Category Archives: Business Development and Selling

Communication Strategies – Why ‘Spray & Pray’ Isn’t Effective

Firms often struggle to find effective strategies to communicate with staff. Just what is the best way of dealing with the communication aspects of a cost cutting exercise or a potential merger? Given the likely anxieties, do you keep it … Continue reading

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Saying ‘No Thanks’ to Pitch Requests

Chargeable hour targets can feel daunting and partners can be tempted to take whatever work they can find. But just because you get invited to pitch for some work, doesn’t mean you should automatically accept the invitation. The process of … Continue reading

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Why Clients Should Choose Midsize Firms

Many of my clients feel the pressure of being in the middle, squeezed between the big firms and the smaller firms – neither one thing nor the other. The big firms have so many more offices and resources and the … Continue reading

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How to Start a Meeting Well

We tend to worry about the meeting content and not put enough emphasis on starting the meeting well. The more people present, perhaps with different perspectives, the more important it can be to set the meeting up well. Consider whether … Continue reading

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Challenging Meeting Coming Up? Here’s a Preparation Checklist

Many meetings are pretty straightforward and we don’t have to worry particularly about how they’ll go – we’ll be relaxed and can respond in the moment. Other meetings might be more challenging or stressful. There might be a lot riding … Continue reading

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Are You Listening to Your Clients? Here’s a client satisfaction survey to use!

I still think that the average firm doesn’t check in with clients often enough or rigorously enough to confirm what aspects of service the clients like and what they’d like more of, or less of. Not sure I understand why … Continue reading

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It’s Different Selling to Women

I’ve long had a sense that, to sell to a woman, it helped if I had a female colleague in the selling team. But I’d never analysed why. Deloitte has! The firm carried out some important research in B2B selling, … Continue reading

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Are Your Partners Business Savvy Enough?

Most firms recognise that they are too focused on transactions and not focused enough on long-term relationships. This blog article explores the issue using the Service-Value matrix. The comfortable place for many firms is to be in the middle of … Continue reading

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Could Lawyers Run Meetings Better?

Otherwise entitled Meetings, Bl***y Meetings! Some meetings are relatively straightforward to manage, for example those between just you and your client. Many other meetings are much more difficult to run, for example where you have you, your client, the other … Continue reading

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A Diagnostic to Assess Where Your Firm Really is on Quality

I was really proud when my old firm, Cameron Markby Hewitt (now part of CMS Cameron McKenna), became the first City firm to be accredited as an Investor in People (IiP). The standard helped us improve so many practices, particularly … Continue reading

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