Legal Business Development - A Step by Step Guide

I must admit that I'm always a little skeptical about non-lawyers who purport to teach rainmaking or practice development skills. Nothing against non-lawyers, obviously, but I've seen too many suggestions that might work beautifully in another field but wouldn't fit at all in law. And so I wasn't sure what to expect when I picked upLegal Business Development. However, it turned out to be one of the best client development books I've ever read.

Hassett's message is simple: plan and execute. In just 26 pages, Hassett explains how to create a marketing plan focused on current clients and referral sources and how to implement that plan and evaluate its success. Unlike many rainmaking books, Legal Business Development separates the "must know" from the "useful to know" information so that readers can implement quickly. Hassett encourages those who are ready to begin marketing to read chapter one only after execution is underway.

The "good to know" information follows and offers more depth on how much marketing is necessary, how to turn current clients into raving fans, and how to strengthen your rainmaking skills. I particularly like the simplicity of Chapter 3, which presents six facts about new business:

1. You must start with current clients. Keeping a satisfied client is much easier than bringing in new clients.
2. Selling is a learned skill. A variety of strategies work for developing new business, but every lawyer will need to put in time to identify and refine the strategies that he or she will apply most successfully.
3. You must listen. Listening is a non-negotiable for successful business development.
4. You must plan advances. Advances are steps that move the "sales" action forward. The concept is well expressed in a book chapter title by Mark Maraia that Hassett cites: "Avoid Random Acts of Lunch."
5. Selling is a numbers game. Not all contacts will result in business, so the more contacts made, the greater the chance of creating new business.
6. It's all about relationships. Clients hire lawyers (as opposed to law firms), and prefer to hire lawyers they know, like, and trust.

As I frequently remind the clients with whom I work one-on-one on business development, consistency is the key to rainmaking. Hassett presses the same point by recommending a weekly check-in on marketing hours and advances. Tracking results increases the chances of following through on a marketing plan, and doing so weekly provides extra impetus - especially if you choose to share your results with someone for added accountability

Hassett also provides seeder questions to get clients talking. I'm sometimes surprised when charming conversationalists admit that it's tough to enter into a deep conversation with clients. Asking for feedback can be difficult, and asking in a way that seeks honest feedback (rather than empty assurances) can take a special touch. Hassett offers four groups of questions:

• Questions to begin a conversation (many of which would be appropriate for potential client conversations, as well);
• Questions to determine the client's overall level of satisfaction with the firm's services;
• Questions to gauge the client's satisfaction with particular aspects of the services rendered; and
• Questions designed to help the client identify ways in which the firm could provide even better service.

If you plan to purchase one book to support your business development efforts, I recommend that Legal Business Development be the one. Hassett's approach is direct and is designed to get maximum impact from the relatively small period of time that most lawyers have available for business development activity. Most importantly, Legal Business Development provides the tools and the "kick" to move consistently from planning to execution.

Business Development For Engineers

Engineers need to generate new business every year. But where do buyers of their services look when they need an engineer? Outside of the Architects and Public Works officials who use networks and relationship, most potential customers are searching online. So whether you are a mechanical, electrical, civil, structural, or environmental engineer it makes no difference - you need to have an online presence. Here are the initial steps to getting found online.

1. Create your web site. On this site it is important to tell the potential customer what it is that you do. In telling your story it is important to strategically place keywords that your customers are searching for in the content. This will give you higher search rankings. You may include phrases such as - we do office building hvac engineering, structural engineering for home owners, commercial building civil engineering, wetlands environmental engineering, etc. You get the point. These search terms, also known as key words, need to match what your ideal customer is searching for.
2. To really move up in the search engines you need to develop a strategy for posting on blogs or sites such as ezines with links back to your site. If you do work in the seven western states you will want to enhance your key words with the names of the cities you work in like San Francisco, Seattle, Los Angels, San Diego, Phoenix, Tucson, Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, Denver, Albuquerque, Boise, Reno, and Portland. These cities should be included in your website content as well and the posts and links back to your site. Be sure and include your other key words in these posts as well.
3. Register your business with Google under the Local Business Center. If you miss this step you might as well close your doors. Just do a Google search for Google Local Business Center.
4. Launch a regional AdWords Campaign. This will place your ads along the right hand side of the search results. This too will need to target your key words.

Business Development Training Courses and Inspiratio

Business development training courses and sales training presentations are excellent ways to inspire an audience to take action in sales, management, customer loyalty, and their own personal motivation. Raise the bar and test your own "sales superstar potential" by taking the following quick test. As a professional sales person, you should constantly be stretching yourself towards continuous improvement. This quiz will help you to determine where you stand in relation to the "superstar salesperson", and identify areas needing improvement. Give yourself an honest appraisal by scoring yourself on the following questions.

3= I'm doing this now, consistently. 

2= I'm doing this now, occasionally. 

1= I don't do this now, but am willing to start. 

0= I'm not interested in doing this.

Personal Goals:

___ I have a written one-year plan. 

___ I have a tracking and reporting system to monitor performance to plan. 

___ I incorporate life goals beyond pure business goals. 

___ I know the daily/weekly/monthly actions necessary to reach key objectives. 

___ I start off each day with a detailed to-do list. 

___ I follow a disciplined time management system. 

___ I have the necessary patience, realizing superstar results come from a process not an event.

Marketing Goals: 

___ I try new and innovative marketing ideas. 

___ I understand and implement an effective "perception of value" campaign. 

___ I have an ongoing "touch system" to stay visibly in front of my market. 

___ I evaluate my competition to gain and implement new, winning ideas. 

___ I spend at least 50 percent of my time each week talking with prospects, customers, and clients. 

___ I seek out and develop niche markets to expand my marketing and business reach.

Business Development Goals: 

___ I approach new markets and new business sources regularly. 

___ I identify a "Prospect Basket" of candidates to do new business with, and weekly pursue a specific quantity, including a proactive follow-up. 

___ I practice "Model the Masters" by brainstorming with other superstar sales professionals in my business. 

___ I am actively involved in both trade associations and community groups to ensure visibility.

Customers for Life Goals: 

___ I calculate the lifetime value of customers. 

___ I am selective in whom I work with, and manage my time accordingly. 

___I maintain a database of standard form letters for typical customer contact points. 

___I provide value added suggestions, ideas and tools to help your database be more successful, and enhance my relationships.

Referral Goals: 

___I create the "Great First Impression". Make it easy for first time customers to be enthusiastic about referring business opportunities to you. 

___I have a formal plan and process for asking for referrals at different stages where appropriate. 

___I refer business to clients whenever possible.

Entrepreneur Behavior: 

___I treat your book of business as if it were a business. 

___I invest in your business and marketing efforts, don't wait for the company to do so. 

___I stay focused on business creating activities. 

___I seek out a mentor to help you reach the next level. 

___I master key products and services. 

___I attend industry conferences, seminars, business development training courses, and maintain a regular industry reading program.

Culture for Success: 

___ I align myself with top professionals and a company with a solid reputation. 

___ I maintain ongoing recognition systems for 1) prospects, customers, clients,2) fellow sales associates, and 3) sales support team. 

___ I focus on key revenue generating activities, delegating as much admin activities to support personnel/assistants. 

___ I leverage the company resources as further support to my business. 

___ I maintain a practice of "under-promise", "over-deliver" in daily business activities.

Scoring Results:

85-105: Congratulations on your superstar performance and direction! 

60-85: An acceptable direction towards sales professionalism. 

60 and below: A wake up call is necessary-rework your activities and commitment to excellence in your sales profession.

Business Development Training Courses

No matter what type of sales professional you are, always focus on staying on top of your game through ongoing and continuous improvement: sales management training programs and business development training courses are a step in the right direction. This quiz is a strong indicator of where you can take your business actions and performance to a higher level. This simple exercise can serve as a catalyst to reinvent yourself and your business. Learn more about business development training courses and the benefits they can bring to your business-use this quiz as a starting point and begin to implement more activities that will bring you recognition as a sales superstar.

7 Business Development Marketing Tips For Social Media

You would have heard so many marketing experts telling everyone to use social media as part of their promotional marketing mix. The Internet is flooded with information on using Facebook, Twitter and other social sites. Numerous articles have been written on how using social media can help promote your brand image and how it can generate web traffic for your main business website.

Keep in mind that that social networking is a marketing tool and it is only effective when used properly to promote your business.

The key question for a business is "How is social media harnessed to generate real revenue and customers?" In today's digitally connected society your customers regardless of their age, gender or economic status will be active on social networking sites.

Here are some of the latest usage statistics on social media use that will make a business take notice:

• 68% of small businesses will increase their social networking marketing efforts in the next year
• 56% of Twitter users say they use the micro blogging site for business or work related purposes
• Over 40% of people have become 'friends' with or 'like' a brand/company on Facebook or MySpace
• 20% of tweets are about business products
• 46% of Facebook users say they would talk about or recommend a product on Facebook
• 44% of Twitter users have recommended a product
• Social media played a major role in holiday shopping - 28% of shoppers say social media has influenced their purchases

On the Facebook site alone:

• More than 400 million active users
• 50% of active users log on to Facebook in any given day
• Average user has 130 friends
• People spend over 500 billion minutes per month on Facebook
• There are over 160 million pages, groups and events that people interact with
• Average user is connected to 60 pages, groups and events
• Average user creates 70 pieces of content each month
• Males and females almost equally use social sites (47% vs. 53%)
• 61% of Facebook users are middle aged or older, with the average age being 37
• 18- to 24-year-olds don't dominate any particular social networking site; they're spread out all over
• More than 25 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photo albums, etc.) shared each month

The participation of your business in social networking should be self-evident, however, many businesses will go on to set-up social media sites and make no effort to participate and engage in the groups that their potential customers use.

To be successful in using social networking your business must find out where your potential customers spend time on these sites so that you can engage with them where they prefer and not where you prefer or are comfortable with. Participation and engagement with their social networks will form a platform from which to build relationships with communities of interest. This in turn will provide a new customer acquisition channel using the share and like capabilities of the social networking world. This "sharing" is the equivalent of word of mouth in traditional marketing.

Here are the 7 Business Development Marketing Tips for using Social Media:

1. Go where your customers are and not where you are comfortable

To find your customers on social networking sites consider the following:

• Conduct a survey among your customers or potential customers.
• Analyse and monitor traffic on social sites to discover how and where customers are sharing information about your business and your competitors.
• Review marketing research or statistical information on the usage and demographics of the different social media sites.

2. Engage and interact

Social-media engagement is a conversation and your participation in the social network groups and communities is core to building relationships. Your value as a participant is judged by the value that you provide to the community as a whole. You can achieve this by freely sharing relevant, interesting and useful information

3. Research your competitors' activities

You need to gather competitive information that can help your efforts. Conduct a competitive analysis of your top five competitors' use of social media for the following:

• The social networking sites that they actively participate
• The type of content they publish
• The number and type of followers, fans and views
• The products, programs or events promoted

4. Release offers and programs that are exclusive to your social networking channels

You must give importance to your social media with exclusive offers for these promotional channels. This will entice potential customers to share with their networks the offer that is not available from other marketing channels.

As an example, provide offer an exclusive offer for your social media channel, such as discount coupon or voucher.

5. Social media participation requires authenticity and transparency

The words "authenticity" and "transparency" are a bit overused today, however, these are cornerstones to be successful with social networking. Be a real human being in your interactions. This is the foundation to build trust and connections with real people on social media groups and networks.

6. Look for value opportunities in selling through social networking

Take the opportunity to leverage social media in selling your products and/or services by offering relevant items that are of value to your followers. Make it easy for them to make the purchase from these social media channels.

7. Always test and refine based on results generated

Social media programs as a marketing channel are not exempt from testing and refining your messages and offers. You must make the effort to test, gather results and analyse how it can be improved before launching the program to the entire channel.

Apply these 7 Marketing Tips for using Social Media to give you the foundation for success building and growing your business using these communication channels.

Patrick Zuluaga has more than 20 years experience in marketing and business development roles with Australian and international companies. He is Director of PMZ Marketing, a consultancy focused on Small and Medium Enterprises to help you succeed in business with better marketing results.

Strategies That Business Development Firms Use

Business development firms as we all know, are considered as good partners to have if you're getting started with a small business that you want to propel to huge heights through the use of proper techniques and strategies. Using the right tools is very essential if you want to get ahead of the competition, which is really tough and fierce.

If you want to achieve great heights for your own business, you don't necessarily have to employ the services of business development firms. Getting started means that you still don't have the necessary resources to get expensive services so the best thing you can do is to make the first steps on your own. Learning the dos and don'ts of business is an essential thing that you need to do. You have to know what you have inside out. Learning is part of turning yourself into an expert in your own field. Dig into the strategies that I'll be tossing at you in this article. Being a successful businessman doesn't mean that you have to learn rocket science. Instead, you just need to know the right tools to use and the proper way of using them.

The first most essential thing you need to do is to define your goals. You can only define yourself as successful if you have reached your goals so you need to be aware of them first. What is it that you really want to reach? Contemplate on the things that you want to achieve within the next weeks, months, and years. Having a specific set of goals will provide a good sense of direction for your business because these let you know the things that you need to do and when you need to do them. If you have other members in your company, be sure to set your goals with them. Get everybody in one boat so that you don't end up being divided. In addition, take note that when you set goals, you have to be sure that they're SMARTER or specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, time bound, exciting, and recorded.

Next, take aim at the right audience. You need to allot the right amount of budget to all of your departments such as marketing, accounts, resources, and operations. This is part of creating balance. Only after you do this will you be able to take proper aim. When you do so, you need to study the real target market of your business. Know your best prospective customers and focus on them. You can determine your audience by having a look at the products and services that you offer. Define those and determine to whom they are best fitted for.

Lastly, learn to innovate and make innovation your top priority. Being innovative means that you need to mix things up. Never settle for only strategy. Try experimenting until you stumble upon or the best approach that will lead you to sure success. You're dealing with a lot of competition so you need to spruce up methodologies that will give you boosts so that you can take the lead.

Business Development Consultants Are Saving Small Businesses

Business consultants provide the answers you need to make your business a success. They will objectively assess strengths and weaknesses and then develop a plan that is right for your business. These consultants will give you the answers you need for long-term revenue and profit. They will consistently work with you and your employees on how to use the tools they provide for you, so you and your employees will have a profitable business for the future. Just because you open a business does not mean you know how to run it. Many people have great ideas but their operating strategies need work. While there may be a simple plan that doesn't cost too much, consultants can give you personalized marketing tips such as website ads and promotions, direct mail, or a half-page ad in the yellow pages. You, too, may have come up with these ideas all on your own. However, unlike business consulting companies, you have no idea which one of these ideas would be the best choice, or how to strategically place your ad were it will get the best results.

When hiring a Business Development consultant, you should align their skills and expertise with the area of your venture that needs the most help. For example, if you desperately need to contract the right sales force, hire a consultant with sales and marketing expertise. If you need assistance in production, then hire specialists that are manufacturing and sourcing experts in your industry.

The best thing to do is go online and search for the right website that will give you information about business consulting companies, and how you can get in touch with them. Most of these sites are low-cost and using someone to help you find good business consulting companies is worth it. They do all the hunting for you and look for all the qualities you're looking for in a candidate. Be sure to use the same level of caution in hiring a business consultant that you would a new employee. When hiring a new employee, you typically perform an initial screening, conduct a background check, and schedule a formal interview to ensure that you are hiring the right candidate. The same process applies to hiring the right Business Development consultant. Hiring the right candidate will relieve a tremendous amount of stress. It is difficult to be an expert about all aspects of your company. Outsource this responsibility to someone who is more skilled, and spend your time worrying about strategy.

LinkedIn for Business Development: The Top 10 Gotta Do's

The Top 10 Gotta Do's of LinkedIn for Business Development Professionals

In other words...what can I do with this thing to make money?

Important Note: These "Gotta Do's" are listed in order of the importance of "Gotta Be Doing Them"

1. Gotta use Advanced Search Function once you have a lead or target

• a. Find out which of your friends knows someone at the target company
• b. Use keywords to search for names and titles
• c. The more first level connections you have, the better this works
• d. Joining groups helps with this, especially "super groups"

2. Gotta look at profiles of the new people you are going to meet or call

• a. Find out about the person's history
• b. Find out about the person's interests
• c. Find out what the person thinks their company does well and how they fit in
• d. Find that "one thing" that can start the conversation besides, "Hey, do you want some furniture?"

3. Gotta add "trusted connections" consistently

• a. You know 200 to 250 people which will lead to over 1 million people in your network
• b. You now can know who they know and who the people they know know, etc.
• c. Every new first level connection you add will bring you many second and third level potential contacts

4. Gotta "beef up" your profile

• a. Keywords
• b. Your story of credibility, experience and trust
• c. Do you want to be found or do you want your competitors found?
• d. Perform "keyword" search test in advance searching function

5. Gotta review connections of your first degree network

• a. Who are they calling friends?
• b. Who can they introduce you to?

6. Gotta look at the company profile

• a. Find out what the "elevator pitch" is for the organization
• b. See certain statistics
• c. See not only who is on LinkedIn but who is "active"

7. Gotta keep track of what your network is doing and help them

• a. Read status updates religiously; this is what is important to them
• b. Offer help and assistance
• c. Offer to connect them with others in your network

8. Gotta look up competitors (individuals and companies)

• a. What are they saying about themselves?
• b. Find out who they are recommending and who has recommended them
• c. Find out what groups or associations they are involved with
• d. Look at "Viewers of profile also viewed..."

9. Gotta join some groups

• a. Helps in searching
• b. Your industry and customer industry groups are important
• c. Alumni, chamber and clubs help you with "I love doing business with people who are in the same groups I am."
• d. You will be found there
• e. You can be smart there

10. Gotta spend some "purposeful" time each week on LinkedIn, with a strategy/plan, or don't waste the time; instead, do some other form of networking. You can watch me present these and other tips on the WISN video blog with Kyle Blades