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Re-energize Your Firm's Business Development

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

When evaluating where and how a firm can grow more business, we always start by looking inside. What are the firm’s current resources, hidden resources and under-performing assets? The next several blogs will present the areas we examine and you should be evaluating also.

1. Forecasting, especially estimating what an increase in cross-marketing and selling would yield.
2. Assessing (honestly and openly) your brand’s impact. Does it need refreshing, refocusing, etc.?
3. Considering your marketing tactics by industry, practice area, geographic market.
4. Supporting the new-engagement-generation efforts of those actively prospecting.
5.

Maximize Your Marketing Budget – IV.

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

Go back and read the 3 previous blogs to catch up on the previous 8 steps to maximize your marketing budget. The final 4 follow:

9. Get even more from your dollar invested i.e. readership information from ad placements or conference participants.

10. Assure that every business development training session is practical, not academic, and includes advisory follow up.

11. Celebrate client acquisition, not just client wins.

12. Keep management actively informed and involved.

We work with you to CLOSE MORE BUSINESS.

Maximize Your Marketing Budget – III.

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

If you have not read our first two columns on this topic, go back to the blog section of our website and catch up. This effort is aimed at helping you make the case for firm management’s support of your work.

The next 3 steps to help maximize your marketing budget include:

6. Enhance strong links with your attorneys; make sure they know what marketing, business development and communications programs you can assist them with.

7. Multiply the impact of single marketing tools to leverage wider exposure and response generation. For example convert a speech into an article, get it published, use it as an email “touch” with clients and prospects, include it in proposals, add it to your website, etc.

8. Make decisions on underperforming activities by either abandoning them or improving them.

We work with you to GROW MORE BUSINESS.

Maximize Your Marketing Budget – II.

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

In our last column, we began reviewing 12 steps to help maximize your marketing budget. Here are the next 3:

3. Maximize the impact of proposals,pitches, prospect meetings, etc.
4. Conduct success/rejection analysis. Do you know why or why not a particular pitch was successful?
5. Lead “go/no-go” decision discussions before investing in an rfp response or initiating a new contact.

Undertaking regularly scheduled review of these efforts will help to refine what works, discard underperforming tactics, and win more business. See our “services” pages for details.

Maximize Your Marketing Budget

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

Maximize your firm’s current marketing and business development budget by demonstrating to firm management the opportunities they have to grow. Lead the way to a sustainable management approach which places greater value on the role of marketing and business development. Provide the marketing partners, marketing committees, partners-in-charge and practice leaders with these important decision-making tools.

The first of 12 decision making tools are:

1. Design straight-forward business development pursuit schemes;
2. Establish and manage timelines for each step until final closing.

In the next several blogs, we will cover the other 10 decision making tools for growing new business.

Put Your Clients to Work in Business Development

Written by Allan Colman on . Posted in Allan Colman, Attorney Marketing, Business Development, Client Retention.

A great business development tactic we recommend is to introduce your clients/prospects to your firm’s other clients. Another great tactic: ask you clients to introduce you to their other business unit executives, suppliers, supporters, advisors, and the individuals they go to as experts.

In other words, in order to meet new prospects and develop new client relationships, work with your clients to “host” meetings with non-competing and complementary prospects.

More in our next column on building successful business development relationships.

What to do with Client Dissatisfaction

Written by Allan Colman on . Posted in Attorney Marketing, Business Development, Client Retention.

While client dissatisfaction is never comfortable to deal with, it is something you should be aware of long before a client disengages. Even if it seems insignificant, when even the smallest issues arise during an engagement DEAL WITH THEM IMMEDIATELY. Especially if they have been a long term client, take action and win them back. According to Jay Abraham, 80% of these relationships can be recovered with instant actions – in fact, you may find that they become your best clients.

Part II. – Prepare For Things That Go Bump in the Night

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

The tactics presented in OWN THE ZONE are all used one way or another in our business development training sessions and workshops. For example, our training emphasizes thinking long term. When it comes to approaching a new prospect or a long term client, we encourage our clients to:

* UNDERSTAND the prospects’ and clients’ needs and internal pressures;
* BECOME a trusted adviser, and
* PROTECT the prospects’ and clients’ interests.

Become a valued business partner and friend, offer rewarding solutions that are profitable for all involved. It’s how we work with our clients and how we encourage them to approach their prospects and clients in the same way.

Prepare For Things That Go Bump In the Night

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

In chapter 9 of our book, OWN THE ZONE, we often refer to Jay Abraham. He has been called “America’s number one marketing wizard” enough times that it’s the tag line used on the “About” page on his website. He’s seen as a genius at getting down to basics and, having worked with him in the past, I check in on his work from time to time.

When we work with our clients, we follow Jay’s “Strategy of Preeminence.” As a marketing and business development consultant, we aim to become a valued friend, to offer results oriented solutions that are profitable for everyone involved and we encourage our clients to approach their prospects and clients in the same way.

In the next several columns, we will discuss how to prepare for things that become challenges and how to overcome them to become -“preeminent.”

PROBLEM – "Our Firm Continues Adding Lawyers – We Need a Complete Marketing Overhaul

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

RESPONSE – the bigger you become, the more you need to focus. Begin with a few promising practice groups and use their successes as a model.

RESULT – One practice group may begin envying another practice group’s success. It’s a dynamic that requires some political sensitivity on the part of management, but it is a another great problem to have. Competition stimulates growth.