Practical Ways to Track and Measure Marketing, Business Development and Sales Results in Law Firms©

• With an overwhelming stream of work to get done, few in-house law firm chief marketing or business development officers (CMBDOs) have the time to regularly, effectively and efficiently report results. 
• Most firms’ marketing, business development and sales (MBDS) departments are cost centers within the firm (i.e., the MBDS department spends more money than it generates), so MBDS results are often tracked and calibrated using the spend-to-budget cost-control method. 
• Most firm leaders and owners want evidence and proof that their MBDS investment is paying off.

One of the most successful law firm CMBDOs in history was well-aware of the above from the start. She is also highly disciplined, so to be able to report results, she regularly tracks the items below (using a steno pad when she started over 25 years ago and now inputting via her iPad into a computerized project management program that her entire team uses):

• Contact – who calls her, spoke to her in the hallway or emailed her (by name, practice groups and office)
• Who else – any other lawyers, staff, outsiders or other stakeholders who are involved
• What – the issue/request/project the lawyer is asking for
• When – the due date(s)
• Where – if outside the office, a quick description of the event/location etc.
• Why – the lawyer’s definition of what success will look like once they complete this project/task

She uses this information to communicate with her MBDS team as to who should do what, and most important, because this information is captured in writing on the front end, she has a built-in, ongoing, cumulative record that she uses to tally and report results (on a quarterly and annual basis).

 

In addition to the simple yet demanding “capture it all in writing at the start” method described above to track results, the information in this article is designed to provide other ways to track and report MBDS results to tangibly demonstrate ROI (return on investment) and possibly even become a net-profit center for the firm.

The main question is: How do firm leadership and owners of the firm define “results,” especially the definition of MBDS results?

MBDS results are defined in varying ways, but usually include a combination of the following:

1. 100% Completion – tangibly completing an MBDS task, activity or document
2. Incremental Steps – taking specific actions or steps toward completing a task, activity or document
3. Increases – in such metrics as revenues, origination, production, realization, profits-per-partner, the number of clients, practice groups clients use, activities and interactions or touch points, level of client satisfaction, client retention, growth and Net Promoter Scores, number of social media followers/engagements/conversions and leads, etc.
4. Decreases – in such metrics as costs and expenses, attrition, unproductive activities or clients, etc.

The next question is: What are the most important results for your firm and department to track and report on? It is important to focus on a very few definitions of results or on specific metrics. Why? Because tracking and reporting takes time, so be sure to track and report what is most important.

For most firms, the factors that drive the bottom line most are:

1. Increases in revenue (from MBDS efforts, not from the increases associated with absorbing lateral hires) and 
2. Quality work from quality clients (not every client is a good/quality client; same with their work).

After all, consistently increasing both of the above is the ultimate goal of all MBDS efforts and the reason that firms invest in creating and maintaining in-house MBDS departments. Measuring the above in a meaningful, efficient and routine way is the challenge for most CMBDOs and firms

For firms that have in-house/dedicated “sales” (or client development/relations) professionals, it is usually much easier for these client- and referral source-facing professionals to track and report results, because most are trained in and use a disciplined pipeline tracking and reporting process, which can be a simple document, a spreadsheet or a client relationship management (CRM) technology system. A pipeline is simply a list that contains the name of the client/target, each of the relevant touch points/interactions undertaken to initiate and develop that relationship into new client work, when the work came in, and the total amount in hours and/or dollars.

Pipelines maintained in simple document or spreadsheet form contain this basic type of information, while more advanced and sophisticated tracking, sorting and reporting of activities, efforts and results can be done using CRM systems such as Salesforce, OnePlace, InterAction and others (which are often quite expensive). Some sophisticated firms have invested in technologies such as the latest platforms from Intapp, LexisNexis and Thomson Reuters Elite, which allow greater depth, breadth and coordination for tracking, reporting and analysis.

The main hurdle to effective reporting for the marketing and communications divisions within the MBDS department is that much of the work/activity and effort is hard to measure and report, especially such common marketing and communications tasks and projects as public relations/getting lawyers quoted in publications; all the vast amount of work required to plan and produce seminars, conferences and events; website creation and upkeep; published articles; maintaining the firm’s CRM database; and other common marketing activities. Because these common activities, projects and tasks are difficult to report results on, most firms simply track the results by numbers 1 or 2 above (i.e., by status of completion). This “activity reporting” often frustrates firm owners, since activity does not necessarily equate to productivity or revenue, yet many of these positioning, visibility and branding tasks and projects are now a required part of any professional firm in business and are essential to remaining competitive.

For example, the No. 1 commonly used marketing and business development (MBD) activity used by lawyers, law firms, accounting firms and other professional service providers is SCE (seminars, conferences and events), which includes all SCEs produced and hosted by the firm plus all other SCEs the firm’s lawyers attend, participate in and/or present at. The total amount of money (and time) most law firms spend on SCE is one of the highest annual MBD cost centers and budget items for many firms. Yet, because of the high number of SCEs each year, plus the staff and lawyer time and effort it takes to get them done well, any results are usually tracked and reported only anecdotally; for instance, if a new client or lead arises from them of which the MBDS department happens to become aware. So, unless the firm has an adequate, internal MBDS team (which many firms do not; many are understaffed) with a formal sales support function and accompanying processes in place, it can be challenging for the MBDS department to track, measure and report on SCE results in any regular or meaningful manner.

No longer content with reporting results from SCE investments as the total number produced or participated in or the total number of firm lawyers attending/participating/speaking, more firms are requiring more front-end vetting before an SCE expense or project is approved. Some firms accomplish this through their annual planning process and by requiring lawyers who want to participate in an unplanned SCE opportunity to first fill out an SCE expense approval form, which often requires follow-up steps. Other firms have hired dedicated MBDS practice group-level staff to be responsible for following up with relevant attorneys and reporting results.

Due to the sheer size of many major law firms, almost all have a “Marketing Report,” which is simply an internal, proprietary newsletter that is sent to all attorneys on a weekly or monthly basis to educate all firm lawyers on who is doing what as far as MBDS and to highlight wins and other successes. Firms of over 10 lawyers that do not yet have such an internal newsletter managed and produced by the in-house MBDS department may find this is the best place to start to regularly learn about results and report them to the firm.  

About the Author: Julie Savarino holds an MBA, a JD, and is a licensed attorney. Over a career spanning 30-plus years, she has built an international reputation as a leading, results-generating, award-winning business and client development coach and strategist for lawyers, law firms, and other professional services providers and firms. She has successfully served as an in-house client and business development executive for the law firms of Dickinson Wright and Butzel Long and for the accounting firm Grant Thornton. Contact Julie at +1 (734) 668-7008, Julie@BusDevInc.com, @JulieSavarino.