Every Good Firm Needs Good Clients
Three Ways to Participate
Through Your
Professional Organization
Join like-minded leaders at an event sponsored by your professional organization
Through Your
Firm or Agency
Exclusively for you and your colleagues, we'll come to your offices to deliver a customized experience
Joining Other
Individual Participants
Presented live and online from our studio, with a small group of individuals from a variety of professions.
This workshop takes skilled professionals, and makes them skilled, professional business developers.
When you leave the program, you'll be able to introduce a business discussion with a stranger in a way that makes you sound "smart" and enhances your professional image.
Course Rationale:
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Early in their careers, associates contribute to projects secured by senior professionals. Over time, they're expected to develop their own clients and contribute to the growth of the practice - an essential step toward partnership.
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However, professional schools rarely teach client development skills, despite most firms operating on a seller-provider model.
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This course equips skilled professionals with practical business development capabilities.
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Unlike consumer businesses requiring volume sales, professional B2B firms grow by building a focused portfolio clients with recurring needs. A single "extra" good client represents an annuity for the firm.
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Participants will leave this program confident in their ability to win One More Good Client - repeatedly, reliably, and with proven strategies.
I wanted to be a professional, so I studied hard, went to grad school, worked my butt off, and got into a good firm. Now I’m putting in long hours to make partner. But they say I also need to bring in new clients to get promoted. Nobody ever taught me how to do that.
Each Module Takes a Three-Stage Approach
MODULES:
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Overview: New approaches to marketing professional services and how practitioners can apply these approaches. This is the "why" behind the "what". Introduce the process of initial conversation - presentation of capabilities - request for proposal - won business.
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Serendipity: How to professionally turn a casual conversation into a business conversation (without seeming pushy). This is useful for any "unscheduled" situation: You are speaking with a cousin’s spouse at a family gathering and it turns out they are a buyer at a large company you'd like to have as a client.
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Professional Gatherings: Many professionals participate in community events (Chamber of Commerce luncheon, charity golf tournament, conferences, etc.) in the hope of meeting prospective clients. This module shows how to create an effective, professional introduction on-the-fly that will lead to a statement of capabilities. Leave the event with meetings set, not business cards.
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Trade Shows: The right industry conference can be a good place to meet new prospective clients. The difference between an effective presence and just spending a lot of money boils down to how you "work the event". We'll explain best practices, how to get the best return on your investment, and what to avoid.
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Outreach: This module covers the tools and methods to create a list of decision-makers at suitable companies, and how to professionally and compellingly introduce the firm’s work, with the goal of securing a meeting. This is the module that ultimately lets a professional choose who they would like to do business with, and pursue those clients.
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Outreach for Lawyers: Unlike other professions, Law has a code of ethics that prohibits proactive outreach. We'll look at ABA Model Rule 7.3 and its exceptions. You'll be provided with a case-study-based "stress test" to identify common strategies used by other firms. We'll provide methods to implement and optimize those that match your firm's guidelines.
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The Statement of Capabilities: Modern approaches to speaking about your capabilities with the goal of receiving requests for proposals and winning work: how to prepare the client prior to the meeting; what to say and not to say; how to follow up to ensure the SOC leads to billings and isn’t just a one-off event.
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Remote Presentation: While it’s always best to meet with prospective clients face-to-face, the reality is that in-person meetings are not always possible. Remote presentations (WebEx, Zoom, GoToMeeting, etc.) can be effective, but they have different components than in-person meetings. This module ensures you are able to present effectively, even when presenting remotely
DURATION:
Modules typically run 90 minutes to two hours in length. This is a live learning event structured so that we don't end a module until all participants are proficient. ​
CLASS SIZE:
Class is capped at ten participants
The all-inclusive cost of the
program is $499
THEORY
The fundamental principles that make this business development system effective: Why we say what we say; and how to adapt these first principals “on the fly” to capitalize on any opportunity for business development.”
SCRIPTING
Each participant has their own voice. Together, we develop your professional discussion points and what you will say when asking a prospective client for the opportunity to be considered as a provider of service.
PRACTICE
In times of stress, we fall back on the things we know best. Most professionals find BD stressful. Using out loud activities, role play, and games we practice to make sure that the first random thing that falls out of a stressed professional’s mouth is something very smart and very effective.
Before the course:
We'll schedule a short call to understand your current situation, your goals, and what you're already doing to reach those goals. We tailor the course content to optimize outcomes for our participants.
After the course:
Included in the program are check-ins with participants at 14, 30, 45, 60, and 90 days regarding implementation – We want to see you using what we’ve taught you, and help you implement if you’re having problems.
In addition, we allocate three 20-minute one-on-one practice sessions to be used in the first year after the seminar. There are many ways to use "your hour".
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Review of class material
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One-on-one practice
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Review/Discussion of your marketing materials
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Review/Discussion of your trade show strategy
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General encouragement
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​Anything else you feel would be useful