The Golden Rule of New Client Acquisition
To protect existing revenue streams, successful law firms invest heavily in client service, satisfaction, and relationships. But what about future revenue streams (aka prospective clients)? Often, and...
View ArticleDoes Your Partner Compensation System Harbor a Generational Timebomb?
Much has been written about the pressures developing, both within law firms and more broadly, due to the dramatically different perspectives and expectations across generations. These pressures...
View ArticleWhat to Make of Today’s Legal Economics
Wherever the crowd goes, run in the other direction. They are always wrong. Charles Bukowski For many, today’s economics are confusing. Inflation is higher than Fed targets and remains sticky, but...
View ArticleWhat Law Firm Practice Leaders Need Now
Introduction In the complex and ever-evolving world of law firms, the role of a practice group leader is crucial. Like a symphony conductor, practice group leaders are accountable for bringing...
View ArticleGot Introverts? Your LPM Initiative Needs Them
Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and Barack Obama are pretty obvious examples. Oprah Winfrey and Elon Musk? Not so much. But they all share a much-aligned and frequently misunderstood personality trait. If...
View ArticleGet to the Point (of Sale): Client-Facing Possibilities for Law Firm...
“Commitment to help.” This is, according to BTI Consulting CEO Michael Rynowecer, one of the top attributes that buyers demand from their law firms. That’s old news; here’s the new news: More and...
View ArticleLaw Firm Sales: Reach Out With Gratitude
Receiving acknowledgement for a job well done, or for helping another business colleague or contact, or for ongoing work received from a client, is rewarding for the recipient. The inherent message is...
View ArticleYour AI Legal Strategy Framework
Law firm leaders face a mountain of AI noise at the extreme ends of the fear and greed continuum, drowning out the real story. But this phenomenon is familiar and has occurred before during other...
View ArticleThree tips for CMOs who oversee both Marketing and Sales functions
Law firms are slowly but steadily adding client-facing business development and sales professionals to their ranks and very often placing them under the leadership of Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs)....
View ArticleYour AI Legal Strategy Framework Part 2
Summary. Building a strategy focusing on a fast-moving topic like AI requires a different rhythm. Assumptions made today may be proven false quickly. And your priorities may be different tomorrow. As...
View ArticleCreating and Managing a Sales Pipeline Report
Creating a sales forecast (aka pipeline report) is an essential element of business development. With a sales forecast, it will be much easier to keep focused on active pursuits, revenue goals, and...
View ArticleLPM: And the Quiet Ones will Lead Them
You have an LPM initiative to launch. What’s churning in those lawyerly heads? You’re not the boss of me. Dr. Larry Richard, founder of LawyerBrain and leading expert on the psychology of lawyer...
View ArticleHere We Go All Over Again… Or Not
The legal industry has been on the verge of either “ending as we know it,” or being forced to endure massive change, every five to ten years since at least the 1980’s. Consider some of the history:
View ArticleYour AI Legal Strategy Framework Part 3
Summary: Building a strategy focused on fast-moving topics like AI requires a different approach. Assumptions are quickly proven false, and new ideas are introduced, causing our priorities to change.
View ArticleLook to Firm Strategy for Guidance in Preparing Next Year’s Client...
It’s budget season – one of the toughest times for law firm client development leaders because they are asked to allocate a finite amount of dollars across a seemingly limitless range of...
View ArticleNavigating the Complex Landscape of 2024 Law Firm Rate Setting
“The moment you make a mistake in pricing, you’re eating into your reputation or your profits,” wisely stated Katherine Paine, emphasizing the critical importance of understanding the strategic value...
View ArticleThe Case of the Misunderstood Marketing and Business Development Team
In the complex landscape of modern law firm businesses, certain departments shine brightly while others linger in the shadows of misunderstanding. Among the latter group, the Marketing and Business...
View ArticlePractice Group Management: The Key to More Effective Use of Investment Time...
Most firms today have embraced effective and empowered practice management for many reasons: improved engagement and retention of their valued professionals, greater profitability, more collaboration...
View ArticleBuilding Stronger Client Bonds Through Strategic Rate Setting
Following up on my recent piece about navigating the complex landscape of 2024 law firm rate setting, I’d like to delve deeper into the symbiotic relationship between law firms and their clients,...
View ArticleBe an Info Hero at Your Firm: How to Propel Your Career by Learning Basic...
Understand the business. That, as BTI Consulting CEO Michael Rynowecer has reported for years, is an attribute that General Counsel and other buyers of legal service demand from their favored outside...
View ArticleThe Future of Law Firm Pricing: AI, Time, and the Quest for Genuine Value
In my last two pieces, we navigated the intricate landscape of the 2024 law firm rate setting and broached the powerful bond between law firms and clients when discussing rates and value. Today, let’s...
View ArticleBusiness Development Strategy: When Your Client Loves Another Firm Better
Elise, a partner in a Midwest-based global litigation firm, seemed somewhat desperate when I spoke with her. In the past five months she lost two significant clients. Billings for these clients...
View ArticleWhen Culture and Strategy Clash
“Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” – Peter Drucker We’ve all heard this famous admonition from the founder of management consulting, but what does it mean to us, today, in the legal world?
View ArticleLPM Lessons from the Barbie Movie. Yes, Barbie.
There are all kinds of reasons to have a visceral “oh hell no” reaction to a production about Barbie, the least of which is the inane movie trailer featuring Margot Robbie in Pantone 219C and some of...
View ArticleSelling Legal Services: The Art of Effective Questioning
In the realm of legal services, successful client acquisition isn’t about diving straight into a sales pitch. Picture this: You walk into a doctor’s office, and before you can say a word, the...
View ArticleThe Inaugural Running Legal Like a Business Conference
This year marked the beginning of a new conference*: the first-time-ever gathering of a combined 300 plus general counsel, in-house lawyers, and legal operations professionals. Further, there were...
View ArticleThe Nuances of Multi-Tiered Rate Structures: Unraveling the Complexity
I occasionally receive questions about multi-tiered rate structures, which prompted my focus this week. RATE TIER STRATEGY DEFINED Rate tiering is a pricing strategy where law firms offer different...
View ArticleIn Times of Planning Uncertainty, Fall Back on the Basics
As we all gaze into our crystal balls and try to predict what will happen in 2024 with any degree of certainty, our views are pretty hazy. Think back to this time last year, which was filled with much...
View ArticleSharpening Your Law Firm’s Industry-Based Sales Strategy
Over the last two decades there has been a proliferation of practice groups at most firms. Some are practice-specific, fewer are industry-focused, and some exist to garner budget money. While practice...
View ArticleIs Charisma Necessary for LPM Leaders?
Charisma, like extroversion, may be highly overrated. You don’t need to be charismatic to inspire people, at least according to leadership consultant Simon Sinek, one of my favorite authors and speakers.
View ArticleNavigating Rate Trends for 2024: Strategies for Pricing Success
Contrary to popular perception, law firm billing rates do not exhibit a steady upward trajectory. Instead, a closer examination of long-term trends reveals a pattern of cyclical fluctuations in...
View Article7 Reasons to Design a Law Firm Sales Process
A recent survey conducted by Chief Sales Officer Insights – a survey about achieving revenue goals – determined that a vast majority of companies are still flying by the seat of their pants when it...
View ArticleThe Many Paths to Business Development Success
When seasoned rainmakers step up to deliver their insights on business development to their firm’s eager associates, it often sparks both inspiration and apprehension. The underlying message seems...
View ArticleA Time to Reflect and Reset
As we approach the end of another year with all that entails at our firms – setting compensation, collecting money, scrambling to close deals, and myriad other things – it’s sometimes hard to step...
View ArticleFive Tips to Tie Marketing & Business Development Value to Firm Success
“I’ve been a marketing/communications professional for years and – given this economy – I am feeling the need to demonstrate value. Sales professionals have revenue metrics to show value, but I don’t...
View ArticleGenerative AI: A New Tool for Legal Project Management
The landscape of artificial intelligence has undergone major developments since the release of ChatGPT just over a year ago, with 2023 marking a turning point with increased adoption across various...
View ArticleMastering the Art of Rate Execution in the Legal Landscape of 2024
As we usher in 2024, the echoes of 2023’s law firm successes and challenges still linger. Last year, we observed mixed demand, gnawing expenses, the AI frenzy, and talent scarcity. In that tumultuous...
View ArticleWhat’s the Big Deal About Charisma? Here’s What LPM Leaders Really Need
What’s the big deal about charisma? It’s simple. Many charismatic leaders can mobilize their followers and inspire them to create a stronger, more profitable alliance. But that’s not true of every...
View ArticleBuilding Long-Lasting Client Relationships
Driving client engagement is important. With demand for services remaining almost flat, firms are grabbing share of wallet from one another. Not sure what to ask clients? How to build long-lasting...
View ArticleHow to Install a Sales Process at Your Firm
If your firm has a client, it has a sales process. After all, somehow, a buyer of legal services became aware of your firm and expressed interest. When a specific need arose, somehow the buyer thought...
View ArticleThe Math Behind Declining Work Ethic
It seems like most discussions of law firm productivity these days – from Partners to paralegals – include references to declining billable hours, which are further extended into comments on declining...
View ArticleUnveiling the Power of Legal Project Management: Driving Performance Through...
As I geared up to co-chair the 14th annual program on legal project management (LPM) for the Practising Law Institute, I couldn’t help but marvel at the incredible evolution of this field since its...
View ArticleYour Strategic Pricing Execution Checklist
As the year begins, law firms transition their pricing focus from the planning stage to execution. In the second half of 2023, firms were busy evaluating their rates and pricing strategies to prepare...
View ArticleOptimizing Your Business Development: Choosing Wisely Among Networking Events...
I read a great article in the Harvard Business Review on networking. In “Don’t waste your time on networking events,” author Derek Coburn suggests that networkers are not achieving the results...
View ArticleFor LPM, Charisma is Undying Belief
Here’s an idea for LPM leadership. We’ll welcome spring with the ending of our three-part series on charisma. Again, we recommend viewing the Simon Sinek video that forms the basis for this series....
View ArticleYour Partner FICO Score for Managing Performance
Law firm leaders constantly seek more effective and transparent measures to assess and boost their financial performance. Although traditional metrics such as effective rates, realization, profit...
View ArticleOld (But New Again) Growth Strategies for Driving Firm Revenue
Retaining and growing existing client relationships and building new business. That’s basically the business development strategy on which most firms are, or at least should be, focused. It is a sound...
View ArticleThree Ways to Foster Collaboration in Your Law Firm
At the College of Law Practice Management Futures Conference March 12 – 13, the theme was networks – collaborative, neural, professional, and more. There were many excellent presentations and the...
View ArticleNavigating the Year with Strategic Pricing in Law Firms
Strategic pricing within law firms is more than just setting rates; it is a year-round endeavor that aligns with the firm’s pursuits, understands industry market cycles, factors practice innovation,...
View ArticleClosing Sales Open Loops
When Business Development (BD) professionals and the lawyers they work with use the word “closing,” they primarily mean acquiring a new client or a new piece of business. But there’s another type of...
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