Law Firm Marketing and Business Development Blog

Ensure Future Law Sales

Allan — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 13:00:39 +0000

In our previous post, we discussed the process of closing, and approaches that attorneys should take in moving toward the sale. But just because the contract is signed doesn’t mean that the work is finished; in many ways, it is even more important and takes more effort to maintain and build the relationship after the deal is closed and you are actively working on an engagement.

How can law firms ensure that they are constantly nurturing the relationship and facilitating future law sales? Here are a few of the tried and true techniques that have worked for our clients over the past twenty years:

Know what’s working and what could be better: Don’t just assume, directly ask. You’ll be surprised by what you hear.
Focus on more than just what you’re doing now: Always be thinking two or three steps ahead in order to capitalize on future opportunities.
Keep adding benefits to your service: Find ways to continue increasing the value of the services you provide.
Participate rather than just attend: When asked to join in on client meetings, do your homework and plan on taking an active role rather than waiting for questions to be asked.
Learn their business: Understanding what’s happening outside of your client’s legal needs will actually identify other areas where your services could be utilized.

Remember that a successful professional services firm receives at least 50% of their business from past clients and client referrals. And also keep in mind in-house counsel’s responsibilities to their own clients:

High quality work
Accurate risk assessment
Responsiveness
Enhanced communications

Ensure that your engagement mirrors the way that in-house counsel engage with their own clients. Then, continue to implement techniques that serve to continue building the relationship and grow your network. As you do these things, you are effectively maintaining and nurturing the relationship and will likely see the payoff of your work in new client referrals and engagement leads.

Focus on Closing Sales

Allan — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 13:26:59 +0000

The primary concern expressed in our firm’s 2009 survey of Business Development Consultant Performance was the need for emphasis on closing. While many people assume that closing is what happens at the end of the sales process, the reality is that closing starts with the very first contact or meeting and then continues with every subsequent communication.

Understanding that closing is a process and not a milestone means that, in order to facilitate the process, you must always be working to set up the next contact and keep the relationship growing. There are a few important skills you’ll want to master along the closing path:

Have multiple points of contact with in the client’s group: Don’t limit yourself to one way in; develop many relationships simultaneously.

Get to know the client’s executives, not just counsel: Building upon the above, remember that the client’s C-suite can have a big impact on counsel choices.

Be efficient, not greedy: Focus on providing value in every stage of the closing process rather than pushing too hard toward the sale.

Be confident: Enter the closing process with a positive mindset that will shine through to your prospective client.

Define client focus and what it means to be “client-centric”: Speak in benefits, not features, and anticipate and address client concerns with their best interests in mind.

Keep clients informed: Effective communication is key to the closing process. Don’t leave clients guessing.

Differentiate yourself and your firm from competitors by talking strategy, and successes: Take the opportunity to share how your firm has been able to achieve results and focus on the strategic steps you took to get there.

Don’t forget the importance of understanding the client’s decision-making process: knowing who else might be involved, what the decision-making timing is, and what additional information might be needed. Learning the answers to these questions is a good way to keep the dialogue open, build client relationships, and move your prospects closer to closing.

Motivating Legal Sales through Talent Development

Allan — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 13:21:06 +0000

According to recent report from Hildebrandt Headlines, “the demand for law firm services was largely flat for the quarter and the rate of growth was weak.” So what does this mean for law firms interested in bucking the trend by growing their business and closing more sales? It means that there’s no better time than the present to implement creative strategies and tactics that make the most of existing resources without requiring a large amount of additional time and marketing budget.

One suggestion that the Hildebrandt report offers as a way to prevail over existing market conditions is to develop new approaches for “talent development.” And through our years of experience in using business development consulting to help motivate legal sales, we couldn’t agree more that nurturing your existing talent is an excellent way to promote legal sales.

Talent development tactics that we recommend to help law firms get their lawyers “out there” and prospering include:

Motivating attorneys to initiate client/prospect contact

Arming attorneys with pointed client and industry research and analysis

Offering personalized business development counseling

Identifying underutilized firm assets and putting them to work for the attorneys

Increasing collaboration through internal marketing and cross marketing

Tracking efforts, measuring results, and identifying tools that work and those that don’t.

The lesson to take away is this; it’s important that you focus on nurturing and developing your talent, especially during lean times. Law firms that do an effective job of providing their attorneys with the resources they need to develop their marketing talents are the ones we will see survive and thrive during less-than-ideal market conditions.

Overcoming Obstacles to Attorney Marketing

Allan — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 15:20:59 +0000

In order to overcome the obstacles associated with attorney marketing, you have to identify exactly what those obstacles are. In many law firms, the main obstacle is the attorney’s reluctance to participate in marketing activities. Anyone involved in law firm marketing has certainly heard a variety of reasons and excuses that attorneys give when they want to avoid marketing activities. See if you’ve heard one or two of these before:

“I’m in law, not sales.”
“It’s unprofessional for me to market.”
“Why bother?”
“I don’t have time to market.”
“I don’t have time to learn about somebody else’s business.”
“I have to enter my hours.”

One way to overcome this obstacle is by taking a straightforward yet humorous approach. Oftentimes in our advisory and coaching groups, we present these excuses directly to the lawyers who are participating, and ask them to provide us with some of their best reasons for putting off marketing activities. By facing it directly, they’re drawn into the humor of the situation, helping them overcome their own internal resistance in the process.

Try the straightforward yet humorous approach with your own team. We bet you’ll be pleased with the results.

The Closers Group Approach to Lead Generation Phase 3 – Business Development Strategy and Training

Allan — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 13:33:15 +0000

Whether yours is a smaller firm or you have multiple offices, one of the key elements of a successful law firm marketing strategy is the ability to ensure that all of your lawyers are on the same page. Even though the Closers Group Rapid Assessment and Strategic Action Implementation Programs are straightforward, there is often room for improvement by individual attorneys. That’s where our business development strategy and training phase begins.

The Closers Group offers workshops and one-on-one advising and coaching directed to setting business development strategies leading to closing new engagements.

Of course, our training services are focused on more than just the basics – and rarely are they one-off affairs. We make a commitment to providing monthly sessions for at least six months. During that time, we visit your offices to conduct training workshops, work with the lawyers in your firm to identify active clients and prospects, provide strategy and advisory sessions for each participant, and are available around the clock to take phone calls and answer questions. Perhaps even more importantly, we provide time for the lawyers to begin practicing business development techniques – both those that they already feel comfortable with and those that are more challenging.

Whether your firm is looking for support with client retention, closing skills, legal sales, or network development, or your partners and marketing leadership are looking for additional business development support, our training sessions pave the way to results. Check back for our final post in this series that will explore the results our clients have seen after implementing our three-phase approach.

The Closers Group Approach to Lead Generation Phase 2 – Strategic Action Implementation Programs

Allan — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 13:23:31 +0000

As mentioned in our previous post, the Closers Group helps clients achieve results using a three-phase approach – analysis with Rapid Assessment, our Strategic Action Implementation Programs (SAIP), and business development strategy and training that builds on them both.

While Rapid Assessment identifies effective and underutilized assets, our Strategic Action Implementation Programs:

Build on interviews with lawyers and firm management and the assessments of the current business development strategies used by the firm
Allow us, along with firm management, to continue brainstorming client development and marketing opportunities including conferences and speaking engagements
Develop a timeline for implementing selected action options and measuring results

Just as our Rapid Assessment phase is straightforward, so is this second phase. Our Strategic Action Implementation Programs are not only focused, but also are designed to ensure that the firm’s lawyers and marketing team are on track to complete the approved recommendations. By providing a specific timeline that includes all action items and assignments, lawyers and law firm marketing teams see targets and deadlines, and are able to measure the progress they are making.

The final phase of our approach is business development strategy and training; be sure to check back for an exploration of our training programs in an upcoming post.

The Closers Group Approach to Lead Generation Phase 1 – Rapid Assessment

Allan — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 16:33:15 +0000

One of the first questions that any firm should ask when they consider working with a business development consultant is about the consultant’s approach: What do they do differently that will help you to see real results from your lead generation efforts?

At the Closers Group, we help clients achieve results using a three-phase approach – analysis with Rapid Assessment, our Strategic Action Implementation Programs (SAIP), and business development strategy and training that builds on them both.

The key to Rapid Assessment is identifying both effective and underutilized assets. During the Rapid Assessment we:

Interview lawyers and firm management

Research experiences with past clients and the most frequently used firm services

Assess current business development strategies and methods

Brainstorm – alongside firm management – business development and marketing opportunities including conferences and speaking engagements

Present action options for immediate implementation

Once we know what is working for a firm and have identified where there is room for ,growth, we work with firm management and marketing professionals to establish and prioritize target prospects, create a timeline action program, recommend refinements for collateral and pitch materials, and provide direction for closing new business.

If our Rapid Assessment approach sounds straightforward, that’s because it is. It serves as a first step toward lead generation, providing a platform from which clients grow. And most importantly, it provides a tool to measure progress and successes.

As mentioned, Rapid Assessment is only the first phase of our three-phase approach. Be sure to return for more information about the remaining phases – and our summary post where we share outcomes Closers Group clients have seen as the result of our methods and techniques.

Social Media: Make Sure You Can Stand Behind What You Say

Allan — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 13:11:14 +0000

Over the past few weeks, we’ve discussed quite a few aspects of social media, from how much time to devote to creating and maintaining your profiles to how to effectively deal with Internet trolls. But there’s one subject we’ve only flirted with that it’s time to fully discuss-how the law applies to social networking.

Social networking sites enjoy some protection under the law when it comes to receiving immunity (or at least legal consideration) from people or organizations that are harmed by content that is posted on their networks. But while Facebook execs can sleep more easily at night knowing that they aren’t likely to be dragged into court for what someone says on their site, people who use social media sites don’t get that same protection.

When you’re posting a message to a social media site–especially a message that might be particularly spirited or opinionated–be sure to give yourself a reality check for potentially defamatory statements or other types of content that may cause you issues. And don’t think that you can slide a quick post up and then delete it if you change your mind in a few moments-unlike other mediums, the Internet has a long memory, even for those things you may like to forget or regret you’ve ever said.

Ethical, Targeted Community Building in Social Media

Todd Felts — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 13:07:08 +0000

“If you build it, he will come,” the prophetic message of Field of Dreams may apply to baseball diamonds, but couldn’t be further from the truth when it comes to social media profiles. The fact is that even when you focus on building profiles only on those networks where your best prospects are gathered, you can’t expect your audience to come to you.

Keep in mind that your audience is already engaged in a conversation; as a lawyer delving into social media marketing, it’s up to you to join that conversation and build your network. In order to do so effectively, there are three things that you must consider:

You must take the time to understand the dynamics of the group. If you’re networking on Twitter, don’t take it as a given that your friends or followers will read your legal blog unless you provide a relevant link within a tweet.
Practicing ethical marketing is your responsibility. Avoid misrepresenting yourself or your firm while you focus on demonstrating the value your services offer.
Make sure the time you allocate will be productive.

Neglecting either of these points will lead to – at the very least – not being taken seriously within the community. Simply broadcasting your message without interacting, not taking the time to build relationships, or being perceived as being unethical could lead to being “defriended” or blocked by your prospects. Any of these can have a negative impact on your credibility – meaning that instead of hitting a social media home run, your marketing efforts have struck out. Proceed with caution and common sense, and you’ll be on the right track toward social media success.

Positioning Your Social Media Message – Adjust but Don’t Fight

Allan — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 17:06:31 +0000

In our last post, we talked about the importance of monitoring your social media accounts and building on the conversation. Keeping in mind the goals of online marketing for your firm and the importance of tracking the return on your investment, it is important that you develop a clear strategy for steering your message. This holds true especially in the world of social media, where you may encounter community members who aren’t interested in having a discussion, but instead are looking for a fight. Dealing with trolls and others that may have their own agendas requires you to stay calm and stand your ground – and avoid crossing the defamatory line. As you’re developing your social media messaging plan, remember the following:

Resist picking a fight – even if you feel that the information being presented is inappropriate or unfounded. When you allow your emotion into your response, you risk crossing lines and damaging perception of your practice and your firm.
Remember your state’s ethics rules.
Stay professional without backing down.
Reassert yourself with a post that reestablishes your position. While a simple solution, reasserting and clarifying your message can have a positive impact on your audience simply because so few professionals monitor and respond to messages on social media networks.

Remember, too, that part of what makes a marketing message strong is the fact that it resonates with your target audience. Ensure that you’re taking advantage of social media to not only grow your connections and increase your network, but also to better differentiate between your offerings and those of your competitors.

Making your case by adjusting, clarifying, and positioning your message is crucial – especially in social media where there are so many things competing for your prospects’ and clients’ attention.