Every litigator can tell you stories of being reminded by a judge that your clients are clients of the firm, not an individual attorney. Usually this comes up when you try and reschedule a trial that the judge just calendared for the same week you planned that family vacation to Europe. While that's an inconvenient lesson, that same judge just gave you a valuable reminder about successfully harvesting the low hanging fruit of business development. Big accounting and consulting firms grow in double digits every year not because they acquire many new clients but because they continue to sell services into their existing client base. Providing a new service to an existing client is the easiest sale to make, and it is estimated that law firms may be able to increase their revenue by as much as one-third with an effective cross selling program.

Cross-selling techniques include:

  1. Knowing your clients' business – beyond the matter that is in front of you. One of the best ways to obtain new business is by having the knowledge of your clients' business that will enable you to recognize that there is a need. Displaying a knowledge and concern about your clients' business also will engender confidence in you and your firm.
  2. You can't completely cross-sell services outside your firm until you understand the inside your firm. It sounds odd, but we are constantly amazed at how little knowledge individual attorneys have about the capabilities of other attorneys at their firms. The simple reason for this problem is that there is almost no effort at most law firms to market firm capabilities internally. In order for any cross-selling program to be successful, it is critically important to develop a firm-wide understanding of your firm's practice capabilities. This includes preparing and sharing written practice descriptions and getting practice groups together for internal informational sessions on current hot legal topics.
  3. Educating your clients about your firm's capabilities is the next step to successful cross-selling. The next time you take a client to lunch – and you should on a regular basis – bring along a colleague with a different specialty that may be relevant to your client's business. You'll know who to bring because of all your hard work at getting to know your client's business (see no. 1 above) and your own firm's capabilities (see no. 2 above). Let the conversation drift over to your partner's specialty and offer to take a look at a problem without charge. Getting in the door and showing your stuff is another key to successful cross-selling.
  4. Bring out the big guns. Schedule breakfasts, lunches and one-on-one meetings your clients and your firm's management. Managing partners and management committees should be your firm's biggest cheerleaders. They also should have the most big picture knowledge of your firm's practice. These sessions should be more about listening to the clients rather than selling.
  5. Sharing is good for you. Most importantly, firm management needs to foster and nurture a "sense of firm." Historically most lawyers have concentrated on building their own practice, without much thought about what was good for the firm as a whole. Today, law firms MUST operate more like traditional businesses. In order to survive in this competitive environment it is important for firm management to encourage partners to work together on cross-selling initiatives, and to reward them when they do.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.