Rainmakers and Trailblazers

By Kim Tasso

Published by:

Worldwide Legal Research

A practical step-by-step guide to effective business development for lawyers

Rainmakers and Trailblazers

A practical step-by-step guide to effective business development for lawyers

By Kim TassoIndependent strategy, management and

business development consultant

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Acknowledgements and copyright v

Introduction – Using this book vii

About the author ix

Part I – The lawyer perspective

1. Introduction 1

2. Marketing fundamentals as they apply to law firm business development 5

What type of lawyer marketer are you? 5

Know your strengths and preferences – what’s your style? 5

What are the fundamental marketing concepts you need to know? 5

Models of lawyer marketing 6

3. Prepare yourself 11

Know your strengths and weaknesses 11

Know yourself – what are you trying to achieve? 11

Analyse information (internal) – Know your history 13

Analyse information (external) – Understand the broad market 17

Look for trends – Craft your market focus 19

Know what you’re selling – preparing your proposition and key messages 20

Agree aims and objectives (financial projections) and broad strategy 21

Select targets and critical relationships 22

Create a plan 22

4. Deepen existing relationships 25

Deliver service excellence 25

Research existing clients and referrers 26

Understand buying processes (working with procurement) 27

Network through organisations 28

Manage your referrers 29

Manage the account, not just the matters 30

Build a team around the client 31

Plan for collaboration and growth 32

5. Raise your profile 35

Create “Brand Me” 35

Manage your online profile 36

Develop web content and use SEO 37

A word about advertising 39

Gain external recognition 39

Stand in the spotlight – newsletters, media relations, blogs 39

Press the flesh – speaking engagements, networking 42

CONTENTS

Contents

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Why you need your own campaign 46

6. Make connections 49

Nurture internal relationships 49

Network – on and off line 49

Know when to request a meeting 52

Productive first meetings 53

Sales meeting checklist 55

Follow up your meeting 58

An overview of selling 58

Manage the sales process 59

7. Generate new business 61

Basic selling skills 61

Find the pain/needs 61

Pitch at opportunities 62

Handle objections and close the deal 64

Build the relationship once on a panel 65

Work referrers for more 66

8. Get help 67

Developing your business development skill set 67

Targeting 67

Communication (NVC/empathy) 68

Rapport and trust 69

Writing 69

Persuasion 70

Speaking and presenting 71

Questions and active listening 72

Negotiation 73

Motivation 74

Finalise your plan 74

Part II - In the context of the market, your firm and department 77

9. Introduction 79

10. The market 81

Why you need an outside-in approach 81

Fast review of changes in the business and consumer worlds 82

Research on what legal buyers want 84

The role of procurement 85

11. Your firm’s strategy and plans 87

What’s strategic planning? 88

Working as a team as part of a sector or practice group 90

CONTENTS

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CONTENTS

12. Make friends with finance 91

Understanding the numbers 91

Information you need vs information they have 92

The difference between forecasting and budgeting 93

Monitoring investment time 93

13. Love your marketing and PR team 95

The marketing team is on your side. Yes, really 95

Strategy, plans and research 96

Systems and information 96

Brand and reputation 98

Using the firm’s brand personality and design 98

Supporting firm-wide reputation management 98

Plugging into firm-wide channels of communication 98

Working with the PR experts 98

Legal directory entries 99

Lead generation and client engagement 99

Campaign management 99

Thought leadership campaigns 99

Driving web site traffic (SEO and social media) 99

Digital marketing initiatives (newsletters etc) 101

Advertising (and PPC) 101

Events programme and entertainment 103

Developing communities 103

Product and service development 105

The rise of risk and project management 106

Pricing 107

Focus on profitability 107

Strategic pricing vs tactical pricing 107

Measurement of effectiveness and return on investment 108

Operational analytics 108

14. Who’s managing sales and relationship management? 111

Managing the sales process and your pipeline 111

Surviving large tenders and formal pitches 111

Looking after major clients and key accounts 113

15. The need for information, research and knowledge management – and technology 117

Market knowledge, analysis and commercial insight 117

Legal know-how for systems 117

Developing buyer profiles 118

Client satisfaction surveys and service reviews 118

16. Help from human resources 119

Working in the right environment – culture matters 119

Feedback, fear and development 119

The importance of motivation and reward 120

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CONTENTS

17. Summary 121

Key lessons 121

Just do it 122

Appendix 1 – Business Development Competencies 123

Appendix 2 – Resources 125

Recommended books 129

Index 133

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND COPYRIGHT

Dedication

I’ve dedicated my previous books to my amazing children – James and Lizzie – and also to my wonderful friends. I’d like to dedicate this book to all of the lawyers who have attended my courses or been involved in my consultancy work. There are simply too many of you for me to name – although there’s an almost comprehensive list of clients on my web site at www.kimtasso.com. Thank you for your indulgence, tolerance, trust and support. I do hope that our time together continues to be of benefit to you and your firms.

Copyright

Rainmakers and Trailblazers – A practical step-by-step guide to effective business development for lawyers is published by Worldwide Legal Research Ltd. Tel: 020 3397 3543; Email: info@legal-monitor.com; Web: www.legal-monitor.com.

ISBN: 978-0-9570022-3-4

The copyright of all material appearing in this book is reserved by Kim Tasso 2014. No part of this book may be reproduced

in any form without written permission from Kim Tasso. This report is a general guide and is not a substitute for professional

advice. No responsibility is accepted by the authors or publishers for any loss incurred by any person acting or refraining from

acting on the basis of this report. The views reflected in this report are the opinion of the authors and do not necessarily reflect

the views and opinions of the publishers.

Acknowledgements and copyright

RAINMAKERS AND TRAILBLAZERS 2014 vii

INTRODUCTION – USING THIS BOOK

THERE ARE books about marketing, selling and relationship management (business development) for lawyers which focus on the practical actions and skills for the individual. There are books that take a more strategic and organisational focus, starting with the firm’s business plan, marketing strategy and its marketing infrastructure. There are books which talk about traditional methods of legal marketing and those that concentrate on digital and social methods. This book bridges all approaches – providing step-by-step, pragmatic advice to what an individual lawyer (senior or junior, serving commercial or consumer markets) might do to get started in business development or in specific business development situations (Part I – Chapters 1-8). It offers suggestions for both traditional and digital marketing methods (although you can skip the social media ideas if you want to). And it does this while also providing the organisational context (Part II – Chapters 9-16) to ensure there is strategic, united and focused effort across the firm and that good use is made of the firm’s central marketing/business development and other resources. We don’t want you going off on some tangent or reinventing the wheel.

I’ve written this book in a conversational style – to make it feel like a personal coaching session. I’ve kept management and marketing jargon to a minimum and mentioned where you might get more information to fill in the gaps. There are pointers to where I have written blogs or FAQs on my web site www.kimtasso.com to give you more detail if required. Not everything in this book will suit everybody, but there should be something for everyone.

So how do you use this book?

Of course, you could sit and read it from start to finish. That’s logical. And a good approach if you are new to business development, marketing and selling.

But I’d advise you to use it more as a workbook. Read each step (highlighted in the “Trail Check Points”) and take some time out to undertake the suggested actions as they arise. That way you will start your business development programme as you go, which should motivate you.

If you have more experience you might want to skip to the sections of particular interest to you today. That’s fine. But be warned, if you haven’t done the necessary groundwork and analysis described at the start, made the decisions about what you want to achieve and with which clients then you may find any suggestions you pick up later in the book are not as effective without this solid underpinning.

Marketing and business development pro-fessionals will find the book a useful tool when coaching their lawyers. There’s a lot of experience in here from me doing just that for over 20 years, so Part I will be best for you.

Those involved in managing law firms might like to start at Part II – to see the firm-wide implications of their lawyers being more proactive with marketing and business development. That way you can ensure the right culture, infrastructure and systems are in place to allow your lawyers to really fly.

And you can avoid them all shooting off in many different directions. I have learnt from past experience to help individual lawyers really excel at business development, the firm needs to have set out the broad parameters of its strategy – and those for each department and/or office – so lawyers know what they can and can’t do. This is covered in Part II.

However you use this document I’d really like to hear your comments. What you liked and what you didn’t. Where you would have liked more or less detail. And what worked best for you. And please feel free to share your own tips and ideas. If you email me (kim@kimtasso.com) with your comments – and give permission – I’ll try to keep the debate going by posting updates in my blogs

Introduction – Using this book

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INTRODUCTION – USING THIS BOOK

(http://www.kimtasso.com/category/blog/). I may even start (yet another) online community for like-minded lawyers who want to further debate the ideas and techniques. You may even be persuaded to dip your toe in the water of social media to participate if you haven’t already done so. n

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kim Tasso

KIM HAS worked with lawyers since 1989. Yes, that’s nearly a quarter of a century. That was at the very start of law firm marketing – so she is definitely a pioneer and trailblazer. She’s worked inside some of the largest international firms and also assisted some of the smallest.

While she is most comfortable working with medium sized, owner manager law firm clients she is more than familiar with the larger corporates and the differences involved in relationships with corporate counsel. Through the years she has spent a lot of time on the consumer side of things as well – and is well known particularly in the private client, family and personal injury markets. She has worked with organisations in the professional, real estate, media, technology, scientific, not for profit and public sectors – so she understands the issues your clients face.

Kim is one of the most prolific trainers of lawyers in an array of management, business development, marketing and selling skills. She has written books on these subjects and thousands of articles and blogs. And through her coaching work, she has worked on a one-to-one basis with hundreds of lawyers in different regions, practice areas and at all levels of seniority (from trainees

to senior partners) to help them devise and implement effective business development plans.

Amongst Kim’s ancestors are Native Americans. So she feels a particular connection to the word “Rainmaker”. She knows that success for them wasn’t about a lone brave out on his or her own, but the careful study of weather patterns and the local environment, monitoring the habits of their prey and the trailblazing activities conducted by the entire tribe working together.

Here’s the official biography (and there’s more at www.kimtasso.com):

Kim Tasso is an independent strategy, management and business development consult-ant, specialising in the professional services sector, with over 30 years’ experience. Qualified in psychology, management, marketing, coach/mentoring, NLP and psychometrics, Kim started her career in sales and marketing positions in the technology sector, working with international companies Comshare Inc, Honeywell and Logica.

She then worked in-house in senior business development roles at Deloitte management consultants and Nabarro solicitors, before establishing her own business in January 1994. She has since worked with over 300 clients, including: solicitors, barristers, patent attorneys, accountants, actuaries, surveyors and estate agents, forensic scientists, creative organisations, educa-tional establishments, psychologists, management and construction consultants and publishers.

As a freelance journalist, she writes for a number of legal, marketing and property magazines. She writes three blogs for www.allinlondon.co.uk (KimT’s Kids in London, MayB London events and the London Dog Blog) and providing restaurant and entertainment reviews.

She is a part-time lecturer on Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) postgraduate marketing courses and also at Kingston University. She is the lead trainer for over 20 courses for Pro-fessional Marketing Forum (www.pmforum.co.uk) and has helped thousands of young marketers in professional services firms over the years. She is

About the author

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also chief commissioning editor for Professional Marketing magazine.

Her first book, Dynamic practice development – selling skills and techniques for the profes-sions was published in 2000. Media relations in property, which she co-wrote with leading residential property journalist Graham Norwood, was published by EG Books in 2006. Growing your property partnership – plans, promotion and people followed in June 2009. She is a judge on management and marketing awards for organisations in the property sector and Managing Partners’ Forum.

Kim is a single mum and a cat and dog owner. Living in Twickenham, she regularly attends international rugby matches. She is better known as RedStarKim in social media circles. n