As a first-time attendee of the LSSO RainDance Conference this year, I was extremely impressed with the high-value content, engaging speakers and intimate networking opportunities. I was a sponge ready to absorb as much guidance as possible.
Day One brought a successful author Dr. Jeffrey Kaplan, RFP best practices, differentiating your law firm using competitive intelligence, the power of storytelling, and an inspirational speech from Sheila Ardalan, Director of Business Development & Client Services at Freeman, Freeman & Smiley.
Day Two covered how selling is everyone’s business, using technology to enhance business development, defining the sales function, insights from a GC panel and creating a culture of cross-selling.
Hearing inspiring stories from other business development and client service professionals set a tone of 
information-sharing and mentorship. As a recap of RainDance, here are my top 5 lessons learned.
1. Focus on Your Team & Processes
I signed up for the LexisNexis InterAction Pre-Conference Workshop where we were introduced to their Business Development Maturity Model. This model, broken down into 6 stages, is a systematic and measurable way for law firms to benchmark their methods and processes. The attendees filled out a survey before the conference and received a report with individual firm scores and a comparison of other firms based on firm size and AmLaw rankings. With most of us being in the “Developing” stage, it will be interesting to see if we can move the needle to eventually a “Differentiated” stage.
“Selling is a team sport.”
Another takeaway was the value of working together as a team. When trying to merge the practice of law with the business of law, it is important for lawyers and non-lawyers to work together to bring in new business and generate revenue.
Through this lesson I found some actionable steps I could take back with me:
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Create a monthly report to show metrics of the firm, including ROI for events, thought leadership opportunities, website analytics, and pitch/RFP win/loss ratios.
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10 Things in 10 Minutes at 10 am. Have the BD team meet daily for a rapid fire discussion on what’s on their plate and to see if there are any efficiencies or prioritization needed.
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Build a process/workflow around RFP/pitch follow-up: reporting wins/losses and encouraging attorneys to follow-up with the client to receive meaningful feedback on why the firm won or lost.
2. Tell Stories
“Stories helps us remember, inspire, motivate, persuade, build understanding, and establish a core set of beliefs.”
Craig Brown of LawVision walked us through what makes a good story and its importance in the selling process.
“Stories are effective because they capture our attention, engage emotion, reduce cynicism, create empathy, and simplify concepts.”
Applying this takes the form of training attorneys to tell stories during speaking engagements, pitches, networking events, and client meetings. Our life experiences are made up of stories – the goal is to find a few that are memorable, inspiring, and most importantly persuade a potential client to trust in your experience.
3. Identify Small Opportunities to Make a Big Difference
Every time you hear the word “program,” “initiative,” or “project,” I’m sure most business development professionals are looking for an exit strategy. The main reason being that change in a law firm is just plain difficult. Time-billers are busy. Marketing professionals are swimming. A new project can easily fall of the list of long to-do’s.
Listening to the stories of other professionals in the room, I was able to find one commonality: small changes can lead to big differences.
One firm used competitive intelligence tools to realize that one of their perceived loyal clients was giving work to other law firms, when their law firm was just as capable to handle this work. Using data, by showing the efficiencies they could provide over the competition, they were able to increase their work from just 2-3 matters to 10 matters annually.
One of the winners of the LSSO Sales and Service Awards was able to implement a networking challenge in her law firm to encourage the attorneys to leave their offices to develop business. To effectively track their progress, she made sure the lawyers submitted their expense report (including the name of the client and company) for her approval.
Learning from other professionals in the room taught me to take small steps at a time…and when I look back a year or two later, the big differences will have occurred over time.
4. Focus On Clients (And Stay Client-Focused)
If you think about your favorite service provider, what qualities do they have that make you keep going back? Is your car mechanic quick, friendly and doesn’t overcharge? Is your nail technician thorough, flexible, and responsive? As law firms, our mindsets should be client-focused and always provide the best value.
My dad is a CPA and owns his own accounting practice. His clients are extremely loyal to him and will wait to see him if he’s busy with another client. He receives referral business many times a week, but has to turn away clients due to a heavy workload. He finally let me in on his secret on how he retains business. When clients first walk into his office and sit down to discuss their financial matters, my dad rarely talks business first. “How are you doing?”; “Is your daughter doing well in college?”; or “Update me on your recent trip to India.” Instead of focusing on the business transaction, he makes the relationship top of mind.
The same key topics were raised in both the “Rapid Fire Client Panel” and the open session with David Cambria, Global Director of Operations at Archer Daniels Midland:
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Understand your client’s perspective
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Know your client’s business
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Identify your client’s pains and challenges
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Have a conversation with your client and ask the hard-hitting questions
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Before you launch into the solution, ask the client’s history of solutions
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Invest in the client
5. Focus On the Strengths You Bring to Selling
The business development professional role is a pivotal role in law firms. An interesting point was made that we should focus on what we do best: the lawyers should focus on the practice of law and the business professionals should focus on the business of law. And when each role focuses on their strengths, both can come together to finally merge the practice and business of law to provide more value of our clients.
“Selling is everyone’s business”
Take the time to learn what the firm sells. Knowing the practice areas, the industries and differentiating points are essential when called upon to create a custom pitch or give a recommendation about a new business opportunity.
Become an internal coach. To earn the trusted advisor role, provide your internal clients (attorneys) valuable deliverables. A great example given was: instead of sending the lawyers a stack of documents to review the night before a pitch, take the time to provide a summary of salient points so that the lawyer can get up to speed faster.
As a techie, I loved the idea of using technology (Ackert Advisory’s Practice Boomers) to set the foundational principles of business development through 5-minute videos, and then scheduling to follow-up with attorneys to enforce daily habits, establish smart goals and leverage individual strengths. Being a coach means asking the right questions so that the attorney develops the answer on their own.
Network. I have to end this article with the story of Sheila Ardalan. She started off her career as a paralegal and through building relationships, learning the concepts of real estate law and being in tune with the business of law, she was able to bring in multi-million dollar accounts. The phenomenal part about this? These clients demanded that she was the main point of contact for her accounts. Learning about her struggle growing up in Tehran during a period of turmoil, all the way to her breaking barriers of law firm culture, had the entire audience in awe. She was truly an inspiration to show us the importance of being a client advocate first, the power of networking and perseverance.
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[Sheenika Shah handles business development and digital marketing initiatives for Knobbe Martens. She combines her legal background and passion for marketing technology to guide professionals in growing their business. You can connect with Sheenika on LinkedIn or via her blog.]
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