In a law firm, getting attorneys to take any kind of marching orders is never easy – especially when it involves non-billable time. This is compounded when it comes to business development because even the thought of having to ‘sell’ makes quite a few attorneys rebellious. Hence the frustration among the managing partners. It’s bad enough to be at war with your competitors, but it’s even more challenging when you are also having dissension among your troops.

There are many additional reasons why business development has been challenging for some firms including: a failure to make business development a priority, inability of current compensation systems to adequately reward and encourage business development efforts and a lack of attorney business development training and coaching. The discussion also surfaced some fundamental misconceptions about business development.

Here are some of the fundamental concepts – and weapons – for winning the war on business development…

Battle Plans

While business development battles are often waged on many fronts, ultimate success almost always starts with a battle plan. No matter how large or how small the battle, a well‐thought‐out strategy can fortify your defenses and prevent unacceptable losses.

Think of business development strategy and planning as a chess game. The moves you make will depend on a variety of factors. You have to understand where you are now, where you want to be and the best way to get there.

How do you want to grow your practice or your firm? Do you want to try to cross sell to expand business with existing Clients or should you attempt to bring in new business from prospects. Is your best opportunity to leverage your referral sources or to emphasize your experience and knowledge in a niche area or industry? Should you focus on reputation building activities or would it be more productive to get face‐to‐face with Clients and prospects? Only when you have considered all of these moves will you be prepared to battle it out.

You must also take into consideration the moves of your opponents. The better you can anticipate their moves, the better prepared you will be to outflank them. You need to pay close attention to what your competitors are doing – and what they are failing to do. Which markets are they in now, and which ones do they plan to enter? Which Clients do they have now, and who do they plan to go after? Which practices areas do they currently focus on, and which ones may they be thinking about adding or eliminating? How are they perceived in the market, and what are they doing to affect or change this perception.

Before you can answer these questions and really plan your strategy, you will likely need to gather some intel… competitive intelligence and business development intelligence.

Intel

Planning for the business development battle starts with gathering Intel to build your business development intelligence. You need to do your homework to gain a keen understanding of your Clients and prospects, your adversaries – and even your own troops.

One way to begin gathering Intel is to do research. Find out all you can about your Clients’ and prospects’ businesses and industries. Are they moving forward or backward? Are they expanding or contracting? Are they hiring employees or laying them off. Are they adding new locations or closing them? Are they developing new products or services or acquiring them through purchases? Are they content with their current locations or entering new markets? Do they want to be regional, national or global? Are they targeting new companies for acquisitions ‐ or might they be potential targets themselves?

So why is this Intel so important? Why do we care about these things? Because each one often involves issues or challenges that may require legal services – and each represents an opportunity to help the Clients or prospects – and ultimately develop business.

The Troops

Of course, the most important factor when it comes to winning or losing the business development battle is your troops. They must be loyal, courageous, dedicated and prepared.

You also must be careful to select the right troops. Different battles require different deployments. For some, you may need a small army of foot soldiers. For instance, when responding to an RFP or when a potential Client has a project that requires attorneys from multiple practices or specialties, you may want to send in a pitch team.

Other battles may call for an army of one. When the Client needs precise expertise for an unusual or unique situation, you may want to move in a lone laser‐focused sniper who rarely misses, armed with targeted information and ideas.

In other situations, it may be more effective to engage a few top soldiers who are highly trained in special operations. These Special Forces would be called up when a Client has ‘bet the company’ litigation or a complex deal that simply must go exactly as planned. Situations like these require the best of the best, attorneys whose skills are unquestioned and unequaled. But no matter how you deploy your troops, the must first be adequately prepared and trained.

Basic Training

Business development basic training for your troops should be done early and often. While it’s almost never too soon to begin training in the basics of business development, attorneys who have been practicing 4 years or more tend to make excellent recruits.

The first element of basic training should involve getting the attorneys ‘over the wall.’ In other words, they need to know that business development begins by getting out of the building and getting face-to -face with Clients and prospects.

‘Corps’ business development training should then begin with Client calisthenics. These workouts may include building business development intelligence by researching Clients and potential Clients to better understand their businesses and industries and learning to ask questions to help identify Client needs that they may be able to help with. The top candidates may then advance to a ‘ropes’ course where they get to learn the ropes of their Clients’ businesses by visiting their offices, meeting their key contacts, attending their meetings or events – or even doing a secondment. There is no better business development tool than spending time learning all you can about your Clients and building your business development intelligence.

Focusing on regular, ongoing training exercises will not only underscore the importance of business development to the firm, it will also demonstrate the firm’s commitment to the attorneys’ continuous development and growth, which can help in retaining top talent. After basic training, ongoing refresher courses should continue regularly to keep all attorneys in their best possible condition. Additionally, while training is crucial, even more important is regular one-on-one personalized instruction…

The Drill Instructor

Basic training focuses on general business development skills and information that are essential for all recruits to understand before moving into the field. However, as with any type of training, up to 75% of this knowledge can be lost without the addition of regular one-on-one follow up coaching. This is where the individual battles are won or lost.

Finding the right instructor can enhance individual business development results exponentially. A good drill instructor or coach can help the troops to take the basic business development information and put it work for them to achieve their business development objectives.

So who makes the best instructor or coach? The drill instructor for business development bootcamp can be an internal staff ‘sergeant’ or an external coach– or a combination. Many attorneys feel that an outside consultant is often the best fit because of the sometimes-personal nature of the coaching relationship and the level of confidentially that can be maintained.

Often, having a variety of different styles or types of coaches can be beneficial to ensure that you find the best fit for each of your troops. Ultimately, a good drill instructor or coach can mean the difference between advancing on the business development battlefield… or retreating.