Our partners are concerned with current clients, as they should be. Partners are very good at nurturing a relationship once it's handed to them. These buyers are sending out RFPs and contacting vendors, forcing them to compete against each other. These are 'sole sourced' projects where there are no competitors. The likelihood of winning an RFP is much lower, because you'll be one of seven competitors in the RFP - which will come in on Friday night and be due Monday morning.
Marketing paves the way for sales.
This is accomplished with marketing programs such as events, sales collateral, targeted mailings, proposal support, advertising, publications and promotions. Andersen devotes nearly 1,000 people to marketing. At some point, the business developer hands off the account to the technical expert. They are so good, that in fact five business developers became partners at Andersen after they joined the firm. Larry Bodine is operator of the LawMarketing Portal and editor of LegalBiz Online.