In a 40-minute time slot, what would YOU have done to convey to lawyers the most important things you think they should know about selling legal services? That was my assignment recently. Here are the three topics I selected, and why each one made the cut.
1. Sales process is a superpower
Quality and efficiency guru W. Edwards Deming had it right decades ago when he said, “If you can’t describe what you’re doing as a process, you don’t know what you’re doing.”
Deming was talking mostly about manufacturing, but the statement applies equally well to law firm sales. Painfully few lawyers and law firms have documented sales processes, despite the many good reasons for having them.
Here is a companion quote, this one from Robert Miller, co-creator of Miller-Heiman Strategic Selling: “If you CAN describe what you’re doing as a process, you DO know what you’re doing.” Well, all right, Robert Miller did not, to my knowledge, actually say those words. But based on his pioneering work, he might as well have, and I wish he had. He spoke often of sales as a system that can be written down, taught, learned, repeated, and built upon.
In conversation with the lawyers, I suggested that they ascertain their system simply by examining sales successes from their own portfolios: Look at the wins that made them proud. What happened? What steps led from the first contact to the engagement letter? Use those steps to reverse engineer a personal sales process.
Unfortunately, few lawyers and even few business professionals employed by law firms get around to crafting sales processes, a practice that is dominant and effective in the “real world of sales.” If I could wave a magic wand over the profession, a working sales process in every firm would be near the top of the list. The topic made my 40-minute cut because lawyers are already trained to work within processes, whether in litigation, transactions, compliance, or day-to-day firm operations. Business development deserves the same discipline.
2. Lawyers already have great sales skills in their personal repertoires
I asked a search engine to list the qualities and skills of a great lawyer, and it came back with: inquisitive, analytical, clear communication, high intelligence, heightened listening and understanding, meticulous organization, creative problem-solving, superlative persuasion, and uncompromising integrity. Not every great lawyer has all of these attributes, but most successful attorneys have many of them.
This inventory flies in the face of the assumption by many lawyers that they possess few, if any, sales-related skills. Based on the list above, that’s just not true. Like great sales professionals, lawyers research unfamiliar subjects, analyze complicated situations, prepare arguments, build credibility, solve problems, listen, ask questions, and advise clients. Those are the same skills that great sales professionals exhibit.
It’s ironic that, as a generality, lawyers seem so uncomfortable with selling, given that are already so adept tin hese areas; they SHOULD be great at it! Good professional-services selling, like the practice of law itself, is consultative. It is really just great client service before the engagement letter is signed, and lawyers are, in addition to all the other attributes listed above, great at client service.
All of that is why this topic made my 40-minute cut: Most lawyers do not need a personality transplant to become better business developers. They simply need to recognize and apply the strengths they already have in pursuit of potential clients and expanded business relationships with existing ones.
3. AI is a powerful business development assistant
Topics one and two, sales process and personal strengths, have been part of professional services sales for decades. The third one, Artificial Intelligence, arrived only recently, yet it already has earned a spot in my list of rainmaking fundamentals, and for good reason.
In an earlier part of my career, PwC sent marketing and BD newbies to intensive training in business and competitive intelligence. In their careers, that cohort has invested countless man-years doing the in-depth investigations that support strong sales processes: understanding the firm’s and its lawyers’ experience and skills, sizing up competitors, learning the business of a prospective client and its industry sector, finding legitimate business reasons to knock on new doors, preparing for meetings, looking for connections, and more, much more. None of those activities is glamorous, but each of them matters and regularly leads directly to sales success. And here’s why AI makes my list: Today, AI can accomplish in seconds what it once took a human days or weeks to do.
AI becomes even more interesting after the research is completed. It can help brainstorm approaches for making contact, suggest ways to stay visible with a prospect over time, generate ideas for reconnecting when a relationship has gone quiet, and much more. It is surprisingly useful in spotting signals: events, developments, personnel changes, announcements, and market activity that give a lawyer a genuine reason to pick up the phone or send an email. And, of course, having legitimate business reasons to reach out makes the activity seem to lawyers much more like client service than sales.
None of this changes the fundamental reality of business development. AI can be a powerful sales enabler, but eventually somebody still has to make the call, schedule the meeting, and do the work of building the relationship. Importantly, the relationship still belongs to lawyers and client-facing business developers.
What AI provides is time, and the hours it frees up can go into the things only lawyers and business developers can do: attend the lunch, make the phone call, ask the thoughtful follow-up question, build trust, and earn confidence. And the time that AI gives back can also be applied to more face-to-face coaching of a bigger flock of lawyers, pursuits of larger numbers of prospective clients, and deeper service to the clients already in the boat. In other words, better firm performance and bottom line results.
That is why AI made my 40-minute cut. It gives lawyers and business development professionals more time and better preparation to be highly effective rainmakers.
Putting the three together
Sales process, skill sets already in place, and AI fit together surprisingly well as a foundation for building business. Process provides the structure, strengths make the process personal and palatable, and AI makes the whole thing faster and easier.
If I had had more than 40 minutes, I could certainly add to the list. But since the assignment was to choose just three ideas for lawyers who want more business, these are my selections.
What would be on your list?
Further reading
7 Reasons to Design a Law Firm Sales Process. This earlier LawVision Insights post explains how a formal process helps a firm focus, elevate its brand, track and measure performance, promote efficiency, and reduce stress for professionals who do not naturally gravitate toward selling.
How to Install a Sales Process at Your Firm. The companion post recommends reverse engineering successful client acquisitions and expansions, putting the process in writing, clarifying roles and handoffs, starting with pilot programs, and introducing the approach steadily through teaching and leadership support.
New Ways to Address Law Firm Sales Choke Points. In this post I draw on my experience as a CliftonStrengths (Gallup) coach and argue that traits sometimes viewed as obstacles for lawyers can be offset by other strengths. The practical point is the same one made here: lawyers can substitute and put to work the strengths they already possess.
What My Broken Printer Taught Me About Growing a Law Firm. The printer story offers a concrete example of AI as a patient, adaptive assistant. The post then carries that lesson across the sales process, including identifying strengths, targeting, research, outreach, relationship maintenance, signals, proposals, and pricing.
Steve Bell is a principal in the Sales, Business Development & Growth Practice of LawVision. He helps law firms develop disciplined sales processes, improve business development effectiveness, and build more predictable growth strategies, integrating AI where it strengthens human relationships. Steve is known for his career-long work in initiating and advancing new relationships. He can be reached at sbell@lawvision.com or 202.421.5988.
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