If your firm is puzzling over conversations like inclusion, mental health in the work place, succession, stability or any aspect of how to grow, take it as a warning sign: critical areas of your organization may not be aligned. Not that these topics can’t be plenty challenging. Indeed, any one calls for the best a … Continue Reading
Over the next two-and-a-half months or so you may be among the lawyers, accountants, consultants and other professional service providers taking a long hard look at your marketing, business development and sales initiatives. The dye for 2018 is pretty much cast. Time to focus on market movement, emerging trends, lessons learned, and begin the work … Continue Reading
The development of new business rarely occurs in a vacuum. In professional service firms where marketing and business development are silos at best, or necessary evils at worst, organic growth will be painfully difficult. And there will be consistent debates over where and how to invest resources. By contrast, firms that realize measurable success — … Continue Reading
No one needs a 20-page document that lists scores of action items on which action will never be taken. No one needs another plan that does nothing more than gather dust in a drawer. But unless you are one-hundred percent happy with where your practice is today, and confident that it will endure for as long as … Continue Reading
Labeling something as Strategic does not make it so. The presence of a plan, no matter the number of pages or accompanying detail, should not be mistaken for the existence of a strategy. Desk drawers are littered with detailed business development and marketing plans that are decidedly not strategic. And even in the event a … Continue Reading
When it comes to business development, few things bring the clarity that comes with a focus on targeting. But for who-knows-how-many-reasons, few things are more difficult for many professional service providers. It is a heck of a lot easier to discuss getting our name out there. Or, building a list of all the XYZ type companies in a given geography. … Continue Reading
Any discussion of business development should be required to begin with this disclaimer: There are no one-size-fits-all solutions or formulas. Silver bullets and cookie-cutters might work elsewhere; but not here. With that stipulation, there are a number of solid cornerstones that will ensure the resources invested in your plan for the coming year aren’t experimental in nature, leaving you to hope the … Continue Reading
Countless hours are about to be spent in meetings, on conference calls, and in early morning or late night hand-wringing sessions among law firm and professional service leadership. The focus? Identifying strategies and creating plans that solve a glaring deficit in business development progress. Risking sounding negative this early in January, here is what will … Continue Reading
If you wrestle with the practical aspects of developing and executing on a business development strategy (you’re not alone!), very few things will bring the clarity that comes with a focus on Targets. Check that. Few things will have the impact that comes with a focus on Smart Targeting. From no target at all (waiting … Continue Reading
