Pitching for work is a fact of life for all commercial law firms and for many it is their most significant source of new business opportunities. The chance to pitch against other firms for a piece of work, or a place on a panel, is often the last stage in the new business cycle. The firm’s partners may have spent months, or even years, cultivating key contacts at the prospective client, identifying their needs, and positioning the firm as a potential provider of legal advice.
Unfortunately, all too often, this hard work is wasted and the pitch lost because the firm fails to get its act together. Everything is left to the last minute, with insufficient time to prepare properly; the firm lacks a real understanding of the prospective client’s needs; the pitch ‘team’ fails to act as a team; and, most crucially, the firm fails to identify and/or communicate a winning proposition.
