Build Your Book came about from seeing how professional service firms are broken from the inside. We spent the time to interview and survey close to 100 professionals across the US & Canada in firms both large and small. We saw that things were broken for clients as well as the people within the firm itself.
We started Build Your Book as a response to these challenges.
The Problems of Large Firms
In large firms, we saw an uncertain path forward. Associates are getting burned out at increasingly alarming rates. Rates of mental health issues, stress, and anxiety are at all time highs. In addition, there is less certainty than ever before. Associates spend a long time working with the hope of being promoted to partner one day. Once they do become promoted, they are faced with the added pressure of bringing in business. This is a skill that few of them are trained in.
We noticed that training sessions taught at large firms were inadequate. They would have former lawyers coming in and sharing the same tired tips: write more content, attend more conference, shake your hands more firmly. People would leave these seminars with little actionable insights. If the ideas were actionable, they were disjointed from any systematic way of doing business development. Lawyers also complained that with their unpredictable schedules, they needed a lot more hands on coaching/training.
We aim to fix all this. First, we give lawyers hands on training that they need. We give senior associates and junior partners the training they need to move further along in their careers at their firms. We do it on their schedule, and give them real hands on training that they need.
What’s more, we have gone well beyond the tired practices that others have been teaching but which are a decade or two behind. We rely on tools and technologies to make business development easier and more manageable than ever before so that lawyers can do it without burning out, authentically, and in bite-sized chunks.
The Problems of Solo Practitioners and Small Firms
Solo practitioners and small firms do not face the challenge of advancing within their firm. Their problems are more urgent and immediate. They wear too many hats, face large cycles of feast and famine (unpredictable billings), and face stiff competition.
They needed hands on training, but they also needed to reclaim their time from the day to day hassle. They wanted to wear less hats and do their work, and get back home at a reasonable time.
Build Your Book helps them with training and by introducing a completely new model to help them build their practice in the way they like. We are pioneers in the Fractional BDO space. This is where a small law firm can get an experienced Chief Business Development Officer without the payroll and expenses associated with one. A Fractional BDO works part time with you on a contract or retainer basis to handle all of the business development functions of your practice.
The Problems of Clients
Whether it be with big or small firms, clients are confused and frustrated with the value they’re getting from law firms.
Corporations are more open to switching law firms or spreading their bet across multiple firms as time goes on. Increasingly, software is replacing lawyers for routine work as well. For regular people off the street, software and DIY tools, paralegals and notaries are handling much of the routine work as well.
In face of such challenges, lawyers routinely face tough questions about what really sets them apart, how they can maintain a book of business in this world of changing priorities.
When faced with such challenges, we believe that it isn’t time to double down on the old way of doing things.
This new landscape demands a new way of doing business. It signals a need to evolve. At the heart of our work, we are trying to help lawyers build this new type of practice. This new type of practice has more transparency and value for the client, while giving lawyers back control over their time, position, and financial destiny.
Our training is constantly evolving since we work hands on with lawyers and see the challenges across the industry up close as well as up high.
Work with us to experience the difference yourself. As the only firm in the industry that offers money back guarantees for our services, you have nothing to lose by reaching out to us.
Contact us today to get started