Latest / What is Business Development? / Episode 61: BD Book...Top 3 Tactics from Sheila Murphy's new book

Transcript

Episode 61: BD Book...Top 3 Tactics from Sheila Murphy's new book · What is Business Development?

0:02
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Business Development podcast brought to you by
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Speaker 1: the Global Business Development Association, delivering the strategies and tactics
0:11
Speaker 1: to boost your career and corporate growth.
0:19
Speaker 2: Hello BD pros, and welcome to the Global Business Development
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Speaker 2: Association podcast called what is Business Development? And today we
0:31
Speaker 2: have a great book author specifically writing about business development
0:37
Speaker 2: tactics for the legal profession, but there's oftentimes ways to
0:43
Speaker 2: apply those very niche vertical tactics across the entire BD profession.
0:49
Speaker 2: What works in some verticals works great in other verticals
0:52
Speaker 2: as well. And this will be a lot of fun
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Speaker 2: to learn how attorneys successfully grow their business is but
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Speaker 2: you'll also learn how you can grow yours. The book
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Speaker 2: is called Rainmaker Power Moves, the attorney's playbook for building
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Speaker 2: a book of business and it helps attorneys unlock their
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Speaker 2: potential and become the rain maker their legal career deserves.
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Speaker 2: And it's a dynamic guide that's a blueprint for mastering
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Speaker 2: business development and cultivating a thriving practice. Inside these pages
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Speaker 2: of the book, you'll discover the tools and strategies to
1:28
Speaker 2: transform legal expertise into powerful presence that attracts new clients
1:35
Speaker 2: and turns existing clients into loyal advocates. Folks, there's that
1:40
Speaker 2: word advocacy again. That's pulled right from chapter two of
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Speaker 2: the Business Development Body of Knowledge and the Ultimate Definition
1:50
Speaker 2: of Business Development, and the textbook definition of business development
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Speaker 2: is called customer and community advocacy that creates corporate growth.
2:00
Speaker 2: And we see that word prominently displayed here in the
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Speaker 2: Rainmaker Power Moves book that's just jam packed with a
2:08
Speaker 2: lot of great actionable tactics and tips for attorneys to
2:12
Speaker 2: use in becoming rain makers. And what I really liked
2:16
Speaker 2: about this book is you can read it if you're
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Speaker 2: a busy attorney or a busy business developer, and it's
2:24
Speaker 2: very accessible and actionable. You read quickly through the chapters,
2:29
Speaker 2: and then there are some great summaries and actionable functions
2:35
Speaker 2: that you can take right as soon as you read
2:39
Speaker 2: that section of the book, and then the appendicies has
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Speaker 2: some great worksheets for you to then go a little
2:46
Speaker 2: bit deeper into those business development tactics. And again, everything
2:50
Speaker 2: in this book is action oriented, and the action oriented
2:56
Speaker 2: author has done a lot of work in this profession
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Speaker 2: and business development in the legal world. Our guest is
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Speaker 2: Shila Murphy, and she's a certified executive coach specializing in
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Speaker 2: career advancement, leadership development, and business growth. Permission is to
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Speaker 2: empower legal professionals, general counsels, legal executives, and law firm
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Speaker 2: attorneys to achieve transformational success in their careers, compensation and confidence.
3:27
Speaker 2: She provides personalized coaching and strategic consulting, and she helps
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Speaker 2: her clients master the skills needed to become impactful leaders
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Speaker 2: and rain makers. And she's here to give you that
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Speaker 2: coaching and strategic advice with us today on the show.
3:44
Speaker 2: Shila Murphy, thank you so much for joining us.
3:46
Speaker 3: Happy to be here today.
3:48
Speaker 2: So Sheila, tell us a little bit. How did you
3:50
Speaker 2: get into the business development profession?
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Speaker 3: Well, it's sort of, isn't your common path? I was
3:57
Speaker 3: an in house a counsel who actually purchased a lot
4:00
Speaker 3: of legal services, and through doing that, I developed relationships
4:05
Speaker 3: with a lot of senior law firm partners who were
4:08
Speaker 3: hoping to develop business. And then in two thousand and eight,
4:13
Speaker 3: the economic downturn occurred and it had a really hard
4:18
Speaker 3: impact on the legal industry and especially those attorneys at
4:22
Speaker 3: law firms. And what I saw at that point is
4:25
Speaker 3: that the attorneys who did not master business development and
4:30
Speaker 3: own their own book of clients were really at the
4:33
Speaker 3: mercy of those who did. They had been sort of told,
4:36
Speaker 3: you can be the service partner, you'll make a lot
4:38
Speaker 3: of money, but you don't have to do that icky
4:40
Speaker 3: thing about developing business. But when the economics changed, so
4:46
Speaker 3: did the environment, and so a lot of these service
4:49
Speaker 3: partners found themselves losing compensation, losing titles, and in some
4:55
Speaker 3: cases losing jobs as a result of this. I sort
4:59
Speaker 3: of my mission because I was involved with a lot
5:02
Speaker 3: of bar associations to help educate people on the ramifications
5:07
Speaker 3: of not owning your book of business and from a
5:10
Speaker 3: client's perspective, how to develop that book of business. Because
5:14
Speaker 3: I've seen since I'm a purchaser, I've seen people do
5:17
Speaker 3: really well at it and I've seen major fails.
5:21
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's really intriguing career pathway, Sheila, because you were
5:27
Speaker 2: a buyer of the services, so you saw firsthand different styles,
5:31
Speaker 2: different tactics in real life as opposed to being a
5:36
Speaker 2: accounts outside council where you're actually selling the services. So
5:42
Speaker 2: that's a really unique perspective because you're not just seeing
5:46
Speaker 2: one or two other folks in your firm apply those tactics.
5:49
Speaker 2: You're seeing dozens, if not more, selling directly to you.
5:54
Speaker 2: So that's great. You knew what worked, what didn't work
5:57
Speaker 2: didn't work, and so that's really intriguing in and a
6:00
Speaker 2: very selfless effort on your part to help attorneys be
6:04
Speaker 2: successful in their career. And a big part of that
6:07
Speaker 2: success is defined by their ability to be a rainmaker,
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Speaker 2: to do business development effectively. You know, my wife just
6:14
Speaker 2: finished law school after a full career, and as she was,
6:21
Speaker 2: she brought the syllabus home the first day and I said,
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Speaker 2: now tell me, when do they give you the class
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Speaker 2: on business development? She says, there are no classes on
6:31
Speaker 2: business development. And she just received her degree and passed
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Speaker 2: the bar and none of it, none of it was
6:39
Speaker 2: related to business development. And I'm just thinking, this is ridiculous.
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Speaker 2: I mean, this profession is so defined. Your success is
6:46
Speaker 2: defined by your ability to grow business and none of
6:49
Speaker 2: that is trained in law school, which probably explains why
6:51
Speaker 2: there are a number of top notch and I would.
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Speaker 3: Say, I have had clients come in who've made partner
6:58
Speaker 3: but which told their whole careers, don't worry about the
7:00
Speaker 3: business development, and then like on day one, they said,
7:03
Speaker 3: well you need to bring in about two million dollars
7:05
Speaker 3: this year, and they were like, what, you know, they
7:08
Speaker 3: had not been prepared in any way for that conversation.
7:14
Speaker 3: And so I don't think the legal profession does a
7:17
Speaker 3: good job about the business of law. It's changing a
7:20
Speaker 3: little bit, but it's not caught up to where it
7:24
Speaker 3: needs today.
7:25
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's sad. It's sad to see that folks are
7:29
Speaker 2: not trained adequately, at least in the early stages of
7:32
Speaker 2: their career. But fortunately they have experts like you who
7:35
Speaker 2: can and folks. Is this is common, not just in
7:40
Speaker 2: the legal profession, in so many professions, particularly professional services.
7:46
Speaker 2: But I just ran a post last week that was
7:48
Speaker 2: a poll on LinkedIn, and I said, Okay, what are
7:51
Speaker 2: the top ways to get promoted or get a pay raise?
7:54
Speaker 2: And there were three choices. Either you could find cost savings,
7:58
Speaker 2: you could create a new process in your business, or
8:03
Speaker 2: you could generate revenue. And I think it was like
8:05
Speaker 2: ninety percent of people said generate revenue, find new business.
8:08
Speaker 2: That is the way you get promoted. So this is
8:10
Speaker 2: not unique to law firms. If you run a P
8:13
Speaker 2: and L, if you're in operations a PM or something
8:15
Speaker 2: like that, in a corporation, you're expected to bring in
8:19
Speaker 2: oftentimes bring in revenue. So this is I'm so excited
8:23
Speaker 2: about talking about this in the book. And so let
8:25
Speaker 2: me ask you what caused you to write the book itself?
8:28
Speaker 2: I mean, and you've been doing this since two thousand
8:30
Speaker 2: and eight as a consultant and advisor, So why the book?
8:34
Speaker 2: Why now?
8:36
Speaker 3: Having worked with a lot of attorneys over the last
8:40
Speaker 3: number of years, one of the biggest things is time
8:43
Speaker 3: pressure and a simple, pragmatic guide that will enable them
8:48
Speaker 3: to sort of take the steps to move forward. And
8:52
Speaker 3: so a lot of people felt really time pressure. How
8:56
Speaker 3: do I find the time to work with a coach?
8:58
Speaker 3: How do I think about doing things different? And so
9:00
Speaker 3: I wanted like a guide for those people who just
9:03
Speaker 3: felt so constrained by time that they could do it
9:06
Speaker 3: on their own at a pace and that the book,
9:09
Speaker 3: as what you've said a number of times, really focuses
9:12
Speaker 3: on actual steps that you could take, and it's really
9:14
Speaker 3: a roadmap to start you through, so as you're trying
9:18
Speaker 3: to do it, it makes sense. It doesn't seem overwhelming.
9:22
Speaker 3: You can stop at any point and then pick it up.
9:25
Speaker 3: So I wanted to reach more people at this time
9:28
Speaker 3: especially because the economy the last few years has been
9:34
Speaker 3: a little rocky or uncertain more than rocky. I would say,
9:38
Speaker 3: where people aren't you aware it's going what's happening? And
9:41
Speaker 3: so I think in times like this, I wanted to
9:43
Speaker 3: reach more people so that they could have greater control
9:47
Speaker 3: over sort of their compensation and their courage.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, and I like how you started the book with
9:53
Speaker 2: let me just quote it real quickly. You say, consider this,
9:56
Speaker 2: if you are a senior attorney, as part of the
9:59
Speaker 2: transfer process, the potential new firm will ask you to
10:03
Speaker 2: fill in a lateral partner question in LPQ, even if
10:07
Speaker 2: you're not at the partner level and you the author.
10:10
Speaker 2: You've seen firms asking your clients about their business development efforts,
10:16
Speaker 2: plans and results. So if you're in a firm, you
10:21
Speaker 2: need to have this capability. If you want to move
10:23
Speaker 2: to a new firm and progress your career, you're you'll
10:26
Speaker 2: definitely be asked about this. Your ability to bring in
10:30
Speaker 2: revenue rights.
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Speaker 3: It's constant. And then if for some reason the other
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Speaker 3: part of your people you're working with at the firm
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Speaker 3: leave you behind, which I've also seen, the firm where
10:41
Speaker 3: you are is going to say, well, where's the business
10:44
Speaker 3: going to come from? And I've seen people have to
10:47
Speaker 3: panic and do things they've never done before in a
10:50
Speaker 3: couple of months to try to build that platform, which
10:53
Speaker 3: as you know, doesn't happen overnight.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, that is probably a horrible scenario to be in
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Speaker 2: where your rain maker leaves and now you need to generate,
11:05
Speaker 2: you need to be the rain maker. All right, Well,
11:07
Speaker 2: let's add some water and create some instant rain making
11:11
Speaker 2: with your new book. And let's talk about your top
11:14
Speaker 2: three tactics from your book, Shila, what's the number one takeaway?
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Speaker 3: Now?
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Speaker 2: Folks, remember there are twelve chapters in this book. It's
11:24
Speaker 2: all laid out sequentially in a logical fashion from start
11:26
Speaker 2: to finish. So it's a very logical step process through
11:30
Speaker 2: the customer journey and the customer life cycle. And so
11:35
Speaker 2: you know, it's tough to get all twelve into the
11:39
Speaker 2: top three here, Shila, But what's number one?
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Speaker 3: Okay? What I would say, because I think it's really
11:43
Speaker 3: the foundation is understanding your ideal clients, which is something
11:47
Speaker 3: that lawyers and I think other professionals have a problem
11:50
Speaker 3: with now and then because we all have this fear,
11:52
Speaker 3: you know, fomo fear of missing out on something. So
11:55
Speaker 3: no one wants to sort of narrow their niche, even
11:57
Speaker 3: though the niches where the riches are. And if you're
12:01
Speaker 3: too broad, you're not speaking to anyone. And so for me,
12:05
Speaker 3: I really try to have people dig into a couple
12:08
Speaker 3: of who are their core client groups. And a client
12:11
Speaker 3: doesn't have to be sort of it doesn't have to
12:15
Speaker 3: be just the end user. It can be if you
12:19
Speaker 3: get work through accountants or other larger law firms. Understanding
12:23
Speaker 3: who those ideal clients are allows you to really effectively
12:28
Speaker 3: and intentionally and strategically plan your business development. And by this,
12:33
Speaker 3: I mean you're planning your branding, your content, your networking
12:38
Speaker 3: so that you're focusing your energy, your time, and to
12:42
Speaker 3: a certain extent, your money in the right places. So
12:44
Speaker 3: that's really important to me.
12:47
Speaker 2: Yeah, I love that step number one, folks, That and
12:49
Speaker 2: the most prominent thing. And this is very common in
12:52
Speaker 2: the authors we've interviewed on this podcast. So many start
12:56
Speaker 2: with this number one foundational step. I FI your ideal
13:01
Speaker 2: customer profile. It will allow you to increase your probability
13:06
Speaker 2: of winning the business and it will increase your efficiency.
13:11
Speaker 2: Stop chasing prospects that are not a good fit for
13:14
Speaker 2: your firm. And you know when I say good fit,
13:17
Speaker 2: that also means are they good customers? Not only are
13:21
Speaker 2: they good prospects, but will they be good customers that
13:24
Speaker 2: ultimately will become your raving fans and become your advocates
13:29
Speaker 2: providing referrals to you. So let's just dig a little
13:33
Speaker 2: bit deeper into that one, Shila, because I know there
13:35
Speaker 2: are many ways to identify your ideal customer profile, but
13:39
Speaker 2: you talked about the networking piece, so I thought that's
13:42
Speaker 2: that's pretty intriguing. And how you're talking about engaging your
13:46
Speaker 2: network of connections accountants, maybe M and A advisors, financial advisors,
13:53
Speaker 2: that sort of thing.
13:54
Speaker 1: How do you go.
13:55
Speaker 2: About collaborating with your network of fellow experts to really
14:02
Speaker 2: craft your ideal customer profile? How do you do that?
14:06
Speaker 3: Okay, well, I think it starts with when you're thinking
14:09
Speaker 3: about those relationships and referral business you want to be
14:14
Speaker 3: and I hate to use the term, but it works
14:16
Speaker 3: fishing in the right pond. So you need to understand
14:19
Speaker 3: what you know if you're trying to broaden it your network.
14:23
Speaker 3: Where do these people hang out? So where do they read,
14:26
Speaker 3: what do they read? What conferences do they go to.
14:28
Speaker 3: What organizations do they belong to? How can I meet
14:32
Speaker 3: these people and begin to cultivate that relationship, So that
14:38
Speaker 3: to me is where you start. Is like understanding where
14:42
Speaker 3: to meet people, and then once you meet them, what's
14:46
Speaker 3: important to them both on a business and personal level.
14:50
Speaker 3: What are the things that they want to hear about
14:52
Speaker 3: know about you so they can start to know, like
14:55
Speaker 3: and trust you so that they feel that you could
14:58
Speaker 3: be a good fit to bring in on to refer
15:00
Speaker 3: to one of their their businesses or whatever, you know,
15:05
Speaker 3: one of their clients. They need to understand that. So
15:09
Speaker 3: you need to both understand their needs the end clients needs,
15:13
Speaker 3: and demonstrate that. And I'm a huge believer also in
15:16
Speaker 3: storytelling as a way of solidifying those relationships and showing
15:22
Speaker 3: what you do, because when you show stories and tell stories,
15:25
Speaker 3: it's really evidence. I can walk up to you at
15:27
Speaker 3: a cocktail party and tell you I am the best
15:30
Speaker 3: tax attorney you've ever met. Now, if you tell me
15:34
Speaker 3: how you got out of a sticky situation in a
15:37
Speaker 3: multimillion dollar deal with whatever is going on in multiple
15:40
Speaker 3: countries and tax authorities, that's me is more impactful than
15:43
Speaker 3: you just telling me who you are.
15:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I really like this tactic. You know, some
15:51
Speaker 2: identify your ideal customer profile, but do that in partnership
15:56
Speaker 2: with teamwork with your network of other folks that are
16:00
Speaker 2: tangential to your services. So, if you're an attorney, talking
16:04
Speaker 2: to accountants and talking to financial advisors, talking to other
16:09
Speaker 2: folks that are out there just like you that have
16:12
Speaker 2: roughly the same ideal customer profile, and then asking your
16:16
Speaker 2: network and this could be probably a dozen, half a
16:19
Speaker 2: dozen people. You don't have to make this a long
16:22
Speaker 2: drawn out survey of hundreds of people, but just have
16:25
Speaker 2: those discussions of Hey, where are you finding these people,
16:29
Speaker 2: what's important to them, what's their style, what keeps them
16:32
Speaker 2: up at night? And where are their pain points, particularly
16:37
Speaker 2: as it relates to say, legal issues. Is there a
16:40
Speaker 2: common thread I could potentially pull on? What events do
16:43
Speaker 2: you find a lot of these people attend. I'll tell
16:46
Speaker 2: you what, Sheila. I found probably one of the best
16:48
Speaker 2: nonprofits I've ever worked through in their events that they
16:52
Speaker 2: put on fantastic events, and I had no idea they existed.
16:57
Speaker 2: But I reached out to somebody in my network and
16:59
Speaker 2: I was just having these conversations. I was telling them,
17:02
Speaker 2: I'm having a hard time just getting the events where
17:04
Speaker 2: there are decision makers. Do you know of any events
17:06
Speaker 2: that are and he said, yeah, sure, check out this
17:08
Speaker 2: nonprofit they do and I said, well, I've never heard
17:11
Speaker 2: of them. And so that was that. I think that's
17:13
Speaker 2: probably a good example of working with your network to
17:17
Speaker 2: identify ICP, how to reach them, how to engage them,
17:21
Speaker 2: and how to successfully prospect. Now let's move to tactic
17:27
Speaker 2: number two if we.
17:28
Speaker 3: Can, okay, and this would be cultive you know, again
17:33
Speaker 3: it's sort of a basic thing, but building and cultivating
17:36
Speaker 3: mutually beneficial, strategic relationships with people, and that it's a
17:41
Speaker 3: long term and that it's both business and personal. I mean,
17:45
Speaker 3: I've heard from so many buyers like myself where when
17:49
Speaker 3: things don't work out, you know, you thought someone was
17:51
Speaker 3: developing a friendship with you to a certain extent, even
17:55
Speaker 3: though you knew there was a business aspect. But things
17:57
Speaker 3: change and then you're ghosted, and you know, this is
18:01
Speaker 3: a long career. People end up at new companies all
18:04
Speaker 3: the time. It's fascinating to me that people don't sort
18:09
Speaker 3: of take a long term approach to developing these relationships
18:13
Speaker 3: and being there with people. You know, I talk in
18:17
Speaker 3: the book. I think about this one firm where there
18:19
Speaker 3: was a change in my management at the company I
18:21
Speaker 3: was at and we changed who we were using. They
18:24
Speaker 3: stayed in touch. They were there for me, They did
18:27
Speaker 3: things for me because they saw things in the paper.
18:30
Speaker 3: And when I had the opportunity to go back to
18:34
Speaker 3: that firm, I did and I ended up being probably
18:37
Speaker 3: one of their largest clients for a long time. And
18:40
Speaker 3: it all was because instead of saying, oh, we've been
18:44
Speaker 3: tossed aside because there's new management, they stayed in the game.
18:49
Speaker 3: They focused on what was important to me, both on
18:52
Speaker 3: a business and personal level, and so and showed me
18:56
Speaker 3: the value they could provide if I was able to
18:59
Speaker 3: go back to them, which I was, and they did.
19:03
Speaker 2: So. They essentially stayed in touch with you even though
19:07
Speaker 2: you no longer use them at one point as a
19:10
Speaker 2: service provider for several years, for several years, but yet
19:15
Speaker 2: they continued that relationship providing value to you and not
19:20
Speaker 2: just being transactional where it was one and done, we
19:25
Speaker 2: provided service, Okay, let's move on and find another prospect.
19:28
Speaker 2: Now they stayed with you and continue to provide value. Correct.
19:34
Speaker 3: Yes, And like I said, at the end of the day,
19:38
Speaker 3: I probably was their number one or number two client
19:41
Speaker 3: for several years afterwards.
19:43
Speaker 2: I like that a lot because it shows that business
19:46
Speaker 2: development is not transactional. Effective. Business development is not transactional.
19:51
Speaker 2: So many people think that business development is sales. I say, nope,
19:55
Speaker 2: business development is not sales. Sales is transactional by its nature.
20:00
Speaker 2: The definition of sales is to convert somebody from a
20:03
Speaker 2: prospect into a client as efficiently and as effectively as
20:07
Speaker 2: you can. That's a very unique skill set. People spend
20:10
Speaker 2: years perfecting their ability to be skilled salespeople. Business developers
20:16
Speaker 2: are there throughout the entire relationship. It's not one and done.
20:19
Speaker 2: It's not convert and go on to the next Okay,
20:22
Speaker 2: that's what salespeople do. And some BD people do sales.
20:25
Speaker 2: That's fine, that's true, But in some salespeople do business development.
20:30
Speaker 2: But true to its nature, business development is there throughout
20:34
Speaker 2: the entire customer journey, not through prospecting phase, not the
20:37
Speaker 2: activation phase, not just the conversion phase, but in customer success,
20:41
Speaker 2: customer growth. And Sheila, I like what you showed today,
20:44
Speaker 2: which is even after customer success customer growth, and there
20:51
Speaker 2: was disengagement of the actual trans the relationship, the paid relationship,
20:56
Speaker 2: they continue to build value and that nurtured that relationship
21:01
Speaker 2: into something that was bigger and better. That investment for
21:06
Speaker 2: their time and efforts was massive compared to just the
21:10
Speaker 2: first initial engagement.
21:11
Speaker 3: Right. Oh, absolutely, it was incredibly different. And what I
21:17
Speaker 3: would say is I've heard this time and time again
21:20
Speaker 3: from end purchasers. You know, sometimes you know you have
21:24
Speaker 3: to do good work, let's put that, you know, that
21:26
Speaker 3: sort of table stakes, but the you know, the really
21:30
Speaker 3: having those ties with someone, someone who's been in the
21:32
Speaker 3: trenches with you, that you've seen in other things, whether
21:35
Speaker 3: it's personal or business. I know one general council who
21:39
Speaker 3: was on a business trip with someone and some bad
21:42
Speaker 3: news hit and that person, she said, went beyond everything.
21:47
Speaker 3: And she has worked with and she was more junior
21:50
Speaker 3: in her career at the point, she wasn't a general
21:52
Speaker 3: counsel and this woman was really fabulous to her. But
21:55
Speaker 3: she grew in the legal field as a general counsel.
21:59
Speaker 3: And you brought this woman along with her every step
22:02
Speaker 3: of the way. And it was a lot of it
22:05
Speaker 3: had to do with that personal relationship and that trust
22:08
Speaker 3: that was built when she had a bad day.
22:10
Speaker 2: Wow, fantastic, Okay, I love tactic number two. These are fantastic.
22:16
Speaker 2: You're on a rule. Okay, let's move right to tactic
22:19
Speaker 2: number three.
22:20
Speaker 3: Okay, this one might be a little bit lawyery, which is,
22:23
Speaker 3: remember it's about the client or the end user. And
22:26
Speaker 3: I mean that because now and then, as lawyers, we
22:29
Speaker 3: are so focused on our expertise, and I think this
22:32
Speaker 3: can be true of any technical expert. Now and then,
22:34
Speaker 3: we love talking about ourselves, our expertise, the organization that
22:38
Speaker 3: we are at, and all the wonderful things they can do.
22:43
Speaker 3: That can be true. But unless you meet my needs
22:46
Speaker 3: as an end user, I am not going to purchase
22:48
Speaker 3: your services. So it's really getting a grasp on what
22:52
Speaker 3: their needs are, how they like to operate, and delivering
22:57
Speaker 3: on that in a really customer centric approach that I
23:00
Speaker 3: think is so important because a lot of times people
23:04
Speaker 3: come in with their script, and if the script is
23:07
Speaker 3: you know, I'm going to focus on the global nature
23:12
Speaker 3: of our M and A practice and I'm a domestic
23:15
Speaker 3: company and we have no plans to go global, then
23:19
Speaker 3: you've wasted my time and I will not listen. And
23:23
Speaker 3: I think that I'm not that important if you're not
23:25
Speaker 3: focusing on me and what my needs are and so
23:29
Speaker 3: to me, it's really understanding that it's about the customer,
23:33
Speaker 3: not your ego, not your resume, and not the organizations.
23:38
Speaker 2: Yeah. I like that when so many folks go into
23:41
Speaker 2: a new relationship from their perspective and they're not being
23:47
Speaker 2: empathetic to the needs of the prospect or the customer.
23:51
Speaker 2: This continues post conversion once you bring them on board,
23:54
Speaker 2: right Sheila, Right, Yeah, Yeah, they're not personalizing that engagement
24:01
Speaker 2: to the the extrinsic needs and the intrinsic needs and
24:06
Speaker 2: talk about the intrinsic needs. It's fundamental and understanding the
24:10
Speaker 2: purpose of your client or prospect and you know, your
24:14
Speaker 2: intrinsic needs are the things that they don't talk about,
24:17
Speaker 2: and that's where the burden is on you as the
24:20
Speaker 2: business developer to find out ask those questions so that
24:24
Speaker 2: you can learn what is truly important to them so
24:28
Speaker 2: that you can customize the engagement tailored to their personalized needs.
24:34
Speaker 3: Especially like if you're involved in the you know, an
24:36
Speaker 3: RFP process or something like that, you know, you really
24:39
Speaker 3: want to understand what's important to people. I often use
24:42
Speaker 3: the analogy you don't want to be the perfume sprayer
24:45
Speaker 3: at the mall. Who like when people walk in and
24:48
Speaker 3: they're trying to buy a croc pot or a sweater
24:50
Speaker 3: or whatever it is. You know that you get sharkeeting
24:53
Speaker 3: sprits and they start trying to sell something that you
24:55
Speaker 3: have no interest in. People just turn you know, turn off,
24:58
Speaker 3: They move around, they move away away from you. Don't
25:00
Speaker 3: want to be that person. You want to be the
25:02
Speaker 3: person who is so connected that they're like, Wow, this
25:06
Speaker 3: person gets me and what I need.
25:08
Speaker 2: Ah, this is gold the right here, Sheila, I've seen
25:12
Speaker 2: this so many times in the proposal writing process, folks
25:18
Speaker 2: just emphasize the extrinsic needs. This is what every competitor
25:24
Speaker 2: is responding to. Everybody sees these extrinsic requirements. They're written
25:28
Speaker 2: clearly in the solicitation, so you know, along with your competitors,
25:33
Speaker 2: exactly what the customer wants. The difference between an acceptable
25:37
Speaker 2: proposal and a winning proposal is understanding those intrinsic requirements,
25:41
Speaker 2: those intrinsic needs of your customer. Where they do as
25:45
Speaker 2: you said, Shila, they sit back and they look at
25:48
Speaker 2: your proposal and go, wow, these folks really get us.
25:51
Speaker 2: And if you're really good at it, they'll probably get
25:53
Speaker 2: a little uncomfortable going, Okay, where are the listening devices
25:57
Speaker 2: in our office? Because they know it's way better than
25:59
Speaker 2: we do, and so that that so let's just pull
26:03
Speaker 2: that a little bit more because we have a few
26:06
Speaker 2: more minutes left here. But I'd like to just well,
26:09
Speaker 2: this is so exciting when you when you, how do
26:13
Speaker 2: you how do you advise your clients to get to
26:17
Speaker 2: those intrinsic needs where the prospects as wow, they really
26:21
Speaker 2: get us. What what is the tactic that you recommend?
26:26
Speaker 3: It's really being curious and asking questions and you know,
26:31
Speaker 3: and I get give a list of questions in the
26:33
Speaker 3: book about things that you can ask, but it's following
26:37
Speaker 3: through and hearing the things also that aren't being said.
26:40
Speaker 3: You know, what is going on at the organization? What
26:43
Speaker 3: is it of the stressors? What do you mean you know?
26:46
Speaker 3: Is there a real going on? How is that impacting you?
26:48
Speaker 3: How is it impacting the business? Are there things I
26:52
Speaker 3: should be aware of that change I during the pandemic,
26:57
Speaker 3: I was talking to a general counsel of a major
27:00
Speaker 3: hotel chain and she told me there were people who
27:04
Speaker 3: really listened to what was going on and worked with
27:07
Speaker 3: them to find alternative paths, and there were ones that said, no,
27:11
Speaker 3: we have to do things the way we've always done
27:13
Speaker 3: it for you. And she said, we never went back
27:16
Speaker 3: to those firms because they weren't with us and understanding
27:20
Speaker 3: how we needed to navigate the environment we were in.
27:24
Speaker 3: And now that we're out of that environment, we're doing well.
27:27
Speaker 3: Those people who stuck with us and thought innovatively indifferently
27:31
Speaker 3: about how we could partner together are the ones who
27:34
Speaker 3: are continuing to get the business.
27:36
Speaker 2: Wow, Sheila. Let's if folks want to connect with you,
27:43
Speaker 2: learn from you, follow you on social so they can
27:46
Speaker 2: learn how to get the business. How can they do that?
27:50
Speaker 3: The best place is LinkedIn Sheila Murphy slash Focused Forward
27:55
Speaker 3: and that is where I post a lot of content
27:58
Speaker 3: in terms of hints of things that you can do.
28:02
Speaker 3: Also on my website Wwfocused dish Forward, Dishconsulting dot com.
28:07
Speaker 3: I have a lot of blogs and other resources available.
28:11
Speaker 2: Well, listen, folks, if you want to get the business,
28:15
Speaker 2: try these top three tactics and takeaways from Shield and
28:18
Speaker 2: number one was ICP networking. This is working with your
28:23
Speaker 2: network of partners. If you're an attorney, partner with accountants,
28:27
Speaker 2: financial advisors, and folks that cater to the same type
28:31
Speaker 2: of clients that you do. To learn exactly how those
28:35
Speaker 2: clients buy, how they learn, how they find you as
28:41
Speaker 2: a service provider. Second is BD is a full life
28:45
Speaker 2: cycle game. It does not stop at conversion closed one.
28:51
Speaker 2: It does not stop at the sale. It continues through
28:55
Speaker 2: the customer success phase into the customer growth phase. And
29:00
Speaker 2: so many businesses are cyclical. Those relationships will come and go,
29:04
Speaker 2: they may no longer use you, but continuing to engage
29:07
Speaker 2: and nurture that relationship even after they are no longer
29:11
Speaker 2: your customer will bring them back for more of your services.
29:15
Speaker 2: And then the third and final tactic is be curious.
29:20
Speaker 2: Learn those intrinsic needs, those intrinsic requirements of your customers
29:26
Speaker 2: and your prospects, so that you can submit a winning
29:30
Speaker 2: bid that nobody else can write because you know exactly
29:34
Speaker 2: how that prospect is thinking. And then, more importantly, in
29:38
Speaker 2: the follow through, continue that practice of those curious questions
29:43
Speaker 2: to learn how to deliver the most impactful, beneficial, and
29:48
Speaker 2: valuable service to your prospects so that at the end
29:51
Speaker 2: of the day, you demonstrate that you're an advocate for
29:54
Speaker 2: them and they end up becoming advocates for you and
29:59
Speaker 2: helping you you grow your business. And if you want
30:02
Speaker 2: to grow your business, get a copy of Shila's book.
30:06
Speaker 2: It's jam packed with information. I really enjoyed reading it.
30:09
Speaker 2: It's fast paced, it's actionable. Get it today. It's available
30:13
Speaker 2: on Amazon. It's Rainmaker Power Moves, the attorney's playbook for
30:18
Speaker 2: building a book of business. Not just for rain makers, though,
30:23
Speaker 2: in just the legal profession. Rain makers and business developers
30:27
Speaker 2: across the board can find some great value in Sheila's book.
30:31
Speaker 2: Thank Sheila. I want to thank you so much for
30:33
Speaker 2: everything you do for the legal profession and professionalizing business development,
30:39
Speaker 2: helping your clients succeed, and thank you for everything you
30:43
Speaker 2: do for the BD profession rit large, and.
30:46
Speaker 3: Thank you for having me on Tony. I really appreciate
30:49
Speaker 3: it and had a great time.
30:53
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30:58
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31:02
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31:06
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