As the legal market becomes increasingly competitive, law firm business developers and marketers are employing outside data sources at accelerated rates to identify new opportunities, differentiate their services, and maintain revenue growth. To comprehend these trends more fully, UniCourt joined hands with Baretz+Brunelle’s New Law team to research how Am Law firms are leveraging data to secure business from both new and existing clients. This research involved interviews with 17 high-level executives, mainly Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) and Chief Marketing and Business Development Officers (CMBDOs), at key firms over the course of three months. The result of these interviews is compiled in the report, “Marching Toward Data-Driven Business Development: Industry Insights from Am Law CMOs.”
Here, we review the five key findings from the report, provide commentary from our Am Law interviewees, offer a glimpse of The Law Firm Business Development Data Maturity Model, and show you how you can get more details.
Despite the exciting progress in data strategy formation, it appears the majority of firms have not systematized this data strategy across their firms. It is also vital to note that while many respondents are utilizing data for business development, none have fully automated the collection of that data. Additionally, most firms have established a strategy for identifying potential leads, although there is little process built around managing these leads through the sales funnel. Decelerating this process is often the lack of collaboration, limited information and speed, which inhibits the potential to proactively turn data into useful insights.
The research also identified an industry-standard for law firm business development maturity; the Law Firm Business Development Data Maturity Model. Here, maturity is broken down into five different areas and levels, the areas being Data Infrastructure, Business Readiness, External Data Usage, Data Culture, and Team Development. The five levels range from being Data Blind to Data Driven.
For CMOs looking to grasp these findings, UniCourt and Baretz+Brunelle are hosting a webinar on 3rd October 2023, from 2-3pm EST. This will present further insights on the Law Firm Business Development Data Maturity Model and suggest steps for firms to advance their data maturity and enhance their BD and marketing functions. To register for the webinar, click here.
This article was derived from an original report by Jeff Cox of UniCourt