Heard On Lawyers Weekly: Let’s Talk About Asking For Work
By Sue-Ella Prodonovich | March 2026
Key takeaways
Asking for work is one of the most important skills in a professional’s BD toolkit, and one of the least practised.
The discomfort can be managed with the right mindset and approach.
Sue-Ella joined The Boutique Lawyer Show on Lawyers Weekly to unpack the topic in a 24-minute conversation with Jerome Doraisamy.
Listen to the full episode below, or read the original article for a deeper dive.
Asking for work. Those three words are enough to produce a mild wave of anxiety. The moment feels high-stakes. The relationship feels fragile. And so the ask never quite gets made.
It’s a topic I’ve written about, workshopped, and coached practitioners through for years. So when Lawyers Weekly invited me onto The Boutique Lawyer Show to talk about it, I said yes immediately.
The episode, “Being Comfortable Asking For Work”, runs just under 24 minutes. You can listen right here.
What we covered
We talked through why the ask feels so hard. For example, the fear of damaging the relationship, the worry about appearing desperate, the old-fashioned belief that good work should simply sell itself. (It doesn’t always).
We also explored what happens when you reframe the moment. Asking for work isn’t a transaction. Done well, it’s an invitation to deepen a relationship that already has value on both sides.
There’s also a practical dimension. Who do you ask? When? How do you open the conversation without it feeling like a pitch? We covered all of that.
Where to go next
If you’d like to read more on the topic, my article How to Ask for Work goes into more depth on the mindset and the mechanics. It’s a good companion piece to the episode.
And if you’d like to work through this with your team, whether that’s building confidence in BD conversations or developing individual plans, I’d love to hear from you.
One final thought
The professionals who are best at asking for work aren’t the most extroverted ones. They’re the ones who’ve thought carefully about their relationships, who understand the value they bring, and who’ve made a habit of staying close to their clients.
That’s a skill. And like most skills, it gets easier with practice.
Want more?
If you’d like to talk about BD capability in your firm, email Sue-Ella or get in touch.
References & further reading
Sue-Ella’s articles
• Win More Work from Your Existing Clients
External references
• The Boutique Lawyer Show, Lawyers Weekly Podcast Network
About Sue-Ella
Sue-Ella is the Principal of Prodonovich Advisory, a business dedicated to helping professional services practices sharpen their business development practices.
She works with law and accounting firms on Business Development strategy and support structures, leadership and professional-development programs, and designing client-listening initiatives.
She also co-facilitates firm planning retreats and delivers public workshops such as Business Skills for Lawyers.
Through her BD45™ service, she assists individuals with their personal business-development plans.
Connect on LinkedIn or visit prodonovich.com.au
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