February 2020 seems a very long time ago. Few people thought twice about traveling for a conference, and business development in the legal market was most often conducted in person, face-to-face, with handshakes and conviviality doing a portion of the heavy lifting.

When all that became impossible, almost overnight, as the global pandemic surged, companies were forced to adapt quickly. For many, in those initial months, that meant strengthening key relationships rather than necessarily trying to develop new ones.

But now, almost two years down the line, most have developed relationship-building strategies that don’t solely rely on face-to-face meetings, even if many can’t wait to get back in front of people.

Those people who “are taking a head-down approach and waiting until things go back to normal,” may be surprised, said Kathryn Szymczyk, global senior business development manager, Intellectual Property, at Gowling WLG (Canada). “It won’t go back to normal, and that’s a really good thing.”

“As soon as we can, we will take as many people as possible back to conferences,” said Ms. Szymczyk, who is in the uncommon position of having been an IP lawyer before moving into a business development role.

But in Ms. Szymczyk’s view, the old model of business development—going to an event and hoping for the best—was “already an ancient model” even before the pandemic.

“When you’re looking at 10,000 people in a conference, a hope-for-the-best approach is inefficient,” she suggested.

Whether a meeting is in-person or online, you need to have a plan for how to approach things.

Purposeful Engagement

For Ms. Szymczyk, the best approach for business development comes down to ensuring that your actions are “strategic and intentional.” Indeed, that holds true for in-person and online business development.

In an online world, Kim Boyle, senior counsel at Richard Law Group (US), the right strategy means being selective.

“In 2020 we were trying to do as much as we could,” Ms. Boyle explained. “But then I went through a period of culling things from my calendar and asking, ‘What three things are the most important to me?’ This helps me to define what fills my time.”

Ms. Boyle credits this approach with benefiting her practice “in big ways,” and helping her to avoid burnout. Indeed, she ensures as much as possible that she has at least one day per week without any video calls.

But for the right virtual event, the right videoconference, it is worth making the time, she said. While it is difficult at virtual events to replicate the opportunity to have a “like at first sight” engagement with a potential new client, virtual events force you to become “a good listener and think about what you’re hearing,” Ms. Boyle noted.

Ms. Szymczyk explained how Gowling WLG developed a webinar series as part of its strategic business development efforts during the pandemic, in order to engage regularly with clients and allow multiple opportunities for initial engagement that would pave the way for more substantive discussions.

In this online context, follow-up becomes even more important, according to Liad Whatstein, founding partner at Liad Whatstein & Co (Israel). “You have to be more focused when you operate in the virtual universe. It’s no longer a chance meeting, and you have to have purposeful engagements.”

“The key thing for business development in this context is not to be results-oriented in the rudimentary sense. You don’t engage for a very concrete outcome,” he said. “You have to provide value and provide insight, which enables you to create and enjoy personal relationships.”

Take this approach, Mr. Whatstein suggested, and “eventually work will flow in, though it’s essential not to make it a very one-sided relationship.”

Use the Tech

Ms. Szymczyk suggested three key areas in which companies should have changed their business development approach through the pandemic in order for it to be effective—all of which will be maintained when things return to whatever normal looks like.

“The first one is embracing technology that facilitates communications such as videoconferencing or INTAconnect [the matchmaking and scheduling tool INTA is using at the 2021 Annual Meeting Virtual+]. They are tools we should all be using,” she said.

“The legal profession is not special,” she added. “We could and should be using technology, and we’re not going to be able to go back to insisting we do everything in person.”

The second key element of a good business development strategy is to take a more data-driven approach. Ms. Szymczyk pointed to tools “out there right now that we could and should be using” to inform where to focus activity and to analyze performance.

Finally, she said, it’s important that companies think about how they are delivering their services, as well as how they can streamline their practices internally.

“Customers are used to a frictionless service, so we need to be using things such as electronic signature software,” she noted.

“Alternative providers were already knocking on the door before the pandemic, and we have to be able to engage in a digital transformation of the way we interact with our clients.”

It’s one thing deciding to embrace technology to facilitate your business interactions; quite another to use it well.

Gil Peretz, a business and leadership coach who co-founded Positive Chutzpah International (US), has some tips for how to make the most out of your video meetings.

“The first question is how do you look at the camera,” he said. “If you look at another person on screen it will often mean you appear to them as if you’re looking down, because the camera is above the screen.” It’s important to mix things up, he noted, and “look at the camera a lot more.”

Further, Mr. Peretz suggested that video interactions should be more measured. “You should remember that it’s harder for people to recognize the body language and the tonality. You should pace yourself,” he said.

But be careful that measured doesn’t become monotonous, Mr. Peretz cautioned. “The only way you can prevent other people’s minds wandering off when you speak to them is to surprise them,” he said. “In virtual meetings, every six minutes or so, change something in the way you deliver your message. Stand up, use a prop.”

The Other Side of the Fence

Things are different if you work in-house, like Daniel Zohny, head of Intellectual Property, Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) (Switzerland). Unlike at a law firm, there is no business development pressure in the sense of needing to solicit new business or develop client relationships.

“We do business development in the sense that we might look for new providers, new support,” rather than new fee-paying clients, he explained.

“Due to the pandemic, we went to a completely online model. I don’t think I’ve seen any of our external counsel in person since February 2020, apart from our Swiss local counsel,” Mr. Zohny said, noting that the organization’s local counsel network spans 70 countries.

This is in stark contrast to what he said has traditionally been the case—meeting at least once a year at INTA’s Annual Meeting and leveraging it to have more in-depth discussions with external counsel.

Indeed, after an external counsel retired, Mr. Zohny successfully onboarded the person’s overseas replacement entirely remotely during the pandemic.

Widening the Net

For some at least, one unexpected benefit of the move to virtual business operations, including networking, has been the opportunity to involve those who might not otherwise have been able to participate. Not everyone can, or wants to, travel thousands of miles to connect in person: childcare responsibilities, medical issues, or simply the nature of some people’s personalities might mean that networking in the traditional face-to-face sense is more difficult.

Has the pandemic brought opportunities to increase the number of people in a particular organization engaging in business development?

“We have cut down on travel a lot,” Mr. Zohny noted. “Our work used to be very travel-heavy, and we’ve significantly reduced the not-insignificant carbon footprint.”

He also said that not having to travel has enabled FIFA to expose far more staff than previously to international conferences, especially this year’s INTA Annual Meeting.

However, while he appreciates some of the positives brought by the pandemic, Mr. Zohny firmly believes that “nothing replaces face to face,” and fully expects that FIFA will return in at least the same numbers as before when events such as the INTA Annual Meeting resume in person.

It’s been the same at the Richard Law Group. “There has been an opportunity for more people to get involved who wouldn’t normally have an opportunity,” Ms. Boyle noted.

She added: “Many people aren’t comfortable in these environments, for whatever reason. Being in a zone of comfort in your own office can be helpful.”

Ms. Szymczyk agreed, while noting that law firms can be slow to embrace the opportunities that present themselves.

“For parents of young children, and women especially, it could be a great equalizer,” she said. “But that is a mindshift that has yet to happen at law firms. This is a great opportunity to be investing in people who perhaps don’t usually attend conferences, but I’m not sure it’s always being taken advantage of.”

More generally, Ms. Szymczyk thinks that “more business development training is required for younger people in law firms.”

“That requires acknowledging that we don’t learn this in law school, and it’s not something we’re always great at,” she said.

Mr. Whatstein echoed the point, saying: “Lawyers’ education is quite different from the real-life scenarios of business development. There are lots of very good lawyers who don’t know how to cope in this real world where you need to convey your excellence to others.”

Looking to the Future

With some events having already resumed in person, including INTA’s limited-attendance in-person mini-conferences as part of the Annual Meeting Virtual+, it would be easy to treat the last two years as a blip. And it’s certainly true that there is widespread appetite for a return to face-to-face business development.

While Mr. Whatstein noted that in-person engagement can be more productive, he said that moving business development online might save him time and money, as much as a month every year in travel time.

However, unlike some other events, he said that “the flair” of INTA’s Annual Meeting is its in-person element, and so he expects people to return in large numbers.

But while the new normal may end up looking quite like the old normal in some ways, Ms. Boyle suggested that “a permanent shift to the way we were” is very unlikely.

Ms. Szymczyk believes that a hybrid model is here to stay, and that tools such as INTAconnect continue to play an important role in building business relationships.

Further, the return to in-person business development won’t give rise to a free-for-all. “Slowly we were starting to require people to make business cases and report on successes of their business development trips,” she said. “The tools we’ve had to bring in will continue.”

Ultimately, a balance of face-to-face meetings and virtual connecting may be the look of the new normal.

As Ms Szymczyk said: “Our business is all about relationships,” and IP professionals will do what needs to be done to most effectively undertake their business development. The pandemic has changed those models, in many ways for the better, but the end goal remains exactly the same.”

To dive deeper into this issue, attend Leadership Plus Relationships = New Models for Business Development (today, November 17, 10:00 am–11:00 am EST).

Moderators:

• Kim Boyle, senior counsel, Richard Law Group (US)
• Liad Whatstein, founding partner, Liad Whatstein & Co. (Israel)

Speakers:

• Gil Peretz, co-founder, Positive Chutzpah International (US)
• Kathryn Szymczyk, global senior business development manager, Intellectual Property, Gowling WLG (Canada)
• Daniel Zohny, head of Intellectual Property, Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) (Switzerland)

Video courtesy of Envato Elements / vectorfusionart