When You Lose the Game But Make It to the Big Dance Anyway

If you are unfamiliar with the lunacy of March Madness, a name trademarked by the NCAA, you are (probably) missing out.

Method to the Madness?

March Madness is basically a big beauty contest for college basketball. Sixty-eight of the best teams are matched up in a competition lovingly referred to as “The Big Dance.” It’s win-or-go-home, so the number of contestants in this pageant is halved at the end of each round. The pool decreases from 64 teams to 32 teams after Round One. The contestants keep getting cut, cut, and cut until only the Final Four teams are left standing – quite an accomplishment regardless of the remaining outcomes. What an honor it is to be one of the country’s four “best” basketball teams, ready to duke it out to see who wins.

But here’s the real “madness” of this contest: not all teams that make it to The Dance are considered among the best 64 competitors in the country, nor are the Final Four always the teams with the best records or outcomes.

Do You Wanna Dance?

The same thing is true in legal marketing and business development. How often have you or your firm made the perfect pitch for new work that would be an excellent fit for your team, only to find out the client awarded the work to another firm? Maybe it was price, perceived experience, or the color on the cover of your proposal. Who knows?

But here’s even more “madness” about this contest. Sometimes, lawyers who continue communicating with the decision-makers after their teams and firms are eliminated can wrest victory from the jaws of defeat. How? People – general counsel, procurement managers, business owners, divorcing spouses, etc. – like to work with people they like. Period.

There are plenty of stories about lawyers who lose the “dog and pony show” and head to the showers in woulda, coulda, shoulda mode. The competitors stay in the game until the last second and sometimes force overtime by staying connected with critical contacts who approached them in the first place.

They stay top-of-mind by continuing to impress the putative client with their concern and professionalism. When the winning firm stumbles, and an issue arises that causes the client to reconsider their choice, it’s the equivalent of a shot-clock violation, out-of-bounds pass, or technical foul. The smart money is on the lawyers who don’t win the work at first yet remain on the court to build relationships and show what it’s like to work with them when the other team drops the ball.

So, the moral of today’s story is simple: don’t head to the showers too soon. Staying in touch with prospective clients can earn the win even if you lose the beauty contest. As you consider your bracket picks for this year’s Big Dance, think about the reasons for picking one team over another. How others rank them may not make a difference in the end.