Exhibit 8 How to Identify Your Ideal Client Target List

• Library: Building Rainmakers: The Definitive Guide to Business Development for Lawyers (ABA) (2016 Ed.)

Exhibit 8 How to Identify Your Ideal Client Target List

By Allen Fuqua, CMO, Winstead PC, Dallas, TX

Targeting is the life blood of any productive business development effort or plan. However what qualifies as a real target and how to identify the target continues to be a challenge for many attorneys.

First and foremost understand what a target is: A target is a named person; not a title/position, not a company, not an industry, not a legal practice or need (T'm targeting companies that need litigation'). Either you have a name or you are still in the process of identifying the target.

Without this clarity, many attorneys continue to wonder why their efforts do not deliver new business for themselves or their firms.

Here's what I counsel attorneys to aspire to on targets:

(1) You need 4—6 Tier 1 targets which you have decided are your top priorities. You decide how you will increase the relationship and deliver value to the target (review Chapter 2 in this book for ways to increase the relationship). You plan the 4—6 touches for the year.

(2) You identify 10—15 Tier 2 relationships which could result in new business for...