Client Development Manager

The Team

The global business development leadership team sets the strategy in consultation with the global strategy board and global practice groups. The business development and Marketing (BD&M) teams (comprising client development, communications, marketing and business are led by regional heads of business development who are aligned to our regional boards: Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa, North America, UK, Europe.

Our strategy seeks to:

• Manage and develop clients and profile in our global sectors.
• Adopt a content and product led approach when growing our market profile.
• Prioritise the use of integrated digital marketing channels.
• Position our most senior staff as advisors to the business, supported by expert execution teams.
• Our principles dictate that the highest value clients and opportunities command the highest value BD attention and bespoke tactics.

The Role

As a Client Development Manager, you will be responsible for generating and attending business development meetings with clients and introducing our lawyers to them. You will also research the clients' needs and help to generate new instructions for our firm. You will work closely with the Client Development Senior Manager and Business Development leadership to implement client initiatives, covering a range of sectors and practice areas. You will also work closely with the Client team in the UK (and other regions as required) to support the growth ambitions of the firm. This role will be client facing, focusing on generating revenue opportunities and reporting on the progress of these.

Key Responsibilities

• Identify and pursue new business opportunities with clients, using the CRM system to track and manage the leads and conversions
• Attend client meetings (with and without fee earners) and present our credentials and capabilities to the clients, ensuring that they are exposed to our senior bench and diversified teams
• Utilise external tools, such as LinkedIn to generate a network of relevant contacts
• Research the clients' needs, growth plans, and decision-making processes, and use the insights to tailor our approaches (whether through proposals or direct approaches)
• Create and coordinate cross-practice client teams to support development of key relationships
• Utilise existing marketing campaigns, initiatives and events that align with the clients' needs and expectations to generate revenue and opportunities
• Provide relevant input into the creation of differentiating proposal materials and the management of selected client pitch efforts, in collaboration with the pitch team and other members of the client development team, to improve our win rate and profitability
• Monitor and measure the client revenue, KPIs, and feedback, and report regularly to the Client Relationship Programme Lead for communications to the board and partnership on the progress and outcomes of the client programme
• Work collaboratively with colleagues across various functions (e.g. HR, Finance, Business Intake) and regions to ensure alignment and integration of the client development programme across the firm
• At all times demonstrate strong and comprehensive knowledge of the relevant clients and the firm, and represent that knowledge effectively in front of senior firm leadership and the clients.

Candidate Profile

The ideal candidate will:

• Be educated to degree level (2:1 or above) or possess equivalent experience
• Hold a professional marketing or sales qualification, e.g. CIM/CAM (desirable)
• Have considerable experience of working as a Client Development, Sales or Business Development practitioner at management level within a fast-paced professional services environment
• Have proven track record of generating converting new business leads with global multinational clients, and managing key client accounts and relationships
• Have excellent verbal and written communication skills, with exceptional attention to detail
• Have strong IT skills with experience of CRM systems, Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint
• Have strong organisational skills and the ability to handle multiple priorities within tight timescales
• Be able to work to very tight deadlines under pressure and to assimilate information quickly
• Have strong interpersonal skills including confidence, positivity, diplomacy and the ability to gain credibility quickly
• Demonstrate attention to detail with a high level of accuracy
• Be positive and tenacious, with the ability to pro-actively drive initiatives forward and motivate resources within and outside their team to perform
• Be able to work closely with partners and associates and possess the ability to influence key partners and decision-making groups and manage the implementation of outcomes from these groups
• Exemplify the attributes that we wish to communicate to the market
• Be able to travel periodically within MEA.