Complete Communicator: Cross-selling made easy for lawyers

By Jay Sullivan

As everyone returns from summer vacations and refocuses on work, there’s usually a renewed energy put toward business development. Particularly in Q4, firms look to develop a strategic plan for the next year. Most firms grow revenue on two tracks: developing new client relationships, and seeking more business from existing clients.

Developing new relationships remains important, but the payoff is usually months or years down the road. Existing clients, on the other hand, already know your expertise and know that you are familiar with their business. So the potential to deepen an existing relationship tends to result in more business faster.

However, any individual attorney at your firm may feel they are already maximizing the amount of business they are likely to get from a client in the area of the law that attorney practices. If that’s the case, the only way to grow the relationship is to cross-sell the services of attorneys in other practice areas of your firm.

The compensation structure often causes cross-selling failures

Most firms do a poor job of cross-selling multiple practice areas to the same client. It’s often a result of the firm’s compensation structure or culture. If your firm’s comp structure doesn’t create financial incentives for partners to bring in their colleagues to work on a client’s issues, your firm is losing out on tremendous revenue potential. Likewise, if the firm’s culture is one where partners hoard business and client relationships, partners are unlikely to leverage the expertise of their peers. Usually, the compensation structure is what creates a culture that promotes cross-selling or hinders it.

Let’s assume your firm’s comp structure promotes cross-selling. Many attorneys would gladly bring their partners into their client relationships but aren’t sure how. Some attorneys think they need to know a great deal about what all of their peers are doing and working on in order to appropriately introduce them to a client.  They are afraid they won’t know what to say about their firm’s work in other areas.  Don’t overthink it. To introduce your firm’s capabilities in other areas doesn’t require a lot of knowledge; it just requires the willingness to do so. It’s not about what you have to say. It’s about knowing how to listen.

To cross-sell effectively, you only need to know two things:

1. I trust my colleagues’ quality of work and client management skills.
2. I know what buzzwords to hear in a client meeting to know when to suggest an introduction.

Let’s say you’re a tax partner and you’re meeting with Mary, the GC at your long-time client Acme, a manufacturing company. You’ve built a great relationship with Acme and talk to Mary at least once a month. In the course of a conversation about tax issues, Mary mentions Acme is looking at expanding operations into another state. To service their tax needs, you ask about Acme’s plan for building additional facilities, how many additional employees they plan to add, and what compliance issues they might face in this new state.

Mary’s answers should immediately trigger the thought that Acme might need real estate, employment, and regulatory work, in addition to tax work. You know and admire your real estate partner Louise, your employment law partner Sam, and your reg partner Chris. You don’t have to know their latest deals, their current workload, or whether they have a sub-specialty that applies to what Acme may need. You just need to know that they practice in that area and that you trust them.

And you don’t need to go for a hard sell, or to pitch everyone. All you need to do is say, “Since you’re looking at adding factory space, if it’s helpful, I’d be glad to set up a quick call with my real estate partner, Louise. She’s really terrific and easy to work with.” If Mary doesn’t bite, you can, in a follow-up conversation, pitch Sam or Chris. Don’t suggest an in-person meeting with the whole team. It sounds like you’re asking the client to commit to turning over all this work to your firm. Offer something that it is easy for them to say “yes” to. Just suggest a “quick call.”

Do not fear being out of your depth with clients

Many attorneys hesitate to venture outside of their professional lane out of  concerns that the client might ask them questions they can’t answer. Let go of that anxiety. The client will appreciate that you’re offering additional resources. They know you’re a tax lawyer and are unlikely to pepper you with questions about real estate law. They may ask you questions about Louise, but they’re not looking for you to provide a list of her deals or details of her expertise. They’re just trying to find out if you think she’s competent.

How can you increase your comfort level with your partners’ credibility and understanding of their expertise?

Many firms circulate a monthly newsletter about new clients the firm has brought on, the deals the firm has closed, and new cases it has won. That’s great. It gives you added insight. But it doesn’t help build the kind of trust and comfort among colleagues necessary to promote cross-selling.

At each monthly partner meeting, have a few people from different departments share what they are working on. Keep it brief – just two or three minutes each. Then, to take it to the next level, have each of those partners share what buzzwords others should listen for that would suggest a need that partner can meet. For example, if I’m a real estate attorney, I might share some of the transactions I’ve worked on, and then say, “If you are talking to a client who says they are downsizing, they may be trying to get out of their leases or find new space. I can help them.” If I’m a regulatory attorney, after giving my brief update on recent cases,  I would add, “If you hear a client say they are considering expanding operations into a new state, ask if they need help navigating compliance issues there.”

Lend an ear

We’re all busy and focused on getting our own work done. It’s helpful to be reminded what our colleagues have to offer and how best to listen for those opportunities. You built your own business with your client because you heard them express a need you knew you could meet. Now, cross-sell the work of your peers by learning to listen for more opportunities that they can address. Doing so deepens your own relationship with the client, builds greater trust among your partners, and grows the pie for everyone.

 

Jay Sullivan is a former practicing attorney and the former managing partner at Exec/Comm, LLC, a communications consulting firm. He is the author of “The New Nimble: Leading in the Age of Change,” “Simply Said: Communicating Better at Work & Beyond,” and “Raising Gentle Men: Lives at the Orphanage Edge.” He can be reached at [email protected] or https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaysullivan62/.