For Law Firms: Marketing Programs Give Way to Formal Business Development - Coaching is the New Branding

A few years ago, it was all about "branding" for most law firms. Huge investments were made in high priced advertising, marketing communications and branding campaigns. Now, the pendulum had swung back to "relationship marketing" - better know as "sales" in most circles. This recessionary economy coupled with the intense competition among and between major law firms and alternatives for a relatively flat amount of legal work, it is no longer enough to wait for business to come in the door and/or hope it does. Branding, marketing and advertising campaigns (if well done) can certainly re-enforce an existing relationship or buying decision, but do little to get the business in the door. That is accomplished one-to-one or in small group settings i.e. the "sales" process - by definition is what happens once personal contact is made.

There is a linear, systematic and somewhat predictable process to effective "selling" of legal services. Too many lawyers think effective selling amounts to some combination of: random acts of lunch; attending conferences; doing articles and speeches plus a little luck. This approach demonstrates a lack of complete knowledge about the "sales" process for lawyers. Recently, to support their lawyers' efforts to sell effectively and ethically, most firms have had some client development training programs. Some programs are very successful, others not so much. The latest trend is to support quality bus dev training program content with personal business development coaching (making what was learned stick with consistent application/action). Lawyers with interest in becoming better rainmakers can benefit by utilizing qualified, proven coaches experienced at buying and selling legal services. Lawyers who do not have a personal business development coach and/or have not participated in a solid "sales" training program for lawyers are falling behind the competition. If you want to hire a proven bus dev coach and/or trainer for your firm, please consider my services.

Recessionary Economy Heightens Need for "Spot On" Client Development

The future downstream fallout from the contraction in the financial services industry is yet to be felt by law firms and other professional service providers. A significant percentage of most law firms' books of business consists of work directly or indirectly originating from financial institutions, banks, real estate entities, insurance companies and other related companies. The sub prime mess, a contracting economy, the vast amount of available outside legal talent and the fact that increasing amounts of legal work are being handled by in-house counsel means it will get tougher and tougher in coming months to maintain and gain client share and market share. Firms that will prosper are those whose "house is in order": those who have the right existing relationships and are initiating the best possible communications in this belt-tightening time. Now is the time to insure all senior partners and other rainmakers have specific, coordinated action plans in place to insure a consistent stream of good business in coming months. To augment your firm's efforts, consider attending the acclaimed program entitled "Mastering the Sales Process for Lawyers" on May 22, 2008 in NYC. For more information, click on this link: http://www.busdevinc.com/welcome.bdi?id=310&page=TrainingPrograms

3 Common Business Development Mistakes

Only about 5-10% of lawyers or key professionals in any single firm are "natural" rainmakers who are born with the predisposition, personal style, contacts and/or skills that help make them significant business sources. Depending upon the total revenue generated annually by that 5-10%, the key issue is in most firms: Is there enough business coming in the door currently and in the pipeline to keep the remaining 90-95% of practitioners 100% billable and collectable? For those lawyers and other practitioners who are not natural-born rainmakers, but have the interest and desire to become one, there is significant hope. Examples abound of self-made rainmakers. To be the best rainmaker you can be, it is wise to avoid the most common mistakes in thinking and approach:

Mistake #1 - Thinking: "I AM marketing! I do seminars, write articles and attend conferences" - Simply "being out there" is no longer enough. Speaking, writing articles, attending seminars and conferences in and of itself will help develop viability and recognition - but not necessarily lead to new business. To successfully compete in today's market, client development must be added to marketing efforts in order to consistently generate new business. Successful client development comes by focusing on whom you know and meet; whom you communicate with; what you communicate and how; and most importantly, your follow-up discipline. The law and all professions are - after all - inherently people businesses. Without a client relationship development focus, wanting to develop business by just "being out there" is mainly wishful thinking.

Mistake #2 - Thinking: "I will do this when I have time" - This mind-set is a slippery slope and fallacy: the more successful you are, the busier you are and the less time you have. So, you may think that time will open up and/or appear, but it rarely happens. The key is to carve out specific and routine time each week or month. Not just to engage in a stand-alone marketing or business development activity - like simply going to lunch. Instead, allocate time to think, strategize, prepare, plan and then execute your client development follow-up.

Mistake #3 - Engaging in shotgun efforts and approaches - The thinking may go something like, "Aha! I have a few hours this week - I will write an item for the firm's newsletter." This is fine if you are trying to build your list of credentials. But the majority of business is developed one-to-one or in very small group meetings - not by articles or media exposure. The best an article can do is generate inquires, but most firm newsletters no longer accomplish that because they are so firm-focused that few clients bother to read them. Clients are inundated with such pieces and unless they are focused on and written for a specific industry, type of company, problem or issue, the old "Smith & Smith Legal Update" has become too generic and cumbersome to generate significant inquiries and/or new business.

To become a better rainmaker, to help increase the number of rainmakers in your firm or the amount of revenue rainmakers generate in 2008 and beyond, consider:

2008 OPEN ENROLLMENT PROGRAM
Mastering the "Sales" Process for Lawyers - Thursday, May 22, 2008, New York City at the offices of Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP, 1133 Avenue of the Americas. For more information or to read what recent attendees had to say about this program, please click here.

Outsourcing Select Marketing and Business Development Functions Gains Traction©

With the 2008 annual compensation, budgeting and planning processes in full swing, many firms are carefully reviewing and analyzing their highest cost centers in an effort to control them and get the best return on investment ("ROI"). For most law firms, staff, technology, marketing and business development costs are doubling every three to five years. According to recent benchmarks, marketing and business development ("marcom/busdev") budgets are growing up to three times faster than average revenue. Given that exponential growth rate in this highly competitive market, it is crucial to prove that the marcom/busdev budget is contributing a measurable ROI. For some firms, outsourcing either highly repetitive or specialized functions, or those functions for which the current staff does not have the time or capability, makes both strategic and financial sense. Outsourcing can enhance overall service levels and provide access to the most qualified talent without adding to headcount. Some keys to consider:

Which marketing/business development efforts/activities yield the highest return on investment (ROI) for your firm, practice groups and lawyers? If your firm does not track ROI for each marcom/busdev effort,* you can assume that the greatest ROI comes from lawyers' face-to-face meetings with clients, contacts and prospects. Therefore, perhaps the majority of the firm's marcom/busdev investments should be directed accordingly. It is no longer enough to simply provide each lawyer with an annual, individual marketing/ business development budget and "hope" it is wisely spent. With the intense competition between law firms, it is paramount to have all interested lawyers trained in the most critical sales/client development techniques to enhance whom they communicate with; what and how they communicate; and their follow-up methods and system. These skills can be taught using a combination of training and coaching conducted by highly qualified and experienced staff. Some internal marcom/busdev staff have the requisite experience and skills, but most find themselves either short on time, especially to create a systematic program and/or are not as qualified as outside assistance. As a result, many firms have chosen to outsource this strategic function either completely or partially. One firm found an external resource to serve in the Chief Business Development Officer role that has significant relationships with numerous in-house counsel.

Define the specific functions and deliverables of your firm's CURRENT marketing and business development function. Most law firm marcom/busdev departments deliver a menu of support services and products internally and externally, ranging from basic and foundational to sophisticated efforts. At least three law firms knew they did not have the proper marcom/busdev infrastructure and could not find the caliber of Chief Marketing Officer ("CMO") they wanted and needed in their region, so they retained an outsourced CMO who travels to the firm and offices from one week a month to three months at a time. Doing so has allowed them to build an effective marcom/busdev infrastructure in less time with greater assurances of completion. Similarly, many firms have found that outsourcing the media/public relations and/or marketing writing functions helps them achieve appropriate local, regional, industry-based, national and/or global media exposure.

What should the firm's department be delivering that it is not currently? Most law firm marcom/busdev departments are spread too thin, doing too much for too many without direct, measurable ROI. Now (4thQ) is a great time to send around an annual review questionnaire to all Partners/Shareholders asking how well their marcom/busdev support needs are being met, what their expectations are and what else can be done to support their efforts to bring in more business. For example, one firm conducted such a review at the practice group level at year-end 2006 and several groups requested large amounts of money for advertising campaigns. However, the firm's management realized that the groups requesting advertising dollars were doing little else to develop work, and instead management asked that individual business development plans be created and implemented in 2007 before dollars were allocated to advertising.

What is the firm's ratio of lawyers to marketing/business development staff? If it is any higher than approximately 35 to 1, most likely the firm's marcom/bus dev staff does not have enough time available to get all the requests, tasks and jobs done well and produce/track a measurable result. Most marcom/busdev staff are overwhelmed with too much work, too little direction from leadership and not enough professional time. Streamlining efforts and activities towards those that get a measurable ROI not only helps the firm's growth but avoids the turnover expenses caused by frequent staff departures. Most firms can benefit from a management-led, year-end review and subsequent new year announcement containing specific upgrades, changes and/or adaptations that firm owners can expect from the marcom/busdev staff and functions.

*If the firm does not track ROI for marcom/busdev efforts and activities, creating a measurement metric for each majority activity/effort would be a great use of time and money in 2008.

Please contact me if we can be of service to your firm in 2008 on a project basis or on an outsourced basis. Thank you. Julie Savarino, T (734) 668-7008; email Julie@BusDevInc.com.

Visit the Ultimate Business Development Tool Kit™ at www.BusDevInc.com.

Copyright^© 2007 Business Development Inc. All Rights Reserved.
This article is protected under the copyright laws of the United States and other countries and may not be reproduced, distributed, altered, displayed or performed in any manner or by any means without the prior express written consent of Business Development Inc. All of the trademarks, service marks, logos and the trade dress that appears in this document are owned by Business Development Inc. and may not be used without the prior express written consent of Business Development Inc. www.BusDevInc.com.

Greatest Marketing Challenges

At a recent meeting of an international association of professional services providers, I posed important questions using interactive audience response technology (graciously provided by Express Solutions). When over 100 attendees were asked: What is the single greatest marketing challenge your firm is currently facing?

The response was:
1) Developing more rainmakers and effectively following up on current opportunities (TIE)
2) Helping practitioners find/make time to develop business

Interestingly enough, when I asked this same question over 8 years ago to the over 250 attendees at the 'Marketing Partner Forum' (which up until 2000, I invented, designed and operated), the response was very similar. So the question is -- why are firms still unable to develop more rainmakers?

In my professional opinion, the answers can be found within any single firm by analyzing the three most critical pillars needed for an effective business/client development program: people, processes/procedures and technology. Unfortunately, because of the demands inherent in the billable hour business model, the majority of firms - at best - have only piece-meal or short terms solutions/efforts supporting these three pillars necessary to consistently develop more rainmakers and new business. For example, consider one aspect of the first pillar -- people. In the hiring process, it is one thing to hire great lawyers. It is another to hire great lawyers who can evolve into business advisors able to provide counsel and advice in a consultative manner. Without an overall business orientation and mind set, lawyers can remain myopic with a narrow legal focus and tend to have less productive people skills necessary to develop new work. How does your firm's recruiting, hiring, selection, development and retention processes support and encourage the development of rainmakers?

Comments? Click here to post a comment or add to the above.

Penny Wise, Pound Foolish? Are Firms Being Short-Sighted?

QUESTION #1: Is it realistic that firms with billed/collected hour targets over 1,800 can "require" or even expect any significant, meaningful business development efforts over time from most lawyers? According to statistics, only around 20% of qualified new business leads are ever even followed-up upon by lawyers/professionals. In almost every instance, following-up is crucial to closing the business or getting it in the door. Is there simply not enough time in the billable hour business model?

QUESTION #2: Can this follow-up job be "delegated"? Yes, it can. But, it is ethical, professional and tasteful to do so? Arguably not. First of all, very few prospective clients will hire a lawyer or other professional service provider without having met them and developing at least a minimum level of rapport, trust and/or confidence (unless they come highly referred by another trusted source). Second, having non-lawyers follow-up with prospective clients with the intent to develop business is an ethical violation of the ABA Rules of Professional Responsibility and the corresponding rules in every state. Third, is a person who will not be doing the work or involved in the work the best person to follow-up? To answer that question, put yourself in the client/prospect's shoes: would you like a person not actually involved to be 'selling' you? Finally, is the firm willing to compensate appropriately qualified personnel for this time-consuming and critical role? Most firms do not. Instead, they look to the least expensive person possible whom they hope will be qualified and able to do the task, then overwhelm them with many other responsibilities and hope for the best.

QUESTION #3: How relevant is realization? In the last five years, most firms have seen an exponential increase in the total number and actual percentages of discounts they give clients/prospects off their "rack" or standard hourly rates. Discounts can now amount to up to 20% of a firm's total hours produced and up to 30% off the standard rate amounts. So, "rack" rates are becoming increasingly irrelevant. The only number that really matters to boost the bottom line is what is actually collected -- or what the client is willing to pay. Is this increasing irrelevance of realization another symptom of the decline in the billable-hour business model?

QUESTION #4: What keeps you up at night?

Comments? Click here to post a comment or add to the above.

Hot Legal Issues

Within the multi-layered cyclicality of the global economy and resulting changes in industries and business, legal problems evolve and surface in waves. Recently, some hot areas I am observing include:

1) Subprime and prime lending institutions, loan portfolios and borrowers – These matters have a downstream effect on legal services, offering opportunities for transactional lawyers, real estate lawyers and sometimes resulting in complex commercial and financial related litigation.
2) Privacy and security in Internet technology and communications – These types of cases are increasing at both state and Federal levels, are affecting businesses and consumers and often require new or updated policies and/or procedures.
3) Insurance coverage – Certain states have seen a dramatic rise in such claims due to particular natural disasters. However, as a generality insurance coverage claims are on the rise due to increases in denials and rescissions across-the-broad.
4) Diverse lawyers – Particularly, qualified lawyers of color or varied ethnic origin have unprecedented opportunities to obtain outside counsel work from Fortune 500 companies with strong diversity hiring policies.
5) International ADR – Global business is generating not only opportunity of global proportions, but also lawsuits involving numerous, multi-country jurisdictions and the associated expense. Companies are turning increasingly to ADR solutions, a trend which is expected to continue into the future.

The above are just five examples of what’s hot. What’s hot in your practice area?

Click here to post a comment or add to the above.