Case Study
Five: Sales Skills for a Single Office Law Firm
| " I’ve
used Pennington Hennessy for business development
in both my last firm and this one. They quickly
adapt to the different cultures within a firm,
and provides training that enables the delegates
to own their outcomes, which leads to increased
confidence and greater success."
Head of Training and Professional Development |
Background
This London firm has approximately 80 lawyers and an
ambitious growth strategy to grow from £20-£30Million.
The appointment of a new Director of Business Development
highlighted that this strong desire for sales was not
matched by the skill base. A few partners were bringing
in the majority of the business, and the aspiring partners
were bringing in almost none. An external sales provider
had been brought in to run sales training for partners,
but the cultural fit had been poor and the sessions
were abandoned half way through. The arrival of a new
head of training and professional development gave the
firm the opportunity to get it right second time.
Opportunity
To get partners and assistants selling more, so that
they in turn will provide an example for the others.
The brief stressed the need to work alongside the existing
plans and targeting strategy, and to provide “pragmatic,
practical tools plus skills to turn meetings into business”.
Action Taken
The five heads of department were interviewed, and
a day was spent reviewing the existing business development
and sales process. We then discussed the possible ways
of developing the business, and we decided that we would
begin with personal sales coaching for the partners,
starting with the heads of department, plus two separate
days of structured sales training for the 12 most senior
associates; at least 2 from each department.
The partner coaching focused on where the “leaks”
were in their individual sales pipelines. In 3 cases
it was the face-to-face meetings, in one case a lack
of contacts, and in one case an inability to service
existing clients (poor CRM, lack of team involvement).
The Assistant’s training split into day 1 –
maximizing work from existing clients, cross-selling
and strategic networking; day 2 – Structured questioning,
the call model and sales role play. In addition support
was provided for partners following up externally generated
leads.
Results
An ongoing project. The firm is on target for its sales
target, and the Assistants are treating their business
development plans as real working documents. Sales meetings
are increasing. The heads of department valued the personal
attention and support, and are providing the encouragement
for their teams’ sales effort. The next stage
is to work with the newly revamped internal business
development team to build their own sales skills, so
that they can become internal sales coaches.
Next >> Case
Study Six: Developing Business Development Skills in
Potential New Partners |
