Data-driven sales

Within law firms of all sizes, the data-driven business development function is on the rise - with increasing numbers of business development and marketing professionals using data to support their work and business objectives. And that is because, whereas once sales was seen as an art it can now feel a great deal more like a science.

Business development leadership and their teams are increasingly reliant on data to respond to changing buyer behavior, a rapidly shifting and competitive market, and an increased need for speed, accuracy, and completeness in support and collateral.

The challenge

The challenge for business development and marketing professionals is not that their firms do not have data (or that they do not have the skills to use that data), but that they have so much of it - and it is rarely aligned, accessible, accurate, or actionable. It is for this reason that the path to truly data-driven decision making can often appear long and complex - seemingly without end.

As a result, most firms put off the necessary work and make a promise to begin at some point in the future. Of course, the process becomes neither shorter nor simpler with the passage of time. Indeed, it becomes more arduous and avoiding the issue is not an option since opportunities for business development and marketing professionals to do more, add value, and function as strategic advisors to the firm are missed. All while competitors are making moves.

The benefit of getting started

The most typical reason for failed data-led initiatives within firms is an attempt to swallow the data challenge whole. Just because the journey towards being data-driven can appear to be long and complex does not mean initial steps should not be taken, nor that those initial steps should not provide meaningful improvements in a sales and marketing team’s ability to use data.