June 12-15 in Boston, a couple of hundred nascent law firm sales types (more on that definition in a bit) will gather for the second annual Raindance conference, which bills itself as “the legal service industry's only leadership conference exclusively focused on driving revenue and building client loyalty." [Full disclosure: My company, Sales Results, Inc., is a sponsor of this event.]
The inaugural event last year was populated by a heavy dose of like-minded sales folks who’ve known each other for years within the law firm industry, plus an equal number of other early adopters. It will be interesting to compare this year’s group to last year’s, e.g., size, profile, reason for attending, etc.
Last year we learned that despite the historical revulsion that lawyers have had for “sales,” events have finally forced the law profession to bite the bullet, swallow their bile and accept (kicking and screaming in some cases) that it’s necessary – and not a necessary evil, as some hidebound law firm elders might continue to sniff. Raindance 2004 was populated with adherents to the view that Sales is a core business function for every enterprise worldwide, so why would law firms be an exception?
From the conference, and the year since, it is obvious that how firms approach the whole “sales” thing is as varied as the policy-makers and practitioners who embrace it. Some argue that the lawyers must do all the selling, a position that warms our hearts, since we’re in the business of training lawyers to sell. Others argue that, ultimately, we’ll see a professional sales force in law firms, whether made up of lawyers who no longer practice law or non-lawyer sales professionals. This argument, particularly the non-lawyer part, scares a lot of people, so I guess it has merit if only for creating that welcome effect.
We think that both camps are right, in a hybrid sense. We believe that law firm sales will resemble technology sales, in which a decision process expert who provides the sales credibility teams up with a topic expert who provides the technical credibility.
What do you think?
Mike O’Horo
The Coach
