Business Development For Law Firms
Expert training to help you attract prospective clients and drive your firm's growth.
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Want to grow your law firm's revenue but unsure how best to deploy time and money?
Are you unsure what works well and how to improve your law firm's business development?
Does it feel like only a few of you bring in most of the fees?
If you want to improve your law firm business development, you've come to the right place. I'm Joanna Gaudoin, Managing Director of Inside Out Image, and I have worked with thousands of lawyers. I offer tailored training to help improve business development for law firms, which is a cost-effective way of ensuring that your legal business accelerates growth.
Would you like to explore how I can help?
Yes, we want to increase revenue but currently do very limited business development.
Yes, we want to grow revenue and improve our business development.
Why does business development matter?
For a firm to grow, all lawyers must actively contribute to business development and bring clients in. However, too often, they lack the essential business development skills that are the foundation of a firm's growth.
In small and mid-size law firms, these skills are essential. Successful law firms have the right business development foundations so that your lawyers earn fees AND find new client opportunities.
Many lawyers lack the skills to help their firm grow; however, they can improve their business development performance with the right training. Once shown these skills and encouraged to practice them, your lawyers can actively contribute to finding, nurturing, and bringing more new clients.
I know lawyers - I have worked with thousands of them
"Joanna is a regular facilitator at our law firm and for good reason! She is well-liked by all our course participants and has a very personable delivery style that puts you at ease and really able to engage with the content. She has a wide range of courses and is an expert in all of them. We love working with Joanna and look forward to many more exciting sessions with her in the future!"
- Lauren Labuschagne, Forsters LLP
"I was helping to co-ordinate a team day with one of the global practice groups in Ashurst and been tasked with how to make networking work for a global team. On speaking with my colleague, who had attended a session of Joanna's at the Learning In Law conference, she recommended I reach out to Joanna to discuss with her further my requirements for this global team day event. The purpose of the networking event was to gain insights, advice and hints and tips that can be used straight away to increase global collaboration, team working and greater working practices to support this practice group. I worked closely with Joanna to describe the brief, connected her with some key stakeholders in the practice group so she could adapt her session to reflect the best for them. The session was delivered remotely and was received very well. The participants were able to take some great advice and practical hints and tips away and use them instantly. It was a pleasure working with Joanna on this and I'm very appreciative of the help and support she has provided in making this happen at the team day event."
- Jason Honeyman, Ashurst
Why work with me
With a crucial outside perspective honed through my corporate experience, I specialize in building solid business development foundations and culture within law firms. I excel at helping lawyers who may struggle with "non-technical" skills, understanding their hesitation towards tasks outside their formal training.
My approach is practical and action-focused. I guide lawyers to recognize that business development skills are just as vital to their careers as technical legal expertise. By bridging this gap, I let them see how these skills contribute to their overall success and growth as professionals.
The Business Development Accelerator - how it works
Lawyers often struggle to integrate business development into their daily working lives. They need to be shown how to set up and run a staged, sustainable approach to business development that maximises opportunities.
This service is focused on firms who currently feel business development isn’t widely happening, with a clear focus and plan.
I make this happen with law firms across three phases:
Phase 1: Assessment
This in-depth assessment analyses how strong your foundations for effective business development are, identifying key weaknesses and a plan of action to improve them.
I will:
spend time with your key team members to understand how strong your law firm’s business development currently is, critically looking at all the key interacting elements;
analyse the results of my findings, determining how strong your business development foundations are and what needs to be done to strengthen them;
prepare and deliver a report detailing what’s working well, your key gaps, and how to remedy those through quick wins and longer-term action and development.
The assessment includes understanding your law firm's current level of business development skills and the processes and culture that support results-driven business development.
Throughout the assessment process, I will remain in contact with you so you know how the assessment is progressing. This partnership approach means you'll reach the report stage with a good understanding of what to expect and where that has come from.
This phase of work provides you with clarity, priorities and focus to grow your firm’s revenue.
Phase 2: Foundations and Skills
Phase 2 addresses your gaps to make improvements. I will work with you on the key actions, delivering tailored solutions that fit your firm and ensuring they get adequately embedded into it.
This phase focuses on establishing the right foundations and ensuring your lawyers understand their role in business development, what they need to do, and how, alongside doing chargeable work.
Fundamentally, business development for law firms has the right foundations, people equipped with the skills they need and is seamlessly integrated, so it becomes business as usual.
Phase 3: Maintaining Momentum
Phase 3 is maintaining momentum. You have invested so much into strengthening your business development processes and culture that you now need to keep it going.
I will help you maintain this momentum through regular accountability and planned ‘top-up’ training to ensure the existing team and new joiners have the necessary skills.
The specifics of these phases vary from firm to firm, as each law firm is likely to be at a different stage and have different strengths and gaps from other firms.
It is vital that momentum is maintained through further training and progress review.
Take this quick self-assessment
It can be hard to know where to start with business development. If you'd like to understand what you need to focus on to get started, take 5 minutes to complete my Successful Business Development Indicator. You'll receive personalised guidance in a short report.
Completing the indicator will also mean you will receive my 6 weekly Professional Relationships Work newsletter.
Gain immediate clarity on your firm’s revenue growth potential
Helping your law firm improve its existing business development plan and activities
Does your law firm have established business development practices but still struggle to achieve the revenue growth you need? Is there a limited number of lawyers who are proactively developing business with existing clients, new clients, and intermediaries?
I have extensive experience helping UK law firms develop and refine their business development skills, which helps lawyers feel confident about carrying out business development activities and getting results.
I will work with you to understand where the gaps exist, including motivating lawyers to participate in business development and ensuring they have the skills they need. Contact me today to discuss where your firm currently is and where it wants to go.