Dot Connector: The Best, Never-Used Title in Law Firms

I see potential. What do you se?

Want to be indispensable in a law firm? Learn where key information lives, befriend the people who can unlock it, and master how to use it to help others.

Legal marketing and business development jobs are not like other law firm jobs. It's our business to be nosy. (At work in a law firm I might say, "curious.") We need to understand why in order to provide the right what. 

We also benefit—and so do our internal clients—from knowing who. As in, "Pardon the interruption, but a client needs [________]. Can anyone recommend a firm for that?" Yeah. Ours! Good grief. 

[Aside: Want to really add value? Become known as the person who killed PTI emails at your firm because lawyers and colleagues learned to ask you.] 

Combine the what and the who that are part of your day-to-day for tremendous results across the firm.

Go Farther

Think about the tools a marketing or BD professional has at their disposal: website, client alerts, social media, mailing lists, media relations, nominations, events, experience management, CRM, proposals, client interviews, competitive intelligence—the list of products and services lawyers want goes on and on. We sit at the center of an incredible bounty of toys and tools. 

As a result, we are often also the unofficial archivists of all the information that fills these vessels, and, more crucially, the context that informs how we understand and apply that information. 

• We advise lawyers on who should join a pitch.

• We turn "meh" sponsorship dinners into qualified BD opportunities.

• We transform CLE decks into 3:1 leverage for articles, case studies, and social media posts. 

Every day, in ways large and small, MBD professionals apply their knowledge and finesse to unlock opportunities and add value. Often, our suggestions seem obvious—to us. Yet it is profound how much lawyers and colleagues appreciate connections we spot that they may have overlooked. 

Look Inward

Now, turn all that informational prowess inward. Be the MBD professional with the best, closest relationships to other lawyers and departments.

• Want to facilitate cross-selling? Introduce attorneys after you've seen how they complement each other in separate RFP responses or pitches. 

• Want to understand what's really going on with a client team? Follow the money to ask better questions. Cultivate an ally in accounting who gets why you're asking and wants to help.

• Want to know if that CRM spend will work as promised? Make a friend in IT—and build that friendship well before budget season! 

Take the info you already have access to. Add powerful relationships that open doors to firm-critical information and services. Connect dots to lead lawyers and colleagues to savvier approaches and more meaningful outcomes. 

You'll be indispensable. Lawyers will trust you. Peers will welcome your collaboration requests. The firm will wonder why it didn't hire for a dot connector to begin with.