Business Development

Subscribe to Business Development via RSS

In less than a week, it will be September 1st. I like to think of September as a brand new start, much like the school year used to be. It’s a chance to begin again and look at your goals and plans with a fresh set of eyes. 

I want you to consider these last four months of 2014 as the "end zone" for your business development efforts this year. Yes, business development is an ongoing effort, and it doesn’t end simply because the calendar year wraps up.  But I’ve found that when I have ongoing projects, giving myself firm deadlines to complete them motivates me far more than having some abstract end date. 

There will likely be three groups of you reading this post – those who started the year with business development plans and goals, who split them up throughout the year and made progress on them; those of you who had those plans, but who may have only made some inroads here and there; and those of you who had no plans or goals set at all. But no matter where you are, think of September as your do-over month, and the opportunity to plan for the remainder of the year. Continue Reading The End Zone of Business Development

Before I get underway with this week’s Two for Tuesdays, I have to say how saddened I am over the loss of Robin Williams. My thoughts are with his friends and family at this impossibly difficult time.  He brought us such joy, showed us how to be kind and giving, and will be so deeply missed by so many.

***

On a much lighter note, last night, I had the good fortune to be able to attend the New York premiere of The Giver, the movie adaptation of the book by the same name from author Lois Lowry.  I’ve never been to a movie premiere before (I was able to get tickets by fundraising for arts charities through the Weinstein Group), so I was keen to see how it all would go.

It was a lovely event, and I was tickled to see the stars up close – Meryl Streep, Jeff Bridges, Katie Holmes, Taylor Swift, Brenton Thwaites, Odeya Rush, and Cameron Monaghan were all there (missing, unfortunately, was my main reason for being there, the handsome and charismatic Alexander Skarsgard, who is currently filming in England. So if you know him, please feel free to give him my number. I am not joking.). Continue Reading Two for Tuesdays: Business Lessons from The Giver Movie Premiere

Well, August is finally here – this gal loves the cooler temps of the fall, pumpkin spiced lattes, sweaters, and falling leaves, so August is not my favorite month.  But it’s a good one to take advantage of.  A LOT of people take their vacations in August – and for those of us with a lot of European clients, August can be a pretty quiet month if you’re stuck sitting at your desk. 

So now is the time to tackle anything that may fall to the wayside once September hits and things pick up again.  And that’s where this week’s Two for Tuesdays comes in.

Tip One: Make a Change

August is a good time to look around you and see what may not be working so well, and this can take a number of different tacks…Continue Reading Two for Tuesdays: Make the Most out of Your August

This afternoon, I was reading an article on four suggestions for rules to follow when networking internationally.  The tips are good ones (and we’ll go into more on them in a moment), but it occurred to me as I was reading that they’re actually quite good tips for all types of networking – whether you’re meeting people from other cultures, or just two blocks away. 

The author of the article, Pierre Brais, puts these in a certain order, but I’m going to prioritize them a bit differently. For me, everything starts with "Do your homework." 

Do Your Homework

Whether you’re meeting someone in your own city, or from a city halfway around the world, it pays to do your homework: on the individual, on their business, and on the culture. With so much information available online these days, there’s no excuse for not being adequately prepared.  Before meeting someone, take some time to search for their name online – look through their LinkedIn profile, and find out what outside interests they might have, the types of responsibilities that fall under their purview at their current position, and what other organizations they may have worked for and with. Continue Reading Let’s Be a Little More International in Our Networking

A post came through my reader last night, with 7 Tips for Starting a Content Marketing Strategy. Now, I know what you’re thinking, that the idea of crafting a "strategy" around delivering valuable information to your audiences is a bit icky.  But I promise that it’s not – this is about identifying what is of most use to your clients and potential clients (and influencers and amplifiers), and making sure that you’re not committing what we call RAM (Random Acts of Marketing). 

I’m also sensitive to the use of "marketing" here – I am a marketer myself, and have a great deal of respect for legal marketers, in no small measure because we’ve had to adapt and develop into much more robust and significant roles in recent years. But I know there are some who think of marketing as a necessary evil, or just "those guys down the hall who put together our brochures." (That’s not true, by the way). 

True legal marketing, in my book, is identifying how you translate the skills and experience of attorneys to clients, potential clients, and others who will trumpet this information, in a way that those people care about (as well as working with attorneys on how to do this themselves, how to engage and build relationships with all of these individuals, and how to keep their current relationships vibrant and healthy, etc and so on. But I digress). Continue Reading Two for Tuesdays: Successful Content Marketing Strategies

On Friday, we had an excellent, excellent panel following lunch with some truly brilliant people – moderator Nancy Mangan of Wicker Park Group chatted with Paul Malanowski (@pmalanowski) of Saul Ewing, Melanie Green (@melaniegreen) of Faegre Baker Daniels, and Dave Bruns (@dbruns) of Farella Braun + Martel about some of the innovative things they do to combat the most prevalent problems in business development. 

Whether you’re at a large firm, or a small firm (or a service provider), there were a lot of tips in here that we can use to better drive business development. 

Key Takeaway: Talk to your Clients

When I use the word "clients" here, it has different meanings for different people: 

  • For attorneys, it’s your clients. 
  • For marketers, it’s your attorneys. 
  • For service providers, it’s your clients. 

Continue Reading Takeaways from “Quick Fixes: Innovative Solutions in Law Firm Business Development”

Last week, Kevin O’Keefe (@kevinokeefe) caught my eye with his post "Social media for business development by lawyers is a big lie?" It was written in response to Conrad Saam’s (@conradsaam) post "Every Social Media Consultant is Lying to You." 

Regular readers here will know that I’m a big fan of social media, for lawyers and other business professionals. So I know you’ll expect me to refute the points in Saam’s post and support those in Kevin’s (and I will…maybe). 

But I want to start with this statement – I do not think social media is the be all, end all of business development or marketing tools. 

I never have. 

I even tell my attorneys: the likelihood that you’re going to start using a social media platform (like Twitter) and immediately get a client – or ever get a client – is incredibly small. Continue Reading Social Media Works for Lawyers…But It’s Just a Tool

Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of speaking with a Canadian reporter who is doing a series of stories about the importance of networking for lawyers. She wanted to get my thoughts based on my eight and a half years of networking experience with the lawyers in the ILN, and I thought I’d share some of those tips here on Zen too. These are all tips I use myself, as well as recommending them to our attorneys!

  • Have a plan: It’s important to have an overall plan for your business development activities, but also one for each activity that you do. The overall plan should be a written one, that you check in on quarterly – this allows you to review what you’ve done over the past three months, as well as set up in your calendar the activities you’d like to commit to over the next three months.  For individual networking activities, you should set up goals for yourself for the event, so you know in advance what you’d like to achieve.

Continue Reading Networking Tips for Lawyers