4 Ways to Win More Outside Legal Work: Assess & Upgrade Your Firm’s RFP Process©

Having worked with over two dozen law firms on reviewing and upgrading their firm’s RFP and proposal intake, qualification, and response processes, below are 4 key things every firm and lawyer can do to be more competitive, win more outside legal work and make the best use of limited available time.

1.  How well do you and the lawyers in your firm evaluate the opportunity before deciding to respond to RFPs or develop a pitch?

Create and use a “go/no-go checklist” for lawyers to use (with or without the assistance of in-house marketing and business development staff) to evaluate key strategic issues before spending a lot of non-billable time and resources responding to an RFP or making a pitch.

Below are a few key questions to include:

• Are there any explicit or potential legal or business conflicts of interest?
• Is this opportunity aligned with our firm or practice group strategy?
• Can we offer strong competitive advantages?
• Is the work a core competency of ours? Is it in our “sweet spot,” i.e., what we excel at doing?
• Can we get the desired result (the win) for the client?
• Will winning provide us with any competitive advantages?
• Can we staff and handle this work profitably? Can we offer data-informed pricing options?
• Do we know and can we contact the decision makers and influencers?
• Do we know the issuer’s main reason for sending an RFP (e.g., to save on costs, to improve quality, to enhance results)?
• Has the issuer or prospect already made a decision? Do the decision makers or influencers already favor an incumbent or competitor?
• What are the main selection factors or criteria? Will cost be a major factor in selecting the winning bid?

 If your firm does not have automated systems to manage pricing, RFPs, proposals and responses, or if firm leadership does not encourage that all lawyers formally ask themselves specific questions (like the above) before deciding whether to respond or compete, consider addressing these two crucial issues.

2.  Does a designated key lawyer or firm representative personally contact the RFP issuer, decision maker(s) and/or influencer(s) as appropriate before submitting a written response or pitching? And, while doing so take notes and communicate the response(s) internally as appropriate?

• Numerous studies show that the chances of winning work fall exponentially when the respondents do not engage in some form of personal contact with the issuer, decision makers and/or influencers before or while drafting and submitting an RFP response or developing a pitch.

• Yet the majority of lawyers and firms do not engage in personal pre-contact by initiating a preliminary, introductory, appreciative phone call or sending appropriate emails before responding or pitching. Law firms in the U.K. and Australia have significantly higher RFP win rates than U.S.-based law firms, mainly because they do engage in pre-contact for almost every RFP or pitch opportunity.

• Listed above are several questions to ask and issues to raise during the pre-contact call or email or (preferably) during an in-person, non-billable visit. Discussing these and other questions before the pitch will greatly increase a firm’s chance to win the representation, work, engagement, case or deal.

3. Do you/does your firm have and use a formal post-RFP/pitch protocol? And, it is supported by firm leadership and are all lawyers expected to utilize it?

• Worldwide, less than half of law firms have and use an established post-RFP or post-pitch evaluation process or checklist. Yet without such a process or checklist that is used consistently, it is impossible to know how best to use your limited time and resources to improve your win rate.

• Effective post-RFP and post-pitch protocols often include a centralized method for contacting the issuer and/or relevant decision makers; a qualified person to make the contact, call or visit; a list of key and common debriefing or after-action questions; copious notes and tracking of the response; and analyzing and using the information to improve.

4. Does your firm annually and formally identify and track which of its key, existing clients and best prospects issue and use RFPs to retain outside counsel?

If not, your firm will remain in a reactive posture, i.e. only responding to RFPs/RFIs once the request arrives at the firm. If this is the case at your firm, consider hiring a client service/relations specialist to proactively gather this information and to work to be sure your firm is on all shorts lists for all key clients and prospects panel reviews, one-off litigations and transactions, and other competitive bids.

For more ways to win RFPs, contact the author or consider purchasing this best-selling book, which contains a more detailed checklist on what to do when an RFP/RFI is received - https://www.amazon.com/Master-Level-Business-Development-Activity-Checklists/dp/1732945322/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=julie+savarino&qid=1559920975&s=gateway&sr=8-1