What is the Secret to Winning New Business?
Winning new mandates from new and existing clients is paramount for every law firm. The time spent responding to an RFP or working on a pitch document is a serious investment, so it is important to be efficient and effective.
Recommendations
Here are our recommendations on how to produce a winning pitch and save your billable time:
- Never start working on a pitch document that you have already prepared for another potential client. It is easy to overlook names or other information in the document that pertains to another company!
- Develop a pitch document template and set a particular document structure. It should include all relevant basic information about your law firm:
- capacity statement e.g. an explanation of what you can do for the client and what makes your firm right for the job;
- about the firm;
- a short description of the practice area and/or industry;
- fee quotes and pricing policy;
- referential work and legal team (keep it short and to the point)
- Customize the template according to the RFP requirements: delete the items that are not relevant to the particular RFP or add additional information as requested. Try to keep it as short as possible.
- Try to mirror the language from the RFP in the pitch when describing the scope of work.
- Call the client and try to find out as much as you can about their needs and the requested scope of work. Your approach to the matter at hand is your main differentiating factor.
- Focus on benefits for the client, not features.
- Word or PPT? Lawyers prefer working in Word mainly because of “track changes.” A professionally designed document template in Word, using your brand layout and house style, will help you navigate it much faster. PPT is mainly used if you intend to use more visual elements like photos, infographics, and charts. If properly developed, PPT document templates can also be quite user-friendly.
Of course, pitch documents alone are not all it takes to successfully win new client work, but the document can be a great door opener and can pave the way to a face-to-face presentation where you can close the deal.
