Moving the Spotlight: BD Budgets Take Center Stage

Is BD’s time finally here? A lot of the right people think so.

We’re talking budgets and strategic intent. Internationally recognized consultant Patrick McKenna and I joined forces to ask 200 top law firm leaders about Business Development.

The results mark a clear shift on the BD front, as we see in the following results:

We asked top firm leaders how important igniting business development among the partners is:

• Exceptionally Important – 50%
• Important – 35%
• Not Important – 15%

This is one of the strongest BD signals law firm leaders have ever sent.

1/2 of law firm leaders say it’s exceptionally important – bordering on essential. They want strategies and tactics to fire BD up. Another 35% see it as important.

When leadership views BD as essential, CMOs access a rare asset: institutional urgency. This compels CMOs to take advantage of what amounts to a strategic mandate to drive business development and growth. These include:

Promise Crystal Clear Results

Recommend programs with crystal clear, easily understood results – how much business will each program generate – and when. If you don’t have a number and a date, it’s not crystal clear.

BD Specific Time Codes

Set up time codes to track specific BD initiatives – and set up a revenue development plan behind each charge code, use it to share origination credit to all who worked on the effort.

Prepare a Practice Specific BD Swat Team

Each practice selects 5 to 10 major clients (or target clients) with detailed plans, dates, tactics, and budgets to develop new business. Have each practice submit its list of targets to the managing partner for approval.

We recommend Marketing and BD staff work adjacent to practice leaders to ensure this plan is developed and implemented.

Report implementation results at every practice group meeting, if there isn’t enough time – cut something from the agenda to show BD is essential.

Business Development Executives

Hire as many dedicated client relationship managers/business development executives as you can. These professionals are proven to unlock revenues dwarfing their salaries – at both large firms and small.

Mandates like this are rare. This survey delivers one. Firms are not looking for incremental improvements – the 50% majority is signaling a need for radical acceleration.

CMOs – this is your singular chance to grab hold of the momentum and take center stge. Your ideas and the BD budget now stand squarely in the spotlight.

Strike while the light is still bright and shining.