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In 2004, the Legal Sales and Service Organization (LSSO) sponsored a study exploring the key characteristics that define business development success for today’s women lawyers. More than 400 lawyers responded to the call, providing candid feedback and insights into sales tactics, referral sources, firm support, personal motivation approaches and client management techniques that help drive business development.
Together, The BTI Consulting Group and LSSO reviewed and analyzed the detailed responses and insights from these 426 women. We delineated the key factors that drive success, pinpointed obstacles to growth, and uncovered some surprising results about how women lawyers and law firms overcome adversity and power their business development efforts. Recently, LSSO and BTI compared responses from the American Bar Association’s Women Rainmakers workshop participants to provide specific results and recommendations for that group.
LSSO is now undertaking an online, benchmarking survey of Canadian women lawyers and invites your participation. Simply visit www.legalsales.org for a link to the survey or e-mail info@lsso.org to have the link sent to you.
Here’s what respondents indicated works for the best women rainmakers in U.S. law firms today.
The keys to business development success
From the survey respondents we discerned four guiding principles of success: attitude, leadership, client service and investment of time.
No. 1: The attitude effect
“Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference,” said Winston Churchill. The LSSO survey results overwhelmingly support this belief. Respondents were asked questions about attitude in terms of both successes and failures, such as “ What do you say to yourself when your business development efforts do not succeed?” and “What do you say to yourself when a sale or business development effort was successful?”
Responses clearly either demonstrated an analytic, positive or negative attitude to a business development activity. For example, the answers “keep trying,” “k eep in mind for future — stay in touch,” and “I try to understand the rationale behind the loss and learn from it” all indicate a positive or analytical attitude. On the other hand, negative attitudes are evidenced in responses such as “I have resigned myself to not even trying any more because there seem to be so many societal and institutional biases which prevent success, no matter how hard you try,” or “I am too busy anyway,” or even “I become depressed.”
Unsurprisingly, optimism, an element of persistence, and an ability to be resilient are all qualities that were expressed by the women lawyers who have the right attitude to be rainmakers.
So, how much of a difference does attitude make? In the study, women who reported taking a supportive or evaluative approach to both success and failure enjoy 16.4 per cent to 35.3 per cent higher originations than a typical female equity partner. On the other hand, female partners who negatively judge their business development failure captured just 61.7 per cent of average originations earned by other female partners in the survey. Attitude really is a choice – it’s a characteristic that can be developed with some conscious effort, and that effort will pay off in many ways.
Women rainmakers leverage successful and failed business development efforts into opportunities to grow
No. 2: The leadership factor
Leadership offers unique networking and visibility opportunities which, in turn, can be utilized to grow relationships with clients, prospects and referral sources.
Whether the leadership activity was selected for external reasons (meeting new contacts) or for internal marketing and selling (meeting and forming relationships with referral sources within their law firms), leadership shines as a pivotal success factor in the study. Leadership proved especially critical for the success of women of counsel or non-equity partner status — those in leadership positions reported 67 per cent higher originations than those who were not. Equity partners and senior associates each reported a 36 per cent difference in originations.
Leadership activities critical to success of women of counsel or non-equity partner status – 67 per cent higher originations
Female attorneys who take on leadership positions are more successful in developing business. For many women, it also provides a boost in their confidence, which directly affects sales success.
No. 3: Client service differentiates
Regardless of size, practice area, location or other variables, firms that don’t focus seriously on client service may not survive, let alone thrive. Fortunately, most lawyers and law firms understand that being a smart lawyer alone is not enough to attract and retain clients. The good news is that, for many lawyers, service delivery is the most comfortable element of business development. Providing excellent service is more naturally part of what lawyers believe is fundamental to (and is already ingrained in the daily aspects of) practicing law.
Many clients, even those who are sophisticated buyers of legal services, are unable to discern much difference between lawyers and law firms. Clearly, client service has the potential to be the major factor that distinguishes lawyers and law firms from one another. Moreover, it is well established that it costs less (and is easier) to sell additional or more services to an existing client than is does to acquire a new one.
LSSO’s study revealed that the most successful women rainmakers use client service as a differentiator and a primary business development strategy. Respondents were asked about the role of client service in their business development activities, and these savvy women confidently responded, “The key for developing business is high quality service and extreme responsiveness in communicating with the client,” “First and foremost, serving your clients is the best way to develop and maintain business,” and “I think that excellent client service and results are the main reason I have been a successful business developer.”
Female partners who recognize the power of client service reported 26.2 per cent to 31.6 per cent higher annual originations in the LSSO survey. Similarly, female lawyers who said that they understand many aspects of their client’s business certainly capture more business, with reported originations more than 100 per cent higher than the others in the survey. This extreme difference is attributable to the fact thatunderstanding a client’s business is a critical component of client service.
Female partners who recognize the power of client service reported 26.2 per cent to 31.6 per cent higher annual originations
In contrast, the 10.1 per cent of women lawyers who indicated that client service has no impact on helping them to develop business garnered nearly 10 per cent less than the average originations.
Focusing on client service is not only effective, but delivers a good return on investment. Service is also at the core of what being a great lawyer is all about.
No. 4: Invest time wisely – one hour weekly yields nearly $30,000 in additional origination revenue
As expected, the women lawyers in LSSO’s survey realized an exponential increase in originations for each additional hour spent weekly on business development activities. Interestingly, the survey also showed that every hour dedicated weekly to developing existing clients and attracting new business yields female attorneys nearly $30,000 in additional origination revenue, regardless of the respondent’s status (equity partner, non-equity partner, counsel or senior associate).
Female partners develop more business, in part because they simply spend more time selling, but also because they are better positioned in their careers and they engage in the right types of activities. The business development activities in which female partners most frequently engaged include:
- networking;
- participation in associations, organizations and firm events;
- taking leadership roles both inside and outside of the firm;
- targeted approach and follow up;
- speaking and publishing opportunities; and
- requesting referrals from others.
Female partners invest an average of 9.5 hours in business development activities per week, while non-equity partners and counsel spend 8.4 hours and senior associates 6.1 hours.
This finding is particularly interesting in light of the revelation that nearly 70 per cent of respondents report that they do not devote adequate time to business development activities. Women rainmakers clearly recognize the value of investing time in their client relationships. Their experience tells them that more hours can deliver greater returns and thus few are satisfied with their current performance.
Developing business and delivering excellent client service is every lawyer’s job. The keys to success are to invest time consistently and appropriately each week, have the right attitude, understand and use the power of client service, and engage in the right types of activities. With an increased focus and these keys, all women lawyers can be successful rainmakers.
For more information about the Legal Sales and Service Organization, the LSSO Women Lawyers Survey and presentations, please contact Catherine Alman MacDonagh, COO and co-founder, LSSO, cam@legalsales.org.
A version of this article, "Winning Strategies of The Best Women Rainmakers," was published in Vol. 3, No. 1 of The Complete Lawyer, a publication of the Tennessee Bar Association.
Marcie L. Borgal Shunk is a principal with The BTI Consulting Group, Wellesley, Mass. She oversees the continuing survey of top executives on client needs, expectations and satisfaction.This research includes almost 800 general counsels. She is a frequent speaker on client satisfaction and market opportunities. BTI provides research and strategic consulting to the world’s largest law, engineering and IT service firms. These services include key client research, market awareness studies, business strategy consulting, client satisfaction surveys, and competitive benchmarking. BTI also provides interactive programs and presentations at partner and executive committee meetings and retreats. She received her A.B. from Harvard University. Contact Marcie Shunk or visit BTI Consulting.
Catherine Alman MacDonagh is the COO and a co-founder of the Legal Sales and Service Organization. LSSO is exclusively focused on sales, service excellence and quality issues facing the legal industry and conducted the groundbreaking study, Women Lawyers: Sales and Business Development Issues. Catherine co-authored the book and trainer’s manual for “The Law Firm Associate’s Guide to Personal Marketing and Selling Skills,” published in 2007 by the American Bar Association. Catherine is a certified Six Sigma Greenbelt, a former corporate counsel, and has more than 15 years of professional services marketing and sales experience. Contact Catherine Alman MacDonagh or go to LSSO.