Blueprint for a Business Development/Sales Culture
By Lisa M. Simon, Public Relations & Marketing, Lakewood, CO.
She can be reached at (303) 885-7847 and legalmediagirl@attbi.com.

As part of the annual Marketing Directors Institute held in Denver, Colorado at the Brown Palace Hotel, senior legal marketing professionals gathered for the session, “Fostering a Business Development/Sales Culture in Your Firm.”

The session, facilitated and led by David Freeman, founder and President of David Freeman Consulting Group, pulled together the collective knowledge and experience of the session’s participants to work through a process that would help each attendee determine how just such a culture could be developed within their own firms.

Freeman stated that, “while many firms desire a culture that supports business development, few know how to achieve it. The beauty of this session is that we will have some of the best minds in the business focused on building a blueprint for how to get there." Based in Boulder, CO, Freeman can be reached at (303) 448-0757 and dfreeman@davidfreemanconsulting.com.

First, participants in the group defined what a business development/sales culture looks like. The group agreed that in a strong business development culture, firm leadership is

Always looking and open for opportunity

Freely exchanging ideas and information

Deeply attuned to what the client’s needs are

Proactive rather than reactive

Supportive of lawyers incorporating business development and marketing into their everyday practices

Next, to begin the process of identifying how to create this change within our own firms, Freeman had the group look at the three major levels within a law firm that need to be involved if cultural change is to occur: (1) Senior Leadership, (2) Practice Group and Department Leadership, (3) Individual Lawyers. As a group, the participants then came up with ideas, issues, and obstacles in each of those three areas that are essential to fostering a culture that is proactive and responsive to the needs of a business development culture. Participants agreed that the most important issues they chose to address were

Strategic planning and vision

Rewards and recognition

Accountability

Communication

Training

The group then created an action plan of moving a firm toward the culture we all crave. Taking into consideration the three levels of leadership and the five issues identified, the group was able to answer the following questions.

How does a firm ensure that its business development program reflects its strategic vision and plan?

Have leadership define growth opportunities

Link firm strategy to practice group planning and obtain widespread buy-in

Involve firm leadership in ongoing communication of priorities to firm

Measure and reward business development initiatives that support strategic vision

What rewards and recognition will motivate our lawyers to foster a business development culture?

Survey attorneys about what motivates them

Establish a policy for weighting non-billable marketing/business development hours

Tie bonus system to business development plan

Evaluate non-financial rewards which motivate and implement viable ones

Develop tracking and administrative systems to support

How do we hold lawyers accountable for fostering a business development culture?

Establish measures for business development activity, then standards

Develop a reporting mechanism to track business development related to plan

Create a set of consequences for not meeting standards

Create incentives for meeting/exceeding standards

Continuous coaching in the process

What specific communication tools will enhance a business development culture?

Internal PR on business development successes

Communication of firm plan to entire firm

Communicate with other practice groups

Foster communication to encourage cross selling

Monthly business development report

How can training be utilized to enhance a business development culture?

Assess training needs at all levels

Evaluate training programs available within firm and what needs to be outsourced

Develop implementation schedule (individual evaluation process)

Identify training champion owners of training at partner, associate, and staff levels

Use training as a communication vehicle

What the participants discovered by taking part in the senior-level session was that it was the process of building the plan that created ownership. Freeman agreed. “One of the challenges of working in the law firm environment is that, despite the brilliance of any plan, it's often difficult to implement if the lawyers do not have buy-in,” he said. “Therefore, in order for a true cultural change to occur, support must be developed at the outset. Engaging lawyers in a process that gets them to identify issues and solutions can provide that elusive mandate for action that makes a marketing professional's job much easier.”