Rainmakers of The Year Offer Tips for their Success at LSSO

By Larry Bodine, Esq., a business development advisor based in Glen Ellyn, IL, and Tucson, AZ. With the Apollo Business Development Program, he has helped law firms nationwide get new clients and generate millions of dollars of new revenue. He can be reached at 630.942.0977 and www.ApolloBusinessDevelopment.com

When Peter Bilfield won the Originate! newsletter Rainmaker of the Year Award in 2008, he was an associate at a large New York Law firm.  Since then he parlayed his practical selling skills to become a partner at Shipman & Goodwin in their Stamford, CT, office last April. He used his top rainmaking skill of focusing on getting work within his own network of friends, family, clients and prospects, and capitalizing on them by listening to what they have to say so that he can expand the relationship.

Bilfield was one of four rainmakers who spoke at a panel discussion at the annual Legal Sales and Services (LSSO) Raindance Conference in Chicago. The three day conference focused on law firm sales, marketing tips from general counsel, advice from managing partners, and sales process improvement.

Enter the 2009 Rainmaker of the Year Awards, sponsored by Originate! Newsletter and the Legal Sales and Services Organization. The newsletter is now soliciting entries from lawyers, firms, marketing specialists, recruiters and advisors in six categories: Associate Small firm lawyer (30 or fewer lawyers) Partner – transactions Partner – litigator Woman Lawyer Enter Today!

The panel was moderated by Gabe Miller, General Counsel for the Law Offices of Jim Sokolove, and it also included rainmakers:

H. Patrick Callahan, Partner at Baker & Daniels in Indianapolis

Lorelei Graham, Partner at Miller Thomson, Ontario, Canada.

Wilton McDonald II, head of investment funds at Higgs Johnson Truman Bodden & Co in Grand Cayman.

"It's the close relationships that have worked best for me, said Bilfield, who has a business and finance practice. "I had a friend who was head of a major research corporation.  I made the pitch and got the work from the company.  Then I learned their needs and brought in a partner and we successfully cross-sold other practices including M&A, tax, litigation and trust and estate work for the executives."

He also advised lawyers who want to be rainmakers to engender relationships within the firm, because your colleagues similarly can refer legal assignments to you. 

"As part of my process, I talk to my existing clients -- before the transaction, during the transaction and after the transaction.  We got a good result for one client for example, we worked through the holidays and weekends to get the job done.  Afterwards I spent an hour on the phone talking with the CFO.  None of the other lawyers bothered to do this.  I discovered that the company had a need to establish a fund.  If I hadn't talked with the client, that work could have gone to another law firm."

Overcoming obstacles

The path to being a rainmaker is dotted with obstacles.  "Marketing for lawyers is the worst job in the world," Callahan exclaimed.  Lawyers come out of law school thinking they know everything.  But they didn't go to law school to sell, so it is anathema to all of us."

"I overcame my obstacles, which was being in a field dominated by older established mail lawyers." Rainmakers must be self reliant, and can't expect the firm to generate business for them. This can happen when new leaders rotate into top management at a firm, who can be less supportive of business development.  In this situation, rainmakers shift their focus.  "If management is focusing on what the bean counters are saying, then you need to convince them that your business development initiative is a good idea that makes sense financially," she said.

Further, not all lawyers are suited for business development, Lorelei Graham noted. "But your firm better have people who are.  You need a team to fill in the cracks -- some people can do the pitch, and other can do the work. It's extremely important to educate yourself about what your firm's practice groups do and be familiar with the individuals in it."

She launched the innovative initiative called MTech (or Miller Thomson Technology Program), a program she led together with a small, motivated team at the firm. Its target is emerging technology businesses, which the MTech group will help with from their start-up stage to successful execution of their business plan. Several banks and CPA ferromanganese with Miller Thompson, greatly increasing the number of relationships the program developed.  "The primary thing the clients needed was to have their legal needs prioritized," she said.

Benefits of teamwork

Callahan is also a booster of teamwork.  His firm has created six client service managers for all 19 practice groups at Baker & Daniels.  The job of the manager is to get to know a practice intimately. "This person becomes the resource that gets you into the door and helps you handle the RFPs," Callahan said.

"The benefit of teams is that each person gets a piece of that team's transaction," McDonald interjected. "And the other lawyers also provide cover for you.'

"I'm a generalist," said Callahan, who is a transactional lawyer. "But I can find the expert to make your client happy." The problem, he said, "is that we're laces and act like independent sole proprietors.  You can get lawyers into a room and this in itself will create synergies, but you need to have somebody to take ownership of a client team," he said. "You need to have metrics -- such as how many new pieces of litigation are we getting, or how much has our revenue increased."

And the impetus must come from the top.  "Management must be a strong advocate of business development, and say 'this is important to the firm."

Rainmakers successfully sell and communicate value to their clients.  "You first must build trust with a client. Then you need to exceed their expectations and demonstrate that your care more about them than the bill.

When Wilton McDonald won the 2008 Rainmaker of the Year Award, he was a senior associate.  But after a firm merger he is now Head of Investment Funds for Higgs Johnson. "Instead of trying to muscle into an established practice, my approach is to create demand for the Caymans as a financial capitol," he said. "As a funds lawyer I interface with bankers and fund managers.  I created an international network of lawyers in 100 countries. I can call them and introduce myself to people in key markets, and cultivate a good relationship," he said.

"It's all about how you create demand by creating a referral network.  "My jumping off point was researching a business and coming up for solutions for them.  It's like having a good stock tip -- it will open a lot of doors," he said.  He has about 10 people in his immediate circle whom he talks with regularly and exchanges referrals.

"You've got to get away from making a sales pitch," he said. "Business development is about cultivating a relationship, doing a good job and then doing your best to nurture that relationship."

Asking for the business

Bilfield agreed.  "I try to provide vale to my client and go the extra mile. I always pick up the phone when it rigs. I'm making sure I'm taking care of the client and they recognize that.  I go to the client's charity and give money to his organization.  I care about it, and that's why he's a client with us."

A universal stumbling block for lawyers is actually asking clients for their work.  "If you don't ask for the business you'll never know what you could have been doing for the client," Bilfield said.

Callahan advised, "You need to know the client.  You don't sell yourself, instead you find out what their needs are. If you don't know the client first, I don't know how you can ask for their work."

Originate! Newsletter & Legal Sales and Services Organization
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