The numbers are often ugly. The competition is fierce … and resources are stretched drum tight. This is the reality of a modern legal marketer and not much rosier on the law firm business development side. A recent business development-focused survey produced by LexisNexis found that marketing and business development were the hardest-hit elements of law firm business. With that being said, differentiation occurred when comparing high growth/ high performing firms with no-growth firms. High-growth firms are projecting growth of 38% in business development spend in 2021/22, compared to 15% projections, while their no-growth counterparts are looking at just 10% spend increases.
BTI Consulting’s recent survey of more than 300 legal marketers shows that since May 2020, the typical law firm is winning 26% of RFPs, down from 32% before the pandemic. Simultaneously, BTI, LexisNexis and others are reporting RFP request rates doubling and even tripling in some instances.
