Markn Bolton - APMSA McLoughlinBall Leadership Program Winner

In December last year at the APSMA Christmas party I received the exciting news that I was the winner of the APMSA McLoughlinBall Leadership Program for 2010. I had applied for the program wanting to develop my current role as Business Development Adviser for TressCox Lawyers.

My biggest challenge is going beyond marketing/comms support to actually being able to provide useful advice on business development. In winning the program I have the benefit of 6 months personal business coaching with Anne Gately, General Manager - Executive Performance, Australian Institute of Management (www.aim.com.au).

APSMA and Gina McLoughlin from McLoughlinBall (www.McLoughlinBall.com.au) have asked me to provide updates on the training and share any insights I pick up along the way. This is the first of such.

Step 1: get to know the clients
Anne’s first suggestion is to get to know the clients inside out. The following are questions you should be able to instantly answer:

i)Who are the top clients? (think 80/20 rule, so start by focusing on the important clients)
ii) What is the scope of their business?
iii) What do they need legal services for?
iv) What’s happening in their industry?
v) What legal work does the firm do for them?
vi) What are their buying patterns?
vii) Who is the buyer within the client (who is the person who chooses to use the firm)?
viii) What is the client’s relationship and history with the firm?
ix) Who else does work for them?
x) What is the firm’s competitive situation (why do they use the firm over other firms)?
xi) What opportunities are there for more work?

For the next 6 months I’ll do my best to hopefully take you on the journey from marketing/comms support to business development adviser. And if any of you have any comments or feedback, please send them my way – Mark_Bolton@tresscox.com.au.

I will also include any readings Anne suggests. For starters, Anne recommends checking out www.davidmaister.com

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