Ep.77 - "A Fresh Approach to Lateral Partner Recruiting" with Scott Love
In this episode of the Market Leaders Podcast, David Ackert chats with Scott Love, President of The Attorney Search Group and a leading authority in legal recruiting, about three critical firm growth strategies: encouraging lawyers to expand their books of business through their referral network, through prospecting, and through lateral recruiting. Scott shares his expertise on how firms can overcome impediments to progress by building trust with clients, making people feel safe, prioritizing sincerity and authenticity, ensuring their efforts are regular and consistent, and always keeping the best interests of their clients top of mind.
David and Scott also discuss the inherently challenging social experience of integrating new team members and the importance of overcoming our natural tendencies towards distrust.
Tune in to hear Scott share his perspective on:
The three key ways firms can grow
The importance of referrals in establishing safety and trust
Direct vs. inbound prospecting
Striking a balance between being business-minded and relationship-minded
How firms can leverage lateral recruiting effectively
The necessity of a strong integration process, and how it can become a key selling point for a law firm
Below is a recap of the podcast, “Taking a Fresh Approach to Partner Lateral Recruiting”:
Scott began his career as a recruiter in 1995 when much of his job was faxing resumes. Prior to that he was a naval officer and was in telecom sales.
He said in his Navy and sales roles he learned some good fundamentals about how to build connections with people and how to get them comfortable with moving forward and closing the sale. He shared, “And that’s really what recruiting is. There’s a lot of salesmanship with it. I got into legal in about 2009 or 2010, and my company, The Attorney Search Group, recruits partners, does group placements and mergers, and small firm into large firm mergers and acquisitions.”
David noted that talent acquisition is currently very top-of-mind and will likely continue to be as firms look for opportunities to both grow into new areas and to grow top line revenue.
He added there are typically three ways to grow a firm: by encouraging lawyers to grow their books of business through their referral network, by encouraging them to grow their books of business through prospecting, and through lateral recruiting. Asking about the first, David invited Scott to talk about what types of attitudes he encounters and what types of things rainmakers say when it comes to growing their books of business through their referral networks.
Growing a Book of Business Through a Referral Network
Scott said, “I think it has to do with understanding what their value is in terms of solving problems for clients and helping those people that are potential referring partners know how to articulate that to a prospect. The whole idea of referrals is interesting because just because you don’t know me, doesn’t mean that I don’t have any value. I could be selling you a winning lottery ticket, and if you don’t know me, you feel unsafe. So, a referral helps people feel safe. That’s just the way we are, the way we’re guarded.”
He continued, “High-level prospects especially have got a lot of people trying to sell them things all the time and they have much more robust walls they’ve built to keep people out. So, because there’s a connection, because there’s someone that is a shared common friend or even just an acquaintance, that’s enough to get people to feel safe where they bring the walls down and they’re much more open-minded about purchasing services.”
Scott shared that he thinks it’s critical that an attorney knows their value, the problem that they solve, what’s different about them compared to everyone else, and what they can say about what they do that nobody else can say. He added, “And then, they need to help those people that are potential referring sources understand how to articulate that to prospects. Those are some of the things that I’ve seen among rainmakers that really understand business development and how they get business through referrals.”
Scott noted that a referral is essentially borrowing trust and there’s risk associated with it for the person who is doing the referring. Also, the rainmaker being referred is being trusted not to embarrass the person referring them and not to do anything in any way that would harm the referring person by introducing the rainmaker to their network.
David pointed out that at small or mid-size firms, the referral source is often external to the firm, such as CPA or lawyer in a non-competing practice, but as the firms grow, the referral network is almost exclusively internal – for example, cross-selling between practice areas and between departments. And in either case, the referral source must understand what the person asking for the referral does and must be able to articulate it on their behalf, and the referral source must trust them enough to be willing to bring them into their clients or their projects.
Growing a Book of Business Through Prospecting
“I’ve seen that we can look at two different ways of prospecting,” Scott commented. “One of them is where you’re not necessarily reaching out to them to sell them your service. You’re reaching out to them because you’d like to interview them for an article you’re writing or interview them because of some sort of non-business development reason that gets them to bring the wall down, so they feel safe. Or you’d like to interview them and have them on your podcast related to this. Or you’re sitting on a panel, and you’re going to have them sit and attend as a panelist on the panel you’re facilitating.”
He continued, “It’s looking for non-business development ways to connect with people that could lead to relationships. I think you have to earn the right to build them – it can’t just be something that’s quick and contrived. It has to be authentic and it can take time. But it’s reaching out to someone for a non-business development issue, even though you know at some point you may have the chance to present your opportunity to them.”
Scott then spoke about the second type of prospecting. He explained, “You’re going to speak on a panel at a conference, you’re going to write a white paper, or you’re going to be a guest on a podcast. Those are the things that you can do that can get a call – you’re prospecting that way also.”
He added, “And whether it’s avenue number one or avenue number two, it’s people that have a written plan and that do something with regularity – whether it’s weekly or daily or monthly – that excel. One successful young partner told me that his goal was to have 50 connections with people that can lead him to business opportunities. When I ask him how he came up with that number he said it’s one a week.”
Being Both Business- and Relationship-Minded
Scott went on to share, “One thing I’ve noticed is that once you have your funnel filled, you’ve got momentum, and you’re doing well, you don’t feel the pressure anymore to close the sale or get the matter. And, you also find that you actually develop a natural curiosity about other people. I think having that sincere curiosity is disarming to people. Do you have an agenda? Absolutely. We’re all in business and all have an agenda, but we don’t have to do it. And I think having that particular antenna up, where you are looking for potential opportunities and you’re going to harvest those in the service of your clients, I think that is a good balance.”
He continued, “That’s something I’ve noticed in my own experience. I tell partners that realtors don’t sell every house they show. They just talk with people, and if they can help them, great. If they can’t, they’re still glad to be a resource for them. Not having that pressure really moves the relationship forward because nobody likes to be pushed or manipulated, but people are happy to follow someone they trust. It’s about having that balanced approach, getting good at it, and realizing it’s a skill that anybody can learn.”
Lateral Partner Recruiting
David asked Scott to speak about lateral recruiting, which is what he is frequently engaged in, noting that it’s not just a firm buying a book of business, but also buying the lawyer’s network, area of expertise, and perhaps regional influence.
He commented, “I’ve seen lateral recruiting evolve over the years. It used to be a firm liking another firm’s partner who has a $5 million book of business, without even being sure what he does. And now I’m truly impressed that a lot of the firms that I work closely with have matured. They’ve gotten more effective at really understanding what their priorities are and why.”
He continued, “Opportunistic hires do work. Sometimes you get lucky and find someone that happens to have a shared client and that could actually fit the firm. But I think understanding what the priorities are from the big picture and looking at what practices and industries and needs of clients someone can solve should be the priority. It should be looking at a new partner or group leader where it’s not necessarily just about the top-line revenue. Instead, it’s about the potential of bringing the person in, where you can cross-pollinate each other’s opportunities.”
Scott shared a story. “I remember meeting with an Am Law 100 chairman. It was the first time I was ever dealing with someone at that level. I was told he was going to be here in Washington and wanted to meet me! I was so excited, and when I was in the waiting area, the firm’s recruiter walked out. She greeted me, and as we were walking in, she told me I have 30 minutes. And I realized this was going to be a shootout, a beauty contest. There were two other people just like me after me.”
He continued, “And that just changed everything. So, I remember asking the chairman, if my recruiting firm could solve his biggest growth challenge and achieve a certain result in the next three years, what would that look like? And he told me. Then I asked him how that would impact his legacy as chairman. He really took that to heart, and he was very serious about it. He told me he wanted to leave the firm much better than the way he found it because he truly cared about his partners. I think just asking him that question, I earned the trust to go a little bit deeper. And I remember then explaining to him that this isn’t just top-line revenue. I told him he is using lateral partner recruiting as an effective client development tool, and it was almost like he’d never considered that before.”
He went on to explain that lateral recruiting is not just about the revenue. It’s not just the partner coming in. The partner has developed trust with a cadre of C-suite executives over the past few decades. And what the firm is really getting is the trust of the new partner to ask his or her clients to follow them to the firm because it’s going to be better for them.
Scott noted that when a new lateral starts at a firm, the firm must look for ways to cross-pollinate and have a good plan for integrating them in. He said, “Firms have gotten more sophisticated. Some have a full-time integration director. They’re not one person doing two jobs. Their full-time job is integrating people in and having a granular look at the business case. There are a lot of variables that have to align, and the goal shouldn’t just be to get the lateral’s books of business and grow a little. It’s got to be something that’s synergistic over the next few years. It’s going to be good for you, and it’s going to be good for the firm. But most importantly, it has to be good for the clients.”
Scott shared another story. “I had one partner who’d gotten multiple offers. I presented him to four firms, and he got offers from two of them, both of which were my clients. Whenever that happens, I tell my clients that the person’s looking at other options so there are no surprises. The partner asked me which firm he should choose, and I was getting paid on either one. I told him I never answer that question because I don’t want to get blamed if it doesn’t work out. Instead, I asked which firm would be best for his clients. Instantly, that was the firm that he went to, and he’s doing very well there. So, it’s all about the clients. When you bring new partners in, it’s not just about how the firm is going to harvest revenue, it’s how the new partner is going to succeed, and how that hire is going to improve the condition of the firm’s clients. When you have that perspective, I don’t think you can ever go wrong.”
Effective Integration
David asked Scott to talk about what makes an effective integration.
He replied, “Knowing what metrics are measurable as you go forward and coming up with certain benchmarks and making sure you’re hitting them. Examples might be the number of introductions they make or the number of meetings they get with current clients. Just don’t wait 18 months and then discover the business didn’t come over like you thought it would. Check in every week or every two weeks. Have a checklist that goes over your process.”
Scott shared that when he was 24 after he finished his sea duty tour in the Navy, he was a leadership development trainer at the world’s largest naval base in Norfolk, Virginia. The Navy had an initiative called Total Quality Leadership, which derived from total quality management methods. He said, “So, at a young age, I learned, by being a trainer and teaching people statistical process control and using fancy charts and graphs, how to measure. And anything you measure can improve over time. We have to look at a law firm as a business because it is, and all the different components the same way a really smart businessperson would if it were their company.”
He continued, “So then how do we get better odds of a successful lateral hire? It’s looking for what I call connection points. Who are the people that a new partner knows within the firm? For example, I had a group and I presented several different firm options to him. And through a tool I use, I found out who he knew within the firms that I presented to him. That made him feel safe. When a partner knows three or four people in one of the firms that I suggest to him he feels safe. So, I think we can do the same thing from a client development perspective. How do we get our clients to feel safe about a new lateral partner coming into the firm? What are the connection points so you can sync a partner quickly and deeply into the firm.”
“If I were King, the chairman of a law firm,” Scott said, “I would have my own logo for our integration process created with our firm logo attached to it. And I would even have my trademark people trademark the brand associated with our process. Some firms have such a good process that their process itself is a key selling point that distinguishes them from the199 other law firms who want that person. If you look at what gets you the most bang for the buck, it’s lateral partner recruiting in terms of new clients coming in because the trust is there. There’s no disputing that trust is the most important thing we have to have a client, and it’s the same with lateral partner recruiting. Make that a priority, and you’ll have more business than you can handle. That’s my promise.”
