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We spoke with Ben Paul, Founder of the BD Ladder, a BD & Marketing consultancy based in New Zealand.
Ben has a wealth of BD experience having worked in Minter Ellison Rudd Watts, Kensington Swan, and overseeing them combining with Dentons and rebranding to Dentons Kensington Swan.
Ben started out his professional career back in London as a B2B sales executive, selling into the C-Suite. He began his career in professional services with Grant Thornton, as they were looking to hire BD Managers who could coach and advise their partners how to sell. Ben’s background in sales was different to their previous hires and helped change the way BD interacted with the partners as he could advise from a position of having made cold calls and closed deals. This led to him moving to NZ and a career which has seen him work with many law firms. Throughout his career he’s provided practical BD / Sales advice to many legal practitioners.
The discussion covers:
- Lack of BD training for lawyers
- What not to talk about in client meetings
- Tip 1 – Get them talking
- Tip 2 – Listening
- Tip 3 – Confirm next steps
- Advice for BD teams preparing coaching/training sessions
Q&A Session covers:
- Wasted time during meetings
- Recommended training for new lawyers
- Who shouldn’t be in the first meeting
- How to discuss fees and pricing
- Bad client red flags
- Role of BD Manager in client meetings