Law firms talk a lot about business development, or biz dev. These discussions often give special emphasis to new client generation. To support this, law firms encourage attorneys to promote themselves, to get out and to network. As we noted in the previous lesson, this is all valuable, but insufficient. As we saw in that lesson, for new client generation you also need a differentiator, and the one which matters is how you do the work.

Oddly, some firms put less emphasis on generation of repeat business than on getting new clients. Sure, landing a new client feels newsworthy and exciting, but repeat business is the road to sustainability. To underestimate the value of repeat business is to lose sight of the fact it's still just about getting new assignments. The difference is that repeat business is the easiest form of marketing, way easier than getting new clients. Your pitch for job 2 is how you do job 1. It's yours to lose.

Let's get into this a little. To land an assignment from a new client, you first have to meet them, then get their attention and then, if you follow the lean law method, identify their problems and offer to solve them.