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PROBLEM – " Our Office has Great Attorneys But Our Revenue is Flat"

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

RESPONSE – Organize and attack. Your lawyers need to learn a basic business development truism: that clients and prospects don’t care about how great the attorneys are. They assume that to be the case or they would not be talking with you. Instead, they care about what those great attorneys can do for them.

RESULT – The effect of such an enhanced client service mentality will not only unearth new prospects, but develop new business from existing clients.

PROBLEM – "I JUST LOST MY LARGEST CLIENT"

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

PROBLEM – “I just lost my largest client.”

RESPONSE – Setbacks should catalyze action, not cause paralysis. The firm should monitor and evaluate all such occasions where clients fall by the wayside to ensure that the lawyers responsible jump back into the business development “fray” with a new three-month action plan.

RESULT – A crisis should spell opportunity. Losses should pump the collective adrenaline. If that kind of response becomes ingrained in the firm’s culture, odds are the bottom line will actually improve at a reasonable point in time after every loss. Go to www.closersgroup.com/services.

The First 7 Quick Hits to Business Development

Written by Allan Colman on . Posted in Attorney Marketing, Client Retention, Law Firm Leadership, Practice Group Leaders.

For those clients who ask us for immediate client targeting, managing, contacting, meeting, training and evaluation, we work with them to:

A. Build additional services into current engagements;
B. Consult recent clients;
C. Target new lead sources who should be using your firm;
D. Revisit clients who have NOT selected your firm;
E. Customize your initial approaches, proposal options, etc.
F. Gather and prioritize input from your colleagues.

Note that most of these first “quick hits” focus on those who know you, clients and significant prospects. In the next column, we’ll add to this list. Go to www.closersgroup.com/services to learn more.

In 2015, Will You Have Tunnel Vision or FUNNEL VISION? 6 More Questions

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

In our last column, the first 4 questions were presented to really understand your firm’s business development future. Here are the other 6 priorities.

5. Is your firm conducting “tactical” business development training sessions?
6. Do you provide a format for building a long term pipeline of leads and opportunities?
7. Have you maximized the impact of proposals and pitches?
8. Does your firm leadership complete a success/rejection analysis of past pitches and proposals?
9. Are you actively measuring and reporting results?
10. Is your firm closing new business at the needed rate?

Our rapid Strategic Business Plan service continues to be available. Schedule a call.

IN 2015 – Will You Have Tunnel Vision or Funnel Vision, 1- 4.

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

To really understand your firm’s business development potential, you need to ask a series of questions we offer based on the 7 key accelerator segments,
* Opportunities
* Communication
* Objections
* The “ASK”
* The “CLOSE”
* Results
* Pipeline.

The first 4 firm-wide Business Development questions are:

1. Are you making decisions on underperforming activities and investments?
2. Are your attorneys multiplying the use of single marketing tools to leverage wider exposure and response generation?
3. Is your firm expanding the number of attorneys actively selling/
4. Do you establish completion timelines with specific assignments to attorneys and/or staff professionals?

We’ll post the remaining questions on tomorrow’s blog. Collect them, answer them and send to us on a confidential basis. We’ll provide a complimentary assessment of your business development strategic plan options.

COMBAT COACHING 2015

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

In the first column, we defined Combat Coaching. If you are now ready to become more aggressive and productive in growing your business, consider the following. Every firm and organization has a number of tools that they aren’t using effectively. The more that you look at your own organization or your own business development approaches – with or without the help of a business development consultant – the more you’re going to find:

* Underperforming assets;
* Overlooked opportunities;
* Hidden assets;
* Under-valued relationships and
* Under-utilized collaboration opportunities.

Make January the start of this ongoing effort to grow your business. Step back from working “in” your business and take time to work “on” your marketing and business development opportunities and challenges. Remember, your competitors are.

COMBAT COACHING

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

At the Closers Group, we talk a lot about our CLOSING ZONE approach to business development. We focus on the importance of having your strategies and tactics practiced and ready so that, when you meet face to face with prospects, you’ll be ready to close the sale. Marketing Guru Jay Abraham calls this
COMPETITIVE COMBAT COACHING. It is considered to be a professional but more aggressive and productive way of looking at growing successes.

As the competition for legal services intensifies and client budgets fight to stay stable as time goes on, doesn’t it make sense to look within your organization and build on what you already have? In the next blog, we’ll examine the first 5 tactics we employ to strengthen business development efforts.

9 KEYS TO GROWING NEW BUSINESS – Your Elevator Pitch

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

You now know the 5 questions to ask in order to improve your Elevator Pitch. Now you have to use it! Here are some “platforms” that may not have occurred to you. Give it :
1. To another parent on the playground or at the dog park;
2. At a charitable or business dinner where others at your table are business professionals;
3. At the first meeting with a new client;
4. To the person sitting next to you on an airplane;
5. In the courtroom hallway;
6. At the car wash;
7. At your church or temple;
8. At the supermarket;
9. Any time you have about 60 seconds to speak to another person.

Once you get the hang of it and achieve a comfort level talking to people you meet daily, you will find more opportunities to deliver your pitch. AND, don’t forget to provide an opportunity for people you meet to deliver their own elevator speeches.

www.allancolman.com

8 Essential Business Development Questions, III.

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

The last two steps in this series may be the most difficult for you to take.

7. DO you follow up after receiving an adverse decision on retaining your firm? We cover tactics to use in this situation including “MAXIMIZING REJECTION” in our book, “OWN the ZONE – Dominate the Competition. (find it in this website or www.allancolman.com) In other words, make lemonade from lemons.

8. ARE you asking them to take a risk by promoting you, approving your proposal or funding your request? And if so, what pragmatics will you bring to the table to help them overcome their fear of risk?

8 Essential Business-Growth Questions – Part II.

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

Where, who and what were the first 3 questions in our previous blog. The next 3 Essential questions to ask about growing business are:

4. HOW do they prefer to communicate? Observe and ask; again you are looking for opportunities using their preferred communications style, and closing in on them.

5. WHY not use performance reviews and incentive discussions to demonstrate your support for the organization. Come prepared to these events and use your proposals, past and present, to embed the “go-to” image and reputation.

6. DO you know who your decision makers listen to? What are their concerns with their own path of advancement? And do they really listen? Are you also building relationships with the higher-up decision makers? Mary Barra, the new CEO at General Motors, certainly did.