Cross

Developing the Next Generation of Rainmakers Cross-Selling: A Plan That Just May Work When I was a Jenkens and Gilchrist partner, our firm hired a consulting firm and paid them a lot of money to mostly tell us what we already knew. One consultant told me I should “sell” our labor and employment lawyers and our environmental lawyers to my construction contractor clients. I replied that if we wanted my construction contractor clients to hire our lawyers in those two practice groups, the lawyers must first demonstrate their expertise and knowledge of the construction industry legal issues. Later at a firm meeting the consultants shared their findings. After hearing our firm’s consultants talk about how we needed to “further penetrate” our clients,  I created a short plan I called a cross-serving plan. Take a look at my thoughts and use them as a foundation to create a plan for your firm. Objective: To expand relationships with your existing clients and provide services you are not currently providing. Main Point:  Selling will not work.  Clients do not want to be sold. They want to buy, but only what they want and need. In order to get clients to buy other services, you must thoroughly understand their business, their perspective and their views of lawyers and of your firm. Here are some steps to follow:. I practiced law for 37 years developing a national construction law practice representing some of the top highway and transportation construction contractors in the US.