Are you looking to grow business development in your firm?
As firm leaders face a growing performance gap between top rainmakers and their peers, understanding the key strategies that set top performers apart is more critical than ever (Intapp, and DCM Insights 2024).
Increasingly aggressive competition and a more aware and price conscious market, means that laws firms who do not invest in structured business development training will face increasing financial pressure, and indeed, struggle to survive.
Traditionally, law firm partners have been responsible for business development. For most who have risen to partner level, business development comes with the job. Most partners would agree that business development is the heart and soul of any law firm.
Yet many of their mid-level lawyers do not understand how to go about it.
Firms invest in marketing and business development and work gets done, but many mid-level lawyers don't make time for it. Or feel psychologically unsure about what to do for fear of taking a risk and making a mistake.
Law firms don’t need one or two lawyers doing business development perfectly. They need all lawyers doing it imperfectly.
Why Sally?
With over 15 years of experience working on business development within the legal profession, Sally brings proven results to your legal practice. Sally works with people in leadership roles, as well as individuals to demystify business development skills and knowledge. Sally brings a systems-informed approach to help you understand what might be getting in the way of success for individuals, teams and organisations above and below the surface. Sally has led strategic communications, marketing and business development for more than a decade in professional services environments. Sally now works as a strategic advisor, facilitator, mentor and speaker to help you build a business development culture that thrives for your practice.
Want to learn more about Sally and what she can do for your firm?
M: 0481 968 018
Insight
The role of lawyers as business developers is not made clear when lawyers go into private practice. Nor is it covered in their tertiary studies. However, the expectation that they undertake business development to progress their careers and and grow their practices is evident from day one. This creates tension which is often unspoken and unrecognised by the lawyers and the marketing and business development professionals who work with them.
This can lead to misunderstandings, and a firm culture that leaves some lawyers behind, and favours those who are more willing and able to take emotional and reputational risks in the area of business development. However with a structured business development training plan it doesn't have to be this way.
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Your Journey
The Solution.
A legal career comes with significant responsibility and its fair share of challenges, along with its ups and downs. Finding satisfaction in daily work is a worthwhile goal.
The Pathway to Promotion program is designed to enhance lawyers' job satisfaction by equipping them with essential business development skills and strategies for attracting new clients, ultimately helping them build a more sustainable and fulfilling practice.
To find out more & get a quote
If you would like to find out more about how the Pathway to Promotion program might work for your firm reach out to have a confidential and no obligation initial conversation with Sally to discuss your firm's needs. To set up either email hello@sallyking.com.au or book a Zoom conference into Sally's calendar below.
Pathway to Promotion Intersections Explained
A: Business Development Skills: The findings from my research show that business development thrives when there is a structured skills-development approach that builds capability, and this is supported by a positive culture. It's crucial that lawyers understand their role as business developers according to their level of experience and these expectations are clearly spelt out for them.
B: Self-Awareness: Leadership is key to the success of business development in law firms. This starts with Self Leadership - how we conduct ourselves and reflect on decisions no matter what level we are in the organisation, and the collective leadership capability of those in dedicated leadership roles. With leadership comes insight and self-awareness, and with this business development can flourish because people feel part of a team-effort and supported to take risks.
C: Business Development Culture: Building business development cultures that thrive is the Holy Grail for all law firms. One way to think about culture is the sum total of the behaviours we all exhibit in the workplace. In terms of business development this means everyone is aware of the firm's strategic aim, adhering to the firm's agreed values, and working consistently in role, knowing what to do and when, and how this supports the firm's primary purpose. Every person within the firm plays their part in contributing to a business development culture.
Pathway to Promotion
AKA Business development done imperfectly!
Shift your senior lawyer to partner over the next 6 months and get the right people into the leadership role, ready to lead and contribute to the strategic growth of your firm.
Technician: The first step is to educate recently graduated lawyers about the basics of business development. To introduce them to their professional role as a business developer through business development competencies and checklists, and though these documents what's expected when they are just starting their career. The focus is to build technical legal skills.
MVP: At Associate level you want your lawyers to be ‘the most valuable players’, or MVPs and support those more experienced than them in their business development efforts. They would look to their business development competencies and checklists to know what to do and how to do it.
Commitment: Senior Associates will have technical expertise and a strong foundational knowledge about what business development is and how to go about it. They know how to develop relationships with clients and can look to bring in new work by being in-tune with their markets. They have the beginnings of a good professional network and their professional image online is targeted and clear. Business development expectations for advancement are clearly spelt out in the business development competency guide that they are familiar with, and they’ve had some success using their checklists to undertake business development tasks.
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Your Journey Explained
Leadership: At the leadership level Special Counsel are able to think strategically, and have self-awareness. When making decisions they are able to consider what is best for the firm. They have a strong professional network that delivers repeat work, referrals and new opportunities. They are a source of counsel for juniors and can supervise business development confidently. They understand the levels of business development competency and can keep people they supervise on track and gently guide the ambitious to focus on business development checklists to move forward.
Agility: At this level a Partner should have all the qualities of: technician, MVP, commitment, leadership and agility and be able to draw on each to different degrees as the need might be. They are supremely aware of the needs of their market, have built excellent professional relationships both within the firm and outside of the firm. They do not get over-involved in special projects such as information technology or human resources, they are solely focussed on honing their craft as legal experts. Yet they can adapt and think as business people when it comes to firm leadership issues, and are good supervisors and leaders of business development efforts in their teams, and across the wider law firm ecosystem.
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