LMA Midwest at Chicago’s upcoming educational program, “The Evolution of Legal Business Development Strategy – Tools and Trends,” will feature legal leaders across an array of firms. The panel presentation will be co-moderated by seasoned business development representatives Brad Messerich and Jillion Weisberg of Thomson Reuters, who gave a preview of the tone of the event in their responses to our questions, below.
LMA: What driving force is putting marketing and business development on the same team?
Brad and Jillion: Numerous studies indicate that Business Development is now the top priority for C-levels at law firms. Top-down demand for business development and current awareness has put immense pressure on marketing and business development teams to work together to not only unearth information but to provide that information in a digestible format to attorneys and firm decision makers.
LMA: What is the main difference between marketing and business development?
Brad and Jillion: Five years ago, the division between marketing and business development was clearer. Marketing departments might have been divided whereby business development professionals were doing more research and prospecting, while marketing was focused on more traditional branding and PR. The division between marketing and business development is now blurred, and our teams cannot afford to make decisions about marketing without information from business development.
LMA: What advice would you give to a team creating a new business development strategy?
Brad and Jillion: Firms that are just now dipping their toe into business development might consider using a consultant to generate sample business development research reports so they have a better understanding of the type of information being leveraged and the format it is being presented in. Often, firms will leverage our consultants to generate these types of reports and have a better understanding of best of breed business development strategies. We recommend this prior to on-boarding a business development person. We have seen business development efforts fail when expectations are not set for what the ROI will be.
LMA: What do you expect to see from firms in the near future for business development in marketing?
Brad and Jillion: We expect to see more firms moving towards a cohesive strategy whereby marketing and business development professionals are not only preparing attorneys for pitches or doing research on companies but are more focused on delivering information and validating the department. We see these teams being an integral part of the attorney day-to-day activities by providing attorneys with information that is digestible and allows that attorney to maintain expertise in their area of practice, to keep their finger on the pulse of the client and to have access to deeper levels of information when necessary.