“If you don’t ask, the answer is always no.”
Recently, Joanna Gaudoin of ClientWise joined us inside FLC for a masterclass on business development. I'd told everyone at the start that I love a framework, and her 5 Ps of Proactive Business Development didn't disappoint.
Early on, Joanna asked us what gets in the way of BD. The biggest word on the screen, by some distance, was TIME. So if you're reading this and thinking "I know, I know, I should be doing more of it," you're in very good company.
Here are the five things I found particularly helpful.
1. BD and marketing are different thing
I'll admit I didn't know the difference until Joanna explained it. Marketing is about raising awareness of who you are and what you do, and BD builds on that by developing relationships.
She gave a nice example. Some years ago, a friend of hers inherited £500,000 and started googling what to do with it. The wealth management websites she read were marketing. When she contacted some of those firms and started talking to people there, that was BD. Then, over dinner, a friend mentioned a financial planner she'd met at a networking event the week before and offered to introduce them. That was proactive BD, and it worked without him even being at the dinner.
This matters because, as Joanna said, a lot of lawyers assume BD is something the marketing team will handle. Marketing support can be brilliant, but she believes most client relationships need to be built and led by the lawyers themselves.
So it’s not really something you can outsource.
2. Everyone needs to be doing it
Joanna talks about building a BD culture, where most client-facing lawyers are involved and BD is part of normal working life. When it all rests on one or two people, the risk is huge. She told us about a team whose billings halved in a year after two people suddenly went off sick, and a whole family department that was made redundant after the main BD partner left and took the work with him.
The point that made it click for me was this: you are the best person to explain how you can help your clients. In Joanna's view, nobody in a BD team could ever do that as well as you.
She had a good story about making BD a habit. One firm proudly told her they would spend a whole 20 minutes of their monthly team meeting on BD. That was for a team of 12 people with two separate BD plans to discuss, so Joanna had to tell them it wasn't nearly enough. As she put it, "I felt like I was clubbing a baby seal." They now hold a quick 20-minute call every week to talk about what's happening, what went well and what they've learned.
3. Think of it as helping
A lot of us feel BD involves being pushy. Joanna likened it to going into a shop and being sold a coat. Most of us already have several coats at home, and a good salesperson can still talk us into buying another one. That's selling.
Legal services work differently, because it's very hard to sell someone a legal service they don't need. When someone has a problem to solve or a risk to reduce, helping them is, in Joanna's words, "giving them something that they really do require."
4. Start with what you're good at and what you enjoy
There's no single right way to do BD. Joanna encourages you to start with your strengths, what you enjoy doing and the communities you're already part of outside work, and to build your plan from there.
If networking events aren't your thing, there's plenty more you can do: speaking about a specialism, writing, building relationships with introducers, or going back to existing clients, which Joanna called "the easiest win ever." One wills and probate lawyer she worked with successfully teamed up with her firm's family department to run a wellbeing event for recently divorced women, which was a natural moment to talk about updating their wills.
Introducers can include other lawyers too. Joanna pointed out that a lawyer who has too much work, has a conflict or doesn't cover a particular specialism can be an ideal source of referrals. So much of my own work comes from other lawyers, including from people I worked with over 20 years ago. So if you’re a junior lawyer, never underestimate the power of building relationships with other lawyers – it’s an investment that really does compound over time.
5. Half an hour is enough to start
Joanna said that even two half-hour slots a week is a good start, as long as you know what to do with them. Her tip is to break your plan into small tasks, so that when you have half an hour, you can open it and do the next one, whether that's researching local accountants or finding a venue for an event.
This was my favourite part. All of us can find 30 minutes.
If you only do one thing this week, pick a few existing clients you enjoyed working with and think about how you could get back in touch.
Enjoy the rest of your week.
Rachel