PM Forum North America Regional Director Larry Bodine moderated the "Unique Tools for Building Client Relationships" roundtable. The panelists were:

·        The Virtual Handshake: Opening Doors and Closing Deals Using Online Social Networks author Scott Allen

·        Business Development Institute Founder Guy Alvarez

·        Corante President & COO Stowe Boyd

·        Dewey Ballantine Director of Marketing & Communications Jason Dinwooodie

·        ZeroDegrees co-founder and Vice President of Business Development Peter Hutto

Bodine's questions drew out examples of both state-of-the-art as well as more traditional marketing tools that effectively enhance relationship management. Virtual Handshake author Scott Allen focused on enterprise portals. Less restricted as to who has access than an intranet and more comprehensive in what can be accessed than an extranet or website, Allen identified enterprise portals as rapidly becoming essential to ongoing relationship management.

Technology authority Stowe Boyd advocated blogs as the relationship management tool of choice. One of the simplest and lowest cost technologies to establish and maintain, blogs provide for frequent contact and potentially high visibility.

Business Development Institute Founder Guy Alvarez reported that event marketing continues to be a very effective relationship establishment and management tool. He reminded conference attendees that the event model, of course, offers opportunities for connection before, during and after the event but cautioned about the pitfalls of reaching a targeted audience. The wrong offering could be, at the least, a costly error and, sometimes, even do damage to a sponsor's reputation.

Orrick Director of Communications Jason Dinwooodie emphasized the benefits of media and endorsed Vocus as a "CRM tool for effective medial relations." Not surprisingly, ZeroDegrees co-founder and Vice President of Business Development Peter Hutto's contribution to the panel was online networking sites such as his own ZeroDegrees. The numerous advantages of online networking include the ability to network without leaving the office and less random, more targeted connections.

Managing Your Relationship Assets

ALM Law Journal Newsletters Editor in Chief Betiayn Tursi moderated the final roundtable of the resource filled day, "Driving New Revenue by Managing Your Relationship Assets". CB Richard Ellis Senior Vice President & Partner Jeff Hipschman and Interface Software Director of Business Development Daryl Cross took on Tursi's first issue of the greatest challenge in implementing a CRM solution.

According to Hipschman, defining the ownership of a relationship understandably creates the biggest obstacle. Cross validated the practically universal reluctance to adopt CRM and suggested that marketers use the same techniques one would use to coax children to eat vegetables - hide the system in or surround it with something that appeals to the users like efficiency or financial incentives. This writer is still finding it as challenging to get many of my attorneys to maintain effective client relationship management techniques as it is to get my children to willingly eat their vegetables.

Sales & Marketing LeadMasters, Inc. Vice President Phil Arturi responded to Tursi's inquiries about lead generation ownership. He cited the increasing trend of separating the practice development from the client management role in the form of Practice Development Directors and Managers.

American Express Tax and Business Services Managing Director Roy Hoffman shared a few techniques American Express has had success with including required annual self assessments that have resulted in sales doubling over a six year period with only a 10% staff increase. Another business development requirement at AmexT&B that Hoffman mentioned was requiring 1st and 2nd year professionals to obtain four leads (business cards) every month. The cumulative 96 leads over two years lead to the few quality contacts they need to begin generating business early in their career.

SelectMinds CEO Cem Sertoglu re-emphasized the value of alumni (former employee) contacts that was highlighted in his earlier case study with BearingPoint Director of Alumni Relations and Sports Sponsorships Debby Foster. Another case study included in the program was provided by Darryl Cross of Interaction and Goodwin Procter Senior Marketing Manager Jasmine Trillos-Decaire's. Their comprehensive account of the benefits of GP's recent implementation was a reminder of how essential CRM systems are to this process.

In this day and age of no shortage of marketing programs to attend, Business Development Institute lived up to the extremely ambitious agenda they promised. The combination of substance, excellent mixture of session format, indulgent food and wonderful networking opportunities made this a program worth the investment for attendees.