Law firm leaders who focus on costs may want to consider one that is not a discrete line item on financial statements but which nonetheless is very real: the hidden price of “maybe” in the sales pipeline. For clarity’s sake, a sales pipeline is a structured system used to track and manage potential client opportunities from the time that a company or individual is specified as a target, to receipt of a signed engagement letter….and beyond.
Most leaders do not spend much time examining the sales pipelines of practice groups, industries, offices, individual lawyers, or the firm as a whole. But that is exactly where this cost hides.
Among the items addressed in every pipeline are three status characterizations: yes (a win), no (a loss), and maybe (everything in between). “Yes” generates revenue. “No,” while disappointing, suspends the expenditure of time and energy. “Maybe” is where cost can quickly and surreptitiously accumulate. Here are some reasons that that is so:
When lawyers and business professionals pitch for work, they do so with implied service capacity. Unutilized capacity is expensive.
Nobody knows better than lawyers that time is money. Time spent revisiting, discussing, forecasting, and emotionally carrying stalled opportunities is time not invested elsewhere. Maybe consumes partner time, BD time, administrative time, and mental bandwidth. It blocks the advent of new, more viable targets.
And there is an intangible cost. Long lists of static maybes drag down morale, sapping the energy and effectiveness of those who would sell.
I confess that my own pipeline currently contains more maybes than I ever remember experiencing. I doubt I am alone. Today’s lawyers and business developers may be seeing – as I am — an epidemic of buyer-side “ghosting.” This term from the dating world may now have surfaced in professional life. We see introductions initiated, conversations started, signals of interest given…and then silence. Without saying so, buyers quietly terminate discussions or make decisions that are never communicated. Pipelines fill with opportunities that are functionally dead but operationally still alive. (This is why, when we sellers find ourselves on the buyer side, we need to exhibit the same professionalism that we might expect of the buyers to whom we are selling. Clear responses – even when the new is no — make the business world a better place.)
In LawVision’s sales training and coaching work at law firms, we rightly emphasize open-ended needs-assessment questions. That remains an indispensable sales tool. But progress eventually depends less on discovery and more on resolution. At some point, we need a yes or a no, or the pipeline becomes hopelessly clogged.
Resolution of opportunities yields a stark result: one firm wins, and all others lose (at least when it comes to the specific opportunity in question). Hearing yes is exhilarating. Hearing no is disappointing, but it is not a breakdown of the process; it is evidence that the process really IS working. Silence is what breaks the system.
Here are some ways leaders can address maybe in the pipeline:
- Make sure that the pipeline comprises opportunities that are a good fit for the firm and the pursuit team. In other words, target carefully.
- Treat no as progress. Closing out an opportunity frees capacity for a better one.
- Make sure that pursuit teams are completing actions they are assigned to take.
- Normalize the decision ask. Train lawyers to move from discovery to resolution by, at appropriate times, using intelligent closed-ended questions such as, “Should we move forward, or should we pause this for now?”
- Require buyer-side evidence. “We had a great meeting” is not a substantial enough sales report. Progress requires tangible signs of buyer action and intent.
- Reward resolution. Publicly recognize lawyers and staff who bring opportunities to conclusion, whether the answer is yes or no.
- Review aging maybes. Opportunities showing no meaningful movement in 60 to 90 days are good candidates for removal from the pipeline.
- Provide leadership support. Offer help to advance stuck matters by providing additional contacts, additional resources, executive involvement, or good old-fashioned cheerleading.
- Provide counseling. Privately, of course.
These are not easy steps in the sometimes-fragile law firm environment, where even whispering the word “sales” can be objectionable. But when pipeline management is understood for what it truly is — disciplined stewardship of a critical asset and a driver of profitability – perhaps these steps become not only more palatable but also entirely welcome.
LawVision’s Business Development, Sales & Growth team advises law firms on the creation and implementation of sales processes, the use of AI within those processes, and the AI-enabled outsourcing of the law firm sales function. For more information, contact Steve Bell at 202.421.5988 or sbell@lawvision.com.
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