Following a recent engagement as a marketing keynote speaker for the Beverly Hills Bar Association, an attendee asked me a question about the importance of first impressions in making law sales. For anyone engaged in legal sales or who provides business development presentations, it’s hard to deny that the role of first impressions is the foundation for an excellent question.


One of the best answers can be based on Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink. The book’s subtitle – “The Power of Thinking Without Thinking” – is critical to understanding the value of first impressions as you prepare for first contacts with a new prospect.


Whether meeting someone at a conference during a coffee break, sending an email inquiry, responding to an RFP, or engaging with a prospect on any level, snap decisions are made within 2 seconds. That’s right: the first two seconds can be all it takes for a potential client to make a snap decision about a lawyer, a law firm, or a legal consulting proposal. If the impression is positive, the door will be open and there will be plenty of opportunity to expand on what you have to offer. Overcoming a neutral or negative response, however, requires a great deal of energy and a much stronger legal selling skill set.


From our side of the table, it can be difficult to determine what the “blink” factor is. Therefore, if you’re looking for business development training, be sure to focus on training that emphasizes presenting your understanding of a prospect’s business within the first moments of any discussion. Identifying from the start that you want to align interests with your prospect – focusing on asking questions about the prospect’s needs and responsibilities to stakeholders – enables you to highlight your (and your firm’s) ability and set the right tone for developing business.

Client retention relies on the relationships that you establish with your current and prospective clients. In our business development seminars, we emphasize the importance of selling based on the client or prospect’s needs rather than the size of your firm, the number of offices the firm has, or the awards that your firm has received.


Successful law sales require a balance between the firm’s responsibilities and in-house counsel’s responsibility to their clients – the business units. Just like your law firm, in-house counsel must provide:

1. High quality work,
2. Accurate risk assessment,
3. Responsiveness, and

Enhanced communications.

As you engage during an assignment, make sure that you continue the dialogue. Continually talk with your clients about their responsibilities to their clients or customers, and focus on what you can do to align your interests with theirs. Not only will this contribute to the success of your current efforts, but also it will provide a foundation for generating new business.

On May 11, I was able to sit in on the Argyle Executive Forum 2010 Chief Legal Officer Leadership Forum event in San Francisco. One of the topics of discussion was the latest definition of “alternative fees” – information that I will be relaying during upcoming workshops and seminars where I’ll continue discussing the importance of alternative billing arrangements.


Alternative fees are one way in which lawyers and law firms are able to add value to the services that they offer clients. Providing value is, of course, just one way in which lawyers can indicate that they understand their clients’ and prospects’ businesses and is something that business development consultants from the Closers Group stress to our clients.


Our commitment to the importance of building client relationships was only strengthened after attending the conference. In attendance were over 150 senior in-house counsel members including speakers from Cisco Systems, Qwest Communications, Google, Jack in the Box, Levi Strauss & Co., the Molson Coors Brewing Company, and other equally well-known corporations as well as Partners from a number of big name law firms. The common theme was clear and simple: When attempts are being made to close sales, demonstrate your knowledge of a prospect’s business – including internal pressures and the risks they may be taking – and emphasize the “alignment of interests.”


When it comes to building relationships, in-house decision makers for law firm sales aren’t just looking for a lawyer – what they’re looking for are firms that have a demonstrated commitment to helping firms progress and thrive.

As a business development consultant for more than 20 years, I’ve had the benefit of speaking with a number of in-house counsel on what they’re looking for when it comes to retaining outside counsel. Most commonly, my in-house colleagues mention the same two criteria:

• Outside counsel needs to have an understanding of their business
• Outside counsel needs to realize that in-house counsel takes a risk any time they engage with a new firm

To effectively close new business opportunities, law firms must demonstrate not only a thorough understanding of the business, but must also work to alleviate concerns that in-house counsel may have. One of the best ways to show that your firm is capable and ready to provide the best solution for solving the problem at hand is to provide specific case studies that outline your firm’s unique successes. Sharing previous successes with the prospective client will help reassure them that you are capable of providing winning strategies.


While you’re delivering powerful case studies, don’t forget the power of messaging and branding. Take the opportunity to actively listen to what your potential client is saying, and then come back to them with an answer that considers your brand, the client’s brand, and their specific needs.


Remember, too, the benefit of developing a set of core messaging and bringing it into every new business touchpoint. By linking your message to your firm’s tag line–whether you’re on a new business meeting, participating in a preliminary phone call, meeting a potential client for dinner or even delivering a speech—you are taking the steps to make your brand an unforgettable one.


Take the opportunity to tie all your firm’s benefits and differentiators back to this core messaging, and the next time in-house counsel is looking for outside counsel they can count on, your firm will be at the top of the list.

In an earlier post, we talked about the potential disconnect between a law firm’s branding and tag line and what the firm actually delivers. But what happens if your law firm doesn’t have a tag line—what message are you conveying?


Many law firms that forgo a tag line simply rely on their name and reputation to deliver their brand message. However, you may need more than the old standby of being a firm that is “reliable, timely and helpful” in order to close new business. Even if your firm doesn’t have a particular tag line, it is imperative that you develop clear, consistent messaging about what your firm name represents. Also key is schooling attorneys on this messaging so that they can make use of it in new business pitches, speeches, articles and other marketing and new business opportunities, and ensuring that your messaging remains clear across all of of your multiple practice specialties.


If your rely on your name as your brand, help strengthen your name by making certain that your messaging supports what your larger brand represents.

In our last post, we started to look at the common disconnect that often happens between a firm’s tagline – and the “brand” they aim to create with it – and the ways in which lawyers at the firm attempt to sell their services. We noted that the takeaway message from a pitch, speech, meeting, proposal, and other law firm marketing efforts often doesn’t match up with the firm’s tag line. Of course, in that post, we looked at taglines that were broad in scope and may have left readers wondering, “But what about firms using with tag lines that are more direct and focused?”

• DRI – “The Voice of the Defense Bar” – promises DRI “Delivers Resources to Build Your Practice.” The associated DRI Europe uses the tagline “Defending Business.”
• Dickstein Shapiro LLP markets “Experience Innovation.”
• Wolf Greenfield defines their firm as “Specialists in Intellectual Property Law.”
• The welcome screen for the Fitzpatrick – Fitzpatrick, Cella, Harper & Scinto – website professes “We Are IP,” even before the name of the firm is mentioned.
• Ius Laboris, an alliance of international law firms that specialize in lending legal support to firms with human resources concerns ranging from employee benefits to the impact of immigration, brands itself with the tagline “Global Human Resources Lawyers.”

While each of those taglines is focused clearly on an area of specialty or the core function of the firm, others focus on action. At Ogletree Deakins, the tagline is simply “Now” – and is meant to convey to prospective clients that what they do now will have a lasting impact on the future of their businesses. “Now” also can relate to the up-to-date, action-oriented work that the firm does on a client’s behalf. Faegre & Benson stresses “We Deliver More Together” – emphasizing the importance of partnering with their clients.


What separates these taglines from those previously discussed is simple: each would be a strong takeaway if used as a critical part of an attorney’s legal marketing efforts. Therefore, the question remains: are these marketing and advertising components also finding their way into the Red Zone – the business development arena – where meetings and pitches are being held with prospects?


Remember, a firm’s brand is only as strong as the attorneys make it. The more firms connect their brand with their sales process, the more memorable it will be and the stronger the impact it will have.