Stroock closure or any biglaw layoff

We know going through transitions is tough, and we wanted to make it easier for anyone who is impacted by the Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP closure or any biglaw layoff.

Join Megan Senese and Benjamin Field (from Individuation Coaching) on Thursday, Nov. 16th, from 12-12:45 pm ET for a virtual "Open House."

It is free for any business professional (including business development and legal marketing) or lawyer.

It's a safe + welcoming space where people can connect, network, and find support. The goal is to create a supportive community of peers who can offer support, network, and gain new insights.

Reach out to Megan Senese for the link.

Jennifer Ramsey authors article in Law360: How Law Firms Can Use Account-Based Marketing Strategies

Jennifer Ramsey and Gina Sponzilli co-author: How Law Firms Can Use Account-Based Marketing Strategies

Three key developments in the legal industry are making account-based marketing strategies more relevant and important than ever:

• Law firm mergers are on the rebound in 2023.[1]

• Lateral partner moves have continued to move at a brisk pace.[2]

• There is an increased focus on the totality of the client experience — the sum of all interactions with a firm — which means law firms can differentiate themselves in this area to engender loyalty, retain key clients and grow revenue.

These three taken together make a strong business case for an increased focus on account-based marketing strategies in legal marketing, regardless of firm size.

Merger and acquisition activity and lateral partner movement can create significant disruptions in the legal industry. This type of marketing allows law firms to focus their business development and marketing efforts on specific accounts or clients, ensuring they maintain and strengthen client relationships, and allocate resources efficiently and effectively.

In addition, as partners move between firms or firms merge, client relationships can become strained. Account-based marketing enables law firms to maintain strong connections with their key clients and ensure they continue to receive the attention and service they need.

It is also useful for reputation management — these strategies can be used to manage and shape the narrative surrounding these developments, ensuring that the firm's brand remains intact or is improved.

As more firms embrace and emphasize the client experience to not only meet, but also exceed client expectations, this marketing approach puts the client at the core of the firm.

While not a new concept, demand for this type of marketing has continued to grow stronger due to measurable improvements that dedicated account-based marketing strategies produce.

For example, drawing on 279 qualitative interviews from account-based marketing leaders across the globe, Momentum ITSMA and ABM Leadership Alliance's latest benchmark study on the topic found that most of these programs drive substantial business impact, with an Jennifer Ramsey Gina Sponzilli 84% increase in pipeline growth, 77% in revenue growth and 72% higher return on investment than other types of marketing.[3]

Account-Based Marketing in a Legal Marketing Context

At its core, account-based marketing is an approach to business-to-business marketing and sales designed to uncover additional opportunities with an existing customer or client, and ultimately increase revenue. In the law firm context, this kind of marketing requires close collaboration between business development professionals and law firm leaders and partners to create personalized buying experiences for high-value accounts. When executed well, those experiences integrate the client company's specific attributes and needs. Successful account-based marketing programs also help build and maintain long-term relationships with premier clients.

This approach is particularly effective for businesses that operate in industries with long sales cycles, involve a complex buying process and develop into high-value accounts — all of which apply to legal marketing. It allows all stakeholders to take their most precious resource — time — and focus on accounts that have the highest impact on the firm's business.

Depending on the client company, that can be measured in terms of revenue growth, number of deals, retention value and expansion into new service areas. Account-based marketing is closely related to the client-team approach that many large law firms have adopted. Client teams bring together a diverse group of lawyers and professionals to focus on delivering exceptional service to a specific client. It involves deep research into the company and related industry trends.

It also requires an understanding of the client's goals and objectives, specific legal needs, and pain points. Client team marketers and business developers play an instrumental role in effectively communicating all this information to the service delivery team and the entire firm. Using this type of marketing, legal marketers and business developers can move beyond transactional exchanges to integrate relational interactions.

It incorporates relationship marketing, which is the opposite of transaction marketing: Transactional exchanges involve a single, short-time exchange with a distinct beginning and ending. Relationship marketing involves multiple, connected exchanges over time, and usually involves both economic and social bonds. Relational exchanges provide a competitive advantage to the extent that they create barriers to switching to a competitor and contribute to service differentiation.

Considerations for Launching an Account-Based Marketing Approach

With the ultimate goal being to effectively serve the client, account-based marketing provides a collaborative framework for internally bringing lawyers together from different practice areas to fully understand their colleagues' skill sets. For legal marketers, employing this form of marketing can be one of the more fulfilling and fun parts of the role. It requires a shift from an individual practice perspective to a team based orientation, with the client at the center of the conversation. Working together, the team uncovers client needs, matches service areas to those needs and wins new business. That said, there are a few things to keep in mind when launching an account-based marketing program.

Using an STP Approach

Legal marketers can incorporate account-based marketing into their strategic plans by using a segmentation, targeting and positioning approach.

Segmenting

Determine which clients are appropriate based on criteria such as potential revenue growth, strength of relationships with key client contacts, company size, strategic fit and industry position. An efficient way to identify high-value clients is to look at the firm's client base through an industry sector lens. A sector-based approach is designed around the client and brings together lawyers from different practices and with different specializations to help solve problems for clients in a particular industry. As an example, health care companies will have distinct legal needs, such as Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act compliance, versus a software company, where intellectual property protection is at the heart of its business.

Targeting

Research stakeholders, company strategy and business expansion plans, and then map back to the firm's strengths and differentiators. Positioning Develop programming that speaks to the client, demonstrates an understanding of their needs and clearly articulates how the firm is positioned to serve those needs.

Know Thy Client — The Human Factor

Clients are not faceless entities representing companies, but rather humans whose decisions are influenced by a delicate interplay of reason and emotion. Understanding executive decision makers, influencers and end-user personas is key to running successful account-based marketing programs. This same thinking can be applied to and expanded upon in legal marketing. Identifying personas beyond the office of the general counsel to include the C-suite, board of directors and other legal department leadership expands a firm's networks and offers a competitive edge.

Consider specific role-based topics, including:

• For C-suite executives: on-demand legal advice, M&A, board management, risk analysis and corporate governance.

• For the board of directors: fiduciary duties, corporate governance, shareholders' rights; executive compensation and key executives' succession planning.

• For general counsel: risk management, litigation and dispute resolution, legal expense budgeting and operations, and data privacy and security.

• For staff attorneys and others in the office of the general counsel: human resources and employment issues, litigation, IP management, and legal cost containment.

Sample questions to ask clients to better inform ABM include:

• What are your day-to-day responsibilities?

• What results and outcomes do you measure?

• What business metrics are you measured by?

• What aspirations or goals are driving your decision

• What are the top strategic challenges or priorities you are currently facing in your role, and how are you addressing them?

Asking questions like these is paramount to building strong, long-lasting relationships with clients. Relationship building is a cornerstone of account-based marketing and helps foster trust and rapport, which are crucial for successful business-to-business relationships. By asking questions and actively listening to client responses, lawyers and legal marketers demonstrate genuine interest in learning more about clients' businesses and challenges.

Valuable insights can be gained that allow for delivering highly personalized experiences to individual client accounts. The answers also allow lawyers and legal marketers to uncover pain points or challenges that the clients may not have initially mentioned and gives way to customizing solutions to client needs.

Creating an Account Plan for a Holistic Client Experience

The deeper the relationship, the more holistic the client experience, which can lead to lower customer acquisition costs and reduce churn. Delighted clients are more inclined to give testimonials, provide referrals and participate in thought leadership. A comprehensive client-centric account plan that members of an account or client team can create, or even co-create with the client, and refer to over time, is invaluable for achieving a holistic approach to client experience. The plan is evergreen, evolving and present at every account or client team meeting. Key components include:

• An overview of the client relationship, organizational structure and company strategy;

• The firm's revenue targets and other objectives;

• An analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats — an activity that all client team members can participate in;

• A legal needs assessment of the client and the firm's tailored solutions; and

• Relationship building activities and timing.

Data Analytics Rule: How to Measure Success

Detailed account data paired with analytics and a reporting tool are helpful to properly launch and measure an account-based marketing program. Without some type of system to measure performance, it is difficult to evaluate the program's impact. One of the key metrics to measure the success of this kind of marketing is customer lifetime value. "Customer lifetime value" is defined as the total amount a customer spends with a company during the lifetime of the relationship. Those accounts — i.e., clients — that are in the higher range of customer lifetime value are prime candidates for this type of marketing focus. The goal of account-based marketing is to increase customer lifetime value to a percentage growth rate or spend amount. This metric can be especially useful for legal marketing and business development. To effectively measure customer lifetime value in a law firm context, metrics to look at include gross margin associated with each client engagement, average revenue per year and the number of matters. Other metrics that are accretive to customer lifetime value include value from referrals, potential revenue from cross-selling opportunities, and the cost to acquire a new client or matter.

What's Next

The legal industry is undergoing significant transformation in 2023, which creates a compelling business case for full adoption of account-based marketing strategies. With the pace of law firm mergers and lateral partner moves, these trends further underscore the need for law firms to adapt and enhance their marketing strategies. Coupled with the growing emphasis on the holistic client experience, these factors highlight the potential for firms to stand out, foster client loyalty and drive revenue growth through this marketing approach. These three developments collectively reinforce that now is the opportune time to embrace the account-based approach in legal marketing and leverage it for sustained success.

Click here to read on Law360.com

Reproduced with permission. Published October 12, 2023.

11 ways to scare legal marketing

1. I have feedback; pls call.

2. A Friday 5 p.m. email with an urgent pitch request due in two hours.

3. Submitting chambers late. Chambers due after a long holiday weekend. Anything Chambers-related.

4. Forgetting to put on track changes.

5. Spelling a client’s name wrong on an RFP or a name tag or anything.

6. “Pls fix.”

7. A “quick” Saturday meeting.

8. Getting invited to a partner meeting only to realize it’s just to take notes.

9. “Can you reformat these slides? It should only take a minute.”

10. When the lawyer declines client feedback because the they think they already know the client.

11. “Got a sec?”


What else scares the pants off you?

spotlight: Logan Tracey

today we are honored to shine a spotlight on Logan Tracey, Head of Business Development & Marketing - Real Estate at Herrick, Feinstein LLP.

we applaud Logan's emphasis on a holistic approach to individuals and her intentionality around compassion.

the new way to be “professional”

There has been a shift in what is considered professional and how clients want to see their lawyers.  The landscape is changing to allow permission for more personalization. Being authentic is key, allowing for a greater connection with your contacts, colleagues and clients.

Share your genuine insights, personal stories, and expertise with your audience.

Authenticity builds trust and trust builds lasting client relationships.

If you are unsure of how to show up as your authentic self, start small, with micro and intentional activation of relationships.

On a beautiful fall day, cannot resist sharing this one "just as an acorn contains the mighty oak tree, the Self has everything it needs to fulfill its destiny. when the inner conditions are right, it naturally emerges."

Jen Ramsey presents at LMA NEXT Pre-Conference 11.13-11.14

Defining your personal brand is no easy feat. Join Jennifer Ramsey at the LMANEXT Pre-Conference at Tech West in November to hear best practices for practical steps and actionable strategies in "Channel Your Superpowers into Your Personal Brand."

If you are a legal marketing professional with less than seventy years of experience, the LMANEXT Pre-Conference at Tech West is designed with you in mind.

In two dynamic, fun, and informative sessions, participants will learn practical steps and strategies for personal branding on LinkedIn, and an overview of and uses cases for ChatGPT in legal marketing.

In "Channel Your Superpowers into Your Personal Brand," Jennifer Ramsey, co-founder of stage, will lead attendees through a workshop to define their personal brand, create an effective LinkedIn profile, and model best practices for LinkedIn engagement and metrics tracking.

In "ChatGPT Unveiled," Jylian Ibsen, a senior solutions consultant with Pitchly, will dive deep into the multifaceted world of ChatGPT, shedding light on its capabilities, risks, ethics, and transformative potential within the realm of legal marketing.

The LMANEXT Pre-Conference program is complimentary with Tech West conference registration or $235 Member and $260 Prospective Member.

Register here https://lnkd.in/gBkPgHEG

stage’s dedication to working parents

stage's core values include a dedication to supporting parents in the legal industry.

becoming a parent is already tough, and layering on becoming a parent in Big Law can be even tougher.

with stage's launch, we introduced "corduroy" - our free parental leave business development coaching package for any lawyer going out or returning from a parental leave.

we want to ensure our company is tied to our core values.
we want to empower parents with concrete and actionable resources to excel.
we want to amplify the voices of working parents while also building confidence around developing business.

if you can't find that support internally, come to us.
if we might supplement your current resources, come to us. we love to collaborate.

if you are interested in what #businessdevelopment can do for you, brand amplification, or your book of business, come to us.

your sector-based approach: specificity drives strategy

In today's dynamic legal landscape, staying ahead of the curve is not just about providing top-notch legal services. It's about understanding your clients on a profound level and crafting a strategy that aligns with their needs. The sector-based approach is one such strategy that is gaining traction across the legal industry. But why should law firms consider this approach, and how can they embark on this transformative journey?

Why Should a Firm Consider a Sector-Based Approach?

This is an excellent question and an important one, particularly if law firms are approaching this as a strategic imperative versus a business development or marketing activity. Firms should consider a sector-based approach for three compelling reasons:

1. Client-Centric Focus: First and foremost, a sector-based approach is designed around the client. After all, it's the client companies that make up sectors/industries. So there is a shift in mindset from a firm-focused perspective to a client-centric conversation. It's about answering the question of how a law firm can best support clients in spotting opportunities and addressing pain points.

2. Effective Collaboration: Second, a sector-based approach is an effective collaboration framework. Collaboration is the gateway to higher-value matters, greater client loyalty, and increased firm profits. Fostering collaboration is achieved through a sector-specific strategy, which brings together lawyers from different practices and with different specializations with the sole purpose of helping solve problems for clients in a particular industry.

3. Competitive Advantage: It makes good business sense to understand a client's business, and it can give a law firm a huge competitive edge, particularly those willing to treat it as a strategic imperative. Once sectors, sub-sectors, and key clients within those have been identified, the roadmap for a law firm to target and position itself in front of those ideal audiences becomes all the more clear. Firms that have embraced this approach are consistently among the top-grossing in the world.

The strong "why" behind a sector approach prioritizes clients, brings together lawyer teams to collaboratively solve problems, and gives firms an edge in the marketplace.

How Can Law Firm Leaders Get Started? Where Do They Begin?

Once the "why" is answered, the "how" comes into play. It's critical to do some internal heavy lifting first. For that, we use a Design-Build-Run Framework.

• Design: This phase includes mapping the firm's entire client base to an industry classification system, conducting a SWOT analysis of the firm's sector strengths, and establishing a financial framework for incentives and compensation for industry/sector leaders, dedicated budgets for teams, and KPIs to measure success.

• Build: This involves identifying and appointing team leaders, recruiting working group members with industry expertise, and rolling out a firm-wide communications campaign that clearly articulates the "why" and "how" and offers opportunities for contributions.

• Run: Once the infrastructure is in place, industry teams are empowered and operationalized as functional business units responsible for going to market, driving demand, and delighting clients.

To design, build out, and run a holistic, enterprise-wide sector approach takes time, approximately 9-12 months for the internal infrastructure piece.

How Do You Go-to-Market with a Sector-Specific Strategy?

Once the internal infrastructure has been set up, it's time to go-to-market with a sector-specific strategy. We utilize the segmentation-targeting-positioning (STP) framework as a guide.

• Segment: Analyze which segments to prioritize and focus on, typically 3-5 max. Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP's focus on tech, energy/infra, and finance is an excellent example of this approach.

• Target: Edge your investment toward attractive sub-industries within promising sectors. The more granular, the better. Kirkland & Ellis' focus on private equity within the broader financial sector is a successful example.

• Position: After fully understanding your buyers, their position in the industry, and their opportunities and pain points, position your products/services to be accretive to the client's business and solve their problems.

How Do You Measure Success?

There are several quantifiable metrics to gauge success:

• Percentage growth year over year in a particular industry

• Individual client revenue and profitability statistics

• Performance at the client level, such as the number of sustaining and growing clients year over year in a particular industry

• Track the number of cross-selling opportunities that have been realized by the industry program. Measure the percentage of clients who have engaged multiple practice areas within the firm

• Regularly survey clients within the industry program to gauge their satisfaction

• Assess the program's thought leadership recognition within the industry

• Document and share success stories and cases studies from clients within the industry program

Biggest Opportunities and Challenges

The biggest opportunities of implementing a sector-specific strategy include a client-centered focus and the framework it provides for involving specific lawyer teams within a law firm. It also facilitates lateral partner integration and a BD mentoring framework for partner-track counsel.

The biggest challenges include resource allocation and hesitancy to focus on a few sectors and sub-industries within them. But, remember, specificity paves the way for success.

In conclusion, Zig Ziglar said, "Don't become a wandering generality. Be a meaningful specific." Firms should be bold and get specific about sub-industries where they have significant strengths or compelling market opportunities. Specificity sets the #stage for success, stronger client relationships, greater collaboration, and a formidable competitive advantage.

Megan Senese authors article in Bloomberg Law: Win the Tug of War for Law Talent with These Strategies

Brian Carrozza, Courtney Cook Hudson, and Megan Senese say Big Law firms should re-evaluate their firm management and strategy to retain top talent and build a culture of transparency, communication, and collaboration.

Increased competition for shrinking profit margins has only escalated the war for talent. Forty-four percent of lateral partners cite a lack of confidence in firm management and strategy, according to a recent Major, Lindsey & Africa report.

It’s imperative for legal marketing, business development, and other business operations professionals to be equipped with the right strategies, tactics, and tools to integrate new partners and other attorneys.

How can law firms attract, integrate, and retain top talent across all levels while gaining a competitive advantage?

Recruit

The Major, Lindsey & Africa report found a lack of confidence in firm management and strategy to be the number one reason why law firm partners consider leaving their firms. Effective integration of laterals into their new firms was the single best predictor of satisfaction.

Stakeholders should collaborate to craft messaging that speaks to the firm’s differentiators, value propositions, and core principles, emphasizing how a particular attorney or practice fits into the firmwide strategy. They also should explain how the firm allocates resources to support growth, enhance client service, and drive revenue, and why the firm’s culture and reputation are unique.

While an enthusiastic and upbeat tenor is essential, it’s critical that firms not overpromise but rather use the initial opportunity to set a tone and manage expectations.

Throughout the process, openness, honesty, and transparency are essential.

Integrate

To prepare a successful lateral integration plan, it’s important for the new partner’s business development liaison to work from the same foundation of information as the legal recruiting team, which includes the lateral’s resume, lateral partner questionnaire, and offer letter.

Arming business development liaisons with billable hours and origination goals for new lawyers will help position the liaison as a strategic adviser on day one. A liaison’s first meeting with a lateral should include an assessment of immediate needs about their book of business to ensure seamless client service and surface opportunities to expand portable relationships.

Consider why the lateral was hired—their niche expertise, specific client needs, regional presence for example—and make internal introductions accordingly. The business development liaison and the lateral should have incentives to work collaboratively to map out a client development plan, estimate revenue, identify potential service gaps, and support goals with specific strategies and tactics.

Create a written process to ensure consistent lateral experiences. A 12-month integration plan for new lawyers may include:

• Probing questions to ask during each integration session/meeting

• Guidelines for time-boxing goals

• Templates for organizing and prioritizing client outreach

• Business mentoring resources

The business development liaison should provide status updates to firm leadership and other stakeholders after each meeting. The most successful laterals are engaged and actively participate in regular coaching/integration calls.

During these calls, the liaison should have or obtain a grasp on resources provided to support the lateral, satisfaction with the firm, sense of being valued, client growth opportunities, bandwidth and utilization, and cross-selling successes or frustrations. Flagging issues in real time allows liaisons and firm leaders to remove roadblocks.

Retain

The legal landscape is witnessing an all-out battle as firms vie to attract fresh lateral partners and attorneys, simultaneously grappling with retaining their existing talent pool and navigating competing pricing demands. As legal expertise evolves across generations, the playbook for retaining lawyers is transforming.

Delving into the motivations and core values of why a lateral partner is looking for a new opportunity is paramount to pursuing high retention levels. It’s important for the hiring committee and other stakeholders to understand these motivations.

Understandably, many law firms are hyper-focused on onboarding, integrating, and growing relationships with new clients that have ported over with a lateral. But firms also should be thinking about how to integrate laterals into at least a handful of significant existing client relationships.

One of the best ways to ensure lateral longevity is to think of cross-selling as a two-way street. To whom can the new lawyer introduce new colleagues, and vice versa? The idea of cross-selling should be broadened beyond client relationships to include adding the new lawyer to business development initiatives, affinity groups, and client teams without jumping through bureaucratic approval processes. These steps should help new lawyers feel a sense of inclusion.

Gone are the days when law firms could merely rely on their brand reputation to ensure that newly onboarded attorneys would be satisfied. Taking a moment to understand why lawyers are leaving or remaining with their current firms will illuminate the competitive landscape and help build a better lateral program.

The current climate requires a substantial investment of time and resources beyond front-loaded messaging with little impact. Firms need to build a culture of transparency, communication, collaboration, and dedication to turn retention strategies into actions and actions into loyalty.

Click here to read on BloombergLaw.com

Reproduced with permission. Published September 26. Copyright 2023 Bloomberg Industry Group 800-372-1033.