“I don’t have time for BD.”
It’s the single most common thing we hear from associates (and let’s face it, partners too). And it’s understandable. Billable hours targets don’t often leave much time for anything else. Client demands take precedent. Deadlines arrive whether you’re ready for them or not. When your day is already spoken for before 9am, the idea of adding anything else to it feels absurd.
But working with associates across law firms of every size has shown us that the ‘no time’ problem is almost always a perception problem – not a time problem.
The image that’s getting in the way
When most lawyers picture BD, they picture something big, like a polished thought leadership piece, a formal client dinner or a pitch that needs to be perfect before it goes anywhere near a client.
That version of BD exists. But it’s not where most relationships are built, and it’s not where most new work actually comes from.
The belief that BD requires a significant, uninterrupted chunk of time is one of the first things we work to dismantle in our Momentum training – because until that belief shifts, the time will never appear.
It’s not that busy lawyers find the time for BD. It’s that they stop waiting for a mythical clear afternoon and start doing small things, regularly, instead.
Small actions. Serious results.
The most effective BD is often the simplest. Not because BD is easy – but because consistency beats intensity, every time.
A short note sent regularly beats a polished pitch sent once. A warm relationship maintained over months opens doors that a cold introduction never will. Staying visible to the right people, in small ways, over a long period of time – that’s what builds a practice. And it doesn’t require hours. It requires habit.
Ten minutes a week, done reliably, adds up to something real.
BD in under 10 minutes — five things you can do right now
Here’s what that actually looks like in practice.
- Send a useful article or insight to a contact. It doesn’t have to be something you’ve written — it just has to be relevant to them. A short note saying “thought this might be useful given what you mentioned last time” coupled with a suggestion of a coffee catch-up takes two minutes and keeps the relationship warm in a way that feels genuine, not transactional.
- Follow up on a past conversation. You met someone at a conference. You spoke on a panel together. You had a good call three months ago. Don’t let it go cold. A simple “it was great to connect, and would love to keep in touch” sent before the moment passes costs almost nothing and keeps the door open for a more thoughtful follow-up.
- Check in with a former client. Even just to say hello. People work with people they know, like and trust – and staying visible is a bigger part of that than most lawyers realise. A brief, personalised check-in keeps you in the back of someone’s mind for when the right moment comes. You’d be surprised how many times that check-in email results in a “I’m actually working on something that you might be able to help with”. Top of mind = top of the list.
- Book a coffee with a referrer. It doesn’t need an agenda. It doesn’t need to be formal. It just needs to happen. Referral relationships, like all relationships, need occasional contact to stay alive.
- Make an introduction. This is a powerful one. Getting in contact with any of the above? Take 1 minute to think of who in your network they might benefit from being introduced to, and tack the question onto the end of your check-in email, asking your contact if that would benefit them. Unsolicited offers of help like this breed goodwill that goes much further than any standard check-in and builds deep trust.
None of these require preparation. None of them require a strategy document. They require ten minutes and the decision to actually do them.
It’s about relationships, not hustle
It’s worth stepping back for a moment, because there’s a version of this conversation that makes BD sound like a relentless drip of activity – always on, always selling, always performing. That’s not what we’re describing.
BD, at its simplest, is about the people already in your network. Nurturing the relationships you have, staying front of mind. Making it easy for someone to think of you when the right opportunity comes up – not because you’ve been chasing them, but because you’ve been present and it makes sense.
The goal is never to add more to your plate. It’s to make the things that matter most feel manageable enough to actually do.
The only thing left is to start
Pick one thing from the list above. Just one. Don’t plan it, don’t schedule a strategy session around it – do it this week.