Is Business Development More Difficult For Women?
At a recent conference, a female lawyer asked me how they could do BD. The problem, she explained, was that at her firm, all the emphasis was on networking, and, as a young mother with a heavy workload, she found it impossible to attend the after-hours events.
Then another young female lawyer piped up. She could go to networking events, she explained. She just didn’t like them. That’s because she was usually surrounded by a sea of older men in dark suits - a situation she found somewhat intimidating. She also found she had little in common with these guys outside of her work.
But it cuts both ways. That same month, a male veteran firm strategist and professional services industry ‘hall of famer’ said he no longer even attended the annual industry conference. He said the room full of younger, mainly female, professionals made him feel like the ‘creepy old guy’.
I’m keen to hear your views about Business Development for women. That’s why I’ve developed a short survey for those who work in professional services firms …
The Rainmaker Era
Leave people together for any length of time (and, in a lot of professional services firms, people spend a lot of time together), and you’ll end up creating a certain culture. People will begin interacting in a certain way - usually with the subordinates imitating their bosses’ behaviour, dress sense and even language.
I’m a big fan of Michael Lewis’s book, Liar’s Poker, where one of the characters realises the key to getting ahead isn’t to have the best skills or knowledge but to imitate the boss:
This same ‘sameness’ has traditionally spilled over into BD for many firms.
The business development playbook became all about slick-talking, elevator pitches, and, often, let’s face it, hard-drinking. In other words, it was very Alpha male. The professionals were like this; the clients were like this too. And anyone who didn’t fit the template (often women, introverts, family people and non-drinkers) found it difficult.
The Times They Have a Changed…
Even as far back as the 90s, the cracks were appearing for professional services firms.
In her 1999 study, Herminia Ibarra looked at how young professionals adapted to roles by experimenting with ‘provisional selves’ where they trialled their ultimate professional identities.
More than two decades later, academic expert and author Prof Laura Empson, observed that, with the help of Covid, the “concept of the professional ideal has expanded to incorporate people other than white heterosexual middle-class males”. However, she noted that “powerful norms persist about the correct way for professionals to look, speak and dress” (and do Business Development).
How do we identify when we’re working from home, surrounded by reminders of our domestic selves? Do our connections with our employers become less important when we don’t have the status signifiers or harbour view offices and partners’ lunches? When we’re meeting clients virtually from our lounge rooms or kitchens rather than in our firms’ meeting rooms, does it strengthen our personal ties and diminish the organisational ones?
And, most importantly, what does this all mean for how we attract and retain clients?
The New Normal (for Most Firms)
Despite the changing nature of the firm and our relationship with it, the fundamentals of business development still apply: build solid relationships, understand your niche and what makes your market tick; profile your technical or industry expertise so others know what you do; build your reputation in a broader market or ecosystem, and build a track record for doing good work.
How you choose to do this in today’s landscape is personal. We’re all different. Some of us can’t wait to get out of the office and chew the fat over a glass of Pinot or lemonade with clients and peers.
The good thing is that most of us have moved on. We no longer need to give up our already minimal free time to masquerade with business development activities we really don’t enjoy. Clients usually no longer expect us to either.
Many clients now admit they’d prefer a scheduled call rather than a coffee catch-up or a time-boxed meeting rather than a dinner invitation - so they can get home to family or friends for tea.
It’s just that some firms haven’t yet received that memo.
So, if yours is one of them, it’s time to go rogue. But don’t worry - you won’t be alone.
I’m about to guide you through how to do it…
1. Understand What Business Development is All About
Business development for professional service providers is about building up - then shoring up - three fundamental assets you contribute to the firm, namely:
The client relationships you influence
The technical expertise you bring, and
The reputation you have in a market (your ‘pulling’ power).
When you know that all you’re trying to do is to move one or more of these three needles, BD becomes a whole lot easier.
That said, each asset will be more or less important depending on what area you’re working in, and what stage of your career you’re at. For example, if you’re a senior lawyer in M&A then (3) might be most critical. So, you should have an eye on cultivating strategic networks, connected contacts, and maintaining a regular flow of deep industry insights that keep conversations moving.
If you look after the private affairs of individuals, then (1) could be your focus – getting to know clients and their advisors and earning good word-of-mouth. And if you’re in the early stages of your career, you’ll probably be concentrating on building your chops - that is, acquiring the necessary technical skills in (2).
The first step is to work out what needle you’re trying to move.
2. Look for BD Opportunities in Your Comfort Zone
Next, look for the easy wins when it comes to trying to move that needle.
We all have a tribe - or a group of people who share the same interests, ideals or values. Have a think about who those people are for you and how you connect with them.
This is where you’ll feel most comfortable and often get the easiest BD done.
My experience is that the best networking can be done through informal common interest groups. There has been a real proliferation of supportive, niche professional groups on Linked In and Facebook (for example, Mums who are Criminal Lawyers).
These let us talk about things and reveal our personality and intelligence in a way that we may not in a more professional or formal setting.
3. Now Expand Your Comfort Zone
Our comfort zone is, well, comfortable. But staying entirely within it. It can also be a bit limiting if these are your only peeps. So now that we’ve established our comfort zone, it’s time to expand it.
To create even more opportunities, your next task is to focus on your zone of ‘proximal development (or that space where you can do stuff with encouragement from, in collaboration with, capable peers).
Working in this zone - because feeling a little frustrated (or stimulated) is where we learn most and also where we really hit BD home runs.
For instance, put a laser-like focus on your market and the clients, experts and referral sources you enjoy. Think about how they came to your door in the first place – can you replicate or repeat it?
Can you nudge your comfort zone a little further? For example, if you’ve written an article on an emerging trend, could you consider working with a couple of other experts to research a more significant piece?
4. Create Your Own BD Activity
Another approach is to be creative and come up with your own idea for something that’s likely to help with (1), (2) and/or (3).
Who knows? You could even invent the very opportunity others in your market have been waiting for.
As Sarah Martin and Ali Levin from the Said Business School observed: “We suggest women find ways to bring more of themselves to business development and that firms be generous with budgeting for non-traditional and innovative approaches.” (2021)
For example, about a decade ago, a Firm in the New South Wales City of Parramatta noticed professional women's networking events were only held in Sydney CBD. So they started their own in Parramatta. This proved enormously successful, and they began attracting world-class speakers and sponsors.
Another cohort of women in the Canberra consulting sector started meeting for ‘Red Wine and Blockchain’ discussions.
Then there is the niche firm in Western Australia that encourages young professionals to work from co-working spaces inhabited by tech start-ups. This approach to BD lets them be immersed in a completely different world, at least for a while.
Others get great BD done by tying it in with a personal passion. I enjoyed watching a range of professional teams get together over the past three months as they trained for Sydney’s City to Surf Run. Meanwhile, Melbourne has the Midday Milers.
5. Get Your Timing Right
For BD, timing is often everything. Business development is harder for many of us - especially women - at some times of the day, month or year.
It could be harder because you’re buried in a complex matter your focus is laser-like on the job at hand. It could be harder because your confidence has taken a hit after a matter or a case or deal didn’t go your way.
It could be harder when the kids are on school holidays or you’re caring for parents.
That’s why I often like to approach BD in the same way as an advertising campaign. Don’t try to do an hour a day or a week. Go for bursts of action. Then give yourself time to recover and reflect.
You can read more about how to do that here.
6. Build Your Support Base (and Support Others)
Sometimes we encounter very specific problems in our BD ambitions. For women, these can often be tied to a perceived lack of experience, such as when a contact doesn’t trust your smarts because you look too young (even though you have two decades under your belt). They can also be tied to cognitive biases, such as when someone doesn’t trust commercial tenacity because you’re quietly spoken or your sensitivity because you communicate directly.
If you’re working on the edge of your comfort zone, you can overcome these.
That could be by hosting a joint event with one of your existing supporters, in which you show off your insights and intelligence. It could be by writing articles that challenge the status quo or share a view others haven’t thought of. It could be by volunteering your time and services to an NFP or by holding a fundraising activity and asking your clients to join you.
It could even be by turning up to an event that you’d usually run a mile from, but taking a supporter with you.
Your supporter base is fundamental to your BD efforts, and when it comes to building it, the sky is the limit.
What do you think?
Now back to you. I’m keen to hear your views about Business Development for women fee-earners. That’s why I’ve developed this short survey.
I’ll be talking about results and recommendations in an article next month.
I’d love to collaborate with others on this important topic, so let me know if you are interested too.
Want More Right Now?
If you’d really like to know how to give your BD efforts a boost, then you can book a meeting with me on BD45.
If you’d like to know more about how to build a successful practice, get in touch.
Tools, References and Further Reading
Articles by Sue-Ella
Ø 7 Business Development Qualities You Need in a Post-Rainmaker World (2020)
Ø Why The Rainmaker is Dead: The New Rules For Winning Work (2019)
Ø Why Business Development Works Best When You’re in Your Comfort Zone (2017)
Ø Menopause: The Silent Career Killer (2023)
Ashforth B E (2020) Identity and Identification During and After the Pandemic: How Might COVID-19 Change the Research Questions We Ask? Journal of Management Studies, Vol 57, Issue 8 pp 1763-1766
Clapper T C (2015) Co-operative-Based Learning and The Zone of Proximal Development, Simulation & Gaming, 46(2), pp 148-158
Empson, L (2021) Researching the post‐ pandemic professional service firm: Challenging Our assumptions. Journal of Management Studies, 58(5), pp. 1383-1388.
Ibarra H (1999) Provisional Selves: Experimenting with Image and Identity in Professional Adaptation, Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol44, No 4 (December 1999), pp 764-791
International Bar Association Women Lawyer’s Committee: Mentorship Toolkit (September 2022)
Lewis M (1989) Liar’s Poker, W Norton & Company, USA
Martin S & Levin A (2021) Women Lawyers Leading Business Development University of Oxford Faculty of Law Blog
Martin S & Levin A (2020) Leading Lawyers Share Secrets to Business Development For Women, Part 1 & Part 2: American Lawyer.
Network Like A Women Not A Man (2023). ALM report on panel session at the Women, Influence and Power in The Law (WIPL) Conference, London.
Pink D (2013) To Sell Is Human , Riverhead Books, USA.
Tulshyan R & Burey T (2021) Stop Telling Women They Have Imposter Syndrome, Harvard Business Review
Sue-Ella is the Principal of Prodonovich Advisory, a business dedicated to helping professional services practices sharpen their business development practices.
She works with professional services firms that focus on positive client relationships, and with individuals who want personal, intelligent support.
©Prodonovich Advisory. This article was written by a human. Please respect our copyright and the effort taken to produce the original material in this article. This article, and any portion of it, may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author.