Virtual Coffees

Both checklists can be found here --- https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/two-checklists-to-optimize-your-2593206/

Wishing everyone a wonderful and safe holiday season! Julie Savarino

Thursday, May 20, 2021

 

Don’t miss this webinar being held next week! “Perfect Your Post-Pandemic Pitching & Selling Skills being held Thursday, May 27, 2021 from 1 to 2 p.m. ET. 

The content of this webinar is sourced from hundreds of interviews Julie Savarino has conducted, and comments and suggestions from a multitude of actual clients of law firms and other professional services firms about how they prefer to be approached, pitched, and buy outside #legal and other professional services, including what irritates them most and how to avoid common pet peeves.

To read some of the rave reviews Julie Savarino’s webinars receive, click here – https://busdevinc.com/clients_say.html.

Each registrant will receive this checklist, "How to Optimize Your Online Presence," and is eligible to receive a free Kindle copy of one of my acclaimed books, “Perfect Your Pitch for Lawyers: Top 10 Mistakes to Avoid When Pitching New Outside Legal Work,” or "Survive and Thrive Post-Pandemic: A Guidebook for Legal Services Providers."

Link to register - https://busdevinc.com/webinars.htmlFor every three registrants from the same firm, receive one registration for free.

Consider commissioning one or more of these other highly rated webinars for interested lawyers and other members of your firm:

 1.      How Lawyers Can Optimize Their LinkedIn CONNECTIONS for New Client Development, which can be tailored for women lawyers, litigators, intellectual property lawyers, M&A, and other for other practice types.

2.      How Lawyers Can Get on Desired "Short Lists" for Outside Legal Work

3.      How Law Firms Can Win More Requests for Proposals (RFPs) for Outside Legal Work Law Firms

4.      How To Increase ROI from Your Law Firm's Events Using LinkedIn

5.      How To Consider, Create & Calculate an “All In” Alternative Fee Arrangement (AFA)

6.      Best Practices in Scoping a Matter/Case Using an AFA

Contact: Julie Savarino, Julie@BusDevInc.com


Sunday, April 18, 2021

Lawyers: Perfect Your Online Pitching Skills for New Outside Legal Work

In two weeks, three leading in-house counsel will discuss ways lawyers can “Perfect Your Online Pitch for Outside Legal Work” during this webinar being held Tuesday, May 4, 2021 from 1 to 2 p.m. ET. 

If you cannot make the live webinar, register anyway. Only those registered before the start time will receive the recording if they miss the webinar.

Most RFP (requests for proposal) responses, and pitches for new legal work require some (if not all) virtual and online communications, such as video conferences, telephone calls, uploads, and emails. 

When working remotely, video conferencing is the best proxy for an in-person meeting. So, all lawyers gain competitive advantages by optimizing their online pitch and proposal skills. During this webinar (based on the acclaimed “Perfect Your Pitch for Lawyers” workshops), three leading in-house counsel speakers will address the topics below and will provide specific tips for what to do and not to do when approaching prospects or pitching for new business online. The facilitator will summarize the key takeaways:

Pet Peeves — What Not to Do When Pitching and What to Consider Doing Instead:

    • Overall, three general pet peeves when communicating with outside lawyers virtually, whether on a video conference, by telephone, by email, or by other means.
    • Greatest pet peeves in these specific situations:
      • When lawyers you already work with and know pitch potential new work they could do for you/your legal department/your company.
      • When lawyers you have never met or worked with contact you to hire them/their firm.
In-House Counsel Speakers:

Chasity Wilson Henry, Senior Vice President, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary at CECO Environmental Corporation.

Efe Ukala, an in-house international investment attorney with extensive experience in private equity who is a board member of the Association of Black Women Attorneys.

Sean Simmons, former general counsel, corporate secretary, and compliance officer for a Fortune 500 company.

Facilitator: Julie Savarino, Chief Client Service Officer, Business Development Inc.

Each registrant will receive this checklist, “How to Optimize Your Online Pitch or Presentation,” and is eligible to receive a free Kindle copy of Julie Savarino’s acclaimed book “Survive and Thrive Post-Pandemic: A Guidebook for Legal and Professional Services Providers” — a $49.95 value!

Register today at this link - https://busdevinc.com/webinars.html


Saturday, March 13, 2021

Optimize RFPs To Win More Business

Register today for these two, highly rated webinars being presented by Julie Savarino, a leading client development advisor, trainer and coach for lawyers. 

Julie has initiated, drafted, led, participated in, pitched, closed, followed-up on, and/or helped service at least 1,000 RFPs and proposals for outside legal and related services in person, online and on SaaS platforms, and her webinars consistently receive EXCELLENT ratings.  

1.    How Law Firms Can Win More Requests for Proposal (RFPs) for Outside Legal Work - Wednesday, March 24, 2021 – 1-2 p.m. ET.

Law firms’ RFP win rate is decreasingRegister for this webinar to learn myriad master-level strategies, approaches, and techniques your law firm can use to win more RFPs, proposals, and pitches for outside legal services.  Julie will review actual examples of what adds meaningful and measurable value in RFPs – from both the law firms’ and the clients’ perspectives. 

Topics include best practices in: the RFP intake process; ensuring personal contact is made with either the RFP issuer, decision maker(s) and/or influencer(s) before drafting a written response or pitching; the RFP evaluation/qualification process and making the go/no go decision; the RFP completion, pricing, and tracking processes; the post-RFP/post-pitch evaluation process; and how to get ahead of RFPs by identifying which key, existing clients and best prospects issue and use RFPs to retain outside counsel.

How Lawyers Can Get on Desired “Short Lists” for Outside Legal Work - Wednesday, March 31, 2021 – 1-2 p.m. ET.

During this webinar, Julie Savarino will describe numerous best practices, proven strategies, and tactics for getting on the “short list” of desired clients for outside legal services; how to identify and approach prospective target clients in the most effective and ethical ways; how to your focus time and effort to get on short lists most efficiently; and the best ways to stay in touch to ensure you are on the short list.

Each registrant is eligible to receive a free Kindle copy of Julie Savarino’s acclaimed book “Survive and Thrive Post-Pandemic: A Guidebook for Legal and Professional Services Providers” — a $49.95 value!

Additional registration discounts are available when registering more than five or more professionals from the same firm/organization, or for registering for more than two webinars.

Please contact Julie Savarino for more information, Julie@BusDevInc.com, +1 (734) 276-1900.

     If you cannot make the live webinar, register anyway. Only those who register before the start time will receive a link to the recording if they miss the webinar.