Easy in theory but difficult in practice: Why business development for lawyers is like losing weight

Most people would agree that an effective way to lose weight is simply to eat less and exercise more. Yet, even though these clear methods are known to consistently achieve results, many individuals find it very difficult to keep their weight down.

In a similar fashion, lawyers are often aware of the basic rules they should follow in order to be effective business developers, yet many fail to take the necessary steps to ultimately be successful. What follows is an analysis of why business development may be easy in theory but difficult in practice for lawyers.

1. Many lawyers have trouble asking clients or contacts for their business

It can be awkward to ask our friends and colleagues for work – to close the deal, in other words. Lawyers may end up meeting a client for lunch on a number of occasions without ever explicitly asking for additional work. But clients will rarely, if ever, come to outside counsel with directs requests for legal assistance.

So why don’t lawyers just ask for the work? The simple answer is that they don’t want the relationship to be negatively affected by such a request.

However, the best business developers realise that they are not just asking for work, but they are providing some solution to a problem that the client is facing. By viewing it in those terms, the request becomes more of a relationship builder rather than a cause for anxiety.

2. In order to be effective, business development must be sustained

Many lawyers generally conduct the bulk of their business development efforts when they hit a slow patch in their work, and they correspondingly halt such activities when their practice gets busy.

This familiar tendency can be compared to yo-yo dieting. Attempting to do business development in fits and starts is less likely to end in positive results – the best and most effective business developers are those that continue their efforts in a consistent manner, even when they are most busy.

3. People naturally gravitate towards those activities that they feel most comfortable doing

I typically sort business development activities into two categories: active and passive.

Active efforts are those that are most likely to lead to tangible results. They typically consist of lawyers personally reaching out to clients and contacts to:

a) determine their needs; and

b) target them with services that the firm might offer.

By contrast, passive efforts are those that might be helpful from a brand-building perspective, but are less likely to result in actual business in the immediate future. Such activities include writing articles, editing books, the majority of speaking opportunities, blog contributions, and so on.

Of the two types of activities, it is the active efforts that are going to show the highest return on investment. Yet, time and time again, I find that lawyers gravitate towards the more comfortable, passive activities rather than engaging in active business development.

4. Fear of failure holds them back

Law firm lawyers are used to getting positive feedback. They have generally succeeded in various areas of their professional careers – they attended respected undergraduate and law school programmes, they passed the bar, they rose to the rank of partner, and so on.

So, when it comes to rejection, many lawyers are often ill prepared and unwilling to accept that most business development efforts lead to dead ends rather than wins in the marketplace. A common response is for a lawyer to become frustrated with the challenges of ongoing client outreach and to turn away from continuing to pursue new business opportunities.

Productive partners, on the other hand, seem to be immune to the lack of (or negative) feedback that they inevitably encounter during the client development process. They simply brush it off and focus on the many other opportunities that they have created – an attitude that puts them in a much better position to succeed in the long term.

Changing behaviours

In short, although the fundamentals of effective client development are generally quite straightforward, they often provide unique challenges for lawyers. By examining and deconstructing some of these tendencies, law firms might find that the hurdles that limit productive outcomes can be overcome.

jeffrey.berardi@klgates.com