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

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

Continuing this series on how we work with clients to identify hidden assets and underutilized skills to grow more business:

9. Analyze existing relationships with clients, past clients, professional associations, industry associations, etc. What is the cost/value/result calculation?

10. Build interactive training and professional development programs for staff, attorneys and professionals. Multiple national studies indicate this is a key ingredient in keeping your team and in attracting laterals.

11. View your revenue levels by assignment, practice area, market trends, etc. Again, what is the cost/value/result calculation?

In the next column, we’ll tie these and a few more internal analysis business growth components together. You will be producing a 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.

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

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.

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 – "What Do We Do With Our Junior Lawyers?"

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

RESPONSE – A true pipeline for business development includes junior partners and associates. Take them to sales meetings. encourage them to get their names out there via articles and speeches. With newer lawyers, the key is to encourage business development without undue pressure. Whatever they bring in is gravy – and you are making a great investment in the future.

RESULT – We help clients create a true “sales” culture ( I know this is a dirty word, but !!!) from top to bottom. You can too.

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.

2015 – WILL YOU DEVELOP NEW BUSINESS?

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

Is your firm really ready to grow new business next year? All too often we find firms where their lawyers are ready to go but the firm’s support structure inhibits growth. Our new BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT RAPID ASSESSMENT provides an overview for a firm, practice area or office of:

* What is currently effective?
* What is not utilized?
* How to enhance impact?

Within 2 weeks of your completing 15 confidential questions, our Group will provide a strategic analysis focusing on maximizing your firm’s current Marketing and Business Development:

* Structure;
* Assets;
* Underperforming assets;
* Underutilized opportunities;
* Business Growth enhancements.

A confidential written Assessment will be returned to you within 2 weeks and includes a conference call or in-person meeting. Following that discussion, we will provide a timeline with specific tactics to build new business, grow prospects and begin establishing a long-term pipeline.

For a minimal fee, your firm, practice area or office will have a STRATEGIC BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT ACTION PLAN for 2015.

Click on the “contact us” button on this website, or send to acolman@closersgroup.com.

PRATICE GROUP LEADERS – Is Your Group Asking For Business?

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

Your competitors are asking for new business. Is your team?

Is your group bringing in new business from clients and prospects?

Are they selling but not seeing results?

Where are their opportunities?

Can they be expanded?

Do they really know how to communicate effectively with their prospects?

Go to our new website’s Services page for tips and tactics – and download a free chapter of

OWN THE ZONE.

PRACTICE GROUP LEADERS — The 4 Most Important Questions to Ask

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

If you are or about to be named head of a practice group in your firm, and are tasked with making Business Development a top priority, here are 4 questions that must be asked, answered and acted upon.

1. Do you have underperforming assets?
2. Where are the overlooked opportunities?
3. Can you find hidden assets?
4. Is your group undervaluing relationships?

Law firm managing partners, practice group leaders and partners-in-charge of offices will find that bringing rigor to answering these questions will chart a direct path to growing your business. Our STRATEGIC ACTION PROGRAMS are designed to help answer these questions and bring rapid success and will new business.