Christine S. Filip is an attorney and the president of The Success Group in Manhattan, a company that provides outsourced marketing, public relations and management consulting to law firms. Her book, Effective Marketing for Lawyers, is published by the New York State Bar Association. Her column appears regularly in New Jersey Lawyer. Although no one would admit it, more than a few competent attorneys have been known to wince when the idea of doing a sales call has been suggested as part of their marketing planning. Let's take an alternative view for a moment.
Sales is merely the last stage of the marketing process.
A sales call per se is not a solicitation in many situations. It is not enough to review past history or chat with colleagues about an upcoming sales call. If a sales call is viewed as 100 minutes of explanation, effective competitors spend 60-plus of those minutes learning about the buyer and the competition. I would want to look at industry news, company news and financials, including SEC filings. During the sales call, the firm found it had received no work on the international side because the decision-maker did not know of the firm's previous history or expertise.