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From a business development standpoint, Scott Love views the current pandemic crisis as an opportunity.
“I knew that when a big pile of manure has popped in front of you, there's a pony around here somewhere,” says Love, who runs a company called The Attorney Search Group in Washington, D.C. “There's going to be some sort of solution. And I found it. It was a change in my strategy.”
Love was one of several leaders of professional service and technology service firms that recently gathered in a roundtable I convened for forbes.com to discuss changes in rainmaking strategy during new reality of COVID-19. The full roundtable discussion can be viewed here.
Love, who recruits partners and helps with law firm mergers, was forced to cut out the business travel in search of clients.
“I couldn't believe how much I was spending on planes, nice dinners and fancy hotels, and I only wish I was now losing the weight,” says Love.
In these uncertain times, there is something all businesses need: more clients. Many leaders are searching for ways to connect with clients and become influential during the new business reality.
Sure, there are big winners during the pandemic such as Zoom, LinkedIn and toilet paper. However, there are opportunities for most professionals and consultants if they pivot strategies.
“We are really learning to navigate this online Zoom reality that we're in and figuring it out for our clients,” says Jean Freeman, principal and CEO of Zambezi, a Culver City, California based firm, which is the largest female-owned advertising agency in America. “We're advising our clients, from a business development standpoint, now is the time to really look at new types of targets and assess the viability of reaching new consumers, because again, consumer behavior is changing so drastically.”
None of the roundtable participants were suggesting to just hunker down and hope the pandemic blows over.
“Now's the time to really look at opportunities in the market and a fully funded and aggressive approach to business development is a big part of that,” says Emily Borders, co-founder and co-principal of Highwire Public Relations of San Francisco.
Borders is looking hard at connecting with prospects through virtual events. “Clearly we're not getting on a plane anytime soon.”
Borders’ target industries, healthcare and technology, have been driven by events that are not happening in any of the ways they did before.
“We're really exploring how to connect virtually with our prospects, how we can make the most of virtual events, and helping our clients navigate that in the same way,” adds Borders.
Because industry events are going virtual, rainmakers are having to adjust tactics to attract prospects and cement client relationships. Gone are the days of just showing up and networking your way to success.
“That means getting in there early, offering insights, building those personal and individual connections, not just at the day of the virtual event, but leading up to and around, and then after those virtual activations,” says Border. “And that will likely be a focus through at least the next year.”
The new reality requires new strategies. For example, random sponsorships are out, says Chad Hetherington, CEO of The Stable, a consumer brand agency with offices in Minneapolis, Seattle, and Austin, Texas.
“We've just been a lot more strategic as it relates to how we allocate dollars in terms of our overall company business development strategy,” says Hetherington. “And so that's limited our costs and spending as well there.”
A common theme from the rainmakers was to get better at using visual tools like Zoom.
“The pandemic has necessitated us being creative and increasing our way to use Zoom and every other platform available to stimulate community engagement and outreach and make people feel that their voice in a process is still available when it's not necessarily in person,” said Derek Danziger, president of the San Diego public relations firm Katz & Associates.
For years Danziger has done a great deal of media crisis training for clients.
“One of the things I never trained about was the potential of a global pandemic happening,” says Danziger. “It was the one thing that wasn't on my crisis list. And I need to adjust that now.”
