In recent blog posts, we mentioned many law firms are once again considering forming sales forces. And we also opined that sales professionals at a law firm is a concept that can work. That’s why we were so honored by the...more
Sales is now an established function at law firms, continuing to gain ground as more and more client-facing professionals come on board to help firms grow faster and smarter, acquire new clients, and build deeper...more
It’s a longstanding tradition in the legal business: Clients complain about law firms on subjects such as price, deficient client service, slow response times, and unacceptable outcomes. Meanwhile, lawyers grouse about...more
When Business Development (BD) professionals and the lawyers they work with use the word “closing,” they primarily mean acquiring a new client or a new piece of business. But there’s another type of closing worth attention:...more
If your firm has a client, it has a sales process. After all, somehow, a buyer of legal services became aware of your firm and expressed interest. When a specific need arose, somehow the buyer thought to reach out to your...more
A recent survey conducted by Chief Sales Officer Insights – a survey about achieving revenue goals – determined that a vast majority of companies are still flying by the seat of their pants when it comes to formalizing,...more
Understand the business. That, as BTI Consulting CEO Michael Rynowecer has reported for years, is an attribute that General Counsel and other buyers of legal service demand from their favored outside laws firms....more
It’s budget season – one of the toughest times for law firm client development leaders because they are asked to allocate a finite amount of dollars across a seemingly limitless range of possibilities. The job is made even...more
Law firms are slowly but steadily adding client-facing business development and sales professionals to their ranks and very often placing them under the leadership of Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs). Quickly, these CMOs see...more
“Commitment to help.” This is, according to BTI Consulting CEO Michael Rynowecer, one of the top attributes that buyers demand from their law firms. That’s old news; here’s the new news: More and more, law firms have awakened...more
To protect existing revenue streams, successful law firms invest heavily in client service, satisfaction, and relationships. But what about future revenue streams (aka prospective clients)? Often, and for a variety of...more
As soon as a new lawyer joins a law firm, they get wind of the fact that acquiring new clients and finding new work at existing clients are key to promotions and increased compensation. Likewise, lawyers who become firm...more
Demand for legal services is materially down after a few extremely flush years, according to a recent “state of the legal marketplace” presentation at Thomson Reuters’s Marketing Partner Forum (MPF). At cash businesses such...more
During the pandemic, buyers of legal services not only increased the number of Requests for Proposals (RFPs) issued, but also deployed new technologies to automate the buying process and heightened their focus on a firm’s...more
“We can go about selling in a systematic way because there are repeatable processes in both buying and selling.” This is an observation (with my emphasis) by Robert Miller, co-creator of the Miller-Heiman selling system, in...more
As LawVision’s Jim Cranston suggested in a recent article—Five reasons why a sales professional at your law firm can work—firms continue to contemplate the addition of business professionals skilled at winning new business....more
The most common six-word phrase in use at law firms? “What charge code do I use?” Perhaps I exaggerate to make a point. But if you’ve led a department or practice group at a law firm, you’ve heard these words often and know...more
When asked why our accounting firm service team had won the competition for a large tax engagement at a global hotel chain, the CFO counsel smiled and said: “RevPAR! Only your team seemed to know about RevPar.”...more
During the disruption of 2020 and early 2021, no law firm put its sales efforts on hold; most discovered and implemented new techniques, including, of course the pervasive Zoom sales meeting. Now, as business normalizes a...more
Excerpted from “SAM-Legal: Turning Key Clients Into Strategic Accounts, a Guide to Law firm Strategic Account Management” by Steve Bell and Silvia Coulter. This excerpt, from an early chapter in the book, provides guidance on...more
“One of the blessings of COVID,” said the head of Business Development at a South Africa law firm, “is that it disrupted and improved the way we communicate.” Although the words “blessings of COVID” are a bit jarring, she’s...more
Studies in the legal market consistently show that most client team “programs” are not doing well and that many firms do not even have a focus on key clients. Here are some quick bullet points to…
Originally published...more
In a soon-to-be-published book about strategic account management (sometimes called “key client planning”) for law firms, we have assembled a good deal of detailed technical advice for building and operating a Strategic...more
By now, your firm and its lawyers have decided whether or not it is appropriate to reach out to clients and prospective clients for business development purposes. For those who have decided that outreach is in order,...more
Since video conferences are now our most-important portals to the “outside world” and we’ve become reasonably proficient, it’s time to catch our breath and focus on how best to utilize this suddenly ubiquitous platform not...more