Your Law Firm Has Plenty of Prospect Data. Which Information Actually Matters?
Law firms have access to an enormous amount of information about prospective clients. They can see transactions, financings, leadership changes, litigation, regulatory developments, hiring activity, investors, board members and outside counsel relationships. Inside the firm, there may be years of pitch history, prior matters, event attendance, CRM activity and relationships involving lawyers across different practices and offices.
The problem is usually not finding information. It is figuring out which pieces of it are actually useful for business development.
Give a lawyer a 20-page company report before a meeting and there is a good chance much of it will never be read. Give that same lawyer three pieces of information that explain what is changing at the company, who at the firm has a relevant relationship and where the firm has experience that connects to what is happening, and the research becomes much more useful.
That distinction matters because law firms are investing more time and technology in business development intelligence. The value comes from helping lawyers understand what the information means and what they can do with it.
Start With What Has Changed
A company profile can provide useful background, but change is often where the more interesting business development intelligence begins. A company that looks largely the same as it did six months ago may not give a lawyer a particularly compelling reason to reach out. A company that has raised capital, entered a new market, hired a new executive, acquired a business or made several senior hires is giving you new information about where the business may be heading.
The individual development matters, but so does the pattern. One executive hire may be interesting. Several hires in the same function may suggest the company is building a new capability. One acquisition tells you something about a transaction. A series of acquisitions may tell you something much more useful about the company's growth strategy and the legal needs that could accompany it.
This is where research starts becoming intelligence. Instead of collecting everything that has happened, look for the developments that help explain what may be changing inside the business and why that change could matter to the firm.
Relationships Can Completely Change the Value of the Research
A BD professional might identify a company that has recently raised a significant round of financing and appears to be entering a period of rapid growth. That is useful information, but by itself it still leaves an important question unanswered: how does the firm get into the conversation?
Now add relationship information. A partner at the firm knows one of the company's board members. Another lawyer previously worked with its newly appointed general counsel. The firm represents one of its investors. A lateral partner who joined six months ago has worked with the CFO. Suddenly, the same company looks very different from a business development perspective.
This is why company research and relationship intelligence are much more valuable when they are viewed together. Knowing that something is happening gives you context. Knowing who has a credible path into the organization can help determine what happens next.
It also helps firms avoid one of the most frustrating parts of prospecting: spending considerable time developing an outreach strategy only to discover later that someone else at the firm already had a meaningful relationship with the person you were trying to reach.
The Firm's Own History With the Prospect Matters Too
Before treating a company as a completely new prospect, find out whether it really is one. Many firms have more history with prospective clients than anyone realizes because that information sits in different places.
Perhaps the company was pitched three years ago. Maybe one practice handled a small matter that never developed into a broader relationship. Someone from the company attended a firm event. A partner met an executive at a conference. Another lawyer advised the executive at a previous employer. The firm may represent a portfolio company, investor or other organization connected to the business.
None of those facts automatically creates an opportunity, but together they provide context that can make outreach more informed. They can also prevent lawyers from approaching a company as though the firm has no relationship with it when there is already history that could be useful.
This is particularly important at large firms, where no individual lawyer or BD professional can reasonably know every interaction that has taken place across practices, offices and years.
Look at the People, Not Only the Company
Company research often focuses heavily on what the organization is doing, while some of the most useful business development intelligence sits with the people making the decisions.
If a new general counsel has joined, where did that person work previously? Which firms did they use there? Does anyone at your firm know them? Have any of your lawyers worked with other members of the legal department? What about the CFO, head of corporate development, chief people officer or board members?
People carry relationships with them when they move. A connection that was irrelevant six months ago can suddenly become important because someone changed jobs. A lawyer who had no obvious path into a target company may discover that a former client has joined its leadership team. A partner in another practice may have worked closely with a board member years earlier.
Those changes are easy to miss when prospect research is centered entirely on companies instead of the people around them.
Outside Counsel Information Needs Context
Law firms also spend a lot of time trying to determine which other firms a prospect uses. That can be useful, but the information needs to be interpreted carefully.
Seeing another law firm on a transaction does not tell you that firm handles every legal matter for the company. A business may use one firm for M&A, another for employment matters and several others for litigation, intellectual property, regulatory work or local matters. The relationships may also change as executives move, companies grow and legal needs become more complex.
The better analysis looks at patterns. Which firms appear repeatedly? For what kinds of matters? Which practices seem to have established relationships? Where does your firm have experience that could complement the company's existing counsel relationships?
That produces a much more realistic picture than putting a company into either a "prospect" or "already covered by another firm" category.
Relevant Experience Is More Useful When It Connects to What Is Happening Now
Another common research exercise is identifying matters the firm can use to demonstrate experience. The tendency is to search broadly for everything the firm has done in the prospect's industry and produce a long list.
More is not always more persuasive. If a company has just announced an acquisition strategy, the most useful experience may be the firm's work helping similar companies execute acquisitions and integrate them afterward. If the company is expanding internationally, the relevant experience changes. If it has hired a new executive team and is preparing for another stage of growth, different lawyers and capabilities may become relevant.
The strongest experience is not necessarily the matter with the biggest transaction value or the most recognizable client name. It is the experience that helps the prospective client see that the firm understands the issue in front of them.
The Most Useful Research Usually Leads Somewhere
A research project can be accurate, thorough and beautifully formatted and still have very little effect on business development. The difference is often what happens at the end.
Instead of stopping with "here is what we found," the BD team can help connect the research to an action. Perhaps a partner who knows a board member makes an introduction. A lawyer sends an article to an executive because it relates directly to something happening in the business. A client team realizes that an existing relationship creates a path to another part of the organization. A practice group identifies several companies experiencing the same development and creates a coordinated outreach effort around it.
The research has now become part of business development instead of an exercise that sits in someone's inbox.
Pay Attention to the Questions Lawyers Keep Asking
One of the best ways to improve business development intelligence is to look at the questions the BD team receives repeatedly.
Who knows this person? What do we know about this company? Have we pitched them? Which lawyers have relevant experience? Who represents them now? What has changed since we last spoke with them? Do we have a relationship with their investors? Which of our clients are connected to this executive?
When the same questions appear again and again, they tell you something about the information lawyers actually need to develop business. They can also reveal where the firm's information is hardest to access.
If answering "Who knows the general counsel?" requires three emails, two database searches and a call to another office every time, the issue is bigger than one research request. The firm has valuable relationship information, but it is difficult to use.
From More Information to Better Intelligence
Law firms are unlikely to have less data in the years ahead. They will have more of it: more company information, more relationship data, more market intelligence and more technology capable of collecting and analyzing it. The opportunity is to become better at deciding what deserves attention.
For a prospective client, the most useful picture brings several things together: what is happening in the business, what has changed recently, who the important people are, who at the firm knows them, what history the firm already has with the company, which other firms are involved and where the firm's experience connects to something the company may actually need.
That is a much more useful starting point than trying to know everything about a prospect.
How Gatsby Can Help
Gatsby helps law firms bring company and relationship information closer together so business development teams can spend less time searching across disconnected sources and more time determining what the information means.
Gatsby Intel helps firms research companies and identify developments relevant to business development, client growth and prospecting. Gatsby Aware helps firms better understand the relationships that exist across the organization. Used together, they can help answer two questions that often need to be answered at the same time: What is happening at this company, and who do we know who can help us do something with that information?
For law firm BD teams, that connection matters because the next opportunity may already be visible somewhere in the information the firm has. The work is finding it, understanding why it matters and getting it to the right lawyer at the right time.
Frequently Asked Questions
What prospect information is most useful for law firm business development?
The most useful information usually combines recent company developments, key executives and decision makers, existing firm relationships, prior interactions with the prospect, relevant firm experience and information about other outside counsel. Looking at these pieces together provides more context than researching any one of them independently.
How can law firms use relationship intelligence in prospecting?
Relationship intelligence can help firms identify lawyers who know executives, board members, investors and other people connected to a prospective client. It can also reveal relationships that are not immediately obvious from the lawyer leading the business development effort.
Why should law firms track changes at prospective clients?
Changes such as financings, acquisitions, executive appointments, expansion and significant hiring can provide insight into a company's direction and create natural reasons for lawyers to reconnect or begin a conversation.
How can law firms make business development research more actionable?
Research becomes more actionable when it connects information to a specific opportunity, relationship and next step. Instead of giving lawyers everything available about a company, BD teams can identify the information most relevant to the company's current situation and the firm's ability to help.
What is the difference between company intelligence and relationship intelligence?
Company intelligence helps a firm understand what is happening within and around a business. Relationship intelligence helps the firm understand how its people are connected to the individuals and organizations involved. Combining the two can provide a much stronger foundation for business development.