Recently, I asked super rainmaker John Yates, partner in charge of the technology practice with Morris, Manning and Martin in Atlanta how the economy has changed his marketing efforts and how it has affected his focus and activities. This is what he told me--in his own words. (You can also watch a video excerpt of John's comments here.)

YATES: The economy has impacted us in several ways. First, it has caused us to be far more selective in where we spend our marketing dollars. What organizations are we going to participate in? Where are we going to spend our time and energy? We really have taken a look at marketing opportunities and said, “We can’t do everything; what will be most impactful.”

There are direct business development benefits from looking very closely at where we spend our marketing dollars. Most importantly, that has helped us to improve our ability to target the right business development opportunities.

Second, it has created an impetus on our part to develop efficiency tools. How can we be more efficient in delivering our services? That involves things like legal project management. It means sitting down and working with our colleagues on understanding budgets…understanding the whole billing process, making sure that the bill shows value add and that there’s a benefit to the client. The idea of sending a one sentence bill “for services rendered” wasn’t a good idea to begin with and certainly in the current environment it doesn’t work well.

In the business development arena, it’s important to be able to explain to a client that you are careful about their resources, that you are a good steward of their cash, and that you can also provide a unique value add. In the current economy, we also spend more time understanding our clients’ overall business needs. When we sign up a new client, we do a legal review of their current situation, and we try to understand their top legal and business priorities.

For example, their highest priority may be to find a qualified outside board member. If we can help them find an outside director, at no charge, that may be the highest and best use of our time. We can drive value to them by providing them with a board member -- somebody that may be a key player on their team. We may also be able to introduce them to a key prospect or strategic partner. These are actions we can take in the current environment that don’t cost them a nickel, but will begin to develop a closer affinity between our law firm and our clients.

How has the economy changed what you or your firm is doing?

Until next time,

Robin