Using Sales Professionals In A Law Firm

Some law firms are employing sales professionals, and those that do are finding inherent tensions between the sales people and the lawyers, writes Julie Savarino, Attorney and Managing Director, Business Development Inc. She considers how those tensions might be managed and mitigated, and what each side must do and avoid doing in order to get the most out of the relationship. An effective process starts, she says, before the sales professionals are hired, with a formal assessment of the firm’s practice groups, followed by a careful structuring of the sales position “so the most desirable and profitable business is targeted while firm culture and partner needs and expectations are simultaneously supported.”