Philosophy

We believe that all professionals can benefit from business development training and coaching. Seasoned rainmakers learn how to make their efforts more efficient and effective, recent partners learn how to organize their business development efforts and navigate a consultative sales process, and senior associates learn the basics of business relationship building and network development. We believe that:

• Business development is everyone’s business
• Business development is about helping, not “selling”
• Business development is about building trust relationships
• Business development is a lifestyle change and creating healthy habits
• Business development is authentic, building upon your strengths and interests

Business Development Training

We will work with you to develop a training program that best meets your needs and culture. Programs range from a single high-impact event to a series of training sessions. Topics often include:

• How clients buy legal services
• Communicating personal brand and value proposition
• Building rapport and trust
• Consultative sales process for professionals
• Planning for a business development meeting
• Closing or advancing the sale
• Networking skills
• Working a room and using conferences for business development
• Creating winning proposals and pitches
• Dealing with value pricing and fee concerns
• Using Linkedin and other online tools for business development
• Managing your pipeline
• Developing a personal business development plan
• Leading others in business development efforts

Business Development Coaching

While training is effective for professionals to learn about the process, coaching is essential to help them apply the concepts to develop efficient and effective business development habits. Everyone hits a roadblock or challenge when learning new a new skill. Coaching helps keep the professional focused on developing and executing her/his personal business development plan. At the end of the coaching period, each participant should have:

• Gained a clearer understanding of her/his business development strengths
• Developed a practical personal business development plan
• Develop a target list of prospective clients
• Organized and prioritized her/his contacts
• Systematically contacted people who could hire or refer them work
• Conducted business development meetings that reveal new opportunities
• Created a custom proposal for new work
• Engaged in a lead generating activities, such as joining an industry or professional group
• Updated her/his web bio, Linkedin.com bio and used online tools for prospecting.

Client/Practice/Industry Group Coaching

We will often work with groups of attorneys or other professionals to guide them in targeting, pursuing relationships and pitching new or expanded work with specific clients or groups of clients.  This involves both training and frequent coaching through the consultative sales process. Often we will consult with the groups to develop creative branding and lead generating activities.