Law School Didn’t Teach You How to Find and Keep Clients, But We Will.

Attorney Training & Coaching

Your practice depends on clients who depend on you. It’s not enough to be a great lawyer. You need the skills to build loyal, meaningful relationships with clients, referral sources, and other people who know, like, and trust you.

Drawing from our experience practicing law and leading law firm marketing departments, Rain BDM consultants work directly with attorneys and practice groups to help them acquire and hone necessary business development skills, including:

• Initiating and directing business development conversations
• Building rapport and chemistry
• Following up and next steps
• Understanding the power of helping
• Closing and asking for business
• Managing contacts
• Tracking pipelines and metrics
• Unseating incumbent lawyers and law firms
• Maximizing “referability”
• Converting personal marketing into business development opportunities

Business Development Coaching

From associates just entering the profession to partners looking to up their games, we coach attorneys at all levels and across all practice areas to be outstanding business developers.

Our services include:

• Individual One-on-One Attorney Coaching
• Small Group Coaching for Client Teams, Industry Groups, and Practice Departments
• “Coach the Coach” Engagements for Mentors, Practice Group Leaders, and Department Heads

The foundation for Rain BDM’s coaching engagements is collaboration. We take the time to learn about you and your abilities, then help you set reasonable expectations. We work with you to define realistic targets and craft a business plan tailored specifically to you and the metrics you want to achieve. You must commit to regularly scheduled appointments, but we’re always on call to answer questions, work through an obstacle, and celebrate your victories.

Many people liken coaching to personal training at the gym, and to some extent, that’s true. Yes, we’ll help you develop a customized plan and work with you to acquire and hone the right skills for you. Yes, we’ll hold you accountable. No, we will not do the heavy lifting for you. But “no pain, no gain” isn’t part of our workout. If business development doesn’t become a natural, comfortable, and fulfilling activity for you, it won’t stick.

Law Firm Workshops & Retreats

When we facilitate workshops and present at lunch-and-learns and retreats, we’re there to connect with the audience, spark conversation and idea-sharing, and motivate attorneys to take action when we wrap up.

We don’t just show up and read from PowerPoint slides, either. We assess skills and attitudes and get to know the firm ahead of time. We try to warm up the crowd before they even walk in the room. Business development should be fun, not a chore, a belief at the heart of Rain BDM’s overall philosophy.

Whether you’re interested in a strategy session for an office or practice group or a more extensive workshop at a law firm retreat, we can tailor a presentation to suit your specific challenges and goals. If you’re looking for ideas, here are a few topics we’ve presented:

• Law Firm Business Development & Marketing 101
• Making the Most of Writing, Speaking, and Social Media
• What’s Your Brand and Where Does It Fit in Today’s Legal Marketplace
• Hello Client Account Management and Goodbye Cross-Selling
• Mapping Your Law Firm’s Value Proposition
• Playing to Personality Strengths for Business Development Success
• What GCs Want: How to Win and Retain Business
• Strategic Business Development Planning
• Managing Millennials in Your Law Firm
• How Legal Administrators & Staff Can Drive Business Development

If you have another topic in mind, we’d love to kick around some ideas for a memorable meeting.

Personality Type Assessments

Introvert, extrovert, judger, perceiver – a lawyer’s personality impacts the bottom line. Once attorneys understand their personality types, they have the power to better relate with clients, prospects, and other strategic connections.

Because people think, learn, and make decisions differently, Rain BDM uses the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® to give lawyers insights about their communication and business development skills. The MBTI® helps people understand personality types – their own and others’ – which can be an invaluable tool in building relationships.

The attorney-client relationship can be intensely personal. Clients often feel vulnerable and exposed. They want empathy as well as competent counsel. They seek to be heard and understood and look to their attorneys to instill confidence and trust. If you find it hard to connect with the people who can sustain and grow your practice, you may want to turn your focus inward. We’ll help you get that inside look.