Business Development Coordinator – Corporate Department - Johannesburg, South Africa at Bowmans (Law Firm)

• The Business Development Coordinator (BDC) - Corporate is responsible for working with the relevant Business Development Manager (BDM) and Corporate Department to support and implement innovative short and long term business development and marketing strategies, tactics and activities that will support the Firm’s legal teams making up the Corporate Department specifically: Competition; M&A; Tax and TMT  (the Practice Groups) and assist in driving the Firm’s overall BD strategy and client relationship programme forward.

EXPERIENCE AND QUALIFICATIONS:

• Completed Degree/Diploma with at least 3 years’ experience in business development or a related field within a corporate, legal or professional services environment essential
• LLB/similar with Completed Articles will be advantageous

JOB ACCOUNTABILITIES:

Planning and Strategy

• Assist with developing and implementing the business development strategies and initiatives in line with the firm’s and Practice Groups’ objectives and best practice to drive revenue growth and raise market profile across practices and sectors.
• Assist with driving strategic and business planning support to the Practice Groups and client teams.
• Undertake research and analysis (trends and industry developments; competitor activity; and potential opportunities).
• Assist in implementing innovative short- and long-term strategies, tactics and activities that will support the Practice Groups.
• Arrange and coordinate regular meetings as required per Practice Group and prepare and circulate meeting notes with action points and subsequent follow-ups to ensure and maintain momentum.
• Keep the wider BD team updated on business development activities to encourage team cohesion and fully leverage any initiatives.
• Working with BD colleagues to support various Africa-related BD initiatives to promote co-ordinated activities across all offices.
• Collaborate with other Business Services teams to ensure that holistic and integrated business services are delivered.

BD Collateral and Infrastructure

• Ensure regular deal and matter reporting in line with the firm’s BD processes and infrastructure.
• Ensure all relevant BD collateral (credentials, profiles, CVs, case studies etc) necessary to support the BD objectives of the group are developed, maintained and kept up-to-date, and loaded on the firm’s central BD databases.
• Assist with all directory submissions in line with Firm processes (Chambers, IFLR1000 and The Legal 500) for the Practice Groups.

Campaigns/ Initiatives and Projects

• Assist with developing, advising and supporting the implementation of BD initiatives, campaigns and projects in line with the Firm’s and Practice Groups’ strategy and plans.
• Supporting partners in initiatives to raise both internal (identifying cross-sell opportunities, internal training) and external profile of the Practice Groups (e.g. newsflashes, seminars, conferences).
• Working with partners to identify and pursue new client opportunities, market opportunities, and product development opportunities.
• Coordinate and provide comprehensive support for BD trips / conferences, initiatives, events and related BD projects (including managing action items post-event).

Research/Analysis

• Identifying and analysing market trends to provide strategic insights into market developments focused on supporting identified campaigns, initiatives and projects, as well as to inform potential BD opportunities.
• Prepare strategically important client briefing notes.
• Stay up to date on current affairs impacting relevant Practice Groups.
• Briefing and offering guidance to the Research team to analyse internal client data to prepare annual Practice Group (where relevant) trend reports and provide ad hoc assistance to the team as required.

Pitches

• Brief the New Business Team (NBT) and offer specialist support to the NBT and Practice Groups on pitches, capability statements and the like.
• Work with partners and actively participate in strategically important pitches, including messaging, value add, credentials, preparation, rehearsal, follow up.

Client Relationship Management

• Manage and support assigned client teams with the development and execution of client plans.
• Advise and support partners on client engagement best practice (including preparation strategies, meeting structures, client specific strategies).
• Drive cross-selling and client targeting initiatives.
• Encourage the use of InterAction (within the relevant teams - incl. secretaries), beyond simply the maintenance of client contact information (i.e. logging/sharing activities, encouraging the use of working lists etc.)
• Be familiar with the clients and proposed target clients relevant to each of the Practice Groups to be able to help identify opportunities.

COMPETENCIES:

• Ability to implement
• Adaptability
• Analytical thinking
• Attention to detail
• Client focus
• Creativity and innovation
• Initiative
• Interactive communication
• Problem solving
• Relationship building
• Resilience
• Self confidence
• Strategic thinking
• Stress management
• Teamwork
• Writing skills