Do Law Firms Need a Marketing Function?

In this current economy, some firms are eliminating their marketing departments altogether. This may be a short term way to save expenses, but is it smart in the long run? There is a critical need for all firms to develop business in order to survive. But if the marketing department is largely a cost-center and not able to contribute to revenue generation then there may be a problem. Is the marketing function in many firms broken? Often, one problem is expectations - most lawyers expect ALL marketing people to be business developers, when in fact developing business is a separate and distinct discipline, procedure and art form. The majority of marketing tasks require different capabilities, skills and focus. If a firm is laying off its marketing staff, it is important to ask: is the marketing function in the firm really broken? And/or are the owners of our firm expecting something other than what has been/is being delivered? There is no better time than now to re-assess.

Developing Business Efficiently is a Necessity in Today’s Economy©

It's a good time to re-assess, re-direct and/or even upgrade your firm’s investments in business and client development. Given the abrupt, negative change in the economic climate, now is the time to re-visit your 2009-10 client development action plans at the firm, regional, practice/industry group, office and/or individual attorney levels and make changes that will pay off in the near term and after 2010. Below are some time-proven ways to help generate profitable work beginning today:

Provide quality, effective business development support to your firm's key rainmakers - For many reasons, too many law firms provide little or no business development support/assistance to their top rainmakers. Often, major rainmakers are very individualistic and do not want or need any help in developing new business. However, that is not the case for all major rainmakers (who constitute only approximately 5-7% of the equity partners in any single firm). As a group, they are savvy and most have the firm's best interests at heart in wanting to continue profitable growth. Now is the time to check in with all the major rainmakers in your firm - especially those who have used internal marketing/business development support in the past, are interested in developing more work for the firm and are able to be team players. Directing additional, credible and useful support and investments behind their efforts - like making a top notch business development coach for lawyers available to them - can pay off fast.

Conduct a formal audit/review of the current marketing and business development efforts, infrastructure and team - Either internally or with the assistance of qualified, outside consultants, carefully review your plans, people, processes, procedures, deliverables and results. Too many firm budgets are spent disproportionately on traditional, non-contact marketing tools such as newsletters, media exposure, seminars, blogs, and/or websites to develop business - when statistics show that approximately 95% of all new business is generated in-person, one-to-one or in very small groups. Traditional, non-contact marketing tools like the above simply take too long to generate actual new business are expensive and their results are hard to measure. The more effective way is to use a direct approach and proven, experienced assistance as needed.

Use the best possible business/client development training and coaching for your practice groups, offices and lawyers who are “mist makers” - For many firms, a lot of valuable time has been wasted over the years attending less than great business and client development training courses and coaching programs. Common mistakes include: offering programs that are only "talking head" presentations with no individual follow-up; other programs require mandatory attendance regardless of whether or not attendees are interested in becoming better rainmakers/service providers; the worst are programs where the content is either superficial, misdirected and/or not useful for lawyers. These common mistakes result in reducing the credibility of ALL business development training and coaching, when good programs are available. Not all outside trainers/consultants are truly credible nor have programs that are useful, valuable and/or actually work for lawyers. As one law firm CMO said recently "There are really only a handful of great outside consultants/trainers for law firms. There are hundreds who claim competence but do not deliver."

Consider outsourcing key, revenue-driving functions like business/client development coaching - Too often, internal law firm marketers are expected to "do it all" - soup to nuts – both marketing and business development, which results in their time being spent "a little on a lot" and dilutes results. The fact is that marketing, business development, training and coaching are each separate and distinct disciplines. The difference between marketing and business development is a lot like the difference between being a general practitioner versus an intellectual property litigator - those are two very different practices and require vastly differing (yet related) bodies of knowledge and capability. Sure, general practitioners can say they can handle IP litigation, but do they have the specialized knowledge and ability needed? The same contrast applies to years of experience - an IP litigator with 5 years experience likely does not have all the capabilities of one with 25 years experience. Many talented CMOs know this and use skilled and experienced outside resources to augment their efforts and capabilities to help contribute to bottom line growth.

To read more on this subject, visit www.BusDevInc.com, Complimentary Resources, Trend Reports.

2009 - When the Going Gets Tough...

From every angle, getting and keeping good legal work is going to be challenging in 2009. Competition is at an all-time high; there are fewer financial institutions (who in past years generated anywhere from 20-50% of many major law firms annual revenues); there are very few new loans/lending/projects in the pipeline; money is tight all around; litigation will rise (but getting paid will become harder). Belts are tightening, layoffs abound and it will likely get worse before it gets better. When the clouds part, those firms that practice fiscal conservatism will remain successful. There is no better time than now to review all firm expenses, and assign relative values to each on a continuum from "necessary" to "nice but not necessary". Make sure to differentiate between true costs/expenses (i.e. money once spent yields little in return) versus strategic investments (money spent will generate a significant ROI). Many traditional marketing tools such as advertising, public relations and brochures may not be necessary in this economy, whereas well-planned, strategic and direct one-to-one communications with clients and prospects are even more critical.

2009 Planning & Budgeting

Law firms are currently in the process of reviewing and evaluating their 2008 mar com/ bus dev budgets and preparing 2009 budgets for the approval process. Factors affecting this process include: available funds for these budgets are tight; competition for clients is at an all-time high; the U.S. recession/stagflation is looming; and overall, many clients remain less than 100% satisfied with their current firms. Given this climate, enhancing existing client relationships AND developing new work is no longer optional – it is a requirement for continued success. As a result, many firms are re-evaluating their current investments in non-contact, mar com expenditures such as advertising, branding campaigns and pr with the goal of streamlining their investments towards those that have a proven payoff or are necessary to support key clients’ causes. Additional funds are being devoted to: key client programs and efforts; helping lawyers make the most of their entertainment efforts and dollars; and institutionalized, solid business and client development training and coaching programs that are repeated quarterly or monthly. Increasingly, firms and staff are realizing that internal mar com and bus dev staff may not be able to “do it all” and are adding line items in their budgets for experienced, proven outside consultants and or other professional outside assistance to help support their strategic growth objectives.

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.