Business development in a downturn

In an economic downturn, law firms should focus their business development efforts on initiatives that deliver immediate results, says Chris Scoble.

As a former European marketing director at both Dewey Ballantine and Orrick, Chris Scoble is well aware of conventional “best practices” in relation to law firm business development. When devising their marketing strategy for the forthcoming year, law firm were traditionally advised to consult widely. They were expected to build on “lessons learned” from previous initiatives, obtain input from clients about what new offerings they would enjoy, conduct a thorough analyses of their market share, and ensure their strategy document was fully aligned with the firm’s overall business plans. Firms were also advised to have separate and distinctive communications, marketing and business development strategies, and to have specific plans for the firm as a whole, each office, each practice group, each lawyer and key clients.

“The problem is, if you did all that work towards the end of 2008, you’ll probably have been forced to throw your entire business development plan in the bin by now - because the world has changed,” says Mr Scoble. “I am sure that many leading law firms were, until recently, working on plans to grow their market share in structured finance. The problem is - that type of legal work doesn’t exist any more.”

Instead of “beating themselves up” about this situation, Mr Scoble suggests a new, recession-focused, strategy. Instead of spending months devising sophisticated and comprehensive business development programmes, firms should instead seek out “gold bars”, which can quickly bring in new revenue.

To illustrate the suggestion, Mr Scoble gives the example of a time he attended an “outwards bound” team-building contest with one of his previous employers. He recalls how his group initially performed very badly, because they were continually scrabbling around, trying to win every available point. Eventually they realised they could win the entire contest, simply by focusing all of their efforts on chasing one single prize – the gold bar. “By adopting that strategy, we went from being in last place in the contest to winning it in one afternoon,” he recalls. “We even got to finish early. Unlike everyone else, we had decided not to allow ourselves to be distracted, by trying to win every single point available.”

Mr Scoble believes that law firms marketing departments could adopt a similar, single-minded, strategy for growing their business. In a downturn, once existing clients are taken care of, what matters most to firms is winning new clients and new work. And that is best achieved by putting law firm partners in the same room as a small number of potential clients, and giving the partners clear targets for winning new instructions.

Mr Scoble recalls how, at one firm he assisted, they decided to organise a seminar, based around a recent legal development. Although the focus of the seminar was on quite a narrow subject matter, it potentially affected all of the firm’s client base, whatever industry sector they worked in. What’s more, rather than simply delivering their speeches and then repacking its content into an article for a client newsletter, the firm took a far more overtly sales-based approach to the whole event. New and existing clients were invited to take part in face-to-face meetings with their key contact partner as soon as the event had finished. Partners were also given very specific targets for delivering follow-up proposals to their contacts, and for converting those proposals into new sales. “The firm had a clear target of how much money it intended to make out of the event, and that fact was communicated to everyone involved,” he says. “Just as importantly, the whole initiative was devised, implemented and followed-up in a matter of weeks.”

For personnel involved in the more branding / communications elements of law firm marketing, Mr Scoble recognises this may be an uncomfortable message. But the fact is, law firm marketing budgets are now under pressure like never before. As a result, law firm must concentrate all their available, and precious, time and cash on initiatives that will generate rapid and tangible results.

"As a firm, you have to ask yourself whether spending days revising the text of your department's new brochure is time well spent. Alternatively, are you going to spend that same time lining up activities that will get partners in front of existing or potential clients," he asks. “Many communications activities are ‘nice to have’ strategies for long-term brand-building. But what matters right now is focusing on initiatives that bring in immediate revenues.”

Chris Scoble is the principal advisor at ESPRIMA Consulting

Last updated - 3 November 09

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