The practice of law is a profession, but running a law firm is a business—one which requires a strategic approach to ensure a consistent flow of work. The level of sophistication in business development efforts that clients are demanding matches the increasingly creative and unique differentiators they seek when selecting counsel. Due to this shift, legal sales executives and other client-­facing business professionals are being hired at a rapid rate by firms of all sizes.

The Business Case for Client-Facing Roles

Both attorneys and clients of a firm benefit from client-­facing business development roles. The rationale is simple.

For attorneys: Legal sales professionals spend (non-billable) time researching, identifying, and fostering strong business relationships with prospects and key clients of the firm. They learn about those individuals and their businesses, vet carefully whether or not the firm can handle the work (running a conflict check and exploring attorney workload capacity), and then hand off a warm lead or introduction to the attorney within the firm who is the best fit for that ­prospective client. This allows the attorney to continue to focus on their current workload, and only enter the relationship-building phase once the initial ­conversations have been conducted. It saves the attorney time spent at ­additional networking events, conducting dead-end fact-finding meetings, and generally allows the attorney to function in a more efficient manner as a timekeeper.

For clients: Legal sales professionals are skilled listeners, tending to ask smart questions with the intention of gleaning key insights into not only the issues that may require immediate representation, but also overall knowledge about the individual or business that could help the firm's attorneys advise strategically in the future. The client benefits from sales professionals who employ a wide lens of the firm to understand the issue at hand, the ease with which an introduction to the atto rney who will best suit the client's style preferences is made, and the promise that the utmost focus on client service and the unique needs of that client are consistently met. Remaining an accessible point of contact throughout the engagement, the legal sales professional seeks to make sure the client remains satisfied with the level of service they receive and aims to ensure the client forms a lasting relationship with the firm.

How are Legal Sales Professionals Driving Revenue?

Legal sales professionals carefully track their pipelines detailing the firm's key clients as well as prospective clients, and benefit from a structure in which they have time to foster relationships with those individuals without additional billable hour requirements. They dedicate their efforts to listening intently to the client's overarching business issues, dig into "what keeps them up at night," and have a keen eye for opportunities to promote other practices within the firm that may not be on the client's radar until they are in trouble. This proactive relationship-building promotes trust in the firm's capabilities, and in delivering on the firm's promise that the client's needs are paramount.

Large firms tend to deploy legal sales professionals across industry sectors, rather than geographically based upon office locations. This allows the professionals to truly understand a specific industry and the needs and struggles of that particular type of work. Often, these professionals come from a traditional sales background, and tote portable networks of trusted clients. Am Law firms have seen much success including legal sales professionals in both network-building and in-person pitch initiatives, pulling on the sales prowess of the executive to help the pitch team prepare, and then lending a wide-lens overview for the firms during the in-person meetings. Building sales teams to fit the size and growth potential of larger firms is often best-suited for a marketing operations role; these revenue generators and enablers should work in tandem with the robust marketing and business development functions that already exist within the firm.

In midsize firms, legal sales professionals often have success driving new business to the firm by increasing involvement in prominent community business associations and fostering relationships through entrepreneurial communities. Their success with larger, institutional clients often comes from the ability to "resell" the firm's services to clients who may have done work with the firm in the past, but for one reason or another, have pulled back on the amount of work they are sending. These professionals spend time digging into firm data on "aging" client matters, hoping to start productive conversations with former clients who may simply desire a new approach to budgeting, a new relationship attorney, or an explanation of other services the firm can provide. Midsize firms are large enough to utilize sophisticated infrastructure, but typically retain a "small firm" culture that allows law firms to target and deliver on client service standards.

Small firms are often the most adept and willing to bring their legal sales professional into the fold, based mostly upon the tendency toward more transparency between firm management and business executive roles; having a true seat at the table, access to pertinent financial reports from which to glean opportunities to grow business, and a close-knit culture all translate to efficient and effective sales professionals. Several small or boutique firms in major metropolitan areas have seen great return on investment from implementing these roles by having honest conversations with clients and prospects about the role's value. As small firms run nimbly on lean resources, it is valuable to have a sales professional as the point-person for relationship management. Clients of small firms note that the comfort they draw from knowing the sales professional will always be available to answer their call, even if they need to do some further digging to find the answer the client needs, adds immense value to their relationship with the firm.

A Holistic Approach to Onboarding

Often, transitioning an existing business development professional who has had hands-on experience working in a coaching capacity with attorneys is a strategic move. It is important to stress that there are two networks for a client-facing professional to form trusting relationships with and understand fully: the attorneys at the firm, and the clients and prospects of the firm. An innate understanding of the differing personalities, communication styles, workload flow, details of the firm's practices and what makes each attorney uniquely suited to best serve their clients is what allows a skilled sales professional to connect the dots with a firm client or prospect. Newly-minted legal sales professionals often begin their journey to a client-facing role via involvement in conducting client feedback interviews, networking alongside attorneys of the firm, or coaching attorneys to gather more executive presence and true understanding of how to intelligently speak to the firm's offerings.

It is far more complicated to onboard a lateral legal sales professional without an adequate "listening tour" period at the onset; rushing this part of the process is likely to beget poor results. It is advisable to set a strategic planning session with new sales professionals to ensure that they have access to the right decision makers within the firm, as well as to financial reports which help them to understand workflow, realization rates, key client teams, aging client reports, and other competitive intelligence that focuses on opportunities for growth.

Legal sales professionals are successfully acting as both revenue enablers to complement attorneys' business development efforts and revenue generators in defining otherwise missed opportunities. The value a legal sales professional adds to their law firm's bottom line is becoming increasingly apparent, adding efficiency to the firm's business model and elevating the voice of the client, which sets firms apart from the competition.

Jenna Schiappacasse is a member of the Legal Marketing Association's Advocacy Advisory Council, president of LMA's Mid-Atlantic ­Regional Board of Directors, and the director of client development for ­Rosenberg Martin Greenberg. She can be reached at [email protected].