The Problem Isn’t The Ask. It's The Way You Ask
Asking for referrals does not need to feel awkward. Discover practical ways to create natural referral conversations that focus on client needs rather than your pipeline.
Most professionals treat referrals like a transaction:
“Hey, do you know anyone who needs this?”
And that is where it falls flat.
Referrals don’t happen at the end of a job, they happen at the peak of value. Right after:
You’ve solved a problem
Delivered a great outcome
Made the client’s life easier
That’s when your client is already thinking: “That was great.” You’re not interrupting. You’re simply continuing the conversation.
That’s why, for this BD Tips Wednesday post, I’m taking a look at ‘How to Ask for Referrals Without Sounding Awkward’.
Shift From “Can You Refer Me?” to “Who Else Is Dealing With This?”
The best referral conversations don’t feel like requests, they feel like insight. Instead of asking for people, ask about problems:
“Who else in your network is dealing with this right now?”
“Are you seeing this come up in other teams or organisations?”
“Is this something your peers are talking about as well?”
This does two things:
It keeps the focus on the client’s world (not your pipeline), and
It makes the referral feel like a natural extension of the work you’ve just done.
Make It Easy To Say Yes
Awkwardness often comes from vagueness. If your client has to think too hard, they won’t act. Give them something specific:
“We’ve been helping a few clients with X, happy to have a quick chat with anyone else facing the same issue.”
“If someone comes to mind, feel free to connect us - no pressure at all.”
Low friction. No pressure. Clear context.
Use The “Permission-Based” Close
This is where most people get stuck, they either push too hard or don’t ask at all. Instead try:
“Would you be comfortable introducing me if someone comes to mind?”
It works because:
It respects the relationship
It gives them control
It removes the pressure of an immediate answer
You’re not asking them to do something now. You’re opening the door for them to help when it feels right.
The Real Lever: Consistency, Not Courage
Most professionals wait for the “perfect moment.” Rainmakers build it into their process: every matter; every project; every positive outcome.
Because referrals aren’t a one-off tactic, they’re a system.
Takeaway
Try this in your next client conversation:
“We’ve been seeing this come up a lot lately are others in your network dealing with something similar?”
Then stop talking. Let them think. Let them connect the dots.
Because that’s where the best referrals come from.
Need Help With Your Business Development?
Get in touch if you want to talk about any of this. We also offer a very affordable BD Audit and Training package.
Do You Know When Your Client’s End Of Financial Year Is?
Clients buy services according to internal budgets, planning cycles and financial pressures. Understanding these buying windows can significantly improve the timing and effectiveness of your business development efforts.
If you are in the UK, you’ve probably just gone through your End of Financial Year process. If you’re in Australia, this process is likely to be kicking off now. And if you’re in the US, you have a way to go before you need to start worrying about this process.
If you’re now thinking: “What in the world has this go to do with business development?” then this BD Tips Wednesday post is for you!
Understanding When Clients Actually Buy Services
There’s a myth in professional services that business development is about always being “on.” Always networking. Always pitching. Always following up.
The reality is, the market doesn’t buy that way. Clients don’t procure legal, consulting or advisory services on a smooth, continuous timeline. They buy in bursts, shaped by their immediate needs, internal budgets, reporting cycles and pressure points.
If you’re not aware and aligned with those needs and timelines, then you are missing a trick in your business development arsenal.
The Financial Year as a Buying System
For most businesses, the financial year doesn’t just represent an accounting construct, it acts as a budget decision-making framework. Budgets are set. Spend is allocated. Priorities are locked in. And, importantly, approvals become easier if the expense is “budgeted for”.
For your business development planning, this typically creates four distinct buying windows:
1. Pre-Budget Planning
This is where future work is shaped. Clients are identifying risks, scoping projects and building the internal case for spend in the next financial year. Legal risk reviews, panel planning, major projects and advisory support often originate here; even if procurement happens later.
Firms that engage at this stage aren’t “selling.” They’re helping define the problem.
That distinction matters. If you’re involved early, you influence scope, pricing expectations and delivery model before the work is formalised.
2. New Budget Activation
This is one of the most active buying periods. Budgets have reset. There’s fresh capacity to spend. Internal stakeholders are under pressure to execute on newly approved initiatives.
This is when:
Panels are utilised
External advisors are engaged
Projects move from concept to action
If you’re not visible at the start of the financial year, you’re often competing for leftovers later.
3. Mid-Year Adjustment
Everyone knows that feeling when reality sets in. Revenue isn’t were it was forecast to be. Projects stall because everyone is “too busy”. And those hard fought for budgets get reallocated to other projects.
This is the Mid-Year Adjustment, where responsive, relationship-driven rainmakers win work. Clients aren’t always running formal procurement processes here. They’re solving problems quickly. Known trusted advisors have significant insight advantage.
4. End-of-Year Pressure
Two competing forces collide:
“Use it or lose it” spend: Some teams rush to deploy remaining budget before year-end
Budget tightening: Others freeze discretionary spend in preparation for the next cycle
This creates a highly uneven market. Opportunities exist, but they’re often tactical rather than strategic. Firms that rely solely on this period to do their business development tend to experience inconsistent pipelines.
Why This Matters for Your Business Development Strategy
Most business development activity is poorly timed. Firms push hardest when they have capacity, they focus on what they sell, not when the clients are actually ready to buy.
That’s why you’ll see:
Strong credentials ignored
Late-stage pitches lost on price
Capability statements that don’t land
Not because your offer is necessarily weak. It might not even be because the client doesn’t need what your selling. But because you have misaligned your sell with the client’s buying cycle.
Understanding what your client’s financial year calendar is shifts your approach here from reactive to strategic.
Takeaway
Clients don’t wake up and decide to buy services randomly. They buy when their internal environment allows them to.
If your business development strategy doesn’t reflect that reality, you’ll always feel like you’re chasing work.
Need Help With Your Business Development?
Get in touch if you want to talk about any of this. We also offer a very affordable BD Audit and Training package.
The Visibility Gap
Many firms lose work not because they lack capability, but because the market cannot clearly see their value. Discover how visibility influences growth, trust and buying decisions.
Most lawyers I know don’t have a capability problem. Actually, quite the contrary: they are very good at what they do! What they do suffer from though is what I like to call a Visibility Gap. So for this BD Tips Wednesday post, I thought I would run through what this actually means, and how you can fix it.
What is a Visibility Gap?
A Visibility Gap is when capable lawyers and law firms lose work not because they don’t have the expertise to deliver on the project requirements, but because the purchaser cannot clearly see their value before a buying decision is made.
My 20+ years of tendering experience will tell you: That small distinction matters more than most lawyers realise. Because if what is losing you work isn’t your capability or ability, improving your delivery won’t fix the problem.
And yet, that’s exactly where most of the improvement effort will go.
The Gap Between Capability and Client Perception
Inside most firms the story is strong. You know the depth of your experience. You know the complexity of the work you’ve delivered. You know where you outperform your competitors.
But, unfortunately, the market doesn’t always see what you see. It sees fragments and from those fragments it forms a view. And here is the crux: That view is often far less impressive than we think it is!
That, in a frame, is the Visibility Gap: the space between what you are capable of doing and what the market understands you can do.
Why Good Lawyers Still Lose Work
There is a persistent belief that work is won at the point of need. But the reality is that those moments rarely decide the outcome. They just confirm it.
Long before a formal process begins, clients have already formed a view:
Who they’ve seen before
Who appears credible
Who seems to understand their challenges
By the time your submission is being evaluated, you're not being assessed in isolation. You're being assessed in context, and that context is shaped by your visibility.
If you haven’t been seen, understood or remembered, you are already behind the 8-Ball.
The Hidden Risk of “We Do Good Work”
Most firms rely on this mantra:
If we do good work, it will lead to more work.
And at a small scale, it often does. But it rarely scales beyond your immediate network.
Good work creates retention. Visibility creates growth.
Without visibility, your reputation stays contained within existing clients. It doesn’t travel. It doesn’t compound. It doesn’t position you for opportunities you’re not already in.
Being Good vs Being Known for Being Good
This is where the Visibility Gap becomes commercial. Being good is not the same as being known for being good.
One is internal. The other drives revenue.
In competitive environments — panels, government work, institutional clients — this difference becomes even more pronounced. Familiarity influences how your capability is interpreted.
Two firms present similar experience. The one that feels more familiar, more visible, more understood often has the advantage over the other. Not because they are better, but because they are a known product.
What Real Visibility Looks Like
Effective visibility is about alignment and it looks like this:
Consistently speaking to the problems your clients are actually dealing with
Showing how you think, not just listing what you’ve done
Being present before the opportunity appears
Making it easy for someone to place you in their world
It’s not about self-promotion. It’s about reducing uncertainty for the buyer.
Takeaway
Is the market seeing us early enough?
When pursuing work, this is the question you constantly need to be asking yourself. Because lawyers very rarely lose work due to a lack of capability. After all, you won’t be asked to pitch if the client didn’t think you could do the job!
What sets rainmakers apart from the rest of the marker is an understanding that there is a gap between what they can do, and what the market thinks they do.
And until you close that gap, better work alone won’t translate into better growth.
Further Reading
Need Help With Your Business Development?
Get in touch if you want to talk about any of this. We also offer a very affordable BD Audit and Training package.
The Friday Afternoon Business Development Review Routine
Rainmakers do not leave business development to chance. Learn how a simple weekly review process can strengthen your pipeline, improve accountability and create consistent momentum.
“If next week looks exactly like this week, will my pipeline be stronger or weaker?”
Most lawyers treat business development like a series of random acts:
send a proposal here,
grab a coffee there,
maybe do a follow-up email if they remember.
Then Friday rolls around, they’ve won no new instructions and call it a week in the hope next week will be better.
That’s not business development, it’s a prayer.
So, for this BD Tips Wednesday post I’ll be taking a quick look your Friday afternoon business development review routine.
Start In The Real World
Before you plan anything, look at what happened this week. Not what you were meant to do, but what you actually did.
Ask yourself:
Which conversations moved forward?
Which opportunities progressed?
Where did things stall?
What did I avoid?
This is where most people get uncomfortable, because the gap between intention and execution becomes obvious very quickly.
But this is the most important part of the routine. Because business development is a lagging indicator, if your pipeline feels thin the problem usually started weeks (or months) ago.
Friday business development reviews is where you can catch this early.
Review Your Pipeline
Stop thinking like a technician and start thinking like someone running a business. Go opportunity by opportunity and ask yourself:
What stage is this actually at?
What is the next action item?
Who owns that action?
When will it happen?
If there’s no clear next step, it’s not an opportunity: it’s just a conversation you’re hoping turns into something.
Be honest here, most pipelines are inflated with “maybes” that will never really convert.
A strong business development review tightens the pipeline, not just updates it.
Check Relationship Depth
This is where most professionals completely miss the point of business development. You don’t win work because you were “busy”, you win work because you are trusted and relevant.
So ask yourself:
Who did I meaningfully connect with this week?
Where did I deepen a relationship?
Where did I add value?
If your week was full of activity but light on meaningful conversations, that’s a warning sign. Next week shouldn’t be “more activity”, it should be better conversations.
Diagnose What’s Getting in the Way
Every stalled opportunity has a reason. A good Friday business development audit will help you identify:
Is it a timing issue?
A stakeholder issue?
A value/pricing issue?
Or have you simply not driven it forward?
Set 3 to 5 Business Development Priorities for Next Week
This is where the routine and consistency truly pays off. Most people enter Monday reacting. But from your Friday business development review you will be able to identify 3–5 priority moves that will actually shift your pipeline forwards.
For example:
Re-engage a stalled client with a specific insights,
Progress a proposal by clarifying scope (not just “checking in”),
Introduce two contacts who should know each other,
Have one strategic conversation with a key client.
Remember, if everything is a priority then nothing is!
Lock It Into Your Calendar (Or It Won’t Happen)
This is the simplest step, and the one most people skip. Take your 3 to 5 business development priorities for the week and schedule them into your Outlook calendar.
When will you do them?
How long will you need?
What preparation is required?
If it’s not in your calendar, it’s just intention again.
End With One Simple Question
Before you finish, ask yourself:
“If next week looks exactly like this week, will my pipeline be stronger or weaker?”
If the answer is weaker, or even just “the same”, you already know something needs to change.
Takeaway
Rainmakers aren’t always the best lawyers in the room. What they do well is:
Pay attention to their pipeline,
Take ownership of movement,
Adjust early, not late.
And regular, scheduled, Friday business development reviews is where that discipline shows up.
Further Reading
Need Help With Your Business Development?
Get in touch if you want to talk about any of this. We also offer a very affordable BD Audit and Training package.
How Your Gardening Skills Can Help Develop Your Business Development Skills
Successful business development has more in common with gardening than selling. Explore why patience, cultivation, focus and long-term thinking are essential ingredients for sustainable growth.
Business development is often described as a funnel-game:
✔️ More meetings
✔️ More networking events
✔️ More LinkedIn posts
✔️ More proposals
And, hopefully, more prospects fall-out of the bottom of the funnel.
But, as anyone who has built a sustainable client-base (rainmaker) will be able to tell you: Business development isn’t about speed and taking short-cuts, it’s about cultivation.
So, for this BD Tips Wednesday post, I’m looking at why, if you want to become that rainmaker, you need to start in your garden!
1. You Can’t Force Growth
When you’re gardening and plant a seed, you don’t dig the seed up every morning to see if it has grown a little overnight. You:
prepare the soil
water consistently
ensure it gets sufficient sunlight.
And then you wait.
Oddly enough, business development works exactly the same way. You
meet someone (at an event)
follow up thoughtfully
share useful insights
stay visible
But, in the same way as you cannot force a seed to grow, you cannot force trust. You cannot demand that a prospect give you an instruction just because you paid for the coffee that morning.
Lawyers who struggle with business development often try to force an issue that is naturally incremental. Just like gardening, business development requires the ingredient of "patience".
2. Soil Quality Matters More Than Seed Volume
In gardening, poor soil produces weak plants. In business development, poor foundations produce weak relationships.
If you:
Deliver inconsistent service
Fail to communicate clearly
Bill unpredictably
Overpromise and underdeliver
No amount of buying coffees will fix it. The best rainmakers understand that retention and reputation are the soil to successful business development.
3. Weeds Compete for Nutrients
As every garden attracts weeds, every unstructured business development strategy will get bogged down in the weeds.
Weeds in business development tend to look like:
Networking without purpose
Coffee meetings with no strategic alignment
Clients who drain margin and energy
Chasing tenders you should have declined
If you don’t remove what competes for nutrients, your best opportunities will starve.
The most effective rainmakers are ruthless about focus. They know which sectors matter. They know which relationships compound. They say “no” more often than "yes".
4. Seasons Exist
No garden produces all year-round at the same intensity.
There are planting seasons.
There are growth seasons.
There are harvest seasons.
Wait, isn’t that a great summary of business development?
There are periods where you invest heavily in visibility.
There are periods where you nurture active opportunities.
And there are seasons when work flows because of seeds planted [sometimes] years earlier.
Rainmakers know: If you only plant when you are hungry, you will starve.
5. Diversity Strengthens the Ecosystem
A monoculture garden is fragile. One pest will wipe it out.
Similarly, a business development strategy built on one:
key client
referrer
sector
government panel
is exposed.
In the legal services world - particularly if you operate with tender-based clients (like fin services or government) - over-reliance on a single revenue source is a huge structural risk!
Resilient business developers cultivate:
Multiple referral channels
Cross-sector relationships
A mix of recurring retainer and project work
Different pricing models
6. Growth Is Often Invisible
I’ve worked in business development for over 30 years. The one thing I have learnt is this:
‘Roots grow before shoots appear’.
In business development, credibility grows long before instructions arrive!
Need Help With Your Business Development?
Get in touch if you want to talk about any of this. We also offer a very affordable BD Audit and Training package.
Having Strong Project Management Skills Will Enhance Your Business Development Performance
Rainmakers treat business development as a disciplined process, not a series of random activities. Discover how project management skills can improve pipeline management, pricing confidence and client trust.
Strong business development performance is deeply linked to strong project management capabilities.
The above statement makes it sound like Smithy has finally lost the plot! So for this BD Tips Wednesday post, let me elaborate...
Business development is a process
In the world of busy professionals, business development is often a reactionary relationship-led process. You go to networking events, write the odd legal update, talk to referrals, etc. But rainmakers don't see it like that. To them, winning work consistently, pricing it confidently and delivering it profitably are not intuitive actions; rainmakers apply structure, discipline and repeatable processes to their business development.
To rainmakers, every business development opportunity follows a recognised workflow process:
✔️ Identifying the opportunity
✔️ Qualifying the client and scope
✔️ Developing the solution and value proposition
✔️ Preparing the proposal or pitch
✔️ Managing stakeholders and decision-makers
✔️ Closing, onboarding, and transitioning to delivery
This is not ad hoc, but a multi-step process that involves risk, resources, timelines and decisions.
Project management skills make business development repeatable and scalable
Strong project management capability teaches you how to:
Break complex opportunities into clear decision stages, making earlier and more confident go / no-go calls
Define scope and assumptions upfront, reducing pricing anxiety and preventing margin erosion before a matter even starts
Allocate time and resources deliberately, so business development effort is spent on the right opportunities, not the loudest ones
Set milestones, responsibilities, and decision points, keeping momentum through long sales cycles and multiple stakeholders
These skills shift business development from hopeful activity to intentional pipeline management, allowing you to scale beyond a handful of opportunistic pursuits without sacrificing quality, margin, or sanity.
Clients buy trust and confidence, not just capability
In-house counsel, management teams and procurement are not just assessing your lawyers' legal expertise, they also assess how well the work will be managed. Here, lawyers with strong project management capabilities can more clearly explain:
How the matter will be structured
How communication will work
How changes and scope creep will be handled
How timelines and responsibilities will be controlled
In turn, this builds the client's trust and confidence and becomes a differentiator between you and your competitors.
Process creates better business development assets
When business development and delivery are both process-driven, lawyers generate better inputs for future growth.
Well-managed engagements produce:
Clear outcomes linked to original objectives
Evidence of value delivered
Consistent language for case studies and proposals
Business development becomes cumulative. Each project strengthens the next pursuit, rather than every opportunity starting from scratch.
Takeaway
Strong business development performance is deeply linked to strong project management capability because it:
Turns business development into a disciplined, repeatable process rather than a series of ad-hoc, relationship-driven activities
Improves scoping, pricing confidence and risk control early, before margin is lost and expectations drift
Builds client trust and continuity from pitch to delivery, positioning you as a safe, commercial, and well-managed choice
Need Help With Your Business Development?
Get in touch if you want to talk about any of this. We also offer a very affordable BD Audit and Training package.
Borrowed Business Development Wisdom From Japan
Some of the most powerful business development lessons come from simple concepts. Explore Japanese principles such as Kaizen, Shoshin, Ikigai, Nemawashi and Oubaitori and learn how they can improve your business development efforts.
Over the summer holidays here in Australia I read a business related article that clumped together a number of different Japanese business concepts. I found the article refreshing and interesting, and thought I would share some of these concepts with you for this BD Tips Wednesday post.
Kaizen – Continuous improvement
Most business development plans fail because they aim for transformation instead of progress. In short, central to your business development plan this year should not be the need to get a new CRM, a new pitch deck or a new LinkedIn strategy.
What you do need is Kaizen, to get 1% better:
One better client conversation
One better follow-up habit
One better question in a pitch
Small improvements, done consistently, compound quickly.
Shoshin – Beginner’s mind
One of the biggest risks for experienced professionals is to make assumptions. In business development terms, these include assuming you know:
What the client wants
How they buy
Why they chose you last time
Approach each business development opportunity and conversation with the curiosity of a beginner's mind, not certainty of an old hand.
Ask more. Talk less. Listen harder.
Ikigai – Your reason for being
If your business development activity feels forced, there’s usually a misalignment in what you are trying to achieve and they way you are going about it.
In such a case, ask yourself:
Why this type of work?
Why these clients?
Why you?
When your business development activity aligns with what you’re good at, what you enjoy, what the market values, and what clients genuinely need momentum follows naturally.
Nemawashi – Preparing the ground
New business is very rarely won in the meeting. Its won doing the groundwork done before a proposal or meeting is ever requested.
If you’re going in cold and relying on the pitch alone to win you work, the chances are you’re already too late! The deal has already been done.
Oubaitori – Don’t compare
Stop watching competitors so closely that you lose confidence in your own positioning.
You don’t need to be cheaper.
You don’t need to be louder.
You don’t need to be a copy.
Focus on being distinct.
Takeaway
I don't profess to be an expert in Japanese business concepts - far from it in fact, but business development is about:
deliberate
consistency
with intent
In my view, these Japanese business concepts sum this up perfectly!
Need Help With Your Business Development?
Get in touch if you want to talk about any of this. We also offer a very affordable BD Audit and Training package.
Don’t Try to Eat the Business Development Elephant in One Meal
Business development success rarely comes from one major initiative. It is built through consistent, repeatable actions that compound over time. Learn how small steps can create significant growth.
We’ve all been there. You’re looking at next year’s business development and plan and the task list is massive. The pipeline is uncertain. The possible number of tenders keeps climbing.
You’re overwhelmed.
Here’s a truth: Business development fails not because the work is hard, but because people try to swallow the elephant all in one go.
Small Steps Win the Long Game
Firms that grow consistently aren’t operating with superhuman discipline. They’re just doing the right things, at the right times, in small, repeatable increments.
You don’t need a full-day business development workshop every week: You need 15 minutes of pipeline review on a Monday.
You don’t have to build 20 case studies in one go: You need to do one good case study each month that is aligned to your ideal client / target work.
You don’t need to reconnect with 100 past clients in a week: Start with 3 conversations this week.
Momentum is built through tiny, deliberate actions - not grand gestures.
Why This Matters
As you plan ahead, your the natural instinct is to “go big.” But the most sustainable business development is built one bite at a time.
As we have said many times here on BD Tips Wednesday:
Showing up every day is far more productive than doing one BIG thing once a year.
The fix?
Break your business development goals down into small, consistent, high-leverage actions. Try:
🟦3 relationships per week, not 30.
🟪15 minutes of pipeline review, not a 3-hour “business development strategy day.”
🟧1 improvement to your pricing/positioning, not a full reinvention of your go to market pricing offer.
🟩1 case study refreshed at a time, not a whole bid library overhaul.
🟨One conversation with an existing client, because retention beats acquisition every day of the week!
Consistency > Intensity
Remember: business development isn’t a sprint. It’s stacking small actions that compound quietly…
… until they don’t feel small anymore.
Takeaway
If this is to be your year of business development successes, start with one bite:
Reach out to one client.
Update one capability statement.
Follow up one dormant lead.
Get a peer review of one tender response.
Need Help With Your Business Development?
Get in touch if you want to talk about any of this. We also offer a very affordable BD Audit and Training package.
Business Development Requires That You Be Informed
Successful business development starts with awareness. Understanding your clients, industry trends, competitors and market changes allows you to have more relevant conversations and identify opportunities before others do.
Most professionals think business development is about actions: send an email here, post on LinkedIn there, attend a few events every now and then. But the truth is, while these are crucial components of your business development strategy, they are not what dictates "success".
To be successful at business development you need a different superpower: Awareness. Because to grow your pipeline, you first need to be informed.
So for this BD Tips Wednesday post I thought I would do a whistle-stop tour of what it means to be aware and informed, and how this will help supercharge your business development efforts.
Know Your Clients Deeply
Being informed begins with understanding the people you serve. This means staying close to what’s happening in their world; not just their business, but their industry pressures, upcoming projects, regulatory changes and emerging challenges.
When you walk into a conversation with your client already aware of what’s going on in their world, you don’t need to “sell.” You simply connect what you offer to what they already care about.
This transforms your communication. Instead of generic check-ins, you send timely insights. Instead of hoping they remember you, you demonstrate relevance.
Informed advisers stand out because they see change before their clients do and help them navigate it.
Know Your Market and What’s Changing
Great business development stems from understanding the economic landscape. Industries shift. Procurement rules tighten. Competitors innovate. Technology reshapes expectations. Clients explore new models of buying and engagement.
When you pay attention to these signals, your business development efforts naturally become more strategic. You frame conversations differently. You position your offers more confidently. You anticipate needs before they are expressed.
In an environment where clients value foresight, simply being informed elevates your value.
Clarity Leads to Better Decisions
When you’re informed, everything becomes easier: choosing which opportunities to pursue, saying no to the wrong ones, prioritising the conversations that matter and directing your time toward the highest-value actions.
You start to make fewer reactive decisions and more proactive ones.
Crucially, your business development efforts stop being chaotic and start to become more strategic and focussed.
Being Informed Makes You More Valuable
Clients gravitate to people who help them see what’s ahead. When you consistently bring insight - market awareness, early warnings, relevant trends - you become more than a service provider. You become a trusted guide.
Informed professionals open more doors, build stronger relationships and convert opportunities with less friction.
Know the Signals Before They Become Opportunities
Being informed is ultimately about spotting the subtle cues others miss:
the promotion of a key instructor,
an organisational reshuffle,
the shift in a client’s internal and external language,
sudden silence where there used to be momentum.
These small signals often appear long before a formal opportunity does. When you learn to notice them, you place yourself ahead of the curve.
Most business development success isn’t won in the big moments; it’s won by noticing the quiet ones that nobody else is paying attention to!
Takeaway: The Bottom Line
You don’t need to simply “do more” business development. You need to know more so the actions you take are smart, timely and aligned with opportunity.
As my first partner said to me:
Read the financial press every day and pay attention to what’s going on in your clients’ world.
Because in business development, the professional who stays informed is the one who stays in demand.
Further Reading
Need Help With Your Business Development?
Get in touch if you want to talk about any of this. We also offer a very affordable BD Audit and Training package.
How Dependencies Limit Your Business Development Efforts (and How to Overcome Them)
Many business development initiatives fail because they rely on people, systems or clients to take action first. Learn how to identify and remove dependencies that limit growth.
In over 25 years of working with professionals, a reoccurring theme that stalls most of their business development efforts is not of their own doing – it’s relying on dependencies.
So, for this BD Tips Wednesday post I thought I would do a whistle stop tour of what dependencies are in business development, and how you can overcome these.
What Is A Dependency?
If you’ve ever studied project management theory and techniques, you’ll know that a dependency refers to:
“a relationship between two tasks, activities or deliverables where one relies on the completion, initiation or progress of another.”
Simply, a dependency means something must happen before something else can happen.
Now, what on earth does this have to do with business development?
Well, let’s take a simple example:
How often have you heard a partner say to another partner they'll happily introduce them to their client and then do nothing about it for months on end? Bet it’s more times than you’ve had hot dinners! And that is called a 'dependency' – when one partner is reliant on another partner to do something.
3 Types of Dependencies
In essence there are three types of dependencies that are likely narrowing your growth trajectory and leaving your business development efforts exposed to disruption. These are:
People dependencies: The aforementioned reliance on others to assist you achieve your business development goals. They get busy, forget to introduce you to their contacts and you miss your business development goals. Your business development is not reliant on your efforts, but the efforts of others.
Systems dependencies: This is an all too common one in professional services, where you rely on an outdated CRM to provide you with answers! More often than not, the partners don’t trust the CRM or simply don’t want to share sensitive client information and so don’t update the CRM with staff movements, promotions etc. In no time at all, the CRM is virtually useless. If you then need to rely on that same CRM system to enable your business development goals, you have a problem.
Client dependencies: This is probably the most unrecognised one – where you need the client to actually do something for your business development goal to be achieved. An example here: your contact at the client isn’t the decision maker but promises to put you in touch with the decision maker. This never happens and you are reluctant to push the issue because you are afraid of upsetting the client. But, at the end of the day, your business development goal still isn’t being achieved!
The Hidden Cost of Dependencies
The hidden cost of dependencies can be summed up as:
Stalled momentum in your business development efforts
Reduced motivation to do business development
Lower engagement in the business development process
This is particularly prevalent with lateral hires. At the onset there is a lot of excitement around the onboarding of the lateral hire. The lateral hire is very excited because they have been promised the world. But that world is reliant on dependencies. And those who need to deliver don’t. In no time, the lateral hire is frustrated with the whole business development process and culture and starts looking around for a new home. And your firm has just had a very expensive lesson (although most firms don’t learn and just go through the loop time and time again!).
You Can Only Control What You Can Control
To break free of dependencies, you need to remember that you can only control what you can control. To achieve this, you need to:
Take control of the process – own it, don’t wait for others. Map your network of dependencies. List those people who are roadblocks and then either avoid them or find a way of working with them where you control the narrative, not them!
Take control of the relationships. Build the relationship independent of any dependency involvement.
Take control of the rhythm. Create consistent routines (monthly pursuit reviews, pipeline health checks, relationship audits). Routine equals habits. Habits result in success. Get back to boring to go forward.
Take control of the systems. Keep your business development skills, templates and client insights in shared systems, not in people’s heads.
Takeaway
Business development thrives on systems, not superheroes. When you identify and dismantle your dependencies, you free yourself from fragility and create a business development engine that is consistent, collective and compounding.
Need Help With Your Business Development?
Get in touch if you want to talk about any of this. We also offer a very affordable BD Audit and Training package.
What An Accountable BD System Looks Like
Successful business development is built on accountability, focus and consistency. Learn the five questions every professional services firm should answer to create a sustainable BD system.
Business development is not something that is done in isolation, in a window of time. It’s a functional, day-to-day, activity that survives on accountability. What matters is not what is necessarily written down on a piece of paper at a partner conference (although these are important); but the repeatable, visible actions that you take ownership of every day of the year.
In this BD Tips Wednesday post I outline what an ‘Accountable BD System Looks Like’ so you can put this next to that glossy Business Plan that’s holding up your screen monitor.
Five everyday questions
An accountable Business Development system consistently asks - and answers - these five questions:
Who am I targeting?
What do I offer?
How do I engage?
Who is responsible?
How do I measure success?
Now, let’s break this down in to what this looks like in practice.
1. Who am I targeting?
The starting point for any accountable Business Development system is focus. You can’t pursue every opportunity, every client and every sector at once. A clear segmentation model helps identify where your best opportunities live.
That might mean:
Defining your Top 20 existing clients by potential growth or alignment with firm strategy.
Creating a Top 10 target list of new prospects within priority industries.
Mapping your relationship strength and white-space potential for each key account.
This focus shifts you from “reactive chasing” to “proactive account management.” The goal isn’t more names in a spreadsheet, it’s fewer, better relationships managed more deliberately.
Here is the issue though: While it is important that you have a firmwide plan to guide the future direction of the firm; it is critical that you have an individual business development plan that maps out your personal growth journey.
2. What do I offer?
Business Development isn’t just about finding opportunities, it’s about making it easy for clients to say yes. That means having crystal-clear value propositions and pricing models that reflect what your clients and targets truly value.
An accountable Business Development system ensures these are:
Visible: documented, accessible, and easy to articulate.
Evolving: reviewed and refreshed at least annually.
Aligned: with your clients’ problems and procurement realities.
When you and your team knows exactly what you are selling, and why it matters, Business Development becomes a consistent and trusted process.
3. How do I engage?
Most lawyers don’t suffer from lack of ideas, but from a lack of focus. They start strong, then fade once they get busy on a matter. Then the matter will finish and they process will start all over again. Because there’s no system forcing regular contact, reflection and follow-through, this quickly becomes a Business Development death spiral.
An accountable Business Development system on the other hand operates on a calendar of intentional engagement:
Quarterly client-review meetings to uncover new needs and cement relationships.
Monthly marketing or LinkedIn campaigns showcasing expertise and staying visible.
Annual thought-leadership series (whitepapers, webinars, or industry reports) that open doors with prospects.
This rhythm turns “sporadic Business Development” into a habit. Everyone knows what’s happening, when and how it ties back to the your practice growth goals.
4. Who is responsible?
Even the best system fails without ownership. Accountability is where most Business Development frameworks fall apart, because it’s easy to confuse “shared responsibility” with no responsibility.
Accountability also means celebrating inputs, not just outcomes. You can’t control when a client buys, but you can control how often you show up, share insights, or follow up.
5. How do I measure success?
Finally, an accountable Business Development system has simple, meaningful metrics that tell you whether the system is working.
The key is to measure both activity and impact:
Input Metrics (Leading Indicators):
Number of client meetings or reviews held
Proposals submitted
Campaigns executed
New relationships initiated
Output Metrics (Lagging Indicators):
Pipeline value and conversion rates
Client NPS or satisfaction scores
Revenue growth by key account
ROI on proposals (value of wins ÷ cost of bids)
Don’t chase complexity, chase clarity. A handful of metrics, consistently reviewed, beats a dashboard of noise.
Takeaway
When you answer these five questions consistently, you move from ad hoc to accountable.
An accountable Business Development system gives you three enduring advantages:
Clarity: everyone knows what success looks like.
Rhythm: activity is planned, not sporadic.
Ownership: accountability is built in, not bolted on.
When those three things are in place, Business Development stops being an activity and becomes a capability.
And that’s where true competitive advantage begins.
Need Help With Your Business Development?
Get in touch if you want to talk about any of this. We also offer a very affordable BD Audit and Training package.
The Importance Of Client Retention
Retaining existing clients is one of the most profitable growth strategies available. Discover practical ways to deepen relationships, deliver value and build long-term loyalty.
I have no idea where it comes from, but it is said that a 5% increase in client retention can result in a 50% increase in profitability. While the stat might at first seem like it has been picked out of the sky, the logic that a retained client is more profitable than an acquired one is sound. For that reason, this BD Tips Wednesday post will look at some of the ways you can help retain clients you want to keep!
To get us started
In professional services, the easiest client to win is the one you already have. Retention not only secures recurring work but also creates advocates who refer you new opportunities.
So how do you move from being just another supplier to becoming a trusted, long-term partner? Here are seven strategies that will help you increase client retention.
1. Deepen Client Relationships
Client loyalty starts with meaningful relationships. Go beyond transactional interactions by embedding structured, ongoing conversations. Regular check-ins outside of live projects demonstrate that you’re invested in the client’s long-term success, not just billable hours.
Consider introducing a client listening program - short surveys, structured interviews or even informal coffees, to understand evolving priorities. For larger accounts, build a client account management plan (KAM project) that outlines their goals, potential risks and opportunities for growth. This keeps you aligned and proactive.
2. Deliver Consistent Value
Clients stay when they consistently see value. That means offering more than just services; it means delivering insights, solutions and results that advance their goals.
Proactive insights: Share trends, regulatory updates, or benchmarking data that matter to their business.
Outcome-oriented reporting: Don’t just show the work you’ve done, show the impact, whether that’s reducing risk, saving costs or creating opportunities.
Continuous improvement: Highlight how you’ve improved your processes since the last engagement.
Clients want to know you’re not standing still; they expect innovation and refinement.
3. Personalise the Client Experience
A one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t cut it. Personalisation shows clients that you’re paying attention.
Tailor your solutions, communication styles and even pricing models to their specific needs. Document client preferences in a client playbook -whether it’s how they want reports presented, invoicing structures, or communication styles. And don’t forget the human touch: recognising client milestones, from company anniversaries to leadership changes, goes a long way in showing that you care.
4. Build Trust Through Transparency
Trust is the cornerstone of retention. If clients believe you’re hiding information, they’ll quickly look elsewhere.
Pricing transparency: Eliminate surprises. Offer multiple options: subscription, blended, or outcome-based, so they feel in control.
Visibility: Use project dashboards or regular progress reports to keep them informed.
Accountability: If mistakes happen, own them and provide solutions quickly. Clients don’t expect perfection, but they do expect honesty.
Transparency creates confidence, and confidence drives loyalty.
5. Strengthen the Human Connection
Clients don’t just buy services, they buy relationships. Strengthen those connections at every level of the relationship.
Encourage executive alignment by pairing your senior leaders with theirs for high-level strategy conversations. Host client-only events; roundtables; workshops; or appreciation function that go beyond pure business development. And don’t overlook your alumni network: stay in touch with former client contacts who may influence decisions in new roles.
6. Embed Feedback Loops
Retention depends on listening and adapting. Set up clear feedback mechanisms so clients feel heard.
Conduct after-action reviews at the close of each engagement. Simple questions like “What should we start, stop, and continue?” provide invaluable insights. Use metrics like Net Promoter Scores (NPS) or client scorecards to track loyalty over time.
Most importantly, act on feedback and circle back to show what’s been implemented. This demonstrates responsiveness and builds trust.
7. Focus on Outcomes, Not Just Transactions
Finally, remember that clients don’t hire you for services - they hire you for outcomes. Position your work in terms of results, not just deliverables.
Make sure every engagement is tied back to their business objectives. Showcase case studies that reflect real outcomes, not just completed tasks. Track what really drives their retention: whether it’s speed, expertise, price, or innovation, and double down on it.
Further Reading
Finally… …The Retention Mindset
Increasing client retention isn’t about gimmicks or discounts. It’s about building trust, delivering consistent value and becoming an indispensable partner. When clients see you as integral to their success, they stay, grow with you, and bring others along.
Retention is the most cost-effective growth strategy you have. Start treating your existing clients like your most important new business opportunity -because they are!
Need Help With Your Business Development?
Get in touch if you want to talk about any of this. We also offer a very affordable BD Audit and Training package.
Is your Business Development looking a little like Little Miss Helpful?
Being helpful is important, but constantly giving away expertise without creating opportunities can undermine your business development efforts. Learn how to strike the right balance.
Recently, my 3 year old asked me to read him Little Miss Helpful from Roger Hargreaves Mr. Men series for his bedtime story. Now I have to admit, it has been some time since I last read the Mr. Men series, so for those who may have forgotten (like me!):
Little Miss Helpful is always eager, enthusiastic and full of ideas about how to help people; but, more often than not, leaves a trail of unintended chaos in her wake.
When auditing your Business Development efforts: Does any of that sound familiar?
Lawyers business development efforts often resemble a parade of well-meaning “Little Miss Helpfuls.” We try to jump in, lend a hand and make something happen. Without always considering the strategy, alignment or impact of our business development actions!
So, for this BD Tips Wednesday post I thought I would take a quick look at how to avoid making your business development efforts look like you're the next Little Miss Helpful of Business Development.
1. Helping without asking: The BD equivalent of sweeping under someone’s feet
Little Miss Helpful once tried to clean the floor while someone was still standing on it. In business development, we sometimes do the same: Offering to help before fully understanding what the client actually needs.
Better approach: Ask. Listen. Diagnose before you prescribe. Tailor your offer to the client’s situation.
2. Doing too much, too soon
In the stories, Little Miss Helpful often acts quickly, thinking more is better. She’ll water plants that don’t need it, rearrange things that were already fine. Likewise, some lawyers' business development campaigns throw everything at the wall - emails, webinars, coffee meetings - without clear prioritisation or strategy.
Better approach: Start with one or two high-impact activities. Test, learn, refine. Business development should be deliberate, not frantic.
3. Mistaking activity for progress
She’s always doing, but rarely achieving. In Business Development this shows up in endless pipelines or chasing “maybes” that were never viable. We stay busy and call it growth.
Better approach: Focus on meaningful progress: Relationships advanced, proposals submitted, problems solved.
4. Ignoring the follow-up mess
Little Miss Helpful always means well but after the chaos, someone has to tidy up.
The business development parallel?
Promising more than can be delivered, failing to follow through or creating noise with no substance.
Better approach: Under-promise and over-deliver. Set realistic expectations and follow through consistently.
5. Be Strategic, Not Just Supportive
The lesson from Little Miss Helpful is not that help is bad, it’s that good intentions need direction.
With your business development efforts, enthusiasm is only effective when combined with:
Relevance
Intentionality
Follow-through
Collaboration
Instead of “being helpful,” aim to be strategic. Replace random acts of business development with meaningful, client-aligned action.
Final Thought
Don’t be Little Miss Helpful. Be Ms. Strategic Growth. Be the professional who understands before acting, connects before pitching and delivers before being asked.
Need Help With Your Business Development?
Get in touch if you want to talk about any of this. We also offer a very affordable BD Audit and Training package.
Business Development in Tough Times: 7 Strategies to Employ During a Downturn
Economic uncertainty creates challenges but also opportunities. Explore seven practical strategies to maintain momentum and strengthen client relationships during difficult periods.
Discover proven business development strategies to help professionals thrive during economic downturns. Learn how to stay visible, add value, and strengthen client relationships in tough times.
Don’t know about you, but I’ve stopped looking at the stock market – the yo-yo ups and downs make for macabre reading! But there is a point to be made here, business development (BD) in good times can often seem tough, but when the market is heading south and everyone starts looking at the cost side of their budget, it can seem downright scary.
So, for this BD Tips Wednesday post I thought I would bring to the table all my experience having worked through the recessions of the 1980s; the Asian Financial Crisis (AFC); the dot com bubble burst; and most recently the Global Financial Crisis (GFC).
How to Approach Business Development in Tough Times
When times are tough, professional automatically go into their shell, hesitate, retreat; or, worse, freeze their BD efforts altogether. When, in fact, what you should be doing is:
1. Reconnecting with Existing Clients
Your current clients are your greatest asset. In difficult times, they’re facing the same challenges as you. Don’t reach out to sell—reach out to support. Ask:
✅ What challenges are you facing?
✅ How can we help you navigate this period?
This client-centric approach builds trust, uncovers new opportunities and reinforces long-term relationships.
2. Stay Visible While Competitors Go Quiet
In downturns, many firms cut back on marketing and BD activities. Use their silence to your advantage. Stay active:
✅ Post regularly on LinkedIn.
✅ Attend industry events.
✅ Share insights through newsletters or blogs.
🚀 Remember: Visibility leads to credibility and credibility leads to new business.
3. Lead with Value, Not a Sales Pitch
When budgets shrink, clients aren’t looking for aggressive sales tactics—they’re looking for solutions. Focus on:
✅ Sharing thought leadership content.
✅ Offering free consultations or check-ins.
✅ Providing actionable insights without expecting immediate returns.
Position yourself as "the" trusted advisor, not just another service provider.
4. Be Flexible with Pricing and Service Models
Rigid pricing can stall deals in a downturn. Adapt by:
✅ Offering phased or modular services.
✅ Introducing value-based or fixed-fee pricing.
✅ Reducing upfront commitments to lower client risk.
Flexibility makes it easier for clients to say “yes” when they’re watching every dollar.
5. Focus on High-Value, Best-Fit Clients
Now’s the time to prioritise clients who truly align with your strengths and values. Look for:
✅ Strong synergy with your expertise.
✅ Long-term partnership potential.
✅ Clients who appreciate collaboration and transparency.
It’s all about quality over quantity in your client portfolio.
6. Be Proactive and Seek Out Opportunities
In tough markets, opportunities don’t knock—you have to hunt them down.
✅ Identify resilient sectors or businesses still investing.
✅ Monitor industry news and client announcements.
✅ Respond quickly to shifting needs.
Proactive business development separates those who survive from those who thrive.
7. Invest in Relationships, Not Just Transactions
People remember who supported them during challenging times. Strengthen your network by:
✅ Offering introductions.
✅ Checking in without an agenda.
✅ Providing value - even when there’s no immediate payoff.
These relationship investments will deliver returns long after the market recovers.
Thriving Beyond Tough Times
Business development during a downturn isn’t just about surviving—it’s about setting the foundation for future growth. Tough times reveal which professionals are truly committed to adding value and building lasting relationships.
Keep showing up. Keep being helpful. When the market rebounds, you’ll be ahead of the pack—ready to grow while others are still finding their footing.
Need Help With Your Business Development?
Get in touch if you want to talk about any of this. We also offer a very affordable BD Audit and Training package.
Why Lawyers Need Help From a Business Development Sherpa
Business development has become increasingly complex. Discover why lawyers benefit from having a trusted adviser, coach or mentor to guide their growth journey.
Grow your legal practice with expert business development guidance in a changing industry
The Legal Industry Is Changing Fast—Are You Ready?
Hand on heart, I can’t tell you exactly what impact Artificial Intelligence (AI) will have on the global legal industry. But one thing is certain: competition for legal services is intensifying, and it’s only going to get tougher in the next decade.
The legal landscape is shifting. We’re seeing:
Mergers and law firm consolidation
Highly profitable niche legal practices spun out of BigLaw
Larger firms exiting jurisdictions that no longer support their business model
As delivery models evolve and go-to-market strategies get more complex, one thing is clear: lawyers need to get strategic about their business development and client acquisition if they want to thrive—not just survive.
With this in mind, for this BD Tips Wednesday post I thought I would introduce the Business Development Sherpa.
What Is a Business Development Sherpa?
Inspired by the expert mountain guides of the Himalayas, a Business Development Sherpa is your personal guide to scaling the often-overwhelming terrain of legal marketing, brand positioning and client growth.
Unlike a traditional business development consultant, a Sherpa provides hands-on, tailored support that includes:
Identifying and attracting ideal legal clients
Creating systems for sustainable lead generation
Optimizing your legal brand and digital presence
Navigating the noise of AI, fixed fees and market saturation
Think of a Sherpa as part legal marketing strategist, part business growth coach, and part accountability partner—focused entirely on helping you build and future-proof your practice.
Why Lawyers Need a Business Development Sherpa—Now More Than Ever
There’s a lot of noise out there: AI, the billable hour debate, fixed fee models, legal outsourcing, lateral partner movement, and more.
With all this noise, many lawyers feel overwhelmed, fatigued and unsure where to focus.
Here’s where a Business Development Sherpa helps out. They help:
Clarify your unique value proposition
Strengthen your online presence and legal brand
Expand your referral network and generate high-quality leads
Work with you on your strategy and hold you accountable for meeting your goals
Signs You Might Need a Business Development Sherpa
Ask yourself:
Are you relying mostly on referrals or word of mouth?
Do you struggle to talk about your services without sounding “salesy”?
Are you overwhelmed by marketing advice and need a clear roadmap?
Do you want to future-proof your practice in an AI-driven world?
Do you know you should be doing more—but don’t know where to start?
If you said "yes" to any of the above, it might be time to bring in a Sherpa to help you navigate the next stage of your growth.
The Bottom Line
The legal profession is evolving—fast. And so is the way clients find, assess and hire lawyers. It’s no longer just about being a great lawyer. It’s about being visible, relevant and strategic.
Whether you're a seasoned law firm partner or an ambitious associate, the right support can make all the difference. Don’t wait for the market to change around you—take charge of your growth journey.
Need Help With Your Business Development?
Get in touch if you want to talk about any of this. We also offer a very affordable BD Audit and Training package.
The Six Steps of Business Development: A Guide to Growing Your Book of Business
Business development does not need to be a mystery. This practical six-step framework provides a structured approach to identifying opportunities, winning work and delivering results.
Business Development is the lifeline of your practice. Get it right and your practice will prosper, grow and thrive. Get it wrong - or worse, don't do it at all, and your practice will eventually die and very painful death.
To many though business development is an enigma. The 'Dark Art'. To those people, business development is a guessing game - akin to throwing darts in a dartboard and hoping one will stick!
But this doesn't have to be the case. If you follow these six simple steps you'll be streets ahead of your competition when it comes to the success of your business development endeavors.
First of all you need to identify potential leads. These need to be 'genuine' leads, not pie-in-the-sky wish-lists.
So you need to (either yourself or by outsourcing this to someone like GSJ):
Do some market research.
Understand and evaluate market trends - get a lay of the land.
Anticipate customer/client needs.
Determine which customers and industries are likely going to need your help.
You also need to understand what your competitive environment looks like - what we at GSJ call a Competitor Intelligence Analysis (CIA) report.
HINT: Get out your SWOT matrix template.
Step 2: Qualify
Identifying a lead is the easy part, Step 2 on your list is to qualify that lead.
Here you need to consider things such as a 'Who Knows Who' matrix. You also need to be developing your road-map for capturing the lead.
This is probably the most critical part of the lead capture process that most professionals shortcut or simply bypass.
It's here where you need to be saying 'no go' a lot more than you say 'pursue'. By way of example, at GSJ we tell clients to throw 8 out of every 10 genuine lead opportunities - an application of the Pareto principal to business development opportunities!
HINT: Dust off your Strategic Plan template.
Step 3: Engage
As the name suggests, Step 3 is where you need to engage with prospects/customers to establish a relationship with them (if you don't already have a relationship) and to show them that you are the subject matter expert that will help solve all of their problems - both those they know about and those they don't yet know about!
HINT: Network, speak at conference, present client CLEs, write articles, publish to LinkedIn, do client feedback sessions, develop alliances with other businesses who don't compete with you.
Step 4: Pitch
Step 4 and the time has come for you to pitch your services to your target.
Make sure your proposal is tailored to the specific issues of your target and not generic to the problem.
HINT: Make it count: Look to the problem you are solving, not the service you are providing.
Step 5: Close
Step 5 is where you close the deal and get the cigar out!
Only this step is often problematic and can result in all the hard work you have done in the pursuit campaign coming to nothing - especially when procurement teams get involved; As, often, this is where you will be asked to sharpen your pencil on pricing and negotiate contract terms that are not too favorable to you.
HINT: Even after all the hard work, always be willing to walk away from a bad deal.
The last Step is to deliver on what you have promised!
A really important part of this process - and one that is often overlooked by professionals - is to actually ask the customer themselves if they got what they thought they were paying for.
HINT: Do an After Action Review - continuous improvement and refining your strategy will help you with your next pursuit!
Following these six steps doesn't automatically guarantee you a million dollar book of business, but what it will do is create the structure and attitude towards business development that you need to help you identify and growth opportunities in your business and - importantly - how to then capitalize on those opportunities.
Further Reading
Need Help With Your Business Development?
Get in touch if you want to talk about any of this. We also offer a very affordable BD Audit and Training package.