A brief chat with... Todd Felts

Legal Marketing speaks to the newly appointed director of business development at US firm Ogletree Deakins

As the firm’s first director of business development, what do you think is going to be your biggest challenge?
Building upon the culture in the firm – one that supports our established marketing efforts, but at the same time helps lawyers continue cross-selling opportunities and increases invitations to submit request-for-proposals. As with any large organisation, building relationships, both internally and externally, early will be essential.

Your previous roles have been quite varied, including working as a consultant at Levick Strategic Communications. What talents do you think you bring to this role?
Levick helped me understand the business of law firms and the unique challenges they face in building business and communicating their success. It also helped me learn to analyse which issues cause companies the most concern. My experience in politics and media relations should help us take complex information and communicate it in way that current and potential clients can understand.

As business development continues to mature, what changes do you think you will see in your role?
I think it’ll be more business focused. We’ll be tasked with figuring out cost-effective strategies for large employers in regards to their legal work, then communicating those strategies effectively.
As much as marketing has taken centre stage at firms in the past ten years, business development has now taken a seat at the boardroom table. It is a key element of any growing firm and business-development professionals will need to understand the unique ways of selling legal services – and how organisations purchase them.

What are you looking forward to the most?
Unlike many firms of our size, we have a shareholder who is working on marketing and business development 100 per cent of the time, and a managing shareholder who understands the importance of both functions. I’m looking forward to working with both individuals, because these commitments are invaluable when trying to build on new-business development and responding to a market that requires creative billing, while maintaining a high level of legal services.

How will you balance the marketing/communications and business development/sales aspects of your role?
Without a strong marketing and communications programme, business development and sales cannot work. There has to be an integration of both. Good business decisions, messages and tactics created to sell the firm must be echoed in all marketing activities.