October 28, 2005
Connect with VITO to Develop Law Firm Business
Here is a slice of my own business experience that demonstrates why you have to connect with, and stay in touch with, the decision maker (an individual some call VITO, Very Important Top Officer).
Juris, Inc. doesn’t lose existing clients to competitive solutions very often. When they do, Juris decided to find out why. The answer was virtually the same in every case. It turned out that Juris includes or offered the same features or services that the decision maker made a change to achieve. So why did they change? The decision maker explained that we did not have a relationship with him or her. They didn’t know we offered the same or better capabilities. In those situations, Juris had forgotten to connect with VITO, the decision maker. The team had become comfortable focusing on the people in the client organization that the Juris team dealt with day in and day out.
Joey Asher, the author of Selling and Communication Skills for Lawyers, puts the principles of business development this way. It is a process of:
_ Connecting with the decision makers;
_ Understanding business needs; and
_ Providing solutions.
You can’t leave the decision maker out of the equation. If you do, you will lose the client to someone who does connect, listen and offer solutions.
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Filed under Blog by Tom Collins