This week’s Quote of the Week is via Seth Godin in his post ‘Simple techniques for complex projects‘:
Stress test the go/no go parts of the project as early as possible.
Anyone who has done as many tenders as I have would whole heartily agree with that one!
Only got around to reading this interesting post by William Josten on the Thomson Reuters website this week. In the post – ‘How to improve handling of law firm rate increase requests through data: A view from in-house counsel‘ – Josten comes up with this gem that is well worth keeping in mind the next time you ask your clients for a rate increase and makes it my Quote of the Week for this week:
From law firms’ perspective, understanding the data that informs a client’s financial position is a helpful way to focus their rate increase conversations onto a productive end for both sides.
As usual comments are my own.
#QuoteOfTheWeek
This week’s Quote of the Week comes from a post I read by Seth Godin. In ‘Insightful data is called information‘ Seth writes:
The purpose of information is to inform, to help us change our minds. Information has a point of view, it’s useful. It turns data into actionable truth.
Getting more data isn’t the hard part. Turning it into information is.
This is absolutely spot on and something every law firm needs to keep in mind as it mines for the new oil – aka data!
As usual, comments are my own. And I hope everyone has a great and safe 2023!
#QuoteOfTheWeek
This week’s Quote of the Week comes from an article written by Steven M Bell in LawVision. The article itself is a write-up of ‘Leading Marketers Weigh in on Rethinking Law Firm Pitches and Proposals‘.
In the article Steven quotes Brandie Knox, Principal and Creative Director of Knox Design Strategy with the following:
“A firm should have a solid sense of its strengths, weaknesses, and its strategic direction as it decides to proceed…or not. Is this opportunity going to propel the firm toward its three-, five- and 10-year goals?”
And the part I love, which every BD person should keep in mind about every opportunity they are looking into is this:
Is this opportunity going to propel the firm toward its three-, five- and 10-year goals?”
#QuoteoftheWeek
Indeed, most law departments rate their legal spend management sophistication as middle of the road, which means that most law departments continue to rely on general billing guidelines and discounts as their primary cost-control measures.
2022 Legal Department Operations Index – by Legal Value Network and Thomson Reuters
If you focus only on the technology you see today and not on the partner you need for the future, there’s a risk that your solution could quickly fall out of date and become a hand-brake on your business. Focus on who you think will support you to be successful over the long term.
‘Focus on relationships, not tech’ by Gene Turner on his LawHawk blog
Just because someone knows the word for it doesn’t mean that they understand, or that they’re a useful expert.
Seth Godin – ‘Is there a word for that?‘
This week’s Quote of the Week comes Julie A. Fleming, of whom I have been a long time reader:
A BD plan is only as good as the strategy that underlies it. Without strategy, a plan is just an uncoordinated task list of actions that you think will bring in more business, but the actions don’t function together or reinforce one another, nor are they pointed to a specific outcome other than more business.
Julie A. Fleming – on Strategic Planning
#QuoteOfTheWeek
This week’s Quote of the Week is unashamedly taken from a Twitter post…
I am on annual leave. If your issue is urgent, please either re-evaluate your idea of urgent, or consider whether email is an appropriate means to contact an anaesthetist in an emergency.
Very funny.
Have a great weekend all!
Business development (BD) is the process of identifying, nurturing and acquiring new clients and business opportunities to drive growth and profitability. As commonly used in the professional services context, BD includes major elements of traditional marketing and sales functions, such as lead generation, nurturing, opportunity qualification, proposal preparation and closing.
Lee Frederiksen on Hinge
Have a great weekend everyone!
Random Thoughts On The Business Of Law 