We are conducting our 2017 Law Firm Outlook Survey. It is a brief survey to learn more about the key issues facing law firms as we head into the new year. We’ll collect responses and share the results with our law firm community.
Responses are anonymous and confidential.
We greatly value your time. To take the survey, https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/5CCFRGP
In George Gallup’s famous words, “Strategic thinking cannot be taught.” And since strategy is the 3rd of 36ixty’s 12 Essential Practices, we work with clients to identify where they need the most help.
Build your new business development strategy on integrating these elements into your 90 day plans, and calendar year plans. 
Among standard business development activities, none provides a better practicum for leveraging than the presentations and speeches delivered at professional conferences, client-sponsored programs, and your own firm-sponsored seminars. Too often their participation is a one-off with none of the preparation or follow-up necessary to generate business. Conversely, mastery of the best “event marketing” practices will carry over into other marketing areas as well, helping to create a real marketing culture in the process.
There are two dimensions to every presentation: the material being presented and the business reason for presenting it. The latter deserves at least as much preparation as the actual content of the speech or panel discussion, in fact, more so, as the marketing impact depends on many careful logistics. Among those logistics:
Think of the temporal and spatial dimensions of the event in military terms. To maximize the long-term marketing impact, your own people need to be in the right place at the right time, and you need to engage the “other side” – those with whom you want to develop relationships – as strategically as possible. To these ends:
All these preparations and tactical maneuverings are for naught unless you follow up, follow up, and follow up some more. In particular:
No doubt, other best practices may occur to you. Generally speaking, if it seems they’ll be helpful to your prospects, they’re worth doing. As with all good marketing, put yourself in the other person’s shoes. What kind of outreach would you appreciate if you were an audience member? What would maximize the value of the event for you?
It’s common sense – but uncommon common sense.
Allan Colman is CEO of The Closers Group, based in Torrance. He may be reached at acolman@closersgroup.com.
These days, all firms must provide more value-added services. In the short run, the more you know the better chance you have at winning the business. In the long run, close client knowledge and an understanding of the marketplace will augment client retention.
We often ask, “what is their takeaway?” In other words, look beyond Power Point and fancy letterhead. Think creatively and empathetically. Who is the competition? How close on the heels are they in respect to your target?
Identify the one major asset you bring to the table, the one major differentiator between you and your competition, the major problem you can solve for them and make this your “takeaway” message. Repeat it often during the meetings so if they should remember nothing else during their decision making process, they will remember it.
When you market your firm and services, the only thing a perspective client cares about is what you will be able to do for them. Learn as much as you can about your prospects, identify their needs and prepare for your meeting accordingly.
It is essential to practice your presentation or dinner conversation. By taking time you will:
Preparation is essential. It will ready you not only for the sales/pitch meetings, but also for conducting a review and “post-mortem” of the meeting once it is finished. Remember the old joke, “How do you get to Carnegie Hall?” The answer to the question, “How do you achieve success in the closing zone is exactly the same: practice, practice, practice.
Perhaps one of the most unique opportunities to grow future business is rejection! Use it to turn rejection into a future close. What happens when your firm has found a target through business development and marketing tactics, done their due diligence with research to ascertain potential client needs, then finally presents a killer presentation to only be rejected in the end?
Losing never feels good. But don’t count yourself out just yet. Follow this process and you might turn that loss into an engagement … eventually.
Ask what the element was that won it for the competition and what were the strengths and areas of improvement your presentation needed.
Now it’s time to take a tough, retrospective look at the marketing business development strategy and sales/closing techniques used to pitch that piece of business. If you made it to the closing zone then the marketing and business development tactics you used were sufficient to get your firm considered. Where did your closing skills miss the mark? Did the prospect/client feel you had a full understanding of their needs? Conduct a post-mortem from events that occurred at the presentation and then try to pinpoint the areas needing improvement.
Find out which firm won the business, and then find out everything about them From the client’s perspective, what was your firm lacking that they believed the others might deliver? Also remember that if you made it to the finals, they know and appreciate you and have an investment in you and your firm as well.
Stay in touch and you stand an excellent chance of being hired in the future. Maximize this “Hidden Opportunity.”
MOST FIRMS who approach us looking for business development and sales training want fast results. Many of them are surprised when we say that a dedicated 5 minutes per week is all it takes to put a plan into motion:
** It takes 5 minutes a week to make a phone call or touch base.
** 5 minutes a week is long enough to send an email to a client or prospect.
** In 5 minutes, a meeting can be arranged.
** Committing to writing an article and jotting down a list of topics —
can be made in 5 minutes.
THE ACTIONS themselves will take longer, but by dedicating just 5 minutes per week to generating new business, you will be setting a course marked by true efficiency and will be on the path to business development success.