Purpose
To assist NorthLawn members in doing business development, it is important to be able to answer two key questions:
- Why do collaborative business development with NorthLawn? - to clarify the multiple ways that doing so not only helps you but helps those around you
- Tactically, how should I do collaborative business development with NorthLawn? - to share a few different “if-then” scenarios with functional advice (e.g., email templates, process steps) to make it as easy as possible for you
1. Why do collaborative business development with NorthLawn?
Helping yourself while helping others
🤝 Supporting your existing clients
As an independent consultant and advisor, your primary role is being as helpful as possible to your clients.
This is often done through consulting work, but this can also be done by leveraging your network to support them.
Rather than constantly pitching yourself, by connecting them with others, you're viewed as someone with genuine caring about them and their success.
✨ Strengthening the give-and-receive culture of NorthLawn
Our community is most effective when everyone is sharing with each other as both givers and recipients.
By sharing and supporting, you're actively building our culture, demonstrating the value of the community, and making it more likely that others will do the same.
Next time, it may be that you're the recipient of another member's connection and thus making your own business development stronger and more efficient.
📈 Scaling your practice
Often, the only way to scale your consulting practice is by hiring more people. With NorthLawn, that’s not necessary.
Our unique revenue sharing model allows you to scale by appropriately valuing your network and ensuring you you benefit from the lifetime value of your clients.
To make it more tangible, below ⤵️ is a illustrative scenario that shows how our revenue sharing model works. More information on the revenue sharing can be seen here.
Illustrative example: Compensation and Revenue sharing
Project list (also illustrative)
# | Project | Client owner | Consultant | Professional Fees | Community Fee | Total cost |
1 | Tech acquisition due diligence | A | G | $ 60,800 | $ 15,200 | $ 76,000 |
2 | Retail expansion discovery | B | H | $ 16,000 | $ 4,000 | $ 20,000 |
3 | Retail expansion implementation | B | H | $ 80,000 | $ 20,000 | $ 100,000 |
4 | AI chatbot implementation | C | I | $ 44,000 | $ 11,000 | $ 55,000 |
5 | Information security pen test | D | J | $ 28,000 | $ 7,000 | $ 35,000 |
6 | Biotech go-to-market strategy | E | K | $ 72,800 | $ 18,200 | $ 91,000 |
7 | Biotech voice of customer | E | L | $ 6,400 | $ 1,600 | $ 8,000 |
8 | Design thinking workshop | F | L | $ 12,000 | $ 3,000 | $ 15,000 |
Compensation split by NorthLawn member
NorthLawn Member | Professional Fees | Revenue share | Total compensation |
A | $ - | $ 5,893.33 | $ 5,893.33 |
B | $ - | $ 8,533.33 | $ 8,533.33 |
C | $ - | $ 4,633.33 | $ 4,633.33 |
D | $ - | $ 3,433.33 | $ 3,433.33 |
E | $ - | $ 7,273.33 | $ 7,273.33 |
F | $ - | $ 2,233.33 | $ 2,233.33 |
G | $ 60,800.00 | $ 2,853.33 | $ 63,653.33 |
H | $ 96,000.00 | $ 3,733.33 | $ 99,733.33 |
I | $ 44,000.00 | $ 2,433.33 | $ 46,433.33 |
J | $ 28,000.00 | $ 2,033.33 | $ 30,033.33 |
K | $ 72,800.00 | $ 3,153.33 | $ 75,953.33 |
L | $ 18,400.00 | $ 1,793.33 | $ 20,193.33 |
2. Tactically, how should I do collaborative business development with NorthLawn?
Below are example scenarios and guidance on what to do and say for each. You should feel free to revise your outreach as you see fit. Highlights in yellow are places where you can insert additional personalization.
Warm outreach: You have potential clients or connectors within your own network that may be interested in NorthLawn
- Send an email with information about NorthLawn. Example email:
- Feel free to cc brent@northlawn.co to the original email or to the follow-up email if the client/ connector confirms interest.
Project redirect: A client contacts you about a project that is not a good fit for you
- Send an email to the client asking if you can pass along the info to the NorthLawn community. Example email:
- Once client mentions they're interested in learning more, refer toNew project: Standard Operating Procedure on the end-to-end process for a NorthLawn project and DM/email brent@northlawn.co to chat more about this.
Member introduction: Your contact has a challenge that may be well-suited for someone in NorthLawn to discuss with them
- Post in the Slack channel #ask-problem-solving if anyone has relevant expertise on the related topic and would be willing to have a chat with your client. These early chats should be viewed as helping another NorthLawn member / business development and not as a paid expert consult. Example post:
- Then, send an email to the client asking for permission to make the introduction. Example email:
- Then, send a short email introducing your client with the NorthLawn member making sure to cc either info@northlawn.co or brent@northlawn.co.
Team expansion: You're doing solo work and want to expand your team for an existing or new project
- If it's for an existing, confirmed project - post information about the project within #ask-project-opportunities based on the process and best practices in New project: Standard Operating Procedure
- If you're writing a proposal for a new project and looking for additional team members, you could find them through a few methods:
- Post an overview of your potential project within #ask-project-opportunities making sure to be clear that this is for a proposal and not confirmed. Ask NorthLawn members to DM or email you with whatever information is most helpful to you to know if they could be a good fit.
- Search the Member Directory to find members who may be a good fit and reach out to them directly.
- Write to Brent to ask which people could be the best fits for the project.
- Once the proposal is written, send a note to Brent via DM so he can track and inform the Client Circle on the potential project.