How to still deliver BD during the end of year rush

Ben Paul, Director & Founder of The BD Ladder continues his series on Marketing for Lawyers. In Part 3, he highlights the BD that you should focus on, in the last 2 months of the calendar year. Follow the series here.

Law firms are traditionally very busy in November and December, with a real focus on delivering client work before the end of the year.  However, as I always recommend BD is not an activity that should be done sporadically. A regular BD habit (even one that’s only 18 minutes a day) can have a real effect on helping you have healthy client relationships and a sustainable pipeline of work.

There is no doubt that the end of the year does alter the type of BD that you can do, and also the types of BD activities that are effective and appreciated by clients.

To assist you with this, below is a simple guide to what’s the best way to enjoy the end of the year, whilst still doing some meaningful BD, or even client entertainment. I’ve used bullet points as at this time of year no-one wants too much to read. After all, you’re quite rightly focusing on getting that all important client work delivered.

Cards – Physical cards or a digital alternative?

The physical card:

The Positives:

• Very personal
• Hand-written messages are well received
• Good for your more important/regular clients

The Negatives:

• Time-consuming to do
• More expensive than digital
• Not environmentally friendly

An e-card:

The Positives:

• Low-cost to produce
• Helps drive traffic to your website or YouTube channel
• Good brand promotion for your firm as people
• Very good for your brand if you donate some money to charity, instead of buying physical cards

The Negatives:

• Not very personal
• Hard to stand-out as everyone does them
• Can absorb too much time if you get too involved in the production

Client lunches and drinks to celebrate the Season

The Positives:

• It’s a nice thing to do
• It shows you appreciate your clients
• Some clients genuinely look forward to being taken out for a lunch by their providers at the end of every year. Some clients even expect this

The Negatives:

• Quite an investment on your budget and your time
• While lunches in December are great as a ‘thank you’ to your client, they are unlikely to have a positive impact on your business development efforts

What about trying to prospect for new clients?

The simple answer is in most cases this is not the ideal time to do prospecting. Most of your target market are also likely to be clearing their decks and not looking to engage in anything new. That mindset means that they are less likely to be receptive to new or ‘cold’ approaches.

Therefore, your last 2 months BD focus should look like this:

• Reach out to your existing clients.
  • Thank them for the work you have done together this year
  • Wish them a good break
  • Put a time in the diary now to meet with them early next year
• Reach out to your network of referrers
  • Thank them for all the referrals they have passed this year
  • Wish them a good break
  • Put a time in the diary now to meet with them early next year
• Prospects/Target clients
  • Research and get a list of contacts
  • See if any of your network knows them
  • Start to plan your approach to be made in January/February
• Update your personal brand
  • Good time to revise and research
  • This BD and Personal Branding guide for lawyers will help

Conclusion

Unless there has been a significant new legislative change, it is unlikely that your clients will want to think about anything new at this time of the year.

Therefore, take this time to further cement your relationships with some genuine messages of thanks and appreciation. It will be well received, and sets you up well for next year’s BD activities.

Ben Paul is the founder of The BD Ladder, a BD and marketing consultancy specialising in providing practical advice to lawyers and professional services firms. He has over 20 years’ experience in providing sales and marketing advice. He has worked in BD roles in several professional services and law firms. Prior to establishing The BD Ladder, he was the BD & Marketing Director at one of NZ’s leading law firms and oversaw their successful rebranding to Dentons Kensington Swan. Ben provides regular BD coaching and skills sessions to his clients which help them to grow their practices. One of his key strengths is that he brings active change to the way things are done, so that his clients can achieve the results that they aspire to. Connect with Ben via LinkedIn