Law Firm Intelligence: Researching an RFP: Winning Business Through Understanding Clients

Research is both a product and a process. It encompasses the act of research ' formulating research questions, determining the most appropriate sources, collating findings, and evaluating information obtained in light of the original (and possibly reformulated) research questions, and analyzing the information. Moreover, research includes the product of research: The report and/or presentation, which should include answers to the research inquiry, key findings, and recommendations for actions.

In conducting research for an RFP, turnaround time, budget, and resource considerations will have to be balanced with the value of the opportunity. Before the research begins, the researcher should read the RFP and consult with key decision-makers in her firm to determine the research questions, the scope of the research process as well the format of the final product.

Reading the RFP

All members of the RFP response team should be familiar with the RFP, including the researcher. Access to this information is critical, as the RFP usually contains a wealth of information that will not only guide the research process, but also spark new ideas for strategy.

While each RFP is unique, they typically include company background information, a series of questions which must be addressed in the response, and a list of practice areas or legal needs for which the company seeks outside counsel. The most useful information lies in the often-overlooked narrative. A researcher with a keen eye will not only spot this information, but use it as a stepping-off point for further inquiry. The following examples from an RFP illustrate how the RFP itself will dictate the protocol for further activities:

• The purpose of the RFP was to develop a preferred law firm list, and the company sought to evaluate firms based on their ability to provide national and/or regional representation;
• The company stated a 'hallmark' of its business strategy was the use of information technology; and
• The legal department consisted of 120 employees, 42 of whom were attorneys. The company dealt with approximately 800 open matters each year, spending upwards of $15 million per year on outside counsel.

Having read this, the researcher would know, among other things, that she is mining for 120 contacts in the firm's contacts database, looking for her firm's, and the competition's, use of technology (such as extranets and Webinars), and the firm's competition would probably be national and regional firms (and therefore the response should not tout the firm's international capabilities).

Internal Research

After reading through the RFP and formulating possible research questions, the researcher should meet with key decision-makers within her firm to discuss the details of the RFP, the team's goals, intended actions, and intelligence and information needs. After these meetings, the research questions will be finalized and firm-internal research will begin.

Internal research typically includes:

• A search of the CRM database, to determine who has contacts within the company;
• Financial reports, with financial data for the client shown firm-wide, and segmented by practice group (to determine the extent of cross-selling success) and office (to illustrate the regional/national representation of the company), as well as for several clients in the same industry combined (to show industry knowledge);
• A detailed list of matters that the firm has completed for the company. It is especially informative when the experience inventory includes matters from the practice areas the firm is pitching to the company; and
• If necessary, interviews with attorneys to uncover anecdotal information about the company, its legal department and legal needs, the industry, and competitor firms.

Competing Firms

At a baseline, the RFP team will want to know the following information:

• Who is the competition;
• What is their relationship with the company; and
• How are they positioning themselves?

Although the answers to these questions are useful to the RFP response, the answers are, in fact, information. Simply listing the answers in a packet would probably satisfy most RFP teams. However, the researcher can provide added value by analyzing the information obtained to deconstruct the competition's competitive advantage and provide recommendations for improving her team's chances of success. This is the difference between information and intelligence. Three examples of this type of analysis are in the chart on page 5.

Company Research

Company research is two-fold. First, the RFP team needs to have a general understanding of the company's business, its operations, its people, its strategy, trends, and the risks it faces. For a public company, most of this information can be found through publicly available information, such as annual and quarterly SEC filings (although biographies ' especially for in-house counsel '- will not be included in an SEC filing), IP filings and press releases. For smaller or private companies, information can be very difficult ' or impossible ' to obtain. In these instances, the best approach might be to glean insights from the company's industry and/or competitors.

The second portion of company research involves delving into the company's legal needs. The RFP team will require information pertaining to each practice area for which they are bidding, although not all practice areas will have information readily available. Easy targets include M&A, litigation, IP, bankruptcy/creditors' rights, and government procurement (for larger contracts). Difficult practice areas include real estate and compliance.

Other Research

While company, competitor, and firm research form the basis of an RFP research assignment, the RFP team should consider including information pertaining to the company's competitors, industry, and market. Trends and issues affecting an industry and a market will also affect the company's business environment, and highlighting these will better enable a firm to position itself for legal work.

The Research Product

When all the research has been completed and the information analyzed, the researcher will usually disseminate this intelligence to interested parties in a report format. Most firms engaged in competitive intelligence have a report template that can be customized to immediate needs. The researcher uses the template as a framework, while attorneys benefit from intelligence presented consistently.

Additionally, the researcher should present her findings and recommendations to the RFP team in a meeting. This facilitate understanding; often, the attorneys, marketers, and researcher discussing the completed research together will uncover new opportunities or positioning points that would otherwise have been missed.

The RFP research assignment does not end with this presentation, however. In fact, the best research continues on through the RFP process. In other words, the researcher works with the team even after they bid the work in an effort to better understand the company, the company's decision making, the RFP process, and possible improvements to the process.

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Shannon Sankstone is the Marketing Research Analyst at Quarles & Brady LLP, Chicago, where she is responsible for the marketing and competitive intelligence research function. She can be reached at [email protected] or at 312-715-5251.

[Editor's Note: In April, Shannon Sankstone, Marketing Research Analyst at Quarles & Brady, contributed her first article to MLF on competitive intelligence in law firms. For some time I had been looking for what I described to her as the 'missing link' to MLF ' a column that focused on CI. After some discussion, Shannon agreed to do a regular bi-monthly column for us. We are so lucky to have her. And so I want to take this opportunity to welcome Shannon Sankstone to MLF and to our Board of Editors.]

Law firms are constantly responding to request for proposals (RFPs), and researchers are, more than ever, integrating into the business development team. Researchers can add significant value to the RFP process through analyzing the company, firm, and competition and providing their findings and recommendations to the team. This article details the process for gathering intelligence that would support a comprehensive RFP response, as well as the final research product that is presented to the business development team.

The Research Process

Research is both a product and a process. It encompasses the act of research ' formulating research questions, determining the most appropriate sources, collating findings, and evaluating information obtained in light of the original (and possibly reformulated) research questions, and analyzing the information. Moreover, research includes the product of research: The report and/or presentation, which should include answers to the research inquiry, key findings, and recommendations for actions.

In conducting research for an RFP, turnaround time, budget, and resource considerations will have to be balanced with the value of the opportunity. Before the research begins, the researcher should read the RFP and consult with key decision-makers in her firm to determine the research questions, the scope of the research process as well the format of the final product.

Reading the RFP

All members of the RFP response team should be familiar with the RFP, including the researcher. Access to this information is critical, as the RFP usually contains a wealth of information that will not only guide the research process, but also spark new ideas for strategy.

While each RFP is unique, they typically include company background information, a series of questions which must be addressed in the response, and a list of practice areas or legal needs for which the company seeks outside counsel. The most useful information lies in the often-overlooked narrative. A researcher with a keen eye will not only spot this information, but use it as a stepping-off point for further inquiry. The following examples from an RFP illustrate how the RFP itself will dictate the protocol for further activities:

• The purpose of the RFP was to develop a preferred law firm list, and the company sought to evaluate firms based on their ability to provide national and/or regional representation;
• The company stated a 'hallmark' of its business strategy was the use of information technology; and
• The legal department consisted of 120 employees, 42 of whom were attorneys. The company dealt with approximately 800 open matters each year, spending upwards of $15 million per year on outside counsel.

Having read this, the researcher would know, among other things, that she is mining for 120 contacts in the firm's contacts database, looking for her firm's, and the competition's, use of technology (such as extranets and Webinars), and the firm's competition would probably be national and regional firms (and therefore the response should not tout the firm's international capabilities).

Internal Research

After reading through the RFP and formulating possible research questions, the researcher should meet with key decision-makers within her firm to discuss the details of the RFP, the team's goals, intended actions, and intelligence and information needs. After these meetings, the research questions will be finalized and firm-internal research will begin.

Internal research typically includes:

• A search of the CRM database, to determine who has contacts within the company;
• Financial reports, with financial data for the client shown firm-wide, and segmented by practice group (to determine the extent of cross-selling success) and office (to illustrate the regional/national representation of the company), as well as for several clients in the same industry combined (to show industry knowledge);
• A detailed list of matters that the firm has completed for the company. It is especially informative when the experience inventory includes matters from the practice areas the firm is pitching to the company; and
• If necessary, interviews with attorneys to uncover anecdotal information about the company, its legal department and legal needs, the industry, and competitor firms.

Competing Firms

At a baseline, the RFP team will want to know the following information:

• Who is the competition;
• What is their relationship with the company; and
• How are they positioning themselves?

Although the answers to these questions are useful to the RFP response, the answers are, in fact, information. Simply listing the answers in a packet would probably satisfy most RFP teams. However, the researcher can provide added value by analyzing the information obtained to deconstruct the competition's competitive advantage and provide recommendations for improving her team's chances of success. This is the difference between information and intelligence. Three examples of this type of analysis are in the chart on page 5.

Company Research

Company research is two-fold. First, the RFP team needs to have a general understanding of the company's business, its operations, its people, its strategy, trends, and the risks it faces. For a public company, most of this information can be found through publicly available information, such as annual and quarterly SEC filings (although biographies ' especially for in-house counsel '- will not be included in an SEC filing), IP filings and press releases. For smaller or private companies, information can be very difficult ' or impossible ' to obtain. In these instances, the best approach might be to glean insights from the company's industry and/or competitors.

The second portion of company research involves delving into the company's legal needs. The RFP team will require information pertaining to each practice area for which they are bidding, although not all practice areas will have information readily available. Easy targets include M&A, litigation, IP, bankruptcy/creditors' rights, and government procurement (for larger contracts). Difficult practice areas include real estate and compliance.

Other Research

While company, competitor, and firm research form the basis of an RFP research assignment, the RFP team should consider including information pertaining to the company's competitors, industry, and market. Trends and issues affecting an industry and a market will also affect the company's business environment, and highlighting these will better enable a firm to position itself for legal work.

The Research Product

When all the research has been completed and the information analyzed, the researcher will usually disseminate this intelligence to interested parties in a report format. Most firms engaged in competitive intelligence have a report template that can be customized to immediate needs. The researcher uses the template as a framework, while attorneys benefit from intelligence presented consistently.

Additionally, the researcher should present her findings and recommendations to the RFP team in a meeting. This facilitate understanding; often, the attorneys, marketers, and researcher discussing the completed research together will uncover new opportunities or positioning points that would otherwise have been missed.

The RFP research assignment does not end with this presentation, however. In fact, the best research continues on through the RFP process. In other words, the researcher works with the team even after they bid the work in an effort to better understand the company, the company's decision making, the RFP process, and possible improvements to the process.

[IMGCAP(1)]

Shannon Sankstone is the Marketing Research Analyst at Quarles & Brady LLP, Chicago, where she is responsible for the marketing and competitive intelligence research function. She can be reached at [email protected] or at 312-715-5251.