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Business Development Best Practices

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

We urge clients to adapt a special set of best practices when focusing on ways to measure business development success. Some of these might surprise you but are essential to new revenue growth.

1. Designate partner-leaders for each client target. This is not the usual industry focus, or practice area niche. Rather, it means a senior partner must take the lead for each new designated target.

2. Part of the job is to establish timelines for each step leading to a final close of new business. The partner-leader must designate someone to hold each attorney and marketing professional accountable for the actions they are assigned.

3. Provide the environment to encourage greater strategy debates before investing in responses to RFP’s, or even in pursuing new contacts. A “go/no go” decision making session is a must.

4. Constantly review the failed business development efforts in formal post-mortem meetings. This discussion could be part of a “go/no go” debate. And make sure out of these sessions, you codify the steps that do lead to successful new business acquisition.

In our next column, we’ll add 4 more best practices to challenge and energize your efforts.

Do Not Stop at "NO"

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

Even if a proposal for new business has been rejected, continue the pursuit with the same prospect or client. MAXIMIZING REJECTION is a concept that recognizes the potential customer has a lot invested in you by the nature of the time and study they put in during the selection process.

Stay in touch; send them updates; ask them to be on conference panels with you; remind them how much you can contribute to their business.

Keep yourself in that “CLOSING ZONE,” creating more scoring opportunities for the future.
This is the 14th step in Chapter 1 of www.ownthezonebook.com.

3 Final Steps to Re-Energize Your Firm's Business Development

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

While there are many ways to revitalize your firm’s business development efforts, the last several blogs have covered 11 of those that we find are most insightful. Add these final 3 and you will be well on your way to a more productive, value based business development strategy for your firm. It’s what we do best in working with clients. The final 3 are:

12. Make sure you have strong links to future industry and practice group trends.

13. Continue ongoing testing and evaluation of what works what can be improved, and what should be discarded.

14. By this time, you are ready for Phase II = a powerful Strategic Business Development Action Plan.

Re-Energize Your Firm's Business Development — II.

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

This is the second of several blogs, looking inside your firm to identify the hidden assets and underutilized skills to grow more business. Working with you we also view:

5. Social media, advertising, public relations combinations and where to maximize the impact;

6. Proposals (not rfp’s) and how they are prepared and presented to prospects and clients;

7. Following up, or conducting “post mortems” after each meeting, speech, published article, e-alerts, etc. Make sure they are working for you, growing your reputation and profile;

8. In relation to the above 3 elements of review, is your firm’s research capability, assistance and priorities being coordinated with the overall business development targets?

Remember, in working with us, we always start by looking inside. You should too. Next column will cover 4 more components to re-energizing your business development successes.

6 More Quick Hits for New Business Development

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

In a recent blog we discussed what we recommend for clients who want immediate targeting, managing, contacting, meeting, training and evaluation. Here are 6 more “quick hits”:

G. Establish time-lines with individualized sequences of approach, support needed, results and evaluation including meeting deadlines and providing firm management with Success Reports.

H. Pre-test strategy and upcoming actions.

I. Evaluate contact results and follow up on a regularly scheduled basis.

J. Train and support assigned marketing staff.

K. Begin new engagements.

L. VIP, track results, challenges, etc. to get ready for Phase II.

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.

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.

PROBLEM – "Our Practice Group Has No Business Development Budget"

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

RESPONSE – Of course it does. Your members are already spending money on marketing and business development at one or more ends of the spectrum. You simply need to collect that data and find out what you’re already spending. That is your budget.

RESULT – Getting a hold on your current, actual spending will allow you to focus resources where they will clearly do the most good. This is a critical step to measure current results and refine and improve the tactics.