The Data-Driven Approach to Improving Business Development Productivity
Your business development initiatives are just like most everything else in life – you get what you put in. I.e. the fruits of your business development and marketing strategy depend wholly on the time, effort, and attention you give. This probably doesn’t come as news to anyone. We all know that hard work pays off, and hard work includes consistent action and routine, especially to reach goals that have layered and progressive pathways to business success, like business development.
The ability to effectively leverage data in a timely manner improves efficiency within organizations. Why? Well, we've all heard the old adage that "time is money," and nobody understands that better than businesses, like law firms, that earn revenue through billable hours. You don't have to be an attorney or a billable employee to fully grasp that idea. Just ask the marketing and business development teams, as they play a major role in the client acquisition and retention that feeds those billable hours.
Decision-makers and every employee at a firm dependent upon billable hours strive to be faster and develop more streamlined solutions to their organizational processes and initiatives; however, gaining an accurate account of where work in the pipeline lies and who is actually holding up their end of the bargain on deliverables can be tough to grasp, even for managers to whom personnel reports.
So, how do we take the guesswork out and tediousness out of task assignments and get down to the nitty-gritty on individual and team performances and gain a competitive advantage? DATA.
Importance of Data in Productivity
Data can make or break you when time is money and you need to improve productivity. Identifying roadblocks and time sucks can take your business development goals from “pie in the sky” to “money in the bank.” The use of data to do so can help you see dollar signs more quickly than if you were operating blindly and lessens the chance for human error.
Some of the biggest time sucks in an office are redundant assignments, unclear tasks, overly-burdened workers, and repeating initiatives that are more costly than valuable. With the right data at your fingertips, reducing these time sucks detrimental to your bottom dollar becomes second nature.
It sounds too aspirational to have a clear picture of who is doing what, how long it's taking them, and how much ROI you are getting for said projects. Still, it is actually quite attainable, and not having to spend hours, or even days, trying to collect that data from timesheets and project status updates in a lengthy spreadsheet that's been passed around from the inception of your company means saving time... which, if you've been paying attention, you know means saving and making money in the long run.
How Does Data Increase Efficiency?
Data analytics improve operational effectiveness by analyzing your business development department's and attorneys' behaviors and effectiveness while working, which better informs your plans for events and business development initiatives and allows you to properly chart and time projects. This data also drives efficiency in your hiring. Having a concrete account of which departments are struggling to keep up and which are completing BD tasks at lightning speeds will allow decision-makers to determine if personnel changes are needed and will ultimately help grow that bottom line.
How Can We Measure Productivity?
Productivity measure is the amount produced from the input used. In a labor product industry, those results are much more tangible and clearer; however, subjective (or seemingly subjective) metrics on success in professional service industries aren't as concrete at first glance.
When analyzing data, it's important to know the operational and financial side of business productivity - imperative, even. And, as we mentioned earlier, the time it takes to collect status reports and contrast them with assignment dates to determine progress is monumental and often inaccurate because of the element of human error in assessing seemingly subjective tasks.
Despite that difficulty, marketing and business development managers spin their wheels trying to get a grasp on that data. Why? It's important and effective. Don't just take our word for it. MIT conducted a study that concluded that companies engaged in data-driven decisions see a 3%+ increase in productivity and output proving that data-driven decisions can be effective, even in small increases. When time is money, any amount of increased efficiency is more than welcome.
So, how do we grab hold of finite answers on how our departments are performing in subjective tasks? We made it pretty easy and painless with INform 2.0, which combines ROI reporting, project tracking, and task assignments with accountability and BD effort tracking. The combination creates a more seamless, informative and comprehensive approach to business development and informs best practices. Additionally, INform 2.0 allows admins to see efforts based on practice area, client/company, project type, attorney, and more.
We continue to pivot in changing workflow designs and strive to implement streamlined processes to better increase productivity, reduce downtime, and improve the service we provide to our clients, with a happier and more efficient work environment to boost customer satisfaction. You're already attempting to reach that point, and a data-driven approach derived from an accurate portrayal of workflow progress will lead you there eventually. Having at your fingertips the data necessary to reach that end-goal, in real-time comprehensible reports, will only help you get there faster.