In today’s ultra-competitive legal marketplace, business development skills are a pre-requisite for individual lawyer and firm success. We have provided business development training and coaching programs to partners and associates at a number of Am Law 100 law firms.
Unlike the services offered by other consultants, we do not provide an “off the shelf” product, but rather invest the time to learn the culture of the firm we are working with and discover the specific needs and the best use of our services. We become familiar with the business development culture, what gets rewarded, as well as the institutional support and institutional obstacles at the firm. Many firms that invest in “one off” trainings revert to “business as usual” within a relatively short period of time because there is no commitment to ongoing support, and/or the lawyers are not being held accountable. We work to ensure ongoing commitment, activity and accountability which will involve the firm’s practice group leaders, mentors, and marketing/business development personnel.
Much of the content of our business development training and coaching programs comes from what we have learned from interviewing clients of law firms. In addition to the client interview data, the trainings are also based on information learned from studying the “common characteristics of great lawyers.” The skills, attitudes, work habits and standards of so-called “rainmakers” are consistent with client descriptions of great lawyers. Accordingly, our approach is designed to show lawyers how to make business development fit into all aspects of their practice.
The theme that runs throughout our training/coaching is that lawyers can grow revenue from existing clients and attract new clients by:
- Having every client with whom he/she works say: “You are the best lawyer with whom I/we have ever worked.”
- Getting to know a client’s business and by suggesting “specific ways in which you might assist” – which is the essence of cross selling.
- Being a dependable and valuable resource to the people in the lawyer’s professional network.
- Having good relational and communication skills, and the ability to adapt communication style to that of clients and prospects.
The coaching program focuses on creating and implementing an individually designed (and simple) business plan and sales strategies and continuing the momentum begun by an in-house training/coaching program. “Real time” coaching in a learning-by-doing format builds upon each participant's unique level of business development expertise, practice specialization, and personal style. This approach allows us to create specific content and plans tailored to each person's needs and abilities. This program teaches lawyers how to build their practices by generating new business from prospects, existing clients and referral sources. We teach the lawyers how to integrate newly-learned sales and business development skills into daily routines.