Business Development

If you are like most lawyers, you have done little to organize or manage one of your most important business development assets — your contacts. Why is it so important to keep track of the people you know?

A holiday card catalog arrived in the mail a few weeks ago. I’m mostly a holiday purist who believes that you shouldn’t start celebrating the December holidays until after Thanksgiving. However, there are exceptions when holiday activities ...

If you’re a law firm owner or partner, you know the drill — when you’re not working in your business, you should be working on your business. For most of us, that includes a lot of networking — attending mixers, going to lunches, interacting ...

There are countless ways lawyers can and do compete with one another for work. We have price — what work costs; process — how work is performed; personality — the lawyer’s and her firm’s; place — one’s geographic location; principles — ...

As we enter the heart of summer, pleasant weather ramps up the frequency of cookouts and other casual events. We find ourselves spending less time with business contacts and more with family, neighbors and friends. Often that includes people ...

Your relationships with clients, colleagues and other referral sources ought to be the focus of your client development process and your web presence.

Ah, spring is in the air! The flowers are blooming, the birds are chirping and I have just received annual invoices from the two business organizations to which I belong. Between the two, I just paid about $500 for the opportunity to list my ...

What do Apple, McDonald’s, Nike and P&G have in common? Besides spending more than a billion dollars on advertising annually, these "B2C" (business to consumer) companies are turning to "B2B" firms for marketing inspiration. They do so with good ...

Every lawyer needs a good network. With fellow lawyers, yes. But you need lots of other people in your network as well. And not just because it's a source of good new business. Smart lawyers draw on (and give back to) their networks for ideas, ...

Question: “After several networking lunches and casual meetings with a potential client, she invited me to come meet with her and her staff to “tell us what you can do for us.” What should I do? How can I make sure I stand out ...