Ask the authorities--April 2009.

In my firm, management is in a reactive mode, following other firms by cutting budgets, skipping bonuses and deferring and canceling initiatives. How can we convince them to be creative and that we can economically grow revenues through this period?

Steve Barrett

Explain that not trying to grow only ensures shrinkage.

Given that 80 percent of revenues are derived from the top 10 percent of clients, here are a few ideas:

Have responsible partners or firm management visit all your top 10 percent revenue generators for the last three fiscal years in person within the next 90 days. Face time always trumps correspondence, surveys, literature and phone calls. This threshold level of caring builds trust.

Drop rates by 10 percent for any top 10 percent client whose quarterly collections this year equals or beats last years comparable quarter. Offer the discount for the subsequent quarter.

Create coupons, not freebies. If a client uses the firm in a practice area not used by that client before, offer 50 percent off the next $200,000 of work in that area. The aim should be to induce new practice area usage with the incentive and appeal to clients needs to economize.

Drop all light marketing activities (you know what they are). Theyre expensive, of indiscernible return and cannot produce immediate ROI.

Reduce associate pay to the level preceding the last increase; loan associates to top 10 percent clients either for free or at cost. Several mid-sized firms have done this and clients appreciate it.

Get serious about service.

* Develop new service initiatives. Brainstorm them with those critical clients;

* Rather than responding within 24 hours, respond within two hours, especially for your top 10 percenters;

* Extend your antennae to push industry trend information to clients before they realize a threat may be materializing.

Get serious about CRM. If you dont know who you should know, youll rarely get to meet them.

Ideas and initiative will always beat cutbacks, timidity and retrenchment. Growth is possible in a downturn.

Active in law firm strategy and marketing since 1984, Steve Barrett has been CMO at four major U.S. law firms. He analyzes law firm data and recommends high ROI clientdevelopment strategies.

Mark T. Greene

Im not sure that you can reasonably argue that you can grow...