Feature

posted 13 Oct 2003 in Volume 6 Issue 5

Making pitches less speculative

An economic downturn is a far from ideal environment for law firms pitching for work. Consequently, many have focused their strategies on improving existing client relationships rather than attempting to forge new accounts that may not be as profitable. However, for firms that can manage speculative pitching, there could be a real chance of winning competitive advantage. Tony Reiss, a founding principal at Sherwood PSF Consulting, provides some checklists for winning clients in a competitive landscape.

Smart firms are deciding not to wait for clients to invite them to pitch for work – they are going out there to present their credentials. Not only can this speed up the process of winning instructions, but it can also cut out competitors, as well as save the firm the time and costs of going through a potentially more rigorous formal pitch.

But speculative pitching is not always as successful as firms would like. In fact, if anything, the majority are failing. On some occasions, firms are sensing that the failure has set the firm backwards rather than moving closer to winning the work. Many partners also find the process difficult – it smacks so much of what some might see as aggressive selling.

Our analysis of pitch documents and presentations shows that many firms are not going about their speculative pitches in the most appropriate way. In particular, firms are not tailoring their messages appropriately to each prospective client.

While there cannot be a McDonald’s formula, where the same approach is sure to make the perfect hamburger every time, we can provide some tips that can make your speculative pitches less speculative. In the five-step process detailed below, I run through what we hope are useful things to consider for each phase. I also provide some examples of successful techniques used by law firms.

Speculative pitching

Research the market and target companies;
Telephone call;
The meeting;
The presentation;
Follow up.

1. Research the market and target companies

There are a number of ways of deciding which companies to target for business and who to approach, such as:

Who do you know?
Which companies are likely to offer a string of profitable work?
Which companies might appreciate the particular knowledge, skills or services that you offer?
Which companies might not be entirely happy with their current advisers?
Which companies are active in their markets?

Use your marketing department and internal information resources to help you draw up a shortlist – note that this should be a “short” list, ideally with no more than five target companies. This will ensure that you can devote sufficient attention to developing the relationships. Find opportunities to meet potential clients, either by:

Attending industry events;
Inviting people to your own events;
Arranging introductions through others that you know (for example, target companies through their other advisers such as investment bankers).

As an example, one leading shipping law firm has targeted ship owners for years. It has successfully won new clients by asking the P&I clubs that they knew well to arrange introductions to the ship owners for them.

See this as a long-term campaign – more large clients are gained after a few years than a few weeks. At the end of, say, a year, I suggest you review your list of target clients. One of them may look particularly difficult for whatever reason. If this is the case, drop it off your list. Perhaps there is now a new prospective client that can replace the one you are dropping off.

2. Telephone call

With speculative pitching, you are not waiting for the prospective client to ring you. You are taking the initiative – this requires you to pick up the phone and persuade the contact to see you.

The critical thing to consider when planning such a call is to answer the question: what is in it for them to give up their valuable time to meet you? It can help if you can offer something they might appreciate, such as:

Information about an issue that is relevant to them (for example, ways of raising finance in Hungary);
Information about developments in the law (for example, recent interpretations on competition issues);
Benchmarking the target client against their competitors on relevant parameters (for example, an insurance company on claims-handling procedures).

The purpose of the call is not to sell anything, it is to get an agreement to meeting. Often, partners attempt to sell their services too quickly.

Some firms have used market research as a means of meeting prospective clients. Other firms offer legal audits to assess risk in certain fields. Yet another has phoned to offer attendance at a small-scale interactive workshop to discuss an important issue, such as how to reduce litigation costs.

If the client says no, try to get permission to keep in touch (for example, asking whether it would be interested in staying on your mailing list).

Some firms have developed some simple processes to find target clients and make approaches. One practice group in an international law firm makes a particular effort to read the trade press to see which companies are planning major investments. On one occasion, instead of telephoning to arrange a meeting, they wrote a speculative letter to an Australian company considering a major initiative in Europe. The firm commented on the suitability of the venture and expressed their interest in supporting the company. Several months later, the company gave this law firm the instructions on the basis of this speculative letter.

3. The meeting

At the meeting, you need to deliver any promises made in the telephone call, but your main intention is to find out more about their needs.

Go prepared. One of the easiest ways of impressing the client company is to show you understand its sector, business and commercial imperatives. If it bought a business in Germany last year, you should know what it is called, what it sells and whether its share price is up or down. Some questions you may find useful in such meetings would address:

What strategy is the client team adopting?
What are the main projects underway or being planned?
Which lawyers do they use and for what?
What do they like and dislike about using the particular lawyers they have?
Who decides which lawyers get instructed?

It can help to start with broad topics and gradually narrow down the conversation – this is called “funnelling” in the sales world.

Often the areas to focus on are not so much the technical legal ones. Many clients choose lawyers who they feel a rapport with and who will deliver appropriate services. For example, an international law firm attracted work from a rival by tuning in to how important the prospective client saw good project-management skills. The law firm drew up a project plan that showed that they were sympathetic to the prospective client’s views, and were promptly given the work.

Open questions will work more effectively if you want the contact to give you lots of information, while closed questions can help you obtain more precise information. Try to avoid asking multiple questions. Not only can this make you seem like an unclear thinker, but the prospective client will also find it difficult to answer every question.

Listen really well. The client will often give some clues from what they say or how they say it. When you notice such clues, ask probing questions to find out more. If you do not do this, the client is likely to have a sense that you are not tuning in to their needs.

Your prime objective at this meeting is to get sufficient information for you to put together a persuasive presentation or document.

Lawyers usually spend too much time talking in these meetings, trying to impress the client with their knowledge or experience. Of course, it is important to establish your credibility when meeting a prospective new client, but this is often best done by asking insightful questions.

You may find that you need to meet others before you put your case. You may need to ask particular questions about who the decision makers are in terms of appointing or instructing lawyers. A law firm recently failed to win employment work from a bank because the firm only targeted the senior in-house counsel. It turned out that the head of human resources played a key role in choosing which lawyers to instruct for employment issues.

It is usually best to invest more in getting to know what a client really needs before presenting. Often, failing to impress in a presentation sets you further back in terms of winning work.

4. The presentation

Thoroughly prepare and rehearse, regardless of how experienced the presenters are. Needless to say, this should not be done in the taxi on the way to the presentation. Involve independent third parties and your marketing department where possible.

Find out in advance who and how many will attend from the potential client company. It is usually best if your team does not outnumber theirs. Structure the presentation accordingly.

Consider what style of presentation is most appropriate – formal or informal, theatrical or low-key. If in doubt, choose the style that the client would choose if they were doing the pitch. One law firm won some work with a TV company famous for its cartoon programmes by hiring a cartoonist to design their presentation.

Don’t bombard the audience with too much information – shape your material as a few key points expressed as benefits to the client.

It can often work well to start off the presentation by showing that you understand the prospective client’s business. This is usually more persuasive than running through how many partners and offices you have.

Each team member should ideally be given a speaking role – it is risky taking along a “technician” who may not be able to contribute. Allocate topics for each member of the team to cover, which includes any Q&A session.

Restrict your presentation to a minimum of 15 and a maximum of 30 minutes – devote any remaining time to questions and answers and informal discussion.

If possible, move to an informal discussion as soon as you can. This will allow the character of the team to come through and may uncover substantive issues. Prepare a list of questions you want to ask them in advance. These can be invaluable prompts for discussion and, assuming the questions are well thought-out, can impress the client.

Look and act like a team. Many lawyers, particularly if they are from different practice groups, behave as if they are from different firms. Clients often want evidence that you will be able to deliver your service consistently and seamlessly.

Debrief your team immediately afterwards and keep your marketing department informed of what has happened.

5. Follow-up

Stay in contact with the organisation after the presentation and look for indications that any clarification or supplementary information may be needed (questioning during the presentation will usually forewarn you of any misunderstandings). When asked for more information, make sure it is provided on the spot, the same day or soon afterwards.

Be alert to further opportunities suggested by the presentation and debriefing process. Don’t cut off your links with the organisation just because they didn’t instruct you straight away, and don’t get despondent, the best stay upbeat and are persistent.

Whatever happens, make sure that you debrief your own team and the organisation, and ensure that your findings are sent to a central resource, so that they can be made accessible to others for use in future speculative pitches.

Speculative pitching isn’t easy, particularly if you haven’t done it before, so I hope you find these checklists helpful. The skilled partners learn from experience and do it better next time. There is also no doubt that if you can develop the skills of speculative pitching, it will help you build a profitable practice more quickly.

Tony Reiss is a founding principal of Sherwood PSF Consulting. He can be contacted at: tony.reiss@reiss-consulting.com.