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Million Dollar Training A law firm boosted revenue by $1M after hiring Larry Bodine Marketing to coach its partners in business development. [read more]
Marketing is not taught in most professional schools, and certainly not law school, and most professionals feel ill-equipped to promote their practices. Yet they know they must get new business for their firms to thrive. I have coached: I devised a marketing plan for a Chicago law firm. The firm approved the plan and I worked with 10 partners to draft their individual plans. Partners were told that their plans would be discussed in the annual compensation reviews. Eight of the partners carried out their plans, and reported having their best year ever in originations and billable hours. Two partners didn't carry out their plans and said they were having mediocre years. But with 80% of the partners having excellent years, the firm was having its best year, financially, in its history. Marketing really works. Once we have an overall strategy, we will work with you and your partners to develop individual marketing plans that support it. Each lawyer will carry out their plan during the next six months. Before each coaching session, we will review your list of current clients and identify new target clients. We will also ask you to fill out a marketing plan form. It will list associations and organizations in which you should become active, speeches and presentations you can make, and articles you can write. It will also list referral sources with whom you will stay in personal contact.
I'll meet with you one-on-one to identify your natural marketing skills and personal strengths. My approach is to inquire into your marketing activities, how business currently comes to you, and your list of top clients and referral sources. Working together, we'll articulate what makes clients hire you, what makes you different different from your competitors and how clients find out about you.
In my experience, the most effective marketing gets the attorneys out of their offices, visiting clients, becoming active in trade associations, and speaking and writing for publications read by clients. New business comes in person, and it is crucial to have the attorneys individually active. Each lawyer would devise a plan that draws on his/her strengths, avoids cold-calling and uncomfortable salutations, and is fun to carry out.
You'll always get a private appointment with me to develop specific steps that are suited to you.
I will guide you to the best sources of new business, recommend visits to the key individuals who can retain you, and develop activities that will build your reputation and credentials. This may include writing, speaking, networking, cross-selling, calling on business sources or using the Web -- depending on what what works best for you. Many
firms simply "dress up their lawyers like hunters," send them into the woods and tell them to shoot at anything that moves. Obvious this works poorly. Our approach is to outfit the firm a hunting organization, give it a plan to follow, identify targets, and provide the lawyers the tools they need to acquire the target as a client.
Among many others, this approach has been highly successful for: Our Marketing Plan will identify the firm's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. It will identify prospects for cross-selling and small clients that can be grown into "crown jewel" clients. We discern the industries in which the firm has experience and identify target companies to pursue. The plan will make practical recommendations to improve the firm's most visible marketing initiative -- the Web site.
This will not be a plan that sits on a shelf gathering dust, because we'll embed the plan with the two elements to make business development count, which will get the lawyers out of their offices, generating new leads.
To energize the lawyers, we'll present the Marketing Plan at a high-impact presentation for the entire firm. This kickoff presentation provides the spark to ignite business development activities. Now that the firm has the "score for the orchestra," we will meet with individual lawyers about their specific role, and develop a personal marketing plan. This personal coaching has helped firms develop a million dollars in new revenue. Call us at 630.942.0977 to get a marketing strategy that will make you money.
"Thanks to your dedication of time, resources and energy into the set-up and launching of our Partner Marketing Initiative Program, we are well on our way to a great fiscal year! You went above and beyond to make us feel confident in our marketing decisions and best of all, you worked with us to stay within our tight budget constraints."
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Testimonials from happy clients: "I read the audit and thank you so much! I think it's the perfect road map, and that we'll be in good shape if we do all you say." Businesses,
consulting firms and law firms struggle with their Web sites, often
realizing that it is not effectively marketing the firm.
These businesses call on me when they are at a loss as how to improve their Web presence.
The existing site may have been put up in haste or created years ago.
The one thing that is clear is that clients are not visiting
the site, are not staying long if they visit and are not getting the
firm’s marketing message.
I
will conduct an analysis of your site from a usability and marketing
standpoint. I will
thoroughly examine the site, the traffic reports, your marketing
materials, client list, marketing plan and list of competing firms.
You will get a 12-15 page single-spaced written report, detailing the strengths and
weaknesses of your site.
I will also make specific recommendations that you can implement
immediately to improve your site.
The plan will be designed to attract the visitors you want,
to keep them on the site once they've arrived, and to make it easy
for them to find what they want.
Among the points of analysis are:
What is the information most-sought after on the site, and can
visitors find it quickly?
Is the text written to attract business?
Is the site set up to generate leads and attract new business?
Are there impediments that get in the way of the information
visitors want?
Are your services described in a way that clients look for them?
I have
completed numerous audits and Web plans for firms, including the law firms Hale and Dorr at www.haledorr.com in Boston and Miller Faucher & Cafferty in Chicago at www.millerfaucher.com; the consulting firms such as LECG at www.lecg.com; and businesses such as LawBiz at www.LawBiz.com.
"Larry is one of the absolute top guys in this area. We hired him to review our site before we made major changes and his insight and suggestions were absolutely crucial to the success of the project. His fee was much less than I had anticipated, and less, frankly, than I expected to pay for the level of detail into which his report went."
"The site audit which you provided has been a very helpful structure for me as I continue to improve the site."
To read more testimonials about Web site audits, visit Success Stories.
Recent
assignments include:
Adams and Reese, with 200 attorneys in five
cities along the Gulf South area.
Arnall Golden Gregory, a 135-lawyer firm based in Atlanta.
Baker & McKenzie, with 3,000 attorneys in 64 offices worldwide.
Bennett Jones, 265 lawyers in Calgary, Toronto and Edmonton, Canada Blank Rome, a 400-attorney firm in Philadelphia.
Cox & Smith, a 90-lawyer firm in San Antonio, TX.
Dickstein Shapiro, 325 attorneys in offices in Washington, DC and New York City.
Duane Morris, a 500-lawyer firm based in Philadelphia.
Fennemore Craig, a 150-lawyer firm based in Phoenix.
Foley & Lardner, a 1,000-lawyer firm with offices nationwide.
Hunton & Williams, a national law firm with 850 attorneys in 17 offices.
Kennedy Covington, a 200-lawyer full-service Southeast law firm in NC and SC.
Post & Schell, a 140-lawyer firm based in Philadelphia.
Poyner & Spruill, a 100-lawyer firm based in in Raleigh, Charlotte and Rocky Mount, North Carolina.
Ropers, Majeski, Kohn & Bentley, a 110-lawyer full-service firm based in Los Angeles.
Sidley, Austin, Brown & Wood (I created the Web site
in 1995, and was part of the team that re-launched
it in 2000).
Stewart McKelvey Stirling Scales, a 200-lawyer Nova Scotia law firm.
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Sample presentation topics, which I can tailor to fit your needs, include:
"Your session really seemed to go down well – as I’m sure you’re aware. We all really appreciate the time, effort and participation you put forth in helping us to make our event all it could be. The feedback I’ve seen thus far suggests that many of the delegates enjoyed the program and found the content engaging." -- from Kevin Klein, Program Director, Ark-Group conference company.
"The members of the audience that were lucky enough to get a seat were impressed with your presentation. Your well thought-out subject matter spoke to the time and effort you put into your session. I personally received many nice compliments and feel we were very lucky that you were able to participate in the form." -- From the AICPA Accounting Firm Marketing Forum, from Walter Timoshenko, CMO, Weiser CPAs, conference chairman.
"Your keynote speech received the highest rating of any presentation. Congratulations! More than one attendee noted their favorite session was your presentation. Indeed, one attendee noted on an evaluation form, "Bodine was great!" -- M.J. Haught, Marketing Director, Cal Law Business: Increasing Productivity.
"Larry Bodine -- Wow!" -- evaluation from North Carolina Bar Association, Law Practice Management annual meeting.
"Thanks so much for presenting to our group. I had many positive comments from our customers about your presentation." -- Sandra Locke, Director of Marketing Communications, Pitney Bowes Management Service.
"Judging by our program evaluation forms, you presentation was very useful--we received high marks in the speaker and content categories." -- Gabriel L. Tevrizian, Seattle Legal Marketing Association.
"Your session on technology was informative and interesting to our attendees. Thank you for helping make CAI's Law Seminar a success." -- Richard S. Ekimoto, Trustee, Community Associations Institute.
"I would like to thank you for presenting at our meeting. Your presentation, "How Law Firms Can Drive Business With Cutting Edge Technology" was very well received by both Legal Marketing Association members and members of the Association of Legal Administrators." -- Donna V. Rodgers, President, Southwest Chapter, LMA.
See examples of my speaking style. Click a link below for a RealPlayer video:
Private firm marketing presentations
I have also presented Web seminars on many aspects of marketing, such as Web sites,
sales forces, cross-selling, industry practice groups and knockout marketing programs.
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Businesses and law firms know that it is often more cost-effective to bring in an expert to handle a marketing project than it is to create a permanent staff position. Many firms have outsourced business development programs and efforts to me. I have advised firms that have marketing staff, as well as firms that have no marketing personnel. Either way, the firms got an experienced hand to get the job done. Projects I have managed include:
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