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For assistance with the next step — turning a contact into a client — more firms are
hiring business professionals to help out.
A more recent development in the legal industry is the use of highly skilled sales
professionals who are adept at helping others with sales strategy and sales planning. Often call
“coaches,” these individuals will assist lawyers to be more effective at building a book of
business, developing a strategy to win a specific client engagement, or improving upon their
existing business development efforts. Research conducted by Thomson Reuters/West shows
that in 2012, about 4 percent of the reporting firms had structurally distinct sales departments
from their marketing departments. In 2015, that number jumped to 14 percent of reporting firms.
With titles like director of sales, business development officer, and client relationship executive,
these individuals are helping lawyers to sharpen their sales skills and therefore their “win” rates
to build new business opportunities for their firms.
While controversial for some firms, others — again, some of the Leader firms — are
embracing these individuals, and see their expertise and experience as an essential element of
their firm’s client retention, client growth, and new business strategy. In some cases, these
individuals act as internal sales coaches or partner with outside resources to provide the needed
coaching support if demand is high. Emphasis is placed on helping to facilitate the sales process,
including where someone may be along the spectrum of the sales process and developing sales
forecasts that predict with some accuracy where the business and associated revenue will come
from. The sales professionals’ popularity is growing and many of them are partnering with
outside sales coaches.
There are many individuals offering up their services as sales coaches. The individuals
who have actual sales experience, with a proven track record and a history of working with
lawyers in this capacity, will be the most effective at coaching. This is especially true when it
comes to helping rainmakers grow their books of business. While many say they are good at
coaching, few possess the necessary selling skills and prowess to help the top rainmakers
increase their books of business. But of course, those are not the only individuals who coach.
Scaling a coaching program to a specific individual’s needs is what a good coach will do best.
Just as some of the best athletes in the world have coaches to help them refine their performance,
the same is true of lawyers and their coaches.
So, who do these firms hire if they are hiring sales people? Do they have to have a law
degree? Do clients actually like being approached by a “non-practicing lawyer?” The answers
vary depending on which firm is asked. Generally speaking, the critical skill is sales. One must
possess the necessary selling skills to a) be effective at selling legal services and b) to “partner”
with highly-skilled lawyers who may already be good at relationship-building.
Some firms believe it is necessary to have a law degree for two reasons: first, to add
credibility to the individual in the eyes of the lawyers with whom she/he is working; and second,
for their knowledge of the legal services (albeit general knowledge across the spectrum of
services). We do not think it is critical to have a law degree in order to be successful at selling
legal services. What is important, though, is that the firm is comfortable with this role and the
individual, so whatever will work best for the firm is what should guide the decision about who
to hire.
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hiring business professionals to help out.
A more recent development in the legal industry is the use of highly skilled sales
professionals who are adept at helping others with sales strategy and sales planning. Often call
“coaches,” these individuals will assist lawyers to be more effective at building a book of
business, developing a strategy to win a specific client engagement, or improving upon their
existing business development efforts. Research conducted by Thomson Reuters/West shows
that in 2012, about 4 percent of the reporting firms had structurally distinct sales departments
from their marketing departments. In 2015, that number jumped to 14 percent of reporting firms.
With titles like director of sales, business development officer, and client relationship executive,
these individuals are helping lawyers to sharpen their sales skills and therefore their “win” rates
to build new business opportunities for their firms.
While controversial for some firms, others — again, some of the Leader firms — are
embracing these individuals, and see their expertise and experience as an essential element of
their firm’s client retention, client growth, and new business strategy. In some cases, these
individuals act as internal sales coaches or partner with outside resources to provide the needed
coaching support if demand is high. Emphasis is placed on helping to facilitate the sales process,
including where someone may be along the spectrum of the sales process and developing sales
forecasts that predict with some accuracy where the business and associated revenue will come
from. The sales professionals’ popularity is growing and many of them are partnering with
outside sales coaches.
There are many individuals offering up their services as sales coaches. The individuals
who have actual sales experience, with a proven track record and a history of working with
lawyers in this capacity, will be the most effective at coaching. This is especially true when it
comes to helping rainmakers grow their books of business. While many say they are good at
coaching, few possess the necessary selling skills and prowess to help the top rainmakers
increase their books of business. But of course, those are not the only individuals who coach.
Scaling a coaching program to a specific individual’s needs is what a good coach will do best.
Just as some of the best athletes in the world have coaches to help them refine their performance,
the same is true of lawyers and their coaches.
So, who do these firms hire if they are hiring sales people? Do they have to have a law
degree? Do clients actually like being approached by a “non-practicing lawyer?” The answers
vary depending on which firm is asked. Generally speaking, the critical skill is sales. One must
possess the necessary selling skills to a) be effective at selling legal services and b) to “partner”
with highly-skilled lawyers who may already be good at relationship-building.
Some firms believe it is necessary to have a law degree for two reasons: first, to add
credibility to the individual in the eyes of the lawyers with whom she/he is working; and second,
for their knowledge of the legal services (albeit general knowledge across the spectrum of
services). We do not think it is critical to have a law degree in order to be successful at selling
legal services. What is important, though, is that the firm is comfortable with this role and the
individual, so whatever will work best for the firm is what should guide the decision about who
to hire.
41
