Strategic planning graduated from mandatory monotony to mission-critical.

Law firms have more money at risk than ever — and the future is made up of bets and choices. These bets include markets, talents, changing demands of law firms by attorneys and clients — and the free-for-all developing as law firms poach each other’s partners.

Strategic plans were once a discussion among a few partners. Now, meticulous processes with a combination of facts, trends, experience, ideas, vision, and intuition drive the most successful plans. Some firms are there — others are getting there. And a few don’t care.

Patrick McKenna and I surveyed more than 200 law firm leaders to delineate the state of the art — and how to make it better. It’s a cornucopia of approaches, processes, and results.

Use it to pick from the best. Use it to position yourself to help. And use it to help drive outsized results.

You can find the link to download the full complimentary report at the end of the post. Here are the highlights:

15% of law firm leaders characterize their strategic planning as excellent — with another 11% describing it as good. This leaves 74% of law firms with sub-optimal strategic planning — and likely plans.

69% of law firm leaders indicate strategic planning is more important than ever or nearly so. They see the risks — and the rewards.

6.5% of leaders eschew plans and are opportunistic. They consider themselves agile and have keen instincts. This too is a strategic plan — to be opportunistic.

79% of law firm leaders indicate they have written strategic plans. But most don’t see them as excellent — leaving work to do and decisions to be made.

Only 34% of firms interviewed or surveyed a majority of their partners as part of the process. This dilutes engagement at all levels as they feel excluded. It also reduces interest in understanding the plan — never mind implementing it.

45% include client surveys and feedback in their strategic plan. More than half exclude a vital guidepost in spotting opportunities from the constituency with enormous influence on your results. Clients offer a broad view of needs and see strengths in law firms they rarely see in themselves.

68.2% of leaders use a consultant to help facilitate the planning process. Of these — only one-third reported successfully implementing all of their plans. A good consultant will help — a mediocre consultant or less will hurt.

Leaders with internally focused plans are 20% less satisfied with their plans. These leaders intuitively sense how an external focus brings new insights. They also add energy and enthusiasm as it delineates more opportunities for attorneys.

35% of firms formed a dedicated committee to develop the strategic plan. These committees hold each accountable for bringing in the right facts at the right time. They add structure and accountability to the process.

Larger firms have more targeted goals and plans. 44.2% of firms described their plans as brief and targeted — this drops to 12.5% for firms with less than 500 attorneys. Brief and targeted beats broad and all-inclusive.

18.6% of leaders indicate they implement almost all of their plans. So many firms see their plans lying on a shelf or server somewhere. Implementation demands more resources than planning — with specific accountability for implementations — most often a key missing link.

Law firms can improve their strategic planning process — and develop more compelling plans — by embracing the following processes:

Avoid negotiated strategic plans

Law firms report the strategic plan is effectively a result of the ability of certain practice leaders to negotiate for their interest or goal — adding facts from clients and partners will help ground truth the plan — and eliminate negotiated strategies.

Add client input — 3 advantages

Clients have a broad view of their needs and how they will change — in addition, 70% of law firms don’t match client perception — alignment is one key to success. And — they help eliminate negotiated strategic plans.

Add attorney input

It’s worth it for the one insightful new idea — and it will come from a place you least likely expect. You will also boost overall attorney engagement.

Lay out the process for all

Let everyone in the firm know what is happening and when. This knowledge boosts engagement and creates energy around strategic thinking. It also establishes a form of accountability to the firm for completion and implementation.

Short beats long

Take the time to make it brief and targeted. It takes more work and may demand more decision making — but it drives success.

Embrace alternative and nontraditional views

New market opportunities are arising that only associates know about. New regulations are creating counterintuitive opportunities. Talent retention demands new strategies not typically used in law firms. The pivotal insights and facts may lie outside the current field of vision. Multiple and alternative viewpoints — harnessed with positive energy — are one of the most powerful tools to make all this change work for you.

Attorneys love an intellectual challenge. It lies before you in the form of strategic planning. The firms upping their strategic planning process are the most likely to emerge as the next market leaders — and they will enjoy better retention as few things attract high-performing attorneys more than success — ditto for clients.

You can download a complimentary copy of the full report Dissecting the Processes of Law Firm Strategic Planning here.

Virtually every new regulation and court decision brings unique industry-specific impacts. Your ability to bring this insight is the difference between being invited in without competition or being left out of the conversation. And — getting much higher rates.

The Most Lucrative Differentiator

Understanding your client’s industry is the most lucrative differentiator. Even law firms with the highest rates enjoy even higher rates after successfully implementing industry groups.

Here are the 11 best practices driving the most successful industry go-to-market strategies:

1. Pick Attractive and Lucrative Industries

Make it worth the investment. Pick industries with complex legal needs, higher spending, and face growing complexity. This selection offers more opportunity than no growth industries — or those with less complex needs.

A few savvy firms develop objective criteria to evaluate and target industries with dedicated groups and resources. And they stick to the criteria.

2. Target Industry Leaders, Influencers, or Rising Stars

You are judged by the company you keep. The most successful programs include market leaders and standouts who will impress others. You get the benefit of their leadership.

3. Educate Clients

Clients love law firms’ successful industry programs because they get better outcomes faster. And clients love learning something new and valuable. Educating clients checks off all the boxes for excellent client service and business development. Education is the cornerstone of an enduring relationship.

4. Say What Others Don’t or Won’t

Put a stake in the ground. Examine what others are saying and adopt messaging with more insight and punch. The battle for industry supremacy is built with intelligence, knowledge sharing, and insight. Few firms look at what others say — they presume what they offer is good enough. Clients will always find their way to the best and unique insight.

Share opinions. Even when your client doesn’t agree, your new opinions help them develop their own.

5. Use Client Peer Networking

Encourage your anchor clients to invite their peers. Corporate counsel want to learn from each other. They also want to help each other. This is your opportunity to help corporate counsel with their own network while you build out yours — and you get the credit.

6. Provide New Insights Annually

Things change. Clients want to be the first to know. The successful industry group will position itself as the recurring source of an annual information and insight cycle. This insight prepares industry corporate counsel about key trends and performance metrics.

In a perfect world you will perform original research around the performance metrics that matter most to the industry — and share these regularly.

Release the results in industry media, industry-wide webinars, and events. This approach positions your firm as a primary source and a go-to law firm for the industry.

7. Use Research to Stand Out

Client research adds nuance you can’t get any place else. You can articulate the most relevant and timely intelligence and ensure it has the right wording and subtleties only an insider would bring.

8. Train Group Leaders in the Insights

The most successful industry groups select key partners to become experts in deep insights. While all attorneys share the insights the selected attorney takes the deep dive and articulates the message. They become fluent in the insights and industry nuances and support other attorneys in their drive to build the industry focus. They also split the origination credit.

9. Zealous Use of Social Media

Share your industry insights often. Develop your own digital ecosystem with strategically timed posts to reference other posts and repurpose content. The successful industry groups map these posts out on a calendar and assign responsibility for each. Encouraging everyone on the team to like, comment on, and share posts amplifies the message and your network.

Post to all industry leader site company pages and tag as many corporate counsel as possible.

10. Industry Group Budget

The successful industry group has its own funding. The research, training, and distribution channels cost money to develop and maintain are substantial investments.

11. Impassioned Leader

Leaders love industry and learning. They love sharing and being with clients — and getting more insights back in return. The leader of every successful group brings passion and enthusiasm — and uses all the resources the budget supports.

Industry-specific knowledge will only continue to grow in influence and become a magnet for new clients, as well as a key retention tool for existing clients. Corporate counsel have all learned that law firms with industry nuance deliver better outcomes — both legal and business.

The day is coming when all market-leading law firms will go to market by industry groups. As of now these firms are the exception. Jump in now and be one of the firms who make it the rule.