My good friend Jay Harrington posted some very smart thoughts on how lawyers and the marketers who aid them can be more successful at business development right now that I wanted to share with you.

  1. Put the work in. Stay calm and measured. Be consistent. Trust the process. Instead of setting out to close new business, focus on connecting, creating and communicating.
  2. Maintain your posture as the confident expert who is ready to serve the client on her timetable, not your own. New business, itself, is a lagging indicator – the leading indicator that you should be focused on is having as many high quality and helpful conversations with clients and prospects as possible.
  3. While the number one objective for everyone right now is to bring more revenue in the door, another important form of currency you want to be building is goodwill. Earning goodwill is like an insurance policy that will help ensure that you’re well-positioned on the other side of this. Goodwill is earned by staying close and being helpful.
  4. The downside risk of under-communicating right now is far greater than over-communicating.

You can’t afford to wait if you hope to emerge from this situation stronger on the other side. The sales cycle for legal services is not a short one. If you take the next 30 days off, then expect it to be at least 30 days more once you ramp up business development before any new work starts coming in.