Questions Every Law Firm Business Development Leader Should Be Asking

Firmwide Strategy and Audit

• How does work come into the firm, and are there bottlenecks or inefficiencies that could be addressed? Streamlining business development is critical: high-growth firms outpace competitors by more than five times when they actively evaluate and improve intake processes. Over 40% of firms cite client experience breakdowns at intake and handoff as a direct risk to growth.
• How are teams incentivized to collaborate, rather than compete, for new business? Collaboration across practice groups isn’t just a “nice to have” — it is linked to dramatic revenue gains. When two or more practices collaborate on an account, annual client revenue can triple; yet, 84% of firms admit to missing out on cross-selling and collaborative opportunities, forfeiting up to 12.5% of yearly revenue.
• Where are the greatest gaps in our services, and how do we identify and fill them before losing clients to other firms? Losing a client to incomplete service offerings is more costly than ever. More than 50% of clients report switching firms because they found another provider with broader or deeper expertise. Firms investing 16.5% of revenue into marketing and client experience are substantially more likely to retain clients for cross-practice work than those spending less than 5%.
• Is our digital presence — web bios, practice descriptions, client stories — as compelling and informative as it could be for prospective clients?
  An astonishing 85% of clients use Google as their first resource when choosing a lawyer or law firm, and 75% of attorneys rate their website as their most effective marketing asset. Updating bios and client case studies leads to direct increases in organic web leads, which can grow by 21% with focused optimization efforts.​

Practice Groups and Service Delivery

• Do practice leaders know the firm’s ideal client profile, and how do they tailor their message by audience and target? Data-driven targeting pays dividends — firms emphasizing tailored business development experience 20% annual compound growth, versus near-zero growth for firms without focused client profiles. Without alignment, marketing dollars are at risk of being diluted across too many initiatives.
• Are our marketing dollars being spent in a way that builds value for current and future clients, or are resources wasted on “random acts of marketing”? Marketing ROI is measurable: the three-year average marketing ROI for law firms is 526%. However, only 47% of lawyers have an annual marketing budget, and unfocused spending on digital or print ads can drain resources without boosting revenue.
• What systems exist for tracking who is pitching, what’s being said, and how conflicts or approvals are managed for pitch teams? As pitch activity multiplies, firm leaders need visibility into who is representing the brand and what messages are being used. Firms with robust CRM and pitch tracking can reduce duplication, improve messaging alignment, and grow win rates by up to 15%.

Attorney Engagement and Client Experience

• What percentage of attorney time is spent on business development and non-billable activities, and how does this impact morale and realization rates? Non-billable business development can consume 10–15% of attorney hours. When mismanaged, it drains morale and profitability. Clear plans and training drive up realization; in some studies, firms that formalized attorney business development saw revenue increase by up to 36%.
• Do attorneys have formal business plans, and are junior attorneys or diverse team members given opportunities to participate in client pitches? Only one in five firms regularly include associates se lawyers in major client outreach, even as clients report prioritizing diversity in their panel decisions. Inclusive business development builds cultural strength and future firm leadership.
• How does the client experience map from intake through invoicing, and are we leveraging client feedback to improve retention and win rates? More than half of law firms do not consistently solicit formal client feedback, though those who do enjoy retention rates 20% higher on average. A seamless and client-focused process is a major competitive differentiator.

Experience Management and Technology

• Is the firm’s experience — by deal, case, industry, or client — centralized and easily searchable for pitches and proposals? Attorneys spend up to 10% of working hours searching for relevant matter experience, an inefficiency that digital experience management platforms readily solve. Top firms invest in centralized knowledge management, which saves billable time and sharpens their competitive edge.
• What improvements are needed in technology (CRM, experience management, marketing analytics) to better support cross-practice and cross-office business development? High-growth firms are nearly twice as likely to invest in data analytics, CRM, and marketing automation compared to average firms. Technology integration supports both scalability and smarter client targeting.
• Are key data points at intake and billing integrated with marketing and business development efforts to inform strategy? Bringing intake, matter, and billing data into marketing empowers leaders to spot trends, cross-sell opportunities, and measure initiative real ROI. Use of data-driven insights differentiates top performing firms, as shown by industry benchmarks.

Go-to-Market, Feedback, and Continuous Improvement

• How are pitch teams selected, and is there a clear process for rehearsing and providing feedback to improve outcomes? Well-rehearsed pitch teams, guided by feedback loops, see win rates improve by 15% or more. Without formal selection and feedback, even sophisticated firms can lose to better prepared competitors.
• Are we targeting the right entities and building strategic outreach, or simply following old habits? Targeting emerging industries and new market sectors is a key trait among high-performing firms. High-growth firms constantly refine outreach targets based on market shifts, not just precedent.
• What mechanisms exist to evaluate which pitches, campaigns, and business development initiatives work — and how learnings are baked back into future planning? Firms that run post-mortems and track business development metrics achieve higher conversion and retention rates, while outdated “set it and forget it” methods leave valuable insights untapped.

Leaders who rigorously challenge their firms with these discovery questions and benchmark against industry data can identify bottlenecks, boost revenue, and build durable market advantages. As the 2025 legal landscape accelerates, this approach is not just best practice — it is essential to long-term success.