Business Development

Archive for December, 2009

“Success is achieved by developing our strengths, not by eliminating our weaknesses.” Marilyn vos Savant. In some of my earlier postings I discuss breaking client development into separate tasks and having participating attorneys only do those tasks they are most suited for. The idea is to capitalize on the individual’s natural talents and strengths in combination with others to contribute to a well rounded marketing program. While it makes sense, it’s not much help for the solo practitioner. So what can a soloist do to develop business on his own, with no one to share in the heavy lifting?

The ideal law firm marketing plan has several components. There will usually be some networking and expert positioning involved. A well designed, active website with good search engine optimization is also helpful, among other things. But what if you’re not a natural at all the various business development activities? Does that mean that you are doomed to fail? All evidence to the contrary. There are more solo firms than any other firm size in the country and it is doubtful that all of their principals are good at all things marketing. So what do successful solos do?

While I have only anecdotal evidence to back this up, in my estimation the successful soloist still focuses his development efforts on his strengths. If you happen to be a great writer, but a not so great networker, you can still be successful in developing business. The idea is to not only customize the marketing plan and strategies to fit the targeted clients you have defined, but to customize your plan to also fit what you do best. For example, let’s say you have determined where your targeted clients gather and what publications they read. Instead of spending most of your time trying to overcome your awkward resistance to breaking the ice at some sort of community association meeting, why not focus most of your efforts on writing? Write some compelling articles that can be published for the group and you may not have to break the ice. Someone will break it for you by asking for your opinion or to speak at a function. You can do what you do best, and inadvertently get some help (i.e. breaking the ice) with what you are not so great at.

Whether your business has a small or large team, keeping on top of daily business operations while further developing for the future is challenging. Many companies utilize corporate intranets to handle various aspects of supervision and performance, featuring sharing of information securely and efficiently making updates across all company communications amongst various departments.

ISI has compiled the top ten reasons why having an Intranet can streamline business development:

Time to task savings

• Reduces time to task by 20% or more (i.e.: Average time of time-on-task from 1 minute 52 seconds can be reduced to 54 seconds).
• Users can perform more than twice as many tasks per hour and reduces the time it takes for people to do things.
• i.e.: Annual planning via intranet- to budget, schedule, and keep track of risks investigated- reduced from 1 month duration to 3 weeks.

Business development

• Encourages managers to monitor how daily operations are affecting short-term and long-term company business strategy.

Valuable daily work tool - Increases productivity and enhances communication

• Becomes an invaluable daily work tool for all that people will use and rely on everyday.
• Finding information faster means saving money.

Reduces costs on audit information distribution and production

• Compared to traditional methods with distributing on paper, information processed electronically reduces overall information distribution and production costs
• The reduction in paper consumption means conserving valuable resources and a very “green” move.

As your company begins to grow, you may be ready to undertake some credit risks by opening an account with MasterCard merchant account providers. A merchant account will provide the means of securing electronic equipment to upgrade your business dealings. The principal benefit is the opportunity to accept credit card payments from your customers. People love to shop using plastic these days, and they often will avoid businesses that do not offer this convenient bill-paying method. Make it easy for your customers to do business with you by providing credit card payments through a low cost merchant account.

With a MasterCard merchant account, you will enjoy the means of expanding the way you do business. A financial underwriter can quickly approve your application if your company is solvent and is prepared to make timely monthly payments for this service. A MasterCard account for your business will let you offer credit card paying options for your customers in real time transactions via a variety of methods. For example, if you do business in a shop or a store, you can install a credit card swiping unit that lets customers pay by credit at the checkout line. But if you operate business while on the move by operating a home or business delivery service, for example, you can take a wireless credit card processor with you to let customers pay immediately. This can save you time and money when you avoid sending out monthly statements and tracking bad checks. You also can take along a pager that will let you stay in touch with employees at the home office or customers who are waiting for your arrival.