Competitive Intelligence: "Dear Marketing & Business Development Professional …"

Dear Marketing Professional,

Subject: Provide the Context of the Research Request

Please call us, drop by, schedule a meeting or otherwise discuss a project that you would like to work with us on. We have a lot of varied research experience, so oftentimes if we are given only a small piece of a puzzle, we are much less effective than we could be if we saw the whole picture. We know you are trying to be helpful by framing a question up, but often the context will change what we can do. Many times, we have spent a lot of time pulling information only to find that it didn't meet the parameters of the project because those parameters were never shared with us.

Stop by and chat, discuss the project with us — you will be surprised at the added value we can provide and the time we can save you!

From,

Your Resident Librarian

Letter 2

Dear Marketing Professional,

Subject: Look to the Library for Research Requests, Beyond Something That You Can Quickly Google

Please remember that while we are excellent researchers, we do not own the Googling function within the firm. Run your own basic Google searches. If you need help learning how to Google, please ask! We are excellent trainers!

From,

Your Sophisticated Research Team

Letter 3

Dear Marketing Professional,

Subject: De-Brief After Projects to Relay the Outcome, and Share Thoughts on How to Increase Effectiveness of Future Projects

Over the course of a year, we work with you on dozens of projects to increase revenue and profitability. Sometimes we find out if we won the work (and sometimes we don't), and sometimes we receive feedback on our work. What we'd really like to know is how exactly, specifically, our work is helping win business, or expanding work with current clients, etc. What is that we do that truly adds value, wins over clients, helps carry the RFP? How can we focus our work on the most critical aspects of the research? Quarterly meetings with research staff to discuss outcomes might provide some insight that will increase the effectiveness, and efficiency, of our research.

From,

Your Research Partner

Letter 4

Dear Marketing Professional,

Subject: Researchers Know the Client Base and Industries Through Legal Research Requests and Other Work on Behalf of Lawyers

Call your firm librarians. They are expert researchers. They work for current clients, so they know the business. Trust us. We know what we're doing. We know the industry. Please don't ask us to copy and paste a Monitor Suite report. We are so much more than that.

From,

Your Research Experts

Letter 5

Dear Marketing Professional,

Subject: Once We Master Working Together on Reactive Requests, Let's Move Onto Proactive, Forward-Looking Projects

We've been working together for several years now, and we've collaborated on many successful pitches, RFPs, and practice initiatives. It's now time to move our relationship to another level. By combining our knowledge, skills, and information, we can create great data sources that the firm can mine to monitor performance indicators, find and keep clients, and understand the firm's experience. Adding other firm groups to this effort will make our products even better. By taking our relationship to this new level, we will help the firm make better decisions in the market and with clients.

From,

Your Collaborators

My Team Doesn't Work with the Library Team. Where Do I Start?

If you haven't worked with the library team, start by finding out more about the current focus of the team, goals, and resource levels. One important distinction is whether the team handles legal research and/or business research.

Every firm is different in how research is approached. Over the past 10 years, many library teams have reinvented themselves. Similar to how marketing departments have expanded from a primary focus on marketing activities to having a significant focus on business development and sales, many library teams have expanded from a primary focus on legal research to also master business research. There is a fundamental difference between business research and legal research in both approach and deliverable; and each play an important role. A legal researcher is expected to deliver a large volume of research to support a lawyer in building a case, while a business researcher is expected to distill the research down into a few actionable nuggets of information. It's important to know what types of research the library currently covers or is looking to expand to cover.

My Team Works with the Library Team. How Can We Expand the Relationship?

If your department already works with the library team and is looking for ways to expand or enhance the relationship, here are a few tips:

1. Streamline how and to whom lawyers send requests. In many firms, lawyers will go to the team that they know, rather than possibly the one that is in the best position to help. Ask the library to let you know about requests they're receiving. They might be receiving research request from lawyers where your expertise could be beneficial and vice versa. Even better, work together to develop a research request form for lawyers, and determine who it should go to and how to share information and resources across your teams.
2. Involve the library team in initial discovery meetings or strategic planning meetings. Marketing and business development professionals tend to be more involved in strategic level conversations within the firm. If your library leadership is not currently in those meetings, this is a hole. Look for ways to invite them to meetings from the start. They will hear very different things than you and have questions to ask that will help them research and provide value right from the start of the project.
3. Move beyond working together on research requests and other reactive work and pick a few areas to focus on from a proactive perspective. For instance, is the firm working to identify the next big practice or industry area? Ask researchers to horizon scan across sectors where the firm already has a strong practice. This proactive, longer term focus will help them undercover trends bubbling up and help you position the firm to be first-to-market on the new area. Work together to connect these business issues to legal needs. Check out my article, "Competitive Intelligence: Identifying Business Indicators That Lead to Legal Needs," in the January 2020 issue of Marketing the Law Firm for more information on this topic.
4. Take a librarian to coffee to build the relationship (or virtual coffee these days!).

One Last Note

Working strategically with the library team can exponentially grow the value of the marketing & business development team's services. Wherever you're at with working together, there's likely even more value to be gained by continuing to expand the relationship. Supporting initiatives with research will increase your effectiveness and ultimately the firm as a whole. Never underestimate the power of a researcher!

*****

Stacy Zinken (formerly Rowe), Senior Director of Client Success with Manzama, is a seasoned marketing and client development professional, with 20 years of experience working both within a law firm and across law firms to build client relationships leveraging intelligence. She may be reached at [email protected] or on LinkedIn.