7 Steps to a Better Business Development You

Change is hard, writes Rich Bracken in "The Sustainable 2018 Resolution for Lawyers: Better Business Development," but sustaining change is even harder. And when it comes to business development, it's easy to lose track of the finish line:

Business development is an even harder sell than a treadmill, so how do you create and maintain momentum for a change that doesn't always have immediate results, takes some convincing to do, and requires the investment of consistent time and effort? 

The solution? Bracken's P7 sustainable change method, a program that will guide you to a new business development you. One that's honest about her weaknesses and understands her strengths. One that draws up a plan for success, setting long-term objectives and the milestones that confirm she's on the right path. One that knows how to translate successes and failures into sustainable change.

Read the post, then get to work on your future.

Stop Networking. Start Connecting

Maybe we’ve been going about this all wrong, writes Eric Dewey in 7 Reasons Networking is Dead ... or should be. Maybe we shouldn’t be focused on networking, but rather on connecting:

“Networking is very [What’s In It For Me?]. If you've ever been on the receiving end of this type of interrogation, you know the feeling it creates. And you’ve made a mental note to avoid this person in the future. On the other hand, connecting is about how to help each other. Connection requires you to give something, your advice, your thoughts, maybe only your genuine participation in the conversation or a sympathetic ear.”

Read the post, and think about how you can better connect with the people you meet. Because you’re not speed dating and you don’t need an elevator pitch develop a meaningful relationship. You need to connect.

The Road To A Successful Pitch Is Lined With ... Practice

If practice doesn’t make perfect, it certainly makes your pitch focused, efficient, and memorable. More importantly, writes Andrew Murray-Brown in Nailing the Fundamentals: The Value of Rehearsing, practicing before a client meeting can mean the difference between winning and losing:

“It is often in rehearsals that a team’s chemistry, so vital to a client’s impression of who they will hire, is formed. It is also through this process that a team can refine its message to be crisp, on-point and effective.”

Murray-Brown’s post offers an eight-point checklist that will help you turn your pitch into a new piece of work. Read it, and start practicing.

Business Developers: Luck Is Not a Good Strategy

Successful business developers have a habit of making themselves lucky, writes Eric Fletcher in 5 Things Rainmakers Do That Put Them In The Right Place At The Right Time, but little of their success actually stems from luck:

“In fact, the epitome of strategic business development and marketing is increasingly about executing a plan that connects with those most likely to buy your product or service.”

Fletcher goes on to lay out five keys to a strategy that eliminates the guesswork and happenstance of business development. Read it, then take his ideas out for a spin. More likely than not, they'll help you unlock new successes.

Want To Add Value? Stop Talking About The Law

"I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail," wrote Abraham Maslow in The Psychology of Science. For lawyers, that often translates into talking about the law, about legal issues, about rules and regulations and requirements. And that's precisely where they go wrong when they're trying to develop and enhance professional relationships, explains Josh Beser in Lawyers: How to Be Valuable ... Aside from Practicing Law:

Lawyers have a problem. We’re consistently perceived as experts on one thing: law. This not only dominates how others view us, but also dominates how we view ourselves. If we start talking about law, especially early on in a conversation, we will only be viewed as lawyers. This dramatically limits how others perceive what we can do to help.

Read the post. Then find ways to implement Beser's three strategies to help others without practicing law. You - and they - will be glad you did.

It Takes More Than Good Work To Stand Out

If you still believe that working hard and pleasing your clients is the only business development a lawyer needs to do, writes Cordell Parvin in In 2015, Will You Still Doing Good Work and Waiting for the Phone to Ring?, you may be stuck in the past. That's not enough anymore. Today, you must stand out:

I believe that ... lawyers and law firms have to either be remarkable or create content and value that clients find remarkable. 

Read the post. Because 2015 is a good time for a change,

"2 Parts Vague and 1 Part Potential" Is Not A Recipe For BD Success

A business development plan full of vague opportunities and potential connections isn't going to get you anywhere, writes Eric Fletcher in Targeted Business Development, Or Pursuit Of The Broad Side Of An Empty Barn? To turn opportunities into work, you must identify specifics: people to call, lunches to host, introductions to make. Like "take Jane Smith to lunch on May 17" and "invite Bob and new head of HR to February board meeting." Otherwise, you're just spinning your wheels:

... successfully building a practice begins and ends with the nuts-and-bolts-work of strategic pursuits — action items calculated to put you face-to-face with the individual or team empowered to hire you or your firm.

Read the post. Then dust off your BD plan, pull out your red pencil, and get to work.

When The Best Way To Stay Focused Is Saying "No"

It's hard to say "no," explains Tim Harford in "The power of saying no." Nevertheless, it's important to get better at saying it. Not just because you cannot possible accomplish everything you're asked to do - that much you know. But there's a significant opportunity cost that accompanies every "sure, I can help:" all the other things you'll have to give up to fulfill the new request.

What does this have to do with business development? Just this: every time you decide to chase down a new target, develop a new plan, pursue a new objective without exhausting your efforts on the clients, industries, and targets you've already determined to be valuable to your practice, you've just thrown away all the time and effort you've spent on those initiatives. Of course you need to be opportunistic. But not at the cost of your long-term goals. Here's how Harford recommends you keep on track:

Adopt a rule that no new task can be deferred: if accepted, it must be the new priority. Last come, first served. The immediate consequence is that no project may be taken on unless it’s worth dropping everything to work on it.

Read the post. Start saying "no" to random acts of business development.

The Secret of Client Development?

The secret of client development really isn't a secret. It's straight-up, hard-working, honest to goodness client service. Service that would make your mother proud, that makes your best clients pick up the phone to tell their friends about they great lawyer they've hired.

That's why you need to read Dan Hull's "world-famous and annoying but highly correct, inspirational and soulful" 12 Rules of Client Service:

The client is the main event.

It's Time for A Marketing Checkup. Here's What You Need To Do

The new year is a perfect time to assess your business development efforts, writes Sally Schmidt in Take Stock of Your Marketing and Business Development Activities. You know she's right.

But you may not know what to do, or or even how to evaluate what you're doing. That's why you need to read Schmidt's post. Schmidt serves up a series of questions, about the people you frequent, the organizations you join, the speaking and writing you do, that will send you down the path of intentional marketing and business development:

There will always be people who ask you to lunch, and there will always be folks who like to be wined and dined. The question is, are you finding benefit from these encounters? . . . The benefit can’t always be measured in terms of business generated, but there should be some mutual advantage to the relationship. For example:

• Are you learning new things when you get together?

• Is the person a potential source of work or other opportunities (e.g., visibility or introductions)?

• Can this contact be helpful to your clients in some capacity?

Read the post. Decide what's working, what isn't, and what you need to change. The get to it, before the new year gets away from you.

Do Your Marketing Efforts Need a Shot of Courage?

Lawyers are extremely good at giving advice, writes Deborah McMurray in What Courage Looks Like In A Law Firm, because that's what clients want and need. Not analysis, not waffling, not the middle-of-the-road, safe, low-stakes position. But for many, that clear-headed, sharp-witted, pragmatic approach gets lost when they turn to marketing and business development:

The daring lawyer who is a zealous and outspoken advocate for his client's position becomes afraid to stand out or be memorable when it comes to positioning strategy, branding design, messaging, even a business development approach that could help him win a new client. 

For McMurray, it's about courage, about infusing the courage and heart and passion that lawyers have - for their work, for their clients, for their personal brand and everything they stand for - into their marketing strategy. Read the post. Then take McMurray's advice:

Be as committed, pragmatic and driven in your marketing choices as you are in representing your clients. I promise, it will be rewarded. 

Sometimes The Best Thing You Can Say To A Client Is "This Won't Cost You A Dime"

Looking for a way to stand out? Try giving your client something for nothing. Pam Woldow and Doug Richardson call it "strategic altruism" in their post The Powerful Value of Providing Something for Nothing on Woldow's blog At The Intersection. I call it good business sense. Whatever you call it, you'd do well to heed their advice:

“Not everything in life has to be a billable event. There are times when you’ll help your cause most by providing value and not charging the client.”

Read the post. Give something away. Build a reputation as a "uniquely helpful and client-focused lawyer." Sure sounds like smart idea, doesn't it?

Think you know your clients' business? Your clients may not agree.

Rees Morrison's "How to help your law firms understand your business better" on his blog Law Department Management. We've featured Morrison's posts before. They provide valuable insight into what clients are thinking, what they are looking for, what they consider to be problems with the delivery of legal services. Apparently, the ignorance of outside counsel with respect to the business of their clients is one of those problems. But I wouldn't say that resolving this one is the responsibility of the client (though I certainly understand Morrison suggesting client-based solutions). On the contrary. Knowing their client's business -- what they do, where they do it, who they're competing with, etc. --  is some of the best "business development" a lawyer can do. Read the post. Then read up on your client. They'll be glad you did.

Earning your stripes at 3:00 am: fixing client problems is the best business development tool ever.

Betsy Munnell's "What Do Blogging and Vegas Have in Common?? ....Building a Niche Law Practice in the Digital Age" on her blog. Marketing and business development weren't always about blog posts and tweets and Facebook pages. Back in the day, a lawyer did her best networking when she was doing her best work. Munnell's post reminds us of that, even as she looks at digital tools as a way to enhance your reputation in today's world, where "personal interaction is at a premium." Are the good old days gone forever? Maybe. Or maybe you just have to do it differently, to build a reputation online so that you don't have to start building it from scratch at each and every in-person encounter offline. Either way, your reputation is just the starting point. You always have to earn your stripes the old-fashioned way: adding value. This post reminds us of that.

Stop trying to find time to sell. Make it.

Erica Strich's "How to Find Time to Sell Your Services" on the Rain Maker Blog. For most of us, the days are far shorter than the work that needs to get done, leaving the important but not necessarily urgent business development efforts undone when we turn out the lights and go home. This post provides some practical tips on breaking that habit, and on planting the seeds that will lead to additional work down the road. Don't neglect your garden. Read this post.

Today's Law Marketing Resource

Jim Durham's "Ten Things You Should Know About Every Client" from The Hubbard Perspective. Durham is the chief marketing and business development officer for McGuireWoods, so he brings a decidedly BigLaw focus to this post, but that shouldn't keep you from reading it. There's something here for everyone, from AmLaw 100 partners trying to land new Fortune 100 clients to solos building on relationships they've established with individual prospects. "There is no such thing as too much information," writes Durham, and this post will help you figure out what info you need.

Today's Law Marketing Resource

Dan Hull's "Cross-Selling: You guys partners? Or just sharing space?" from What about Clients? Today's resource is a two-fer: not only does Hull give you his own perspective on the barriers to cross-selling, he also points you to a post from Tom Kane that lists five "killers of cross-selling success." These barriers can be broken down, but first you need to recognize them. Read these posts and you will.

Today's law marketing resource was selected from the nominees to the 2010 ABA Journal Blawg 100. Go here to register and vote (and vote for 22 Tweets).

Today's Law Marketing Resource

Mark Herrmann's "Inside Straight: Business Development (Part 1)" from Above the Law. I never thought I'd be recommending Above the Law as a law marketing resource, but Herrmann's new "Inside Straight" columns have given it a decidedly more practical focus. This post draws on Herrmann's experience on both sides of the aisle -- as seller and as buyer -- as he looks for an answer to the question "business development: what works?"

Today's law marketing resource was selected from the nominees to the 2010 ABA Journal Blawg 100. Go here to register and vote (and vote for 22 Tweets).

Today's Law Marketing Resource

Gary Mitchell's "Start Client Development Early On" (PDF), published in Lawyers Weekly. Intended for junior associates, this piece offers solid, practical advice on developing the business development practices that will help throughout their career. But don't let that keep you away: lawyers at all career stages will benefit from reading this back-to-basics overview.

Today's Law Marketing Resource

Cordell Parvin's "How To Prepare A Business Plan That Will Make You More Successful" from The Practical Lawyer (pdf). It's a year old, but that doesn't take anything away from this article. It's full of practical advice, the kind that takes you from where you are to where you want to be. Whether you aren't sure you need a plan or you just don't know how to get started, this will point you the right direction and give you a little shove to get you on your way.