#228: The Business Development Progress You Aren’t Counting (But Should Be)

[00:00:56] Hello there. Welcome to Life & Law. This is your host, Heather Moulder. And today we’re going to get into the progress you probably aren’t counting from a BD perspective, but should be. And I see this all the time. I’ll hear this:

“Heather. I’m just making no progress”, and it’s absolutely not correct. And we have to go through like, wait a second, what do you mean you’ve made no progress? Here’s what I’m hearing. You’re saying you’ve gotten, here’s what you’ve done. Here are the results of that. And it’s like, oh, yeah, you’re right. The second thing is, well, I haven’t brought any new clients. No new clients have come my way in the last six months or my revenues haven’t actually increased. It’s a total failure. That’s just wrong. And here’s why.

Business Development Progress: What It Really Is

[00:01:40] We often have a too-narrow definition of progress, especially when it comes to our business development progress. But I would actually pause it. This is the same thing for almost any goal. If you’re trying to lose weight or get in better shape or eat better, you don’t see the big results until much later. Right? The weight loss or weight gain. If we’re trying to gain muscle, the new muscle definition, I mean, all of that takes time.

We Measure the Big Goal (Increase in Clients, Revenue, Billing/Managing/Origination Credits)

And we tend to see when it comes to BD or try to measure because these are usually our big-time goals, our bigger vision and plan:

X number of new clients, increase in originations, revenue, and billing attorney/managing attorney numbers (depends on the firm that you’re in as to what matters). You know, how much business you brought in, where you’re actually getting credit for it.

That’s ultimately the goal.

These Are Lagging Indicators (You’re Missing What’s Going On Before That)

But that’s not the only thing that needs to be measured along the way because these are lagging indicators. It’s the end result, not the journey. And if you’re only measuring the end result, you’re going to get demotivated. You’re going to feel like you’re not getting much, if anything, out of what you’re doing. And you’re likely to quit before you ever get there or give up before you ever get there.

The other thing I would note, and I see this a lot, it takes you too long to see that you’re in trouble if you’re not measuring the right results. I cannot tell you how often I. And I’m really upset when this happens or people will reach out to me. And I. This, this happened several times last year. Heather, I totally need you, and I’ve got to hire you. And I’m in dire straits. And they absolutely, absolutely can’t afford to hire anyone because they’re in the red and there’s just zero money there. And I get that, you know, and I. Unfortunately, I can’t work for free.

[00:03:34] I have to make a living, too. Now in every situation, I try to meet with them at least once and give them, you know, get some good ideas about what’s going on and give them some feedback about where I think they could make the biggest progress. And then hopefully they can. And they can come back to me in a couple of months or in a year or whatever it takes to then work with me if they still want and need it. But I don’t want you to get into these dire straits.

When You Don’t Look At The Initial Indicators, You Miss Important Data (& Make Incorrect Assumptions)

And we do get into these dire straits if we’re looking at the wrong things because we make assumptions that are just incorrect. The other thing I see a lot, and I see this in new clients who have been trying to do things on their own and thinking they’re just completely inept now. Yes, I help them with a better strategy. I help them be more intentional. I help them figure out what actually to measure, what the KPI should be, and how to measure it. So that’s where I come in, which means quicker growth. Obviously, we know where the course corrections need to be more quickly. And so they don’t waste time on things that might not have been working.

You Don’t See What Is Working (& Give Up Too Soon)

But it’s pretty rare that somebody comes to me who’s been doing business development on their own and nothing has been working. The problem is they all think nothing has been working because they’re not looking at it. And thank goodness they reached out to me, and they get the help they need. But if they don’t understand what I do see, and I see this in people I talk to when I go to events and give workshops and speeches, is people make these assumptions around this isn’t working. It’s never gonna work. It’s not gonna work for me. I’m just bad at this and it’s just not true. And so they get demotivated and they let go and they stop doing much. And that is the quickest way to being only a service partner at the beck and call of others at all times and never having your own business and frankly having a very precarious situation because the vast majority of law firms out there want you to have a book and if you don’t, you can get let go as a partner. I want to get into a little bit of reality here and this is the truth about time lines around how long it really takes. Let me just say this, it’s going to take longer than you think.

[00:05:44] Sometimes my clients see real monetary results in 12 months or less. Sometimes they see it in 18 to 24 months. They always see something within 18 to 24 months. I cannot guarantee they’re going to see big results at any given timeline because there is never a guaranteed timeline.

What I can tell you is results do come if you stay the course and especially come and come more quickly. If you’re strategic, I. E. You understand what you’re doing and why, you know who your target is, you know your niche, you know your strengths, you know who you want as clients and why you want them from a values alignment perspective. And you’re very strategic about what you’re doing to go out and get that work.

You’re disciplined.

[00:06:36] Discipline is about focus. It’s about not getting pulled off course by the bright shiny objects. It’s not, you know, not getting convinced by others that you need to do all the things. Be disciplined and stick to your plan. And it’s about just consistency over time – 6, 8, 12, 15, 18 months, 2 years, you will get results. Always.

What I see is that the strategy is often not the real problem. It’s the non-measurement of the right things and then thinking it’s not really working and stopping too soon. And of course, there’s no guaranteed timeline.

[00:07:18] The clients that see real monetary results in 12 months or less, I’m just going to say, those are the ones who come to me who’ve already been doing things.

They have a basic understanding of business development. They’ve already created a brand around themselves. People trust them and they just need somebody to help them really uplevel what they’re doing in a very strategic way. They see very quick results. The folks that takes 18 to 24 months, those are the folks who come to me and have not. They’ve been flailing; they’ve been doing virtually nothing or very little. They haven’t been doing the right things at all. Like they’ve been trying to copycat what everybody else is doing as opposed to figuring out, okay, what’s aligned to my personality, to my values, you know, what practice do I actually want to build? They’re not as intentional. And so we have to get in there and do all that work first. So it takes more time. And then we have to create, you know, the brand we have to market. We’ve got to let people know about you. And that takes time, y’all. I’m not going to cherry coat this, but again, I will say if you’re doing these things and you’re disciplined and consistent, even if not, great strategies create results.

[00:08:27] You add in the real strategy, the right things for you, your practice, the practice you want to build your strengths, your personality, and you’re consistent. You will see results. Can’t promise the timing because again, different markets are different.

There are circumstances out of our control, such as economic factors. I mean, you know, maybe you’re not at the right firm and you need to move. I mean, there are a lot of things that come into play, but you will see results.

How This Shows Up In Real Life: Examples of Attorneys Not Measuring The Right Things

[00:08:54] So let me give you a couple of examples around how this has shown up.

Example 1: Didn’t Take Enough Action, Very Little Got Done (Wrong!)

One, I’ve made no progress. I didn’t even network as much as I wanted. The holidays slowed everything down. This is something a client said to me recently.

[00:09:08] And yet when we went item by item through what had occurred over the past just three-week period, he’d had lunch with a couple of people. One contact had told him about a new networking group, which was really a great fit that was new to the area. He was joining that group and discovered a national chapter with a robust network but no local presence. So this group has lots of non-lawyer potential clients and referral sources in it, and very few lawyers in it. So he’s in on the ground floor, and this is a real opportunity. He had several upcoming meetings scheduled with potential referral source,s and he found out about an upcoming conference and is already asking new client connections to help make introductions there.

So he didn’t just have one lunch, he expanded his network. He discovered a high-potential opportunity, was working to position himself as a leader in a new group, and was building a pipeline for future meetings and introductions. That is not “no progress”, that’s significant progress.

Example 2: Discounting Networking Progress & Growth Potential from New Clients

[00:10:05] Example Number two, I’ve been networking like crazy for almost a year. I’ve brought in a few clients, but none of them have actually led to a lot of work. It’s little things. I feel like I’m spinning my wheels. But what this client was not counting was the new client growth potential. Several of those new clients are going to grow. It does take time. She needs patience.

Some of these small clients are likely to become bigger clients, but that’s not immediate.

[00:10:33] The other thing that this client wasn’t taking into account was the network transformation that had happened. When we first started working together, this client’s network was really limited. It’s now much more robust. More referral sources, more organizations that she’s a member of, more potential clients that she knows. She’s starting to see increased interest in sending her work as a result.

That’s a key indicator. You’ve got to have that before you actually get the work.

And there was real pipeline building. She’s now in conversations with new organizations about pitching for their business. That didn’t exist a year ago. It exists now because of her consistent effort.

The reality is this client’s not spinning her wheels. She’s building a foundation, a strong one. A year ago, she didn’t have the network, the relationships, or the pipeline she has now. The revenue will follow only if she keeps going.

Lesson: Don’t Forget Where You Started

[00:11:27] So the lesson from both of these clients? Don’t forget where you started.

When you’re in the middle of it, it’s really easy to forget how far you’ve come. That first client had nothing when they came to me, and frankly is very introverted and hardly networked internally or externally. Now they’re networking internally in a very purposeful manner and also externally. And the external networking has gotten easier. Well, that all has to come first, y’all, to build the relationships, to bring in the work. Meet yourself where you are. Never forget where you actually started.

What Real Progress Looks Like Before Numbers Increase

[00:12:04] So let’s talk about what progress looks like. Before the revenue, before the new clients, before you see the numbers, there are leading indicators, activities and outcomes that precede those numbers.

Expanded Relationships

[00:12:19] So, number one, new relationships.

Relationship building is important. That’s a lot of what BD is. New connections made, existing relationships deepened, referral sources cultivated, new mentors, new sponsors within your law firm, new champions that are identified to help you make partner or help make an argument for you to be a part of a really important team. Those are all really important, and you need to pay attention to them because they lead to other things.

An Expanding, More Diverse Network

[00:12:48] The second thing is network expansion. And yes, this is a part of your relationship building. But you need to look at it a little bit differently.

So relationship building is about individual connections and relationships and deepening them and going, you know, broadening some of them. Network expansion is about the size and quality of your network.

How diverse is your network? Is it lawyers only? Is it with potential clients, referral sources, or adjacent professionals who might be able to introduce you to people?

How much access do you have to organizations, groups, and new circles that could be beneficial to your business development or your professional development?

That is what network expansion is. So you have to look at your networking in two ways: the relationship-building piece and also the bigger-picture networking piece. What does that network look like for you? Where are you starting from? Where do you want to go? Where are you now?

Internal & External Positioning

[00:13:48] The third thing is your visibility and positioning, and that’s both internally and externally. So this is about, you know, what are you doing for marketing to create your brand?

Are you speaking? Are you writing articles? Are you on LinkedIn? Are you getting on panels? Are you being interviewed on podcasts? This is about being known in a particular niche or space. You’ve got to be known. So what are you doing for visibility and positioning?

Pipeline Development

[00:14:15] The next is pipeline development. And this goes hand in hand with your relationship building and network expansion. But it’s a new level as you deepen your relationships, as you expand your networks. You need to start developing a pipeline.

Actual meetings scheduled with referral sources where you ask for those referrals. This is about making the ask. How often are you making the ask? Who are you making the ask with? What are you learning? Who else could you be introduced to that would get you what you need? Conversations with actual prospective clients.

 What’s the next step to make that ask? Actual pitches that you are getting or veteran progress? What are the follow-ups on these things?

That’s your pipeline. So you’ve got to measure. What are you doing there? What’s your input, and what’s the output that you’re getting from it?

Personal Skills & Confidence

[00:15:07] And then also there’s a skills and confidence level. So getting more comfortable with outreach and follow-up, being better at asking for referrals or introductions, being more confident in your networking conversations, and making the ask. How often are you actually making it? How do you feel about it? What’s your confidence that you will progress in these areas?

You need to be paying attention to these things because when you measure these and you see where you are, you’re then more likely to build more into your plan, which means you’re doing more of these things. These are the things that get you the numbers you actually want.

How To Effectively Measure Your Business Development Progress: Knowing Your ROI

[00:15:49] Okay, so now you know what progress looks like. How do you ensure you’re measuring it correctly? So here’s a practical framework for tracking your BD progress beyond the numbers. And I mean like revenue numbers, new client numbers, and this is going to include that, but it goes beyond that.

Activity Metrics

[00:16:13] So number one are inputs, activity metrics. What are you actually doing?

So how many emails are you sending? What are calls? What are the LinkedIn messages? Like, what are your outreach attempts? Okay, who with? How often? That includes follow-up. How many events are you actually attending? And that’s networking events, that’s conferences, that’s coffee, lunches, other meetings, whatever it is.

[00:16:42] And then what does your marketing look like? What’s the input on your marketing? Content published or shared. So whether it’s LinkedIn writing, article writing, speaking, podcasting something, you’re doing something from a marketing perspective. So we always start there, right? This is your plan. These are the things to do. The networking things you have on your list and the marketing things you have on your list.

So that’s where we start.

Relationship Metrics

[00:17:10] And then as you start to do that, you start to measure other things. So you’ve got to measure your outputs from your relationships. I call these relationship metrics. So how many new connections are being made at these events?

How many existing, how are you deepening these relationships? Moving somebody from acquaintance to friend or a deeper relationship?

How many referral sources do you have for real? Like, you identify people who could be potential referral sources. Who have you identified as a real referral source? Who said, yeah, I’m going to start referring you business. You’ve got to start paying attention to not just the follow-up and the meeting, but the real conversations you’re having, and how do you move that forward? That’s where these come into play. What’s that next step?

How do you get to the next step where you can get closer, where you can deepen the relationship, where you can make the actual ask you want to make? Because we don’t typically make the ask when we first meet someone.

[00:18:11] Or when we are re-engaging with somebody we haven’t talked to in a long time. We’re deepening a relationship so that we can make the ask, but you need to be strategic about that. How that goes so you can get to the point more quickly where you can make the ask. And I’ve talked about this before, but the best thing to do when you’re networking, number one, be super strategic. Write things down, keep track of how Often you’re following up, but also what the gist of the conversation was so that you have something very specific to follow up. The whole goal when you’re conversing with people, whether in person, on the phone, online, you know, in an email, is to move the relationship forward and have a reason to reach out again. It’s just to keep it, keep it going.

[00:18:54] What are you learning? Take notes. It makes this easier when you reach out. Oh, hey, last time we spoke, you mentioned you were in the middle of X. How did that go?

The other thing I would say, and I’ve mentioned this before, and I’m going to put these podcast episodes that I’m mentioning here because I go in depth into these things elsewhere.

[00:19:14] You always, always, always want to ensure you’re talking business when you’re out networking with people for business. Do not keep it in the personal zone, okay? You’ve got to have good questions. You’ve got to be unafraid of thinking of them as whole people where you need to talk. Not just personal stuff, but business, business challenges, business goals, what they’re looking at, what’s going on in the industry, that type of thing.

So those are your relationship metrics.

Sales/Pitch Momentum

[00:19:41] And then you want to look at your momentum.

So how many pitches are you actually getting? How many proposals are you getting, opportunities to send? How many conversations are you having about actual work? Even if they don’t happen, you’ve got to start tracking those things and learning from the ones that don’t and asking the follow-up questions. If you don’t measure this correctly, a lot of people ignore it. I didn’t get it. Okay, so why? Get real, get honest, reach back out, find out who did get it, find out why.

[00:20:16] There’s a lot to be learned there. You can improve, but you won’t if you don’t ask those questions. That’s part of the pitch metrics. How often are you doing these things, and then when you don’t get them, following up to figure out, okay, who did you choose and why? Where were we lacking? What was a gap? What, what made you consider us? What made you not pick us?

Positioning Metrics

[00:20:36] The next one is a positioning metric. So this is really when you start to do your initial marketing, speaking, writing.

Oftentimes, you’re guessing, but as you start to do those things, you start to learn more about the groups, about the publications, about the topics. You get more information and feedback.

 You want to ensure you’re paying attention to the feedback you get. Maybe you’re not writing quite about the right thing or speaking about the right thing and having a conversation with somebody about an article you wrote, or maybe it’s a client conversation or a potential client conversation that gives you a new idea about something else to write.

Maybe a conversation with somebody at a conference where you were on a panel sparks a new idea about a better topic that you could write about or talk about.

[00:21:29] Pay attention to those things and start taking notes on those. That’s real feedback and great information from a marketing perspective that gives you more opportunities and positions you. This is a positioning issue. Are you positioning yourself the best way possible to build the practice you ultimately want?

Usually, at first it’s no, but you’ve got to get started somewhere. And then you learn that information so that you can get better and better at it.

[00:21:57] And then you’re speaking more directly to the people you want to be speaking to in a way that is compelling to them and makes them want to listen and then makes them think, oh my gosh, this is the person I need to reach out to them. The next one is obvious.

Client/Revenue Growth Metrics

This is the one that we all tend to measure growth metrics. New clients, new matters from existing clients. That’s an area, though, sometimes people don’t do. Like I had a conversation with a client very recently where we went over her 2025 numbers, and she doubled her managing client and billables.

[00:22:35] Like for. Not billables for her billables, but what they count. It’s really more like what I would have called an originations number. The amount collected from work billed for a client that was wholly hers was doubled. But she had felt like she hadn’t done enough because she didn’t bring in enough new clients. She brought in a couple, but they hadn’t really panned out to big things yet.

Okay, don’t ignore that. That’s a big deal. Because guess what?

[00:23:03] We can grow from current clients. That’s one of the best places to get started.

So this is number of clients, number of new matters from existing clients that might not have existed had you not had a conversation with them or introduced them to someone else in the firm who does a certain type of work that you don’t do. Revenue from new sources and revenue growth from existing sources.

[00:23:27] Those are your obvious growth metrics.

Intangible Metrics

And then, finally, last but not least, intangible metrics. Do not underestimate these and pay attention because most of us aren’t very confident at the beginning in our business development conversations.

[00:23:42] Most of us are not very comfortable with our outreach, and our follow-up. Many of us don’t even have clarity on who our ideal client is or possible referral sources. Could be at the very beginning stages.

And usually we’re starting with a reputation internally, but not so much externally or not enough and not enough visibility. So those are all the intangibles.

How has your confidence increased? How much more comfortable are you becoming with your networking and BD activities? How much more clarity do you have on on the practice that you’re building and who to reach out to and what conferences to attend and where to write and what to write about or where to speak and what to speak about?

How much has your reputation and visibility started to increase because you’re doing the things?

[00:24:29] These are important numbers, and the reason for that is because they’re real. They’re necessary upfront to keep doing the work, to stay consistent and disciplined by the way, and not lose motivation. But also, they impact how you show up. And the better you get here, the better you show up. And when you measure these things and you’re real about them, you build your confidence. You feel more comfortable, so you show up better.

Track all of it, not just the monetary numbers that you’re trying to get to.

These leading indicators are going to tell you whether you’re on the right path long before the revenue shows up. And they’re going to tell you where to make course corrections along the way.

All right, I hope this helped everybody out there to rethink how they measure their business development progress. We will be back next week. Bye for now.