Let it Rain, Let it Rain!
PART II: Generate Business from Existing Clients

When most attorneys think of rainmaking, they look first at ways to attract new clients. However, the fact is one of the best sources of new business may be right under your nose — your firm’s current business clients. With established relationships and at least a working knowledge of their business, you are in an excellent position to leverage more business, provided you do your homework!

The LexisNexis® services can be a tremendous resource. They will help you to deepen your understanding of your clients’ business, products and industry, enabling you to identify their needs and better cross-sell the services of your firm’s specialty areas.

Knock, Knock. Opportunity Here.

Your search for opportunities begins here. Get out your list of current clients. Select one as your first target. Then follow along as we show you some of the LexisNexis tools you can use to expand your client dossier.

 
Profile Your Client’s Company

Gather in-depth background materials about your client’s company from a comprehensive collection of well-respected sources in All Company Information. It covers all U.S. public companies, more than 200,000 private U.S. companies and thousands of other companies around the world. You’ll find reports from the world’s leading investment banks and research firms, profiles of companies and company executives, annual reports and other SEC filings, bankruptcy reports, as well as merger and acquisition transactions.

PATH: Company & Financial
SOURCE: All Company Information (excluding Investext*)
SEARCH: company (behemoth electronics)

Get background on hard-to-find private companies by searching Duns Market Identifiers Plus. It’s a great source of basic company information with more than 11 million records, 98 percent of which cover private companies.

PATH: Company & Financial > Company Profiles & Directories > Individual Publications
SOURCE: Duns Market Identifiers Plus
SEARCH: company (behemoth electronics)

Get the latest news on your client by searching full-text articles from thousands of news sources from the most recent 90 days. Use the HLEAD segment in your search and you’ll find stories where your client’s name appears in the headline or lead paragraph.

PATH: News
SOURCE: News Group File, Most Recent 90 Days
SEARCH: hlead (behemoth electronics)

Evaluate business & products. You can get a deeper understanding of the company’s business and products searching the LexisNexis Market & Industry collection. It covers a multitude of relevant product topics, including announcements and reviews, advertising, promotions and market research. The Overview of Markets & Technology collection also provides broad coverage of business and industrial environments, enabling you to learn about product sales and profits, organization history, the issues they face, merger and acquisition activity, even financial management.

PATH: Market & Industry > By Industry & Topic
SOURCE: Overview of Markets & Technology
SEARCH: company (monolith technologies)

 
Identify & Profile Executives

Identify the decision makers. LexisNexis gives you several key sources for identifying and profiling the decision makers. Dun’s Decision Makers, for example, is invaluable for providing background information on senior and middle managers.

PATH: Company & Financial > Company Executives & Directors
SOURCE: Dun’s Decision Makers
SEARCH: company (byjove securities)

Compile background information. Once you have their names, you can then compile background information on them. LexisNexis makes it easy, drawing on a wide range of news, biographical and business-related stories.

PATH: Reference
SOURCE: Biographical Information Sources
SEARCH: name (augustus /3 byjove)

Similarly, if you’re looking for information on members of the company’s in-house legal department, check the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory, which includes Professional Biography and Practice Profile listings for corporate legal departments. Other valuable sources available to you through LexisNexis include Standard & Poor’s Corporation Register of Directors & Executives, Directory of Corporate Affiliations, and Marquis Who’s Who Biographies.

Find news on key players. With thousands of news sources, LexisNexis can provide you with valuable insights to your client’s key executives which should be useful as you plan your strategy and develop your presentation.

PATH: News
SOURCE: News Group File, Most Recent Two Years
SEARCH: augustus OR marcus /3 jove

 
Understand the Industry

Examine trends & competition. Investext Industry Reports are a great source for information on current and historical trends, competitive factors and forecasts. Leading analysts provide you insights to the world’s major industries — Banking & Finance, Medical & Health Care, Telecommunications and more than 45 others.

PATH: Market & Industry. By Industry > Telecommunications
SOURCE: Investext Industry Reports – Telecommunications
SEARCH: date aft 2000

Check patents. A look at the patents assigned to your client and their competitors can provide a broader perspective on company activities and help you assess your client’s leadership position in its industry. The LexisNexis collection covers more than two million patents from the U.S., Europe and Japan.

PATH: Area of Law - By Topic Patent Law > Patents > U.S. Patents
SOURCE: Utility, Design and Plant Patents
SEARCH: date aft 2000 AND assignee (innovative technologies)

Review market research that has been conducted on the industry to learn about the kinds of issues your client faces, such as competitive challenges and market share.

PATH: Market & Industry > By Industry & Topic > Marketing & Advertising
SOURCE: Marketing Research: A Magazine of Management & Applications
SEARCH: atl3(telcom!)

 
Monitor Challenges to the Business
The more you understand the challenges faced by your client’s business and industry, the better you’ll be able to foresee potential opportunities to provide more legal services to that client.

Stay on top of M&A. Following merger and acquisition activity within your client’s industry is vital. You’ll find it worthwhile to follow reports on your client and other key players in its industry.

PATH: Market & Industry > By Industry & Topic > Mergers & Acquisitions
SOURCE: Mergers and Acquisitions – Company Reports
SEARCH: company (fly by night airlines)

Track bills & regulations. Follow evolving legislation and regulations at the federal and state level to stay attuned to the issues that are likely to affect your client’s industry. LexisNexis offers you a variety of sources; here are just a few.

PATH: Legislation & Politics > U.S. Congress SOURCE: Bill Tracking Report – Current Congress

-or-

PATH: Legislation & Politics > U.S. Executive Branch SOURCE: Federal Regulation Tracking

-or-

PATH: Legislation & Politics > U.S. States SOURCE: State Bill Tracking – Current Session SEARCH: Airlines

Stay attuned to industry developments. You will also want to monitor the news, watching for those industry events and trends that could impact your client and possibly expand your law firm’s role in its affairs.

PATH: News
SOURCE: News Group File, Most Recent 60 Days
SEARCH: hlead (airlines /10 trend OR develop! OR chang!)

Monitor trademark activity. You can learn a lot about products and ad campaigns of your client and its competitors even before they reach the marketplace by following trademark activity. The extensive LexisNexis collection will let you track both state and federal trademarks with ease.

PATH: Area of Law – By Topic > Trademarks, Unfair Competition & Trade Secrets > U.S. Trademark Registrations
SOURCE: Combined Federal and State Trademarks
SEARCH: all-own-assign (fly by night airlines)

Do it all—automatically. With so much content to draw from and so many items to track, client development could be a full-time job were it not for the convenience of LexisNexis Alerts. Alerts enables you to monitor new developments in any client’s industry on a regular basis without having to personally conduct every search every week. Simply develop a search, check your results and edit your search until you are satisfied with your results. Then save your search as an Alert, specifying the frequency and your desired delivery option. (Imagine the convenience of being alerted to new developments whenever they happen by email!) It’s that easy!

 
Let It Rain, Let It Rain!

Client development — in today’s competitive environment, it’s essential. And, with the resources LexisNexis offers, you can do a swift, thorough job of identifying your opportunities. The ideas presented here are just a few of the tools available for your rainmaking efforts. Don’t hesitate to ask your LexisNexis Applications Consultant for further resources and tools to increase your effectiveness.