10 Reasons to Hire Allan Colman
In a recent article on the PRLOG, it listed the top ten reasons to hire Allan.
#10. Allan Builds Future Leaders
#9. He teaches tactics, not theory.
For the remaining top 10, go to www.prlog.org/12463692
Part V. – Did 34 Attorneys Really Say That About Business Development?
Part V. – Did 34 Attorneys Really Say That About Business Development?
Based on the readership of this series, which is not yet finished, we will be developing a keynote and workshop on these topics. Stay tuned.
26. I can never find copies of past proposals or learn what worked or what didn’t work. — If this is true, the firm needs not only a proposal organization series, but a post-mortem on every pitch, whether a dinner meeting or full rfp.
27. My client’s business keeps changing and I don’t keep up. — notice this attorney said “I don’t keep up” and did not say ‘I won’t keep up.” It’s all about building and keeping that relationship active.
28. I’ve been asked to join a pro bono, non-profit Board of Directors; why bother? — First, contributing your community is important. And as a bonus, if there are executives and GC’s also on the board, it is a great place to build your contact base and long-term pipeline.
29. We chase too many leads without a strategic review of the business opportunities. — this is frequently managed by practice group leaders, partners-in-charge of offices, and a firm marketing committee. Bottom line, there should always be a “go/no-go” decision making process in place. Chasing the wind helps no one.
30. We should be more active in industry associations where we do lot’s of client work. But how do I keep up with their meetings, programs, etc.? — remember that old marketing bromide, GO WHERE THEY GO, KNOW WHO THEY KNOW, READ WHAT THEY READ.
And wait until you read the next and final 4 reasons for not marketing.
5 More Quotes on Why Attorneys Won't Do Business Development
5 More Quotes on Why Attorneys Won’t Do Business Development
In the last 4 posts, we’ve listed 20 quotes from lawyers on why they won’t, don’t, or can’t develop new business. The next 5 don’t get any better.
21. Honestly, I don’t know how to begin. — this lawyer had been practicing for 10 years; do I need to say more?
22. I failed on one proposal before; why try again. — What a future this one has!
23. I can’t do it but I’ll hire someone. — A few firms have had success adding professional business sales executives.
24. If I can’t figure out what my current client needs, how can I sell her more work? — change professions.
25. There’s no time to send an article to my clients. — One of the major problems we find in our business development coaching and advising programs, is that all-too many attorneys do not have or do not update a contact list. It can become the easiest way in the world to stay in touch 3-4 times a year with clients, prospects, contacts and colleagues. Once in place, it takes literally 5 minutes to send.
We’re getting closer to the 34th excuse for not marketing. Anyone want to guess what it is?
What's Going On In Your Firm? – II.
Additional questions we ask during our Strategic Business Development Planning to enhance and refine a firm’s business development successes include:
5. Is anyone actively using your CRM system?
6. Can your firm’s business development structure be strengthened to have a greater impact in generating new business growth?
7. Have you clearly identified firm-wide regional needs and cultures?
8. Do you celebrate “new client acquisition” in addition to client wins?
9. What are the internal obstacles to building consensus and active attorney participation in getting face-to-face with prospects and renewing client relationships?
Your firm’s management committee, marketing committee, practice group leaders and Partners-in-Charge of offices need to carefully consider all 9 questions if they truly want to grow business.
What's Going On In Your Firm?
During our Strategic Business Development Planning, we ask clients to evaluate questions such as:
1. What is the firm’s own internal perception? What do the attorneys, assistants, paralegals, etc.say to describe the firm to their friends and colleagues?
2. Is there a consistent message about the firm being delivered to the market place? In our experience, the firm’s “brand” is rarely, if every, used by attorneys meeting with prospects. Is there a common sentence describing the firm’s differentiators used for speech introductions, bios with published articles, etc.?
3. Do you understand the differences between marketing, business development and business generation? These skills are all too often combined in a title without understanding the tactical differences and needs.
4. Are your attorneys engaged in cross marketing as well as cross selling? The first is to better educate your colleagues on the value you can bring to their clients. Cross selling is the act of recommending another practice area of your firm to help a client with a problem separate from the one you are working on.
We’ll continue with other questions in our next blog. For more detail, go to www.ownthezonebook.com.
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT BEST PRACTICES, II.
As discussed in the previous blog, pro-active organization and accountability are keys to converting your best practices into new business. Following are 4 additional tasks that complete the first steps you need to take.
5. Populate the business development program with targeting and pursuit efforts by specific practice group, sub-groups, offices, individuals — one step at a time, at first, and finally, wherever there are lawyers who really want to be engaged.
6. Assure that business development training sessions are practical, not theoretical.
7. Keep the firm ahead of economic and industry trends and build this knowledge into every client contact.
8. Make decisions on under-performing activities by either abandoning them or improving your approach in each case.
Remember, the best way to land a target is to act and pursue. If you miss, you learn. Then try again.
Business Development Best Practices
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.
Re-energize Your Firm's Business Development
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.
PROBLEM – "Our Firm Continues Adding Lawyers – We Need a Complete Marketing Overhaul
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"
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.