Your BD Pipeline Health Check: 5 Questions Every Lawyer Should Ask Regularly

For this BD Tips Wednesday post I take a look at the 5 questions you should be asking yourself throughout the year to make sure you stay on top of this crucial part of your business development efforts.

1. Where Will My Work Come From In Six Months?

Most lawyers focus their day on the work already in front of them. While understandable, this can create a false sense of security. A more useful approach to take is not to focus wholly on where this month's revenue is coming from, but to turn your attention to where the revenue will come from 6 months from now.

A healthy pipeline contains opportunities at different stages of maturity. Some opportunities will be active proposals, some will be follow-on work from existing clients, while others will simply be relationships that are developing in the right direction. If you struggle to identify a clear source of future work beyond your current matters, it may indicate that your pipeline is thinner than it appears.

As a rule of habit, rainmakers maintain visibility on future opportunities long before they become formal instructions. They understand that relationships and opportunities need time to mature and they invest accordingly.

2. Am I Too Reliant On A Small Number Of Clients?

Most successful practices have a handful of key clients that generate a significant proportion of revenue (remember the Pareto theory?). There is nothing inherently wrong with this. Strong client relationships are valuable and should be protected. However, concentration risk is one of the most overlooked threats to sustainable growth.

Take a moment to consider how much of your revenue is generated by your top 5 clients. If one of those clients reduced spending, changed legal providers, went to tender, or brought work in-house, ask yourself: “What impact would that have on my practice?”.

No one is saying existing clients should not continue to receive exceptional service and attention, but there should also be a deliberate effort to broaden your client base and create additional sources of work.

The objective here is not simply to win more clients; it’s to reduce dependency on any single relationship.

3. What New Opportunities Have I Created This Month?

Most partners I speak to confuse client service with business development. While outstanding client service is critical to retaining clients, it does not automatically create new opportunities.

Top of mind should be to write down each Friday: “What new opportunities have been created during the previous thirty days?”.

Don’t limit this to yourself – make it team-wide. This might include reconnecting with a former client, meeting a new referral source, attending an industry event, publishing a thought leadership article or having a strategic conversation with an existing client about upcoming challenges.

The specific activity of writing this all down matters less than the outcome. Pipelines are either growing or shrinking. If no new opportunities have entered the pipeline during the past month, there is a strong possibility that future revenue is being quietly eroded without you noticing.

4. Do I Know My Next 10 Business Development Conversations?

Rainmakers are always intentional about who they speak to and why.

A useful exercise is to identify the next 10 business development conversations you intend to have. These should not be random coffee meetings or networking events. They should be conversations that have a clear purpose: whether that is strengthening a client relationship, exploring a referral opportunity, uncovering a future need or expanding your profile within a target market.

If you cannot identify your next 10 meaningful conversations, there is a good chance your business development activity is becoming reactive rather than proactive.

Opportunities are created through conversations, and conversations need to be planned before they can deliver results.

5. Is My Pipeline Balanced Across Different Time Horizons?

One of the most common mistakes is that lawyers focusing exclusively on opportunities that are closest to conversion. While these opportunities deserve attention, they should not consume all of it.

The healthiest pipelines contain a mix of short, medium and long-term opportunities. Short-term opportunities may convert within the next few months. Medium-term opportunities often involve relationships that are developing and may generate work within the next year. Long-term opportunities typically involve profile building, market positioning and strategic relationships that may take years to reach their full value.

Lawyers who focus only on short-term opportunities often find themselves trapped in a cycle of constant pressure. Every time a matter finishes, they need another one to replace it.

In contrast, rainmakers who invest across multiple time horizons create a more predictable and resilient flow of work.

Takeaway - A Simple Pipeline Scorecard

Before the end of each month, ask yourself the following questions:

• Do I know where my work is likely to come from in 6 months?

• Am I overly dependent on a small number of clients?

• Have I created new opportunities during the past month?

• Do I know my next 10 meaningful BD conversations?

• Is my pipeline balanced across short, medium and long-term opportunities?

Any "no" answer deserves your immediate attention.