Business development coaching can help lawyers meet their goals for both short- and long-term success.
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When the pandemic hit, the world shut down. Except it didn’t. Lawyers across the globe continued serving their clients remotely and found that, indeed, clients still need trusted advisors. As the way law firms operate has shifted, so too has business development. It’s more important than ever not to rest on your laurels. A business coach can help you navigate current challenges, and lay the foundation for a solid game plan, regardless of what the future holds.
Successful Law Firm Business Development Means Playing the Long Game
The business you’re seeing now is likely the result of the groundwork you laid 18 to 24 months ago. A business development coach can help you make the necessary adjustments to stay on track toward realizing your goals, particularly in the context of firm business development and long-term planning.
In our experience, lawyers are often intimidated by the idea of business development coaching. As a group of individuals taught to carefully mitigate risk, it can be difficult to convince lawyers to hedge their bets and entrust their practice to a coach. But for those who let loose the reins and fully embrace it, to the victor go the spoils.
Identifying and acting on strategic opportunities is important for long-term success. Tailored approaches are key for effectively leveraging these opportunities to expand revenue streams.
How Does Business Coaching Work?
It’s important to understand what a coach will do for your business development planning and practice. A coach will work with you to crystalize your intrinsic “why,” envision “what” you want and help you execute “how” you will get there by setting attainable goals, quite possibly pushing you a little outside of your comfort zone. If your firm has an in-house marketing team, you may already have a business development coaching resource at your disposal. In addition, external coaching consultants and business development professionals can provide an excellent complement to your firm’s internal team resources and the lawyers at your firm. Structures that incorporate both internal and external resources working collaboratively realize the best results.
Why Working With a Coach Is Critical
Here are five key reasons why working with a business development coach is important, no matter the stage of your legal career.
Reason 1: Accountability
A coach will work with you to set appropriate goals and guide you to ensure you take the necessary steps to achieve those goals. This accountability is undoubtedly the reason coaching works. When we ask previous coaching participants about what they valued most about having a coach, they resoundingly respond with “accountability.”A coach will help you stay focused on your business development objectives, addressing the challenges that most lawyers face in developing their client base and navigating their careers. Without someone to check in on your progress, it may be easy to forget why you’re on this path.
Reason 2: Authenticity
Business development is not one-size-fits-all. Coaching works best when it’s personalized. Many lawyers can benefit from developing a unique specialty to enhance their marketing potential. It’s about helping you understand your authentic style and using those attributes to build your practice. No one is going to buy what you are selling unless you do it in that unique way that only you can. When business development coaches work with professionals, they spend a lot of time talking through a variety of factors, including values, beliefs, communication styles and business approach.
Reason 3: Perspective
Many times, we get stuck in our bubble. Networking with other lawyers can be crucial for generating qualified leads and fostering collaboration among firms. For instance, have you ever dismissed something because you tried it 10 years ago and it didn’t work? You can gain a new perspective from discussing your practice with a trusted advisor who can help you navigate approaches from all sides. Perspective is crucial to business development.
Reason 4: Pivot
Pivot! That sounds like the word for the decade, doesn’t it? During the pandemic, businesses pivoted to better serve their clientele or find new customers, just as businesses have had to pivot in the post-pandemic economy. Demand for legal services is up, but so is demand for skilled legal talent. Generative AI is revolutionizing technology, adding new capabilities for law firms, including new tools for marketing and business development. Conferences and travel are back, but in-person networking has been supplanted by online networks and social media, and in-person client meetings are the exception, not the rule.
How have you pivoted your business development activities? A coach can help find new ways to connect with potential clients and leave a meaningful impression, even in unusual or changing circumstances.
Reason 5: Thinking Beyond This Year to Attract Potential Clients
Oftentimes, we get stuck in our present — billing time, putting out fires, and pursuing the same business development strategies. Are the activities you are doing now preparing you to meet your practice’s business development goals for five or 10 years from now?
Developing new business takes time, and it’s important to be thoughtful and deliberate in your approach. A coach can help you think about what long-term success looks like and map out how to achieve it through a strategic business plan.
Once you stop chasing the wrong things, it frees you up to catch the right ones.
Related: “Top 20 Legal Marketing Posts of the Year“
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JENNIFER GRIFFIN SCOTTON & JILL HUSE
Jennifer Griffin Scotton is Director of Marketing & Business Development at Brooks Pierce, a 100-lawyer firm in North Carolina, and Co-Chair of the Legal Marketing Association’s international Shared Interest Group for Small Firms and Solo Marketers. An award-winning professional services marketer, she has served as a strategic client development advisor for law firms for nearly 15 years. Jennifer oversees the strategic marketing and business development efforts across all three Brooks Pierce office locations. She delights in coaching lawyers to create and implement practical business plans that build relationships and deliver value to clients.
Jill Huse (@jillmasonhuse) is a co-founder of Society54 (@Society54) and a trusted professional services advisor. A certified Worldwide Association of Business Coaches Coach, she has worked in professional services marketing for over 20 years bringing an innate ability to identify, encourage and develop her clients’ differentiating professional strengths, and to help clients leverage these strengths to meet and exceed bottom-line goals. Jill is the Immediate Past President of the Legal Marketing Association International Board of Directors and co-founder of Law 2.5. She has a master’s in law firm management from George Washington University.
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A coach can help you build strong client relationships, which serve as a foundation for generating referrals.
