By: Jen Shankleton, Chief Growth & Development Officer, Brennan Manna Diamond (BMD)
Getting Started: Asking Good Questions
When I began my first law firm role, I was eager to understand how I could contribute meaningfully and whether I could help the firm and its attorneys meet their goals. I was no stranger to lean teams or even being a solo practitioner. Coming from cost-conscious environments in B2C marketing and development, my first questions always sounded like this: Is there a strategic plan? Do we have a budget (and is there room to flex)? What’s currently included in the BD/Marketing stack? And what are we trying to achieve?
In the early days at this firm, Marketing and BD allocations were considered a cost center and included the Five S’s: software, sponsorships, swag, staff salary, and individual attorney BD spend. Efforts were traditional-marketing focused, varied widely across the firm, and BD-minded attorneys often managed their own activities within the scope of their unique practices.
The good news is, they were willing to talk, had ideas they wanted to brainstorm, and naturally, wanted to know how soon we would see results. Through dozens of interviews, I determined that the firm was interested in leveraging its excellent reputation and brand, diversifying the client base, and building on what was already working well: fine-tuned and profitable client teams, successful cross-selling among practice groups, and growing specialty practice areas. I rolled up my sleeves and embarked on a strategy that was several years in the making.
Finding Quick Wins and Building Credibility
The goal was to mobilize key marketing and BD steppingstones. I identified volunteers and early adopters (inside and outside of the firm) who would both energize and evangelize the cause. Hot tip: don’t forget our legal marketing and BD community experts. If you have an initiative, there is likely someone with who has walked in your shoes. You can take away vital points from their project wins and translate them into elements that will work in your firm.
Inside this firm, I sought out attorney allies who were already active on the BD/sales/marketing/innovation side and wanted to help create a business development culture in the firm. Because strategic, firmwide BD was a new priority, and the firm was used to focusing on marketing tactics, I created goals around visible, high-impact initiatives that would create natural business development action items:
- Rebranding & Website Overhaul: Used the rebrand to create client touchpoints and gather feedback.
- Community Engagement: Launched strategic partnerships and sponsorships, tracking relationship growth and client work.
- Client Service Initiative: Created a client service feedback program, conducting in-person interviews with top clients conducted by me and a member of firm leadership. The goal was meaningful action after we received feedback. We uncovered both cross-selling opportunities and new projects.
- Cross-Serving Campaign: Using client feedback, we targeted expansion of client share by facilitating cross-practice introductions, creating opportunities for connection, and offering value-added education to the clients the firm wanted to grow (based on the practice areas the clients identified).
These efforts helped build trust and credibility throughout the firm, demonstrated ROI for the marketing and business development (MBD) department, and allowed me to collect both qualitative and quantitative data to support future initiatives.
Turning Data into Strategy
I partnered closely with Finance to access and analyze key BD levers and drivers:
- Practice group profitability reports
- BD budgets and spending by individual attorneys
- ROI evaluations for sponsorships and events
- Business cases for BD investments
We implemented a system to evaluate BD activities based on outcomes and alignment with firm goals.
Shifting the Culture Toward Business Development
With a solid foundation in place, I shifted focus to building a sustainable BD culture:
- Delegated mar-com tasks to focus on BD education and coaching
- Audited marketing initiatives to measure time, effort, and outcomes
- Used data to reallocate budget from traditional marketing to BD training
This strategic shift helped embed a BD mindset across the firm, and we were poised to take the next step in fostering a growth plan for our attorneys. This process and experience (with plenty of opportunities to fail forward!) helped me initiate business development coaching and training programs at that firm (and several others after) that benefited from data-driven pilots and helped define long-term strategy.
At a future firm, where business development and marketing naturally came to their biggest producers, I used that same pilot and data-seeking method to experiment with several new business development initiatives, including education/training and coaching programs for laterals and senior associates.
Case Study:
Working alongside the CFO and Finance team, we compared the historical growth and performance of a group of up-and-coming lawyers in different practice areas and various stages of practice development over a three-year period, to the progress of those participating in a current BD training and coaching cohort. We were able to easily mark the difference in hours, collections, and client engagement as driven, enhanced, and influenced dramatically by our investment in business development resources.
Making Firm Data Work for You
To leverage financial data effectively in early BD adoption:
- Collaborate cross-functionally: Build strong relationships with HR, Finance, and IT. Like legal industry business development and marketing, your firm counterparts have access to valuable industry resources such as ALA, ILTA, NALP, SHRM, and more.
- Use existing financial data: Tap into time and billing systems for insights like:
- New matter and client reports
- Attorney BD budgets and expenses
- Practice group trends and profitability
- Attorney hours and collections
Be Flexible and Be Informed
Your key performance indicators (KPIs) and goals will evolve, so adapt as needed. Find out what firm data is available to you, and if it is not, ask what is feasible to access. Data allows you to make informed decisions and sound recommendations for the firm.
Finally, learn what type of data speaks to firm leadership. Ask for feedback and pivot as often as necessary. Once you understand these preferences, you can use data in presenting outcomes or pitching ideas to leadership. And you will find that action items come more easily when you have the data to tell the story.