Lawyers and legal professionals coming out of law school and study programs are equipped with vast legal knowledge. However, for most people, law firm business development wasn’t a key part of the curriculum. Macro trends indicate that clients have made fundamental changes to the ways they purchase professional services. That has driven lawyers to embrace new approaches to business development. In this article you will read about some of the key strategies for your law firm business development for 2022.
The pursuit of accelerating business is a continuous process, especially in a competitive space like the legal industry. You want to make sure you’re constantly innovating your strategies to outgrow and outsmart your competition. By planning your law firm’s development, you can reach the full potential of your business and provide client-centric services to your audience.
Identify and separate business development and marketing:
When we deal with business development, we speak about building and nurturing relationships. That includes with potential clients, referral sources, strategic alliances and so on. On the other hand, the core efforts of marketing center on being found in one’s professional capacity (both offline and online). Separating the two will allow for maximum growth in both departments.
Insert business development into the client engagement process:
As you learn more about a prospect, your interaction with that prospect should be increasingly tailored and personal. In this way, your business development efforts will not only be more efficient, but will also be an easier and more pleasant part of your day-to-day operations. Moreover, you will continue to be at the forefront of their minds.
Create a niche:
In this ultra-competitive legal marketplace, lawyers are realizing that a more effective approach to business development is focusing on a narrower group of prospects to guarantee success. From a practical point of view, it will also be more efficient to invest your time in building relationships with a specific group of potential clients.
Calculate your business development ROI:
It seems that many lawyers cannot point to the direct results of an accurate return on investment (ROI) from each business development initiative within their practice. These measurements will help you reveal what works and what doesn’t. You will be able to intensify successful practices and stop business development projects that bring no (or little) ROI to you and your practice.
Implement ‘attention leadership’:
Today, there are many demands on our time and attention. While marketing is all about ‘getting attention’, business development is more about ‘giving attention’. As content has grown increasingly abundant and immediately available, attention becomes a limiting factor in the consumption of information by your prospects and connections.
Create a systems approach:
This coming year will mark a significant switch in the way lawyers address this need. A good system includes generating contacts through many activities. Content distribution in the right channels, tracking activities with key prospects and analyzing data to identify potential clients.
Switch from practice-focused to client-focused:
Many lawyers get the opportunity to make proposals to clients with complex matters in their area of expertise. This is a great opportunity for you, as a professional. It will help you boost your practice’s business development, by taking a more strategic approach to these projects. In other words, instead of pitching on only your specific capabilities, also include your strategic approach to dealing with client matters and serving their needs. Convey that you understand complex client problems and share how you’ve resolved issues for similar clients.
Invest in Legal Technology:
The innovative legal technology helps law firms in many ways to increase efficiency and accuracy, allowing law firms to improve their workflows and achieve new business opportunities. Efficient legal matter management, contract lifecycle management, reporting, tasks and workflow automation. All of the aforementioned can be achieved by legal technology solutions can boost productivity and provide unbeatable competitive advantages.
In the current market, it is (unfortunately) not enough to be an outstanding legal professional.
You also have to acquire the necessary skills to lead your business, just like any business owner, with growth and success in mind. That’s why it’s worth investing time and effort in your law firm business development tactics. The more developed your approach is, the more abundant results you can expect.
Ready to start your development efforts? Contact us now and let us guide you!
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