Marketing minutes
Many lawyers and expert professionals juggling lots of competing tasks struggle to allocate significant chunks of time to business development as often as they’d like. But all of us – no matter how busy – can take “marketing minutes” just about every day. One marketing minute drop a brief note to a client thanking them […]
Continue ReadingCultivating gravitas
While some lawyers and professionals just have gravitas, others struggle to find it, and a whole lot simply don’t realise they lack it. Professionals who exude gravitas: speak with authority and have that authority accepted are quietly confident apparently naturally command are accorded high status in a room have others take notice of their views […]
Continue ReadingCase studies – using them to improve your tender or proposal
Well-devised case studies in tenders or proposals can be compelling. Case studies, in this context, mean write-ups (in a journalistic or “article” style) of individual cases or circumstances which demonstrate: your distinctive expertise your understanding of the client’s industry and business challenges your appreciation of the special requirements, preferences, and culture of your prospective client […]
Continue ReadingMeasuring business development success
Too often, the “highs” generated by recent wins can over-shadow the facts when it comes to evaluating the success of business development initiatives. It’s a great idea to develop some formal metrics for measuring business development success. Tracking these will be useful: number of proposals to established clients number of proposals to established clients for areas beyond […]
Continue ReadingBusiness development forecasting
Forecasting business development outcomes – wins – is an important and valuable element of successful professional services selling. But forecasting is tough. So often it’s about identifying multiple uncertainty factors, and estimating the impact of each, plus making judgements about options to influence outcomes. Good forecasting of sales lets us (and others around us) plan. […]
Continue ReadingTender debrief
If you’ve gone to the effort and expense of tendering be sure to debrief – win or lose – on the outcome. If there is an opportunity for face-to-face debriefing, take it – it’s only fair that large legal consumers who invite tenders offer debriefing and feedback to tenderers, whatever the result. Use these questions […]
Continue ReadingBusiness development skills improvement
Here are some key business development skills areas that may need improvement in your professional services firm. Rate yourself on each, and work out what most needs to improve: understanding the business development process understanding how clients make decisions presenting your firm’s credentials positioning and differentiating yourself and your firm prioritising your personal marketing efforts winning in […]
Continue ReadingBusiness development metrics
So many professional service firms we meet bemoan the track record of most of their folk in developing new work and new clients in attractive niches. More than occasionally a practice leader confides that their technically competent team knows only how to “feed on the carcasses I kill” or “live like a leech on me”. […]
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Feature article
If you’re bidding for everything, how can you improve your chances of success?
One thing is certain in this post lockdown world: it is highly unlikely that any business will decline the opportunity to respond to an RFP. In fact, with revenues under pressure for most organisations, every RFP will likely be viewed as a genuine ‘opportunity’. This means that even for those businesses with a robust go/no […]
