Beyond Biglaw: Sales Training (Part 2)
An interesting and innovative idea for helping lawyers at law firms improve their sales skills.
In last week’s column, I discussed the importance of sales training for those aspire to develop business, particularly when trying to secure work from corporate clients. As with most skills, the best way to develop the necessary skills is to practice. The hardest part is finding a practice partner. Your wife or husband, unless they are in-house counsel at the type of client your firm is built to service, will not be of much help. They will think your efforts to sell your services are convincing. But family or friends will also lack the context to appreciate the considerations that your true customers will have in mind.
Because of the limited utility of practicing on non-lawyers, for many lawyers in Biglaw sales training starts informally. By spending time over lunch or a drink with a former colleague who went in-house, for example. That is better than nothing. And is certainly better than sitting through yet another hour of instruction from a paid “sales” instructor brought in by the firm to inspire the troops.
But firms targeting corporate clients can do more to help their young lawyers be competitive when trying to land work. So could corporate clients interested in having their in-house legal team “do more with less” when it comes to using and paying for outside counsel. Because just as much as firms want their lawyers to be able to sell legal services to those clients, so do corporations want their in-house staff to become better consumers of legal services….
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Obviously no one is going to tell the general counsel how to distinguish between firms. Or any senior in-house lawyer, for that matter. Though with the number of corporations that report dissatisfaction with their outside counsel, perhaps a refresher would not be a bad idea for some.
But put aside the senior in-house lawyers. It could be helpful to a younger in-house lawyer to “mock purchase” an outside firm for a deal. Just as it could be helpful for a young partner to participate in a “mock beauty contest” with that in-house counterpart.
Seems like something worth trying to me. Instead of subjecting young partners to attending an industry conference with instructions to “network” and “build your personal brand,” firms should make a few calls to their best clients. And ask if they have any younger in-house lawyers who could benefit from a one or two day “mock beauty contest” session. Let the client select the issue that needs addressing by outside counsel. Better yet, pick a bet-the-company issue that would require a significant one-off engagement of a firm. And also have everyone negotiate for a longer term flat-fee arrangement for a series of routine smaller matters. Both types of engagements are plausible in today’s climate, and in-house counsel needs to be skilled at retaining counsel to cover either scenario. Conversely, outside counsel needs to be able to sell both the “big case” and the steady work. Profitably for the firm, if possible.
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Split the young partners into teams — because selling today is a team sport in many Biglaw practice areas — and let them substantively prepare their pitches in advance. The in-house “purchasers” can also prepare. By looking at historical engagements the company has entered into for similar work. Taking into account the staffing proposals provided by outside counsel in those and current engagements. Rates as well. And reviewing wherever there was a budget provided, to see whether that budget was met. Considering Biglaw’s ability to blow through budgets with Formula 1-level speed, the answer in many cases is likely no. So our young in-house counsel need to be wary of agreeing to sweetheart deals based on “strict” budgets for work that will be done “efficiently” using a “lean” group of high-priced attorneys. Doing this research will help the in-house participants do a better job evaluating the proposals at the program itself. And negotiate better mock engagements as well.
As mentioned above, preparation in advance by outside counsel is very important to making the most of a program along the lines of what I am suggesting. Ideally, the presentations by the outside counsel would be of the same level as if the firm was brought in for a real beauty contest. I know everyone is busy billing, and it would take valuable time for the young partners/senior associates to prepare credible presentations. But that is no different a circumstance than what we often deal with in real beauty contest. Even as a Biglaw associate, I was involved in setting up beauty contest pitches on very short notice. When a company has been sued and wants to get outside counsel working on a defense, it will not really be inclined to give the invited firms much time to polish their presentations. Sales of legal services often happen in the presence of time pressure. And we want to simulate real-world conditions as much as possible.
Getting the participants actionable feedback and guidance during the event is also key. Have rainmakers on hand as coaches, judges, and mentors to help guide the proceedings, together with some senior counsel from the client to help evaluate the performance of the in-house participants. Teaching is a great refresher, and it would probably be a fun experience for the “faculty.” Most importantly, have the participants debrief each other. Let the outside counsel explain why they presented their pitches in a certain way. And have the in-house counsel explain what was persuasive in those pitches, or differentiated one proposal from another one. The more communication between the participants the better, especially when that communication is supplemented by commentary from the instructors.
The more I think about it, the more I think a legal services sales/purchasing “academy” can work. Everyone would learn more over that day or two than a year’s worth of lectures on sales strategies could provide. We hold mock trials to build litigation skills. Why not hold mock beauty contests to build sales skills?
Please feel free to send comments or questions to me at gkroub@kskiplaw.com or via Twitter: @gkroub. Any topic suggestions or thoughts are most welcome.
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Earlier: Beyond Biglaw: Sales Training (Part 1)
Gaston Kroub lives in Brooklyn and is a founding partner of Kroub, Silbersher & Kolmykov PLLC, an intellectual property litigation boutique. The firm’s practice focuses on intellectual property litigation and related counseling, with a strong focus on patent matters. You can reach him at gkroub@kskiplaw.com or follow him on Twitter: @gkroub.