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What Do Your Prospects Need? – Accelerating New Business Now.

Written by Allan Colman on . Posted in Allan Colman, Asking for Business, Attorney Marketing, Business Development, Law Firm Marketing, Marketing for Law Firms, Marketing Partners.

Prior to meeting with new business prospects, we urge clients to prepare a needs analysis. You can’t help a client until you know what they need. Rainmakers diagnose a prospect’s problem by asking questions and listening closely to the answers.

To conduct a proper needs analysis, you must know the questions you will ask. And you need to ask these questions in a logical order. Keep track of the questions asked. And at the same time, take notes on the prospect’s answers. Questions, answers, tangents new areas of investigation must all be juggled.

Questions to Include in Your Needs Analysis

Ask and answer the following questions before the first meeting.

  • What are their goals?
  • What are their challenges?
  • What solutions have they tried?
  • What is the problem costing them?
  • What are the consequences if the problem continues?
  • What is their timetable?
  • What is their budget?
  • Who else are they talking to?
  • Who, in addition to the person you are meeting with, will be involved in the decision making?
  • What are your concerns?

 

 

“Strategic Thinking Cannot Be Taught” – Business Development Strategy

Written by Allan Colman on . Posted in Allan Colman, Attorney Marketing, Business Development, Law Firm Marketing, Managing Partners.

In George Gallup’s famous words, “Strategic thinking cannot be taught.” And since strategy is the 3rd of 36ixty’s 12 Essential Practices, we work with clients to identify where they need the most help.

  • Establish Rapport
  • Qualify the buyer
  • Find their need
  • Build value
  • Create desire
  • Overcome objections, and
  • Close the sale!

 

Build your new business development strategy on integrating these elements into your 90 day plans, and calendar year plans. Shopping cart

Say Nothing, Do Nothing, Be Nothing – 6 Steps to Exceptional Leadership

Written by Allan Colman on . Posted in Allan Colman, Attorney Marketing, Business Development, Law Firm Leadership, Law Firm Marketing, Leadership.

“Criticism is something you can easily avoid — by saying nothing, doing nothing and being nothing.”

–Aristotle

In order to help clients grow business, the second of 36ixty’s 12 Essential Business Practices focuses on Leadership. But we found over 350 definitions of leadership, everything from “make it a strong, happy team” to “think of yourself as the sun.” We needed to identify what it is leaders, managing partners, marketing partners, practice area leaders and office managing partners must do to help their teams grow new business.

6 Steps to Exceptional Leadership

The identification of 6 steps to exceptional leadership follow and are used with clients with significant commitments to grow their firms and companies.

  • Listen
  • Make Decisions
  • Communicate
  • Hold People Accountable
  • Take Risks
  • Leave a Legacy

Our workshops and seminars are aimed at having the attendees “apply the lessons today.”

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Branding: “If You Chase 2 Rabbits, You Will Not Catch Either One”

Written by Allan Colman on . Posted in Attorney Marketing, Business Development, Law Firm Marketing, Marketing for Law Firms, Marketing Partners.

Branding is the first of 12 Essential Practices (36ixty) we use to help companies accelerate revenue. It combines your purpose, vision, mission and values all into a strategy and implementation tactics. This becomes your brand.

3 Initial Steps to Branding

In my role as a Senior Business Accelerator Advisor with 36ixty, we find 3 steps to help clients become the best at one thing. This is critical in building the recognition coming from a brand.

Step #1 – M

Get your message right. Clarity addresses questions such as why do we exist? Who are we serving? How do we behave? What values will we adhere to? What is it that we actually do?

Step #2 – A

Leverage the appropriate amplifiers. Once you get the message right, this is where you use all the marketing tools available, from social media, to press releases, to advertising, to collateral, to speeches, etc.

Step #3 – P

Persevere. Over time you need to be seen as credible, expert and a master.

 

There is a Russian proverb which clarifies this approach, “If you chase 2 rabbits, you will not catch either one.”

 

Essential Branding Questions

Answering the following questions will help get you your brand:

  • What do you do when providing your product or service that is different than what everyone else does?
  • Why do your clients/customers return to you and your product/services?
  • When people refer business to you, what do they tell others about you? (Ask if you don’t know)
  • What skills to you have that people find interesting and helpful?

 

As the founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos said, “Your brand is what stays in a room after you leave the room.”

 

Are Managing Partners Really “Leaders”? (Part 1 of 2)

Written by Allan Colman on . Posted in Allan Colman, Attorney Marketing, Business Development, Law Firm Leadership, Leadership, Managing Partners, Marketing Partners, Practice Group Leaders. 1 Comment on Are Managing Partners Really “Leaders”? (Part 1 of 2)

Based on an article in ABA’s LAW PRACTICE TODAY, (Dec. 14, 2015) moderated by Nicholas Gaffney, a member of the Law Practice Today editorial board and a veteran public relations practitioner. He asked 6 “legal field veterans” their perspectives on the multi-faceted nature of law firm leaders. My responses to his questions follow.

HOW DO THESE INDIVIDUALS BECOME BETTER LEADERS IN THEIR FIRMS?

A “respected” law firm leader needs three skills: the ability to listen, the readiness to make decisions; and — one that is most often missing — holding people accountable for implementing the decisions. In addition, thinking about what their legacy will be for the firm must be clear, concise and often courageous.

ARE DIFFERENT LEADERSHIP STYLES NECESSARY FOR DIFFERENT-SIZE FIRMS? WHAT ABOUT IN DIFFERENT PRACTICE AREAS?

Heading a practice area is often a non-position. All too many firms designate someone to lead a group, provide no support or direction, and expect results. But for those who actively work to improve the services provided by the practice group, and work at cross marketing with other specialties, the results can be powerful.

More questions and answers in the next post.

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For 2016 – Business Development "Gut Check"

Written by Allan Colman on . Posted in Attorney Marketing, Business Development, Law Firm Marketing, Marketing Partners, Practice Group Leaders.

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Successful Performing Assets

As we move closer to 2016, your first quarter action program needs to be in place. By taking the last few “Business Development Gut Check” Posts, and adding the following question to the list, your answers should be incorporated into action:

Are successful performing assets being readied for redeployment?

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Business Development “Gut Check”

Written by Allan Colman on . Posted in Attorney Marketing, Business Development, Law Firm Marketing, Law Firms, Marketing Partners.

Is Your Business Development Suffering?

Thomson Reuters Legal Solutions Blog
November 6, 2015

For law firms struggling with growing new business, there is a learning curve marketing leaders (both attorneys and professionals) need to lead. It is not magic at all. Rather, experience shows that a group of common problems lead to a lack of new business growth. Your answers to the following dilemmas will guide you to more revenue, more clients and more open doors.

  • Are the number of new engagements per client dropping?
  • How many long-term clients are no longer using your firm?
  • Is there an absence of cross marketing?
  • Do you have “underutilized assets” such as internal marketing, sharing of published articles and speeches with all attorneys?

Identifying Business Development Opportunities

This post will add a new dilemma daily to provide a comprehensive list of questions that will certainly help you identify and solve business growth obstacles and opportunities.

 

Provokers Pt. III. — Can They Really Close New Business?

Written by Allan Colman on . Posted in Attorney Marketing, Business Development, Law Firm Marketing, Marketing Partners, Practice Group Leaders.

Closing New Business

From Allan Colman, Business Development Accelerator, Speaker and Author – Clients average a 60% increase in new business in 6 months.

Third and last in this series on questions to provoke firm leadership into actively building and closing new business includes the following questions:

  • Has lack of follow up lost engagements? How many and how often?
  • Are your attorneys, accountants, etc. trained to overcome objections during the selling process?
  • Do they understand what are the greatest needs of clients and prospects?
  • Can your professionals close?

 

Your thoughts, ideas, comments are welcome.

Business Development Leaders — Have You Been Provoked? Pt. II.

Written by Allan Colman on . Posted in Attorney Marketing, Business Development, Law Firm Marketing, Marketing for Law Firms, Marketing Partners.

Business Development Leaders – Have You Been Provoked? Pt. II.

From Allan Colman, Business Development Accelerator, Speaker and Author – Clients average a 60% increase in new business in 6 months.

Continuing with the series begun last week, these questions are meant to “provoke” business development  leaders and professionals to ask and answer these questions. You will find your true business development successes — or improvements needed!

  • Can you raise your firm’s profile with no “out-of-pocket” expenses?
  • Are your marketing and business development staff being trained for a continuum? a long range pipeline of new business?
  • What, if any, IT and Finance metrics are being used to plan future growth?

 

More provoking questions to come. What can you add to this growing list? I will include them in the upcoming series.