Business development is synonymous with building, sustaining and managing productive business relationship – one person at a time. I like Bruce Alltop’s view from his January 2014 blog post Law Firm Marketing: Business Development is Relationship Development.
In it Bruce reminds us “relationships trump everything”:
“Since business development is more of an art than a science, few rules exist that apply in all business development scenarios. Some rules that I offer my clients include:
There are definitive steps in the sales cycle and you must earn the right to advance to the next step.
Preparation is key, but there’s no need to get paralyzed by it—don’t let the need for exhaustive preparation get in the way of scheduling sales meetings.
Focus on “having a discussion,” rather than “making a presentation.”
People buy from who they like, so it’s important to make a connection.
It is less important to know how to sell than to know why people are buying.
Finally, relationships trump everything.”
InterAction: Path to Business Development
Since our early days, the LexisNexis InterAction software has been dedicated to helping firms understand the network of relationships that yield profitable business. Building on that vision, we believe it is time to improve how everyone – from business development leaders to marketing professionals – to law firm partners experience and access the information that help them manage the most important business relationships.
Recently, Toni Minick, Sr. Product Manager for the InterAction product and I have had a chance to meet with clients to discuss the InterAction roadmap. It is a path for helping law firms manage business development activities firm wide and one attorney at the time.
As we discuss our vision to help attorneys and professionals maximize revenue growth, we show how new developments – the InterAction SnapShot™ feature and the InterAction Mobility enhancements – improve user access to vital insights by bringing them directly to the user where he or she is working.
We know from our work with law firms just like yours, as much as we’d like for professionals to use the CRM regularly, they don’t. They want the information to come to them. And we believe that their expectation is spot on.
InterAction SnapShot Feature
If you haven’t seen the InterAction Snapshot feature, here’s a peek:
Imagine that a partner from your firm returns from an industry meeting, and wants to learn more about a key contact and the company before scheduling a meeting. No doubt, the partner will look up that individual in search engines and find a list of links – including social media profiles, websites, or even articles mentioning the contact.
Once on a web site, such as the social media profile, if the person or the company is in the CRM system, an InterAction icon delivers a pop-up window of information already logged in the CRM software. This trigger reminds the partner of:
Who in the firm also has a business connection with that individual
When the last meeting took place
What marketing communications that contact has received
With this at-a-glance info, meeting prep now takes just minutes, and the real work of investing in the relationship starts.
Tell us what you think
The InterAction SnapShot feature is just one step toward reinventing how firms will be able to collect, manage and gain value from their most valuable assets: Their clients, their prospects and their referrals. Because at the end of the day, we agree with Bruce: it’s all about Relationships.
If you haven’t had a chance to see what the InterAction product has in store, I invite you to join us for a roadmap discussion. To join the conversation, contact me or Toni directly. Or reach out to your Account Manager. We look forward to connecting soon!
Photo credit: Flickr via Creative Commons; CC 2.0
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