From Intelligence to Action: How Law Firms Can Use Gatsby for Everyday Business Development
Law firm business development teams spend a significant amount of time finding information. Before an important meeting, someone may research the company, review recent news, look into the people attending, check previous interactions and gather information from several internal and external sources.
The research matters, but its value ultimately depends on what happens next. Lawyers need information they can use to prepare for a conversation, understand what’s happening with a client, identify a reason to reconnect with a prospect or recognize an opportunity that deserves attention.
That’s where Gatsby fits into the business development process. Gatsby helps law firms gather and organize intelligence about companies and people so lawyers and business development teams can spend more time understanding what the information means for a particular relationship or opportunity.
Here are some of the ways firms can incorporate Gatsby into everyday business development work.
Prepare Lawyers for Important Client Meetings
Meeting preparation is one of the most immediate applications for client intelligence.
A lawyer heading into an important client meeting may want to understand what has changed at the company, who will be in the room, what those individuals have done professionally and which recent developments could be relevant to the conversation.
Gatsby Intel can help organize that research into a focused briefing. Depending on the meeting, that may include company background, recent developments, leadership information, professional history and other relevant context.
The business development team can then add what it knows internally, including the history of the client relationship, current matters, previous conversations and information about the lawyers involved.
This gives the lawyer a more complete picture before the meeting and allows the preparation process to focus on the information that may actually matter during the conversation.
Research a Prospect Before the First Meeting
First meetings with prospects often require a different kind of preparation. The firm may have limited firsthand knowledge of the company or the people attending, which makes external intelligence especially useful.
Research can help lawyers understand the company’s business, recent activity, leadership, industry environment and developments that may be affecting its priorities. Information about the individuals attending can provide additional professional context.
That preparation can help lawyers arrive with a better understanding of the organization and spend the meeting asking more informed questions.
It can also help the business development team identify information that may be useful after the meeting. If the conversation reveals a particular business priority, the team can connect that information with relevant firm experience and determine what kind of follow-up would be useful.
Build Better Briefings When Time Is Limited
Business development professionals know how quickly an urgent research request can appear. A lawyer may have a meeting later that afternoon or learn at the last minute that another executive will be joining a call.
Producing a useful briefing under those circumstances can require moving quickly among company websites, news sources, biographies and other research tools.
Gatsby can provide a starting point by gathering and organizing relevant information for the assignment. The business development professional can then review the material, confirm important details and add the internal context that makes the briefing specific to the firm's relationship.
This can be particularly useful when teams are handling multiple meeting-preparation requests at the same time. A more efficient research process gives them additional time to focus on relevance, context and the quality of the final briefing.
Stay Current on Priority Clients
Important client developments happen throughout the year, not only when someone is preparing for a meeting.
A company may acquire another business, hire a senior executive, expand into a new market, announce a strategic initiative or make another change that could matter to the relationship.
Gatsby Aware helps firms monitor selected clients, prospects and strategic accounts and organizes relevant developments into scheduled email briefings.
For a relationship partner, that can provide a more current view of what is happening around an important client. For the business development team, it can help identify developments that deserve further research, an internal discussion or outreach.
Ongoing monitoring can also support client planning because teams have more context about what has happened between formal planning meetings.
Find Better Reasons to Reconnect
One of the challenges in business development is finding a relevant reason to get back in touch with someone after an initial conversation.
Company developments can provide that context. A new executive appointment, acquisition, expansion, financing or other meaningful development may create an opportunity to reconnect when it relates to the existing relationship or a previous conversation.
The same applies to prospects. Ongoing monitoring can help business development teams stay aware of changes at organizations the firm wants to develop, giving lawyers more context when the timing is appropriate for outreach.
The business development professional still plays an important role in determining whether a development warrants contact and how it fits with the history of the relationship. Intelligence provides the information; relationship knowledge helps determine how to use it.
Support Pitches With More Current Intelligence
Pitch preparation often involves much more than assembling credentials and representative matters. Teams also need to understand the company, its recent activity, the people involved in the selection process and the business circumstances surrounding the opportunity.
Gatsby can support that research by helping teams develop a current picture of the organization and the relevant individuals.
That information can help the pitch team determine which firm experience is most relevant, which lawyers should participate and what topics may deserve attention during the presentation.
It can also help teams prepare for the people involved in the pitch. Understanding professional backgrounds, previous roles and other relevant experience can provide useful context for the lawyers who will be meeting them.
Identify Opportunities Within Existing Client Relationships
Client intelligence can also help firms look more closely at relationships they already have.
Consider a client that has recently completed an acquisition. The firm may have advised on one aspect of the transaction while the combined company now faces issues involving employment, benefits, regulatory matters, financing, intellectual property or other areas.
The useful business development question is whether the development creates a genuine need that the firm is positioned to help address.
Combining external intelligence with internal knowledge of the client can help teams identify those situations. The relationship partner and business development team can then determine whether an introduction to another lawyer or practice would be useful.
This approach keeps the focus on what is happening in the client's business and where the firm's experience may be relevant.
Research the People Behind Important Relationships
Companies are only one part of business development. Professional relationships often follow individuals throughout their careers.
Gatsby's Person Intel can provide additional professional context about an important individual, including career history, board roles, professional organizations, public speaking and other verified information when available.
That can be useful before executive meetings, pitches, conferences and other high-value interactions.
It can also help when an important contact changes organizations. Understanding that person's professional history and the firm's existing relationship can help business development teams determine who should reconnect and what context may be useful.
Get More From Conferences and Events
Conferences create several research needs at once. Lawyers may want to know more about speakers, companies represented at the event, clients who may be attending and prospects they hope to meet.
Gatsby can help teams research companies and individuals before the event so lawyers arrive with more context about the people and organizations that matter most.
The intelligence gathered after the event can be useful as well. New contacts can be researched in greater detail, companies mentioned during conversations can be explored and priority prospects can be added to ongoing monitoring when appropriate.
This gives the business development team a way to connect conference activity with the firm's broader client and prospect strategy.
Support Strategic Account Planning
Client plans are more useful when they're informed by current information about the client's business.
Gatsby can help client teams understand recent company developments and continue monitoring important accounts between formal planning meetings.
The external intelligence can then be combined with internal information about matters, relationships, financial performance, client feedback and firm priorities.
This gives teams a stronger foundation for discussions about the relationship, including which developments deserve attention, which relationships could be strengthened and where the client may benefit from additional firm capabilities.
Help Business Development Teams Prioritize Their Time
Law firm business development teams support many lawyers, clients, prospects and initiatives at once. Part of the challenge is deciding which information deserves attention.
A development involving a major client may warrant immediate review. A leadership change at a priority prospect may be relevant to a lawyer who already knows the incoming executive. Activity at a portfolio company may connect to work the firm handles for its sponsor.
Organizing intelligence around priority accounts and business development situations can help teams focus their attention on developments with a connection to an existing relationship, opportunity or firm priority.
That context is important because more information by itself doesn't necessarily make business development easier. The information becomes useful when the people receiving it understand why it matters.
Build a More Connected Business Development Workflow
These use cases become more valuable when they're connected.
Research conducted before a prospect meeting can inform the conversation. Information learned during the meeting can shape the follow-up. A prospect that becomes strategically important can be monitored over time. A company development may provide a reason to reconnect. A new opportunity may eventually lead to a pitch, which creates another research need.
The same cycle applies to existing clients. Meeting preparation, ongoing monitoring, client planning, relationship development and cross-practice collaboration all benefit from having current information available at the right point in the process.
Gatsby helps support that continuity by giving law firms tools for both on-demand research and ongoing monitoring.
Keep Human Judgment at the Center
Technology can help gather and organize information, while business development professionals and lawyers provide the context that comes from knowing the client, the firm and the relationship.
A company announcement may appear relevant but have little connection to the work the firm handles. A potential business development opportunity may require additional research. A professional connection may need to be confirmed before anyone relies on it.
Business development teams are well positioned to make those distinctions because they understand the firm's capabilities, client history and the lawyers involved.
Gatsby can make the research process more efficient and provide useful context. The people who understand the relationship determine what belongs in the final briefing, what deserves follow-up and what action makes sense.
Putting Gatsby to Work
The most practical way to evaluate business development intelligence is to use it in real situations.
Choose a group of upcoming client and prospect meetings and use Gatsby to support the preparation. Select several priority accounts for ongoing monitoring. Use Person Intel before an important executive meeting or conference. Compare the process with the way the same work is handled today.
Then look at what happened afterward. Did the team spend less time gathering information? Did lawyers receive useful context? Did the intelligence help improve a meeting, identify a relevant development or create a meaningful follow-up?
Those are the kinds of outcomes that can help a firm understand where Gatsby fits within its broader business development process.
Gatsby is designed to help law firms turn company and professional intelligence into information lawyers and business development teams can use. By connecting research, monitoring and relationship context with everyday business development activities, firms can make intelligence part of the work that happens before, during and after important client and prospect conversations.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can law firms use Gatsby for meeting preparation?
Gatsby Intel can help firms research companies and individuals before client meetings, prospect meetings, pitches and other important conversations. The resulting intelligence can be reviewed and supplemented with internal relationship information before it reaches the lawyer.
What is the difference between Gatsby Intel and Gatsby Aware?
Gatsby Intel supports on-demand research about companies, prospects and individuals, while Gatsby Aware provides ongoing monitoring of selected clients, prospects and strategic accounts. Firms can use them together to support both immediate research needs and longer-term account intelligence.
Can Gatsby help with existing client development?
Yes. Current intelligence about a client's business can help relationship partners and business development teams prepare for conversations, update client plans and identify developments that may connect to relevant firm experience.
How can Gatsby help with prospect research?
Gatsby can provide company and professional intelligence before an introductory meeting, pitch or other prospect interaction. This gives lawyers more context about the organization, recent developments and the people involved.
Does Gatsby replace law firm business development professionals?
Gatsby is designed to support the work of business development professionals by helping gather and organize relevant intelligence. Business development teams contribute the internal firm knowledge, relationship history and judgment needed to determine how that information should be used.