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How do you know when you are winning? If you dont know, you are probaly losing. When I talk about controlling an opportunity, I don't mean with an iron fist or the hard sell. I am referring to establishing a process with a prospective client by which you stay in alignment with them. Your time and service is of value. If they dont treat you like it is, is this an opportunity worth winning? When negotiating your rate, either fixed or hourly, when do you establish that? At the negotiating table after you have taken them to lunches. Gotten them everything they need when they say they need it at the last minute. Or have you maintained a level of eye contact with them through a process. At points in larger deals, with various people involved, we discuss establishing a mutually agreed upon plan. By the end of the execution of that plan, the idea is that you have learned their issues, addressed them, agreed at some level of rate, and they have seen the value in doing business with you. They will only do this with one firm, and it is a key to qualifying. We discuss how this fits into every opportunity from small to large. Chances are someone from the clients side is doing an ROI on legal services. Controlling the opportunity involves helping them establish success metrics based on the value that they see and that your both agree to. These success metrics are the basis for your meetings, after they have engaged your services. They are a gold mine for additional business and a red flag to alert you to issues before they become problems. I spend about an hour, interactively working with attorneys helping them identify ways they can see mutually measuring a client engagement. We identify granular elements of a business that as a firm you can control through implementation. |
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