Keeping Up in 2011: Internal Success Recommendations
When it comes to achieving success, it’s not just about what you’re doing for you clients–what’s going on internally is equally, if not more, important than the rest. In our previous post, we discussed better serving and working with clients or prospects through enhanced efforts and relationship building. And while clients are the meat and potatoes of your business as we discussed in tips 1 and 2, at the core of your business are your own staff and internal systems. So today, we’re going to focus on you, and what’s inside your business.
When it comes to taking a closer look at the inner workings of your firm, here are a few elements you’ll want to consider:
- Build Business Development Talent: The past few years, law firms have been holding back and not investing in business development. Though the economy has taken its toll, the time to take action is now. Provide your attorneys and marketing professionals with the valuable training, support, and incentives that will bring results. This investment will yield new business now and down the road. While many firms are still holding back, go on the offensive and start building.
- Review Pitch & Proposal Success: You may have an exceptional line-up of lawyers, but if your management of pitch and proposal activities is mishandled then the process will become ineffective. Coordinating and collecting approaches, responses, follow-ups, and client decisions in an organized fashion will help create a streamlined sales and marketing plan. A strong pitch and proposal plan will increase both your efficiency and your ROI. Your firm will learn what works, what appears to be irrelevant, which services are being requested, and more that will help you plan for future pitches and proposals.
When revamping internal processes, you can expect some initial reluctance from colleagues, but after you work through this you’ll find that it is worth the effort. Developing talent is one of the best ways to increase productivity and new business. This tactic is the only of the six we’re discussing in our blog post series that may cost money, but the ROI is far greater than the cost. Reworking internal processes can increase efficiency and decrease time spent on searching for information lost in the shuffle while improving business development techniques. In the last installment of this series, we’ll be looking at external factors to stay abreast of in order to increase opportunities.
